1. THE RUTGERS WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT SYSTEM Mary Beth Weber Cataloging and Metadata Services Rutgers University Libraries August 3, 2007

2. Which Exit?: The New Jersey Digital Highway Rutgers University Libraries received a National Leadership from the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to create a statewide repository and collaborative portal for New Jersey’s cultural and heritage resources. The New Jersey Digital Highway (NJDH) was the result of that grant. Partners included the New Jersey State Library, the New Jersey State Archives, the New Jersey Historical Society, the American Labor Museum/Botto House, as well as smaller libraries, archives, and historical societies. The first phase of the grant focused on the immigrant experience in New Jersey and included text, photographs, original documents, oral histories, and video.

3. Origin of the Workflow Management System The WMS grew out of the need for a mechanism to create and manage metadata that could accommodate our needs and those of our partners as our repository develops and changes. Products were reviewed and the decision was made not to purchase a commercial content management system for metadata. The decision was made to build our own metadata creation and management tool that would feed into NJDH and RUcore, our institutional repository. This led to the development of the WMS, a platform independent Web accessible metadata creation and management tool

4. New Jersey Digital Highway http://www.njdigitalhighway.org http://www.njdigitalhighway.org

5. The Challenges of In-House Development…. Developing an in-house tool provided freedom and flexibility, such as the ability to use our own hybrid metadata schema, free access to source codes, and the ability to guide developments and enhancements. With autonomy, there are trade-offs, including the fact all testing of new releases and functionalities is done in-house, all programming is done in-house, all bugs are resolved in- house. In-house development is time consuming and requires a large team of individuals drawn from a variety of departments under the Technical and Automated Services umbrella, including our Systems Department, the Scholarly Communications Center, and Cataloging and Metadata Services.

6. WMS Metadata The WMS employs a hybrid metadata schema that draws on MODS, METS, and PREMIS to insure scalability to accommodate projects, and interoperability with other systems. All are XML data standards. The schema maps to Dublin Core, which is mandatory for participation in the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting, better known as OAI-PMH, for sharing information between repositories. Uses five types of metadata that are drawn from a variety of schema: descriptive metadata, source metadata, technical metadata, rights metadata, and digital provenance metadata.

7. Descriptive Metadata Provides information for users to discover and obtain access to information resources. MODS is used since it enables records to be mapped into IRIS, the Libraries’ integrated library system, in MARC format. This is currently used for ETDs. MODS uses standard bibliographic cataloging principles. It enables us to provide information through multiple presentation standards in a schema that is easily understood by various user communities.

8. Source Metadata Describes provenance, condition and conservation of analog source materials such as photographs, books, maps, and manuscripts. Not used for resources that are born digital. Uses PREMIS (Preservation Metadata Implementation Strategies) elements

9. Technical Metadata Provides information about the digital master files maintained for long-term preservation and access. Required for all digital objects, both born digital and those digitized from an original analog object. Uses the ANSI/NISO Standard Z39.87 2006 Data Dictionary- Technical Metadata for Digital Still Images.

10. Rights Metadata Identifies rights holder(s) for each information resource. Provides permissions for use that the rights holder has granted, including restrictions. Refers to digitized objects that are available via the Internet. Uses PREMIS. RUL rights schema based upon rights events that enables archivists or rights administrators to document every instance of research or permissions requests, rights transfers, copyright status, etc.

11. Digital Provenance Metadata Provides an audit trail of any changes to the metadata.

12. Rutgers Data Model The WMS and RUcore are powered by an innovative events based data model that documents events in the lifecycle of an object.

13. Rutgers Data Model (continued) The data model consists of three components: object, agent, and place. Object is the information object. Examples: photograph, 3D artwork, digital image. Agent is the person or corporate body responsible for creating, managing, describing or using information about a particular object. Examples: artist, author, photographer, metadata manager. Place is context independent and may be place of creation, location, display, etc. An event occurs when an object interacts with an agent or place at a specific point in time. Provenance events include acquisition or donation. Preservation events might include tape removal or digital restoration.

14. WMS Features Enables creation and editing of metadata Creates a METS-XML wrapper for digital objects and the associated metadata, which is used for export and ingest. Supports multiple strategies for entering objects and creating metadata, including batch import of files, the ability to enter an entire collection via batch import, and the ability to migrate a collection from an owner’s database into the WMS. Ability to create templates at the project level to free object creators from the repetition of supplying required information. Controlled vocabulary module enables metadata managers to add vocabulary terms to existing controlled vocabulary lists.

15. Digital Projects Team Team approach: WMS Manager, Project Manager, Collection Manager/Curator and Metadata Manager. The WMS Manager oversees all WMS development, including programming, specifications for new releases, coordination of testing for new releases. The Project Manager is the primary liaison to the collection owner/curator. Coordinates digitization and oversees all technical aspects of the projects. Also supplies all technical metadata for projects. The Owner/Curator provides a collection description, descriptive information for each object (format, dates, access restrictions, copyright).

16. Digital Projects Team (continued) The Object Creator is a staff member who creates metadata for specific collections and projects. The Metadata Manager has primary responsibility for metadata design and creation, develops templates, and trains the Owner/Curator when metadata is created locally. Metadata Managers have full access to all WMS administrative settings.

17. Digital Projects Workflow When collections are acquired: –The Project Manager and Metadata Manager meet with the Collection Owner/Curator to evaluate the collection, establish a workflow for scanning and metadata creation, and determine rights restrictions.

18. Workflow Management System

19. Create Digital Objects

20. Create Digital Objects (continued)

21. Metadata Creation and File Upload

22. Metadata Creation Can enter by MD type or required elements only

23. Questions? My contact information: mbfecko@rci.rutgers.edu