1. Uniting heritage digitization and EAD metadata : “Calames Plus” solutions and other tracks LIBER Annual Conference Tartu, Thu. 28 June 2012 1

2. ABES & the French context (1) ABES = Bibliographic Agency for French Higher Education – created in 1994 to implement Sudoc (the union catalogue of French higher education libraries, opened in 2001 : www.sudoc.abes.fr)www.sudoc.abes.fr – a public organ of the French Ministry for Higher Education and Research, located in Montpellier 2

3. ABES & the French context (2) During the last 10 years, diversification of activities range, development of new applications and devices for scientific data management : – Catalogue of archives and manuscripts (2008, www.calames.abes.fr)www.calames.abes.fr – Hub for authority records (2010, www.idref.fr)www.idref.fr – French theses portal (2011, www.theses.fr), etc.www.theses.fr New management plan for 2012-2015 : – Mutualized Library Management Software – National licences (native digital resources) – A “heritage” constituent in the plan BUT no national nor official mission regarding digitization … 3

4. Written Heritage in France Several catalogues (MARC/EAD and institutional boundaries) CCFR (MARC metadata) : French libraries’ meta search interface, in particular for printed heritage ≠ CCFR-Manuscrits (EAD metadata) : gathers BnF Archives & Manuscrits, municipal libraries inventories… and soon Calames records. Several digitization initiatives : especially towards medieval and/or illuminated manuscripts, but a long-lasting lack of projects regarding non-books heritage 4

5. A database for academic libraries’ heritage: Calames 5 Originally developed for hosting and modifying EAD conversions of manuscripts records published in national directories More and more directed towards archival inventories (manuscripts and non-manuscript materials) Main purpose : to improve descriptions, and not to give direct access (to surrogates or transcriptions)

6. 6 Calames’ public and professional interfaces 1° An XML editor (XMetal) plugin with ABES developments, for creating and modifying online XML-EAD inventories … 2° … a public catalogue fed with full XML data as soon as librarians wish to publish it

7. 7 International Library of Contemporary History and Documentation Jacques Doucet Literature Library Institut de France (French National Academies) Sainte-Geneviève Inter-Academic Library Calames’ customized services for heritage-centric institutions

8. 8 The digitization file : ABES’s « missing link » (1) NUMES : a public and professional database of digitization projects and digitized collections – using Michael Europe standards – a few tens of records, basically for administrative or internal uses – unsatisfactory : we all need to know precisely which item is (or is going to be) digitized, better than collections or sets of documents

9. 9 The digitization file : ABES’s « missing link » (2) Other liabilities : Abandonment of a French Manuscripts Portal project Prevalence of Gallica as meta-interface in the French digitization landscape Ticer « Environmental scan » for ABES strategic plan (2011) : digitization is a major area of intervention for similar organizations  So how can we turn our catalogues towards digitized resources ? Does ABES have a “niche” ?

10. 10 A range of solutions for union catalogues (1) Three kinds of solutions to take over the digitization file within ABES’ catalogues: Classical linking solutions through metadata : -Textual mentions (one single link to another web page, or more) inside a public record -Textual mentions strengthened with one or more clickable images next to a public record -Other digital pictures (not reproductions) directly inserted into a public record API solutions : (javascript) code for equations between catalogue data and a targeted digital library  in which cases do we inscribe links in metadata, and when don’t we? Ex. Liber Floridus in Calames, or Google Books API in Sudoc ABES digital repository with a specific viewer for Calames catalogue : Calames Plus solution (not a complete digital library)

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14. 14 Specific metadata for hypertext & customizable links dedicated to digization in Calames public interface.

15. 15 A more visual and practical kind of linking : clickable images next to a record…(or inside, in some specific cases)

16. 16 A range of solutions for union catalogues (2) Three kinds of solutions to take over the digitization file within ABES’ catalogues: Classical linking solutions through metadata (sometimes with standard adjustment or interpretations needed) : -Textual mentions (one single link to another web page, or more) inside a public record -Textual mentions strengthened with one or more clickable images next to a public record -Other digital pictures (not reproductions) directly inserted into a public record API solutions : (javascript) code for equations between catalogue data and a targeted digital library Ex. : Liber Floridus in Calames, or Google Books API in Sudoc  in which cases do we inscribe links in metadata, and when don’t we? ABES digital repository with a specific viewer for Calames catalogue : Calames Plus solution (not a complete digital library)

17. 17 ISBN matching = clickable cover (link to Google Books)

18. 18 Links and title of this clickable image are defined inside EAD metadata ( tags)…

19. 19 …but here, there are no information in the library’s inventory : a javascript code compare library names and shelfmarks in Calames and Liber Floridus

20. 20 A range of solutions for union catalogues (3) Three kinds of solutions to take over the digitization file within ABES’ catalogues: Classical linking solutions through metadata (sometimes with standard adjustment or interpretations needed) : -Textual mentions (one single link to another web page, or more) inside a public record -Textual mentions strengthened with one or more clickable images next to a public record -Other digital pictures (not reproductions) directly inserted into a public record API solutions : (javascript) code for equations between catalogue data and a targeted digital library  in which cases do we inscribe links in metadata, and when don’t we? Ex. Liber Floridus in Calames, or Google Books API in Sudoc ABES digital repository with a specific viewer for Calames catalogue : Calames Plus solution (not a complete digital library)

21. Mailing librarians A thread of comments Example of a Calames account Profile For librarians only (images) Comments « Calames Plus » : commenting records…

22. 22 « Calames Plus » : loading images on ABES’ servers Simply by zipping a file containing the library’s identification number, and the shelfmark numbers of the targeted documents

23. 23 « Calames Plus » : viewing images loaded by librarians

24. 24 As a conclusion… A step-by-step strategy : – first dealing with a description puzzle by tackling with iconographic collections – then reforming union catalogues by enhancing an easy-to-use and flexible repository for different kinds of digital surrogates (and other types of complementary documents later on) To join databases for bibliographic or archival metadata, and repositories for digital surrogates, is for a mutualistic organization like ABES a matter of pragmatism. Any question ?