Diving In: Testing the Archivists’ Toolkit

21 Oct. 2006Archivists' Toolkit at NEA2 Bradley D. Westbrook, UC San Diego Katherine Stefko, Bates College Lee Mandell, Archivists’ Toolkit TM Presenters

21 Oct. 2006Archivists' Toolkit at NEA3 Project Update –Accomplishments –Since SAA ‘06 Functional testing of beta prototype Demonstration of beta prototype Questions Overview

21 Oct. 2006Archivists' Toolkit at NEA4 Specification Build Documentation No cost extension Functional testing / performance metrics SPOT meeting Release of Version 1.0 Accomplishments

21 Oct. 2006Archivists' Toolkit at NEA5 Product Description-Features Recording accessions and deaccessions Tracking sources / donors Basic authority control for names and topical subjects Describing archival resources and digital objects Permanent location management Ingesting legacy data in standardized formats (EAD, MARC XML) and non- standard formats (accessions data in delimited form) User and project management functions for configuring the application Tracking of record creation and editing Searching for use in reference settings Context-sensitive help

21 Oct. 2006Archivists' Toolkit at NEA6 Product Description-Features EAD finding aidAccession, resource, name, resource, digital object, location records METS digital objectAcquisition report MARC XML record (resource & digital object) Restrictions list MODS recordIP status list Dublin Core recordResource source list Repository collection profileCollections subject guide Repository production report

21 Oct. 2006Archivists' Toolkit at NEA7 AT2 Proposal –Staff & Partners –Primary objectives –Timeline –Releases Functional testing of beta prototype Since SAA ‘06

21 Oct. 2006Archivists' Toolkit at NEA8 AT Beta Testers American Museum of Natural History* Arizona State University Bates College* Brooklyn Museum of Art* Center for Jewish History* Das Bundesarchiv Georgia Tech Getty Research Institute Harvard University Mount Holyoke College* Nationaal Archief New York University* Northern Arizona University Princeton University Scripps Institution of Oceanography* University of California San Diego* University of Massachusetts Amherst* University of Michigan University of Texas * = partnering repository

21 Oct. 2006Archivists' Toolkit at NEA9

21 Oct. 2006Archivists' Toolkit at NEA10

21 Oct. 2006Archivists' Toolkit at NEA11 Weekly/biweekly individual repository reports Compiled reports distributed by AT team Bug reports Online bug log Discussion List AT Team distributed account AT Info Exchange

21 Oct. 2006Archivists' Toolkit at NEA12 Edmund S. Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library, Bates College Founded in the 1960s, existing as combined unit since ,000 volumes of rare books 1,000 linear feet of College records 4,000 linear feet of manuscripts, 3,000 of which is Muskie- related 3 FTE + 2 grant-funded FTE

21 Oct. 2006Archivists' Toolkit at NEA13 Contribute to a long-needed application built by and for archivists Become part of a community of users to share knowledge and experience Test drive the application, consider its implementation Voice institution’s needs and concerns Why Test?

21 Oct. 2006Archivists' Toolkit at NEA14 Installation –Not configured to work behind a firewall or with a proxy server –Identified as P2P file traffic on my network Starting out

21 Oct. 2006Archivists' Toolkit at NEA15 Time commitment Unfiltered information in a variety of places Life of a beta tester

21 Oct. 2006Archivists' Toolkit at NEA16

21 Oct. 2006Archivists' Toolkit at NEA17

21 Oct. 2006Archivists' Toolkit at NEA18 Time commitment Unfiltered information in a variety of places— where to look for what? Need to reinstall application often No onsite technical support Typos, omissions and bugs are the norm Neither the application nor the manual are complete The manual and application don’t always match Not everything is predictable Life of a beta tester

21 Oct. 2006Archivists' Toolkit at NEA19 Intuitive interface with hierarchical display and helpful pop-ups with field definitions The good

21 Oct. 2006Archivists' Toolkit at NEA20

21 Oct. 2006Archivists' Toolkit at NEA21 Intuitive interface with hierarchical display and helpful pop-ups with field definitions Filtering and searching Supports authority work The good

21 Oct. 2006Archivists' Toolkit at NEA22

21 Oct. 2006Archivists' Toolkit at NEA23 Intuitive interface with hierarchical display and helpful pop-ups with field definitions Filtering and searching Supports authority work Track description, accessions, deaccessions, donor info Very detailed and helpful user manual The good

21 Oct. 2006Archivists' Toolkit at NEA24

21 Oct. 2006Archivists' Toolkit at NEA25 Intuitive interface with hierarchical display and helpful pop-ups with field definitions Filtering and searching Supports authority work Track description, accessions, deaccessions, donor info Very detailed and helpful user manual Encourages consistency within and between repositories Automation of encoding The good

21 Oct. 2006Archivists' Toolkit at NEA26 Data entry is labor intensive, and some aspects are not intuitive The bad

21 Oct. 2006Archivists' Toolkit at NEA27

21 Oct. 2006Archivists' Toolkit at NEA28 Data entry is labor intensive, and some aspects are not intuitive Lose flexibility to gain functionality Raises the bar in terms of time, training and expertise by mandating data elements and standards Ingest of legacy data is limited The bad

21 Oct. 2006Archivists' Toolkit at NEA29 Who will adopt the Toolkit? What will be needed for their success? Conclusion

21 Oct. 2006Archivists' Toolkit at NEA30 AT Demonstration

21 Oct. 2006Archivists' Toolkit at NEA31 Questions?

21 Oct. 2006Archivists' Toolkit at NEA32