Better Description for Better Discovery

I have just been re-reading a recent report: The Metadata is the Interface: Better Description for Better Discovery of Archives and Special Collections, Synthesized from User Studies, Jennifer Schaffner, OCLC Research (2009).

Jennifer's report is well worth reading. It manages that most admirable of goals: a succinct report full of useful and relevant information that summarises others' findings. Therefore, it is quite difficult to summarise the content. However, I will draw out some of the observations and conclusions that I think are particularly worth highlighting.

• People want to discover information by themselves and at the network level, not the institutional level. Less mediation is a good thing.
• Archivists often focus on what collections consist of, which is at odds with researchers, who want to learn what collections are about.
• Subject access is rated highly by many users, though they may use keyword searching rather than structured terminology
• It is difficult to compare studies because of an inconsistent use of terminology
• Researchers prefer quality content, but above that they want more descriptions, even if they are minimal, in order to open up more archival content
• Some users prefer summary records, some prefer detail - from our user studies we cannot really draw conclusions as to which is preferred
• Successful discovery currently requires too much understanding from the researcher of what they are looking for before they even begin
• Archivists should give more thought to creating descriptions that are network friendly. Most people start their searches with Google.
• Archivists should give more thought to effective relevance ranking of search results

I thought it was also worth drawing out a few of the points made by Cory Nimer and J. Gordon Daines III in their report, What Do You Mean IT Doesn't Make Sense? Redesigning Finding Aids from the User's Perspective (Journal of Archival Organization, vol 6/4, Haworth Press 2008). Some of these points are made by others and the article references them in a literature review (apologies for not naming all those referenced). Nimer and Daines also explain their own project for The L. Tom Perry Special Collections delivery of online finding aids (not yet complete).

• Archivists should re-examine the principles that underpin archival arrangement and description and have more focus on user requirements so that online finding aids are more intuitive and easy to use
• Enabling user annotation would augment finding aids and may make them more intellectually accessible to a wider audience
• There is a significant divergence and a lack of consensus in archival display. The users that Nimer and Daines talked to showed a level of dissatisfaction with the entire approach to EAD display; they wanted more direct access to item-level descriptions
• Users want direct access to items but are unable to understand the descriptions without adequate context, so closer integration of context is important
• Terminology can cause some confusion but generally users are quick to understand words when they are used in context

We are looking to learn from these sorts of reports, case studies and user studies in order to improve the Archives Hub website. We already provide direct access to item-level descriptions, but our new interface will give a better indication of hierarchy and enable users to navigate from the item level up through the context of the collection. We plan to undertake more user requirements analysis over the coming year, to help us to make the Archives Hub a more intuitive and rewarding experience for a broader base of users.

UK Archives Discovery Network is born!

The National Archives Network of the UK (NAN) has been around for some time. It had a reasonably high profile around the turn of the century (that sounds weird!) when the cross-searching networks were being set up, but then in the following years its remit and purpose became less clear.

However, a great deal has been achieved over the past 10 years. The NAN projects and hubs have involved literally hundreds of archive repositories across the UK, ranging from public authorities through to the archives of small charities, and the result is that archives have had some resources to enable them to convert existing descriptions for contribution to the national projects, and that users have a number of very valuable cross-searching sites to use in order to facilitate discovery.

The vision was always to provide one gateway to search archives across the UK. Whilst this may still be a desirable vision, it may not be a realistic one, given the resources that it would involve and the issues of effective cross-searching of disparate descriptions. However, what we can do is to move towards opening up our data in ways that encourage cross-searching, sharing and working together to learn about how we can benefit users.

Over the past year, the NAN has been thinking about where it should be heading. At a recent meeting (August 2009), it was decided to change the name to the UK Archives Discovery Network, to reflect the UK-wide status of the network and to emphasise that we are about facilitating discovery for users.

The aims of the UKAD Network include working together in the best interests of archive users, surfacing descriptions, opening up data, sharing experiences and increasing links between repositories and networks. Whilst it may take some time for the Network to realise its remit, there are already benefits happening as a result of coming together, talking and sharing ideas and experiences.

I hope that the community continues down this path, because I think that it has become more important than ever to work together and really consider interoperability. Creating closed systems, however impressive they are in themselves, means continuing in a silo-based mentality, which is not truly responding to users' expectations.

We have a social network site, which provides a fairly informal way of communicating:

http://archivesnetwork.ning.com/

There is also a JISC listserv: archives-discovery-network@jiscmail.ac.uk. We encourage archivists to use this to raise any issues associated with cross-searching, data standards, use of technology and archive networks.

We hope that archivists will be keen to use the UKAD network as a means to foster connections and collaborate on projects. Here's to the next 10 years - goodness only knows where we will have reached by then!

Image: Flickr cc. Jan Leenders

Charles Darwin and the Beagle Collections in the University of Cambridge

Caricature of Darwin as a student riding on the back of a beetle, done by a Cambridge friend of his, Albert Way. CUL MS DAR 204:29. Provided by Cambridge University Library. copyright © Cambridge University Library.

A Voyage Round the World This month the Archives Hub is highlighting Cambridge University Library's collections on Darwin which constitute the world’s major archive of Darwin manuscripts, books and letters. As part of the celebrations marking the bicentenary of Darwin’s birth Cambridge University Library is holding an exhibition: "A Voyage Round the World". at The Exhibition Centre, Cambridge University Library.

Monday 6 July–Wednesday 23 December 2009 (closed 31 August and 14–19 September inclusive)

Monday–Friday 09.00–18.00 Saturday 09.00–16.30 Sunday closed Admission Free

The exhibition will be co-ordinated with temporary and permanent exhibitions elsewhere in the University, and together these will provide an unparalleled opportunity to explore Darwin’s life and work. July's collections of the month: Charles Darwin and the Beagle Collections in the University of Cambridge.

International Archives Day 9th June 2009

Did you know that today is International Archives Day? This is the 2nd International Archives Day ever held and 9th June was chosen because the International Council on Archives (ICA) was founded on 9th June 1948. Last year was the First International Archives Day, coinciding with the 60th Anniversary of ICA. For more information about this and the history of ICA, go to the Unesco Archives website. Over the last year the Archives Hub has had over 120,000 visits from over 184 countries. The map above gives an indication of international use. One of our contributors, Glasgow University Archive Services, is celebrating International Archives Day by launching an online resource highlighting the international scope and reputation of Glasgow University and its archive collections. The exhibition, searchable by region, will demonstrate the involvement of Scottish businesses on the development of the world economy and the influence that University of Glasgow and staff and students have had on the development of education around the world and on the history of many countries. To go to the resource please see the following link: http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/archives/collections/internationalarchiveday/ If you are interested in international archives you could try the following websites and blogs: Websites: ArchiveGrid: A subscription site where you can find historical documents, personal papers, and family histories held in archives around the world. European Archive: A freely available digital library of archives, with an emphasis on audio-visual materials. MICHAEL UK: MICHAEL aims to provide simple and quick access to the digital collections of museums, libraries and archives from different European countries. Unesco Archives Portal: a gateway to international archive collection websites OCLC WorldCat (Manuscript materials): nearly 1.5 million catalogue records describing archival and manuscript collections and individual manuscripts in public, college and university, and special libraries located throughout North America and around the world. Blogs: Archiefforum.be: An online community which aims to support students and young archivists in their studies and profession by peer help and advise. (Flemish language) ArchivesBlogs: a US blog which is a syndicated collection of blogs by and for archivists. @rchivista: Spanish language blog written by Paco Fernández Cuesta who works at the Archivo de la Real Chancillería de Valladolid: Deseronto Archives Blog: Deseronto Archives is located within Deseronto Public Library, Ontario, Canada Fototoria: German language blog on the history of photography, photo libraries and digitisation Sous la poussière: French language blog written by a Swiss archivist interested in archives and information technology. Yvette 2.0: Yvette Hoitink works at the Nationaal Archief, the National Archives of the Netherlands. Dutch language blog.

Museums neglecting needs of researchers?

A recent RIN report 'Discovering Physical Objects' looks at how researchers find out about collections of objects relevant to their research. The report relates to museum objects rather than archives, but as ever, the Archives Hub feel that its always worth looking at library and museum studies, and seeing how they might apply to the world of archives. Well, the results don't seem to be very surprising. Researchers want online finding aids but are unaware of those that exist; they want contact with curatorial staff; and access to objects amongst museums is inconsistent. I was interested to see that access to online finding aids NOW is more important than access to 'perfect' descriptions. The report states "technological developments that allow researchers and others to easily add to and amend the content of these records have the potential to help all museums and other collections to improve the quality of their records." I assume the report is reflecting what researchers have actually said here, rather than making an assumption, although the wording doesn't make this explicit. On the whole, the report gives the impression that museums are really rather behind the archive community in providing online access to descriptions. I'm curious about the statement that 'only a few have the needs of researchers in mind' when they create their online finding aids - I'd like to know more about this and the the evidence for it. I'm surprised that curators apparently underestimate the value of online finding aids. It certainly seems that museum curators have not generally embraced technical possibilities and are not really into the spirit of collaboration and sharing. The ways forward that the report recommends fit in quite nicely with the Hub's ethos: to make museum descriptions open and interoperable so that people can create their own interfaces sourcing the data. We'll keep an eye on the progress of Culture24 with interest. Image from RIN report: Discovering Physical Objects (2009)

Esther Rantzen eat your heart out…

On 3rd October 2008, I attended the “Finding Archives Day” at The National Archives. I was very excited, I’d never been to The National Archives before and in fact had only really seen it on “Who do you think are?”, so I couldn’t wait to get there in person. As a trained librarian who has been working for the Archives Hub for only a year, I find this whole new world of archives faintly mysterious and fascinating. A little like one of the dark arts. As I walked into the building I realised that I had probably built it up in my mind a little too much. It’s a very large building and has a ‘lake/pond/water feature’ and some nice ducks, but it wasn’t quite as magical as I had anticipated. In fact it seemed pretty similar to the British Library. Functional and doing pretty much what it says on the tin, so I suppose I started my day off a little disappointed. The day for me was to be a mixture of ‘being on’ and learning. I was going to attend the sessions and in between I would be able to demonstrate the Hub to delegates. The day was opened by CEO Natalie Ceeney who explained that they’d had the idea to showcase all the good work that goes on at the National Archive and that this was hopefully to be the first of many such days. She also said that there were 600 National Archives staff, I was quite stunned. There are only 5 of us on the Archives Hub team…but as she went on to describe what some of this good work was and what the day was going to be about, I realised that TNA does…a…LOT. We kicked off with Alex Ritchie giving us an introduction to the National Register of Archives and the annual accessions exercise. The NRA was established in 1945 and is the UK’s oldest archival network. I was fascinated to learn that overseas archives contribute to the NRA and then I thought about it and was a little shocked by how this is actually quite an obvious source of archives considering the amount of emigration from the UK there has been historically. Since 1945, the NRA has made great progress especially since the advent of the Internet, and now has 310,000 index entries and 96,000 links to online finding aids and will obviously continue to grow. Anthony Smith then gave us a demonstration of how to use the NRA to find family and estates papers. Anthony commented that working with family and estates information isn’t simply about the history of the elite but is also a source of social history documenting the economic and political development of those who lived and worked within the estates system. We then had a coffee break and I got to chat to people about how great the Hub is and what a wonderful resource it is for archivists and researchers. After coffee we had an introduction to the Manorial Documents Register (MDR), from Liz Hart, and a description of the complexities of getting the Buckinghamshire and Berkshire MDR online from the project officer, Sarah Charlton. We then had lunch, which was also another chance for me to chat to delegates and show off the Hub. There was then the launch of “Bucks and Berks MDR Online”. This was celebrated with some specially created cupcakes, that I couldn’t help thinking might be a nice idea for a possible future launch of the Archives Hub re-brand – I had visions of chocolate cakes with Hub logos on. After lunch James Travers regaled us with tales of ‘Joe Public’ attempting to sell UK archive material on e-bay without realising that you need an export licence for material over 50 years old. I also was unaware that TNA monitored sales from the major auction houses and from specialist manuscript auctioneers. They provide archives with comparable price information and notify them of potential acquisitions and also make sure no-one is trying to illegally sell manorial documents. Ruth Crumey then went on to tell us about the wonderful new service ‘Your Archives’ which is currently in its beta version. Your archives uses the same software as Wikipedia and allows users to submit articles and comments that they have written about historical records held by TNA. These articles have links back to the relevant NRA records. As a huge advocate of enabling user generated content, I think this will add value to The National Archives site and the extra knowledge that users will add to the collections already exposed by The National Archives can only enhance the research experience. Amy Warner ended the day talking about current projects and future plans of TNA. Amongst other things Amy talked about being involved with the development of Archival Name Authority Files. Ro Cemm then explained about the NRA digitisation project where TNA have specifically targeted archives that did not have the resources themselves to digitise their finding aids. Amy also discussed how TNA want to pursue ways of making it easier to add new content the site and are hoping to take advantage of opportunities offered by new technologies with Google and People Australia. They will also be working on the development of a new Government Policy on Archives. So I could have sworn I knew what TNA did, but it turns out I had barely scratched the surface. A pretty magical place after all…

EAD: your super flexible friend

I've just come across the Smithsonian Archives of American Art online collections. This is a wonderful source, with all the archives digitised and available to view. The navigation available on the site is great, with an image viewer allowing the user to scroll through images, enlarge them and navigate through the folders. It seems to me to be a very well designed site, with a clear information architecture enabling the user to drill down to different levels and get a good sense of exactly where they are. I like the way that they have used the mix of text, photographs and drawings. The site is not perfect though - it does fall down on the use of XHTML, which is not valid. I suspect that the Smithsonian have rather more resources available for this sort of project than many of us are lucky enough to get (although the project did receive external funding from the Terra Foundation for American Art). I was particularly interested in this site because it uses EAD, so it is a great example of the way EAD descriptions can be re-purposed. Whilst for many of us, simple EAD descriptions are all that we have the time and resources to create at present, this shows how using EAD means that we retain the flexibility to create more ambitious sites in the future. If you go to the 'finding aid' link you can see the more traditional EAD description. Image from the Smithsonian Archives of American Art website, under fair use (for non-commercial purposes).