The Archivists’ Toolkit
Lee Mandell
Kelcy Shepherd
Brad Westbrook
MCN Presentation
Nov. 3, 2005
Overview
• Project Summary and Update
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Project Objective and Staff
First year efforts
Goals for second year
Prospects beyond the grant period
• AT Software Specification
– Overview of features
– Functional modules
– Application architecture and technology
• Demonstration example
Archivists' Toolkit - MCN Presentation, November 3, 2005
Project Objectives
To build digital tools that will:
• Support archival processing in a manner that promotes
efficiency and standardization
• Integrate key functions in the archival lifecycle:
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Accessioning
Description
Subjects and name management
Location management
• Produce outputs such as EAD, EAC, METS, MARCXML
and various administrative outputs
• Be deployable in a range of archival settings
Archivists' Toolkit - MCN Presentation, November 3, 2005
Project Team
• Brian Schottlaender, UCSD, Co-Principal Investigator
• Carol Mandel, NYU, Co-Principal Investigator
• Brad Westbrook, Proj. Mgr & Spec Team Leader
• Lee Mandell, NYU, Design Team Mgr
• Jason Varghese, NYU, Programmer
• Kelcy Shepherd, Analyst
• Brian Stevens, Analyst
• Luc Declerck, UCSD, and David Ackerman, NYU,
Administrative Oversight
Archivists' Toolkit - MCN Presentation, November 3, 2005
Project Advisory Board
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Robin Chandler, CDL
Michael Fox, MHS
Merrilee Proffitt, RLG
Richard Szary, Yale
Guenter Waibel, RLG
Beth Yakel, U Mich
Archivists' Toolkit - MCN Presentation, November 3, 2005
Archivists' Toolkit - MCN Presentation, November 3, 2005
Archivists' Toolkit - MCN Presentation, November 3, 2005
Goals for Second Year
• Build Prototype from AT Specification
– Interface Design
• Compose User Documentation
– User Manual
– Application Help Module
– Installation Scripts
• Test Application and Documentation
– Functional Testing
– Usability Testing
• Formulate Business Plan
• Release Tested Application
Archivists' Toolkit - MCN Presentation, November 3, 2005
Prospects Beyond the Grant Period
• Modular Design Architecture in Open Source Software
• Possible Extensions include
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More Robust Collection Management Module
Additional Tools to Support Ingest of Local Data
Extended Digital Object Module
User Registration / Resource Use Module
• Shared Development
Archivists' Toolkit - MCN Presentation, November 3, 2005
Application Features
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Output neutral data
Modular
Customizable
Easy to use
Secure
Stand-alone or multi-user network
Context-sensitive help
Open source
Archivists' Toolkit - MCN Presentation, November 3, 2005
Design Overview
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Administration/Project Management
Ingest
Accession
Description
Location
Names
Subjects
Search
Audit Tracking
Archivists' Toolkit - MCN Presentation, November 3, 2005
Application/Project Management
• Establish repository record
• Manage users
• Customize default fields, required fields,
input forms
• Create project definitions
Archivists' Toolkit - MCN Presentation, November 3, 2005
Ingest Module
• EAD version 1.0 and
2002 (XML)
• MARC XML
Archivists' Toolkit - MCN Presentation, November 3, 2005
Accession Module
• Preliminary descriptive information
• Some collection management fields
• Descriptive and administrative outputs:
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Accession record
Accession receipt
Acquisitions report
Processing reports
More…
Archivists' Toolkit - MCN Presentation, November 3, 2005
Description Module
• Archival resources and digital objects
• Inputs based on DACS, ISAD(G)
• Outputs:
•EAD
•METS
•MARC XML
•MODS
•Dublin Core
•PREMIS
•Collections guide
•Printed finding aids
•Administrative reports
•More…
Archivists' Toolkit - MCN Presentation, November 3, 2005
Location Module
• For tracking “permanent” locations
• Accommodate a range of practice
• Outputs:
– Location record
– Shelf list
– List of all locations for a resource
Archivists' Toolkit - MCN Presentation, November 3, 2005
Names Module
• Authority control for names (personal,
family, and corporate/conference)
• Includes fields for contact information,
biographical/historical note
• Supports see also and see references
• Outputs:
– Source record
– Sources list
– EAC record
Archivists' Toolkit - MCN Presentation, November 3, 2005
Subject Module
• Basic authority control for subjects
• Can create records in advance or on an asneeded basis
• Outputs:
– Repository subject guide
Archivists' Toolkit - MCN Presentation, November 3, 2005
Search Module
• For moderated use in reference setting
• Features:
– Search for resource by resource ID, title,
creator, or subject
– Search for resources, resource components,
surrogates, and surrogate components by
keywords in title
– Search for locations by resource ID
Archivists' Toolkit - MCN Presentation, November 3, 2005
Record Tracking
• Uniquely identifies each record
• Allows repository to track creation and
editing of records
Archivists' Toolkit - MCN Presentation, November 3, 2005
Archivists’ Toolkit:
Application Architecture and Technology
Lee Mandell, Design Team Manager
Back End (database)
• Developed with mySQL
• Will work with many SQL databases both open
source and commercial
– Partial list: DB2, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, Sybase, Microsoft
SQL Server, Informix, Ingres ...
• Why SQL and not other technologies like xml and
object databases?
– Maturity of SQL databases
– Likelihood of local IT departments having SQL expertise
– Many existing open source projects to integrate into the
projects.
Archivists' Toolkit - MCN Presentation, November 3, 2005
Front End (Client)
• Needs: Cross platform (Mac OSX, Windows 98+,
Linux), open source, sophisticated user interface
capabilities
• Solution: Java desktop client
– Many more user interface options than a web based client
– Will run on any computer with Java 5 (1.5) installed
• Client and database can be installed on the same
computer or on different computers.
– Single machine configuration
– Local network configuration
– Wide area network configuration
Archivists' Toolkit - MCN Presentation, November 3, 2005
Open Source
• SourceForge
– Project will be listed by the end of the year.
– Source code will be available in an early alpha version early
next year for viewing only
– When we enter beta testing we will be open to other
developers joining the effort
• Anyone will be able to download the source code and
use it as they wish.
• We hope a developer community will grow out of the
project
Archivists' Toolkit - MCN Presentation, November 3, 2005
The Great Divide
or in technical terms
The Paradigm Mismatch
Java
SQL
Object Oriented
Programming Language
Relational Database
Archivists' Toolkit - MCN Presentation, November 3, 2005
Hibernate
A persistence layer
• An open source project to bridge the
differences between Java and relational
databases
• Saves us from rolling our own
• Allows easy swapping of back end
databases
Archivists' Toolkit - MCN Presentation, November 3, 2005
A Live Demonstration
Archivists' Toolkit - MCN Presentation, November 3, 2005
http://archiviststoolkit.org/