Exploring archives online Joanne Fitton and Jonathan Ainsworth EMu Users Conference 23 April 2015

Our collections online – and how we got there New Special Collections website Developed single-search of all Special Collections Scale of task and project management EMu functionality and our constraints

Where we were Complex web of online finding aids –11 different interfaces –Manuscripts in the Library catalogue as PDF attachments Complex web of other finding aids remained! –Printed lists –Spreadsheets for staff

First steps EMu purchased 2012 Basic configuration and made live for limited staff use March 2013 contained less than 10% of our data Major programme of data migration began

Data migration: EAD

Data migration: Project content

Data migration: Indexes

Data migration: Handlists

Challenges What data do we have? Data quality and variability Thinking ahead –structuring data for resource discovery –fields required for resource discovery Compromise

Integration with other Library systems Library Management System for rare books Library’s Digital Asset Management System for digital surrogates and born-digital archives Library’s web content management system for web pages and applications

Developing our own interface Looked at the IMu interface, but… Decided to develop our own using the IMu API: –Deal with our different data types –Integration with our web CMS and our DAMS –We wanted to do more –Ongoing new requirements, more development

November new search and browse A single search Archives-relevant information Records enriched with digital media Supporting contextual information

Zoom

More content We wanted more: –Supporting information: collection guides, subject strengths –Interactive learning resources –Sustainable project websites –Online exhibitions Avoid orphaned and hard-to-maintain content Interlink as much as possible to improve resource discovery

Zoom

Challenges Archival records have ‘unusual’ features (the hierarchy for one) Wide range of users (students, researchers, public) Management pressure to ‘get stuff out there’ ASAP Importance of digital content versus it’s relative rarity

Solutions Benchmarking with range of other websites Repeated user testing: at design stage, pre-release stage, and live stage (and ongoing) Compromise on data quality and coverage Commitment to ongoing review and development driven by user requirements

EMu – what it did for us Catalogue gathered all our data into one place (basis of the single search) Narratives allowed proper curation of supporting information (guides, learning resources, exhibitions, project websites) Interlinking captured, and curated, business knowledge on relationships, and auto-generated links on the website

EMu – what it couldn’t do Return search results fast enough (sometimes) Order search results by relevance Provide faceting (without a lot of work) So we used another tool for initial searching

Summary All our data in one place – far easier to access and reuse EMu is starting to contain “business knowledge”, not just data (e.g. the links between records and modules) IMu API allows full exploitation of information in EMu Successfully integrated with other major Library systems

What next… Developing collection management: –Reader services –Events and exhibitions Data quality?