Thoughts on 4 Years of “Thinking Digital” Brian Wilson, The Henry Ford Michigan Archival Association 2014 Annual Meeting
… Henry Ford Statue. Image by Michelle Andonian. ID THF54681
3 Scale, Access, Tools, Workflows Henry Ford Statue. Image by Michelle Andonian. ID THF54681
4 Explore by looking at: Institution-wide Collections Digitization Project New Collection Management System Online Finding Aid Project Projects
Collections Digitization Background Project started 2010 Goal to digitize entirety of holdings –Museum, Village and Archives Multiple departments –Archives, Conservation, Registrars, ITS, Digital Media –10-15 staff on full-time basis Delivers online object records and images …
Collections Digitization Scale Tools Workflow Description Access Preservation Metrics records in 2010; now +27, archival items per year 21,000 CMS records 42,000 image files - Max 2 week turnaround - Number of staff and departments involved …
Collections Digitization Scale Tools Workflow Description Access Preservation Metrics 7 - Cameras, not flatbeds - Faster computers; dual monitors - New software - Employing Project Manager …
Collections Digitization Scale Tools Workflow Description Access Preservation Metrics 8 - Parallel processes - Imaging before cataloging - Selecting entire folders or boxes, not just individual items …
Collections Digitization Scale Tools Workflow Description Access Preservation Metrics 9 - Aggregate and individual description - Reduced depth of description - Description tasks occurring outside of Registrars …
Collections Digitization Scale Tools Workflow Description Access Preservation Metrics 10 -Imaging for access not preservation -Discovery affected by aggregate description -User interface plays a big role …
Collections Digitization Scale Tools Workflow Description Access Preservation Metrics 11 - Digital images are an investment - Investment needs protection - DVDs aren’t sufficient - Storage needs grow quickly - Storage does not decrease - ITS is your friend - Material does not manage itself …
Collections Digitization Scale Tools Workflow Description Access Preservation Metrics 12 - Metrics based solely on objects miss underlying processes - 1 object = 3 records + 6 image files …
New Collection Management System Background Replaced Argus with KE Software EMu New system put in production in 2011 Serves multiple departments –Archives, Conservation, Registrars, ITS System capable of managing archival collections –Not unlike Archivist Toolkit Currently contains +350,000 catalog records …
New Collection Management System Description Workflow Tools 14 - Primary description to be held in CMS - MARC derived from CMS - Common fields with Registrars - Incomplete or in-process records are ok …
New Collection Management System Description Workflow Tools 15 - MARC comes second - Tasks split between departments …
New Collection Management System Description Workflow Tools 16 - Everyone must learn new software - Complex, enterprise type application - Not Excel or Access …
Finding Aid Project Background DALNET grant –Scanned pages = 946 inventories –PT assistant to create finding aids PDFs in web-accessible folder –Folder indexed by Google and ArchiveGrid +260 finding aids publically available finding aids and inventories available to staff …
Finding Aid Project Access Workflow Tools 18 - EAD not the only way - Cross-document search - Google indexing - Linking to other holdings, forms - Effective for other textual docs like photo logs, transcriptions …
Finding Aid Project Access Workflow Tools 19 -Publishing and publically distributing -Create well-defined authoring, review and change process -No more hand changes to paper copies …
Finding Aid Project Access Workflow Tools 20 - Digital does not have to mean complicated - Simple tools can be effective - MS Word and PDF - Web folder and static html page …
… Henry Ford Statue. Image by Michelle Andonian. ID THF54681
Brian Wilson Benson Ford Research Center The Henry Ford Dearborn, Thank You!