Bridging the ALM Divide An Integrated Archive-Library-Museum Approach for Hybrid Institutions Dr. Francesco Spagnolo, Dire...
Magnes: A Collecting History <ul><li>Founded in 1962 </li></ul><ul><li>Wide range of collecting areas, including – </li><...
Challenges of Hybrid Institutions Access Catering to a Diversified User Community Research Across Standards Culture Multi...
Learning from One Another, Learning Together (The “Philosophy” of ALM Integration) <ul><li>Extending Museum Models </li><...
Extending Museum Models <ul><ul><li>Authorship, Creatorship and “Parties” </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>Authors and co-au...
Extending Archive Models Varying Notions of “Collection” <ul><ul><ul><li>Facilities </li></ul></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>Do...
Extending Library Models <ul><ul><ul><li>Why MARC Still Matters </li></ul></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>Circulation and Resear...
Integrating ALM <ul><ul><ul><li>Time – Dates and Periods </li></ul></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>Subjects – Local and Global <...
Managing Institutional Change <ul><ul><ul><li>Professional Standards </li></ul></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>Global Perspectiv...
Technological Details <ul><ul><li>System used: IDEA@ALM on MS-SQL database </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Databanks </li></ul>...
System Structure: Databanks <ul><ul><li>A databank is a virtual database into which records may be sorted and stored. </l...
System Structure: Templates <ul><ul><li>The templates are organizational structures in which specified fields are displaye...
System Structure: Templates
System Structure: Templates
System Structure: Managing Standards <ul><ul><li>Metadata Standards Applied to Magnes Installation: </li></ul></ul><ul><ul...
System Structure: Mastering Multilingual Capabilities <ul><ul><li>Unicode </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Synonyms </li></ul></...
Technological Structure: Searches <ul><ul><li>Search across all databanks, templates, and fields </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><l...
Technological Structure: Flexibility <ul><ul><li>Power Users may modify: </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Fields </li></ul></ul...
Big Picture – How We Got Here <ul><ul><li>Evaluated our information management needs </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Received s...
Struggles & What We’ve Learned <ul><ul><li>Staff adoption has been slow, since we have been making changes along the way <...
Next Steps <ul><ul><li>Continue training staff on procedures </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Analyze current records </li></ul>...
Thank you!! <ul><ul><li>Francesco Spagnolo: fspagnolo@magnes.org </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Perian Sully: [email_address]...
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Bridging The ALM Divide - An Integrated Archive-Library-Museum Approach for Hybrid Institutions

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This session presented a case study of how the Magnes is using new, innovative technology to make their archive, library, and museum information compatible in one centralized collection management system. This project is designed to facilitate research, sharing, and collection management by making all material types searchable and linkable to one another, while using shared metadata sets (eg. some of the Magnes’ museum fields are able to be exported to EAD and MARC; some MARC-enabled fields are also exportable into EAD. Many fields are also ISAD-compliant and the Magnes also used CDWA for some data-entry standards and Getty’s ULAN for the creators and artists).

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  • Discuss historical “fiefdoms” and how materials were donated to the institution regardless of collecting type. Also discuss how technologically backwards our institution was.
  • Library: static Archive: semi-static Museum: dynamic Museum wins!
  • *Intellectual and thematic organization of Materials reflect typologies, geographic origins, historical events, etc. (e.g., the Textile, India, or Inquisition “Collections”
  • Create a graphic?
  • Moves to Perian
  • Compliancy with Dublin-Core, Z39.50, ISAD, EAD, MARC – Rewrite this page to discuss how it works with other systems
  • The advantage of a databank is that it allows for searching within discrete sets of information, while also allowing searching across any and all sets. (add arrows between ALM databanks)
  • Illustrate how each field may have multiple standards applied to it and work in different templates or databanks.
  • Users may create new fields, new databanks, new templates, and layouts. Like any self-customizable system, there are dangers inherent in allowing free-rein of customization. So it’s important to look at the overall architecture and decide how it will work with for the institution and the rest of the field. Internet portal reflects structure of the system.

    • Bridging The ALM Divide - An Integrated Archive-Library-Museum Approach for Hybrid Institutions

    1. 1. Bridging the ALM Divide An Integrated Archive-Library-Museum Approach for Hybrid Institutions Dr. Francesco Spagnolo, Director of Research and Collections Perian Sully, Collection Information Manager & Web Programs Strategist The Magnes, Berkeley, CA Presented at the American Association of Museums Annual Conference, Philadelphia, May 3, 2009
    2. 2. Magnes: A Collecting History <ul><li>Founded in 1962 </li></ul><ul><li>Wide range of collecting areas, including – </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Jews of the American West </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>global Jewish Diaspora </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Jews in “exotic” locations – China, North Africa, India </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>ceremonial objects </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>fine and decorative arts </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>music </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>rare books </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>cultural ephemera </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>historical documents </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Three major collecting departments - </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Western Jewish History Center: 500 archival collections </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Blumenthal Rare Book and Manuscript Library - ~10,000 items </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Permanent Museum Collection - ~15,000 items </li></ul></ul>
    3. 3. Challenges of Hybrid Institutions Access Catering to a Diversified User Community Research Across Standards Culture Multicultural Aspects Bridging Textual, Documental and Material Cultures Language Multilingualism and the Levels of Access Script, Transliteration, Translation Whose Vision? One Vision! Cultural Models & Database Structure
    4. 4. Learning from One Another, Learning Together (The “Philosophy” of ALM Integration) <ul><li>Extending Museum Models </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Extending Archive Models </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Extending Library Models </li></ul></ul>
    5. 5. Extending Museum Models <ul><ul><li>Authorship, Creatorship and “Parties” </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>Authors and co-authors </li></ul></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>Creators and co-creators </li></ul></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>Donors </li></ul></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Accession Numbering </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Tracking Movement </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>Locations </li></ul></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>Containers </li></ul></ul></ul>
    6. 6. Extending Archive Models Varying Notions of “Collection” <ul><ul><ul><li>Facilities </li></ul></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>Donations </li></ul></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>Collecting Areas </li></ul></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>Intellectual Organization of Materials </li></ul></ul></ul>
    7. 7. Extending Library Models <ul><ul><ul><li>Why MARC Still Matters </li></ul></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>Circulation and Research </li></ul></ul></ul>
    8. 8. Integrating ALM <ul><ul><ul><li>Time – Dates and Periods </li></ul></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>Subjects – Local and Global </li></ul></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>Synonyms and Preferred Terms </li></ul></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>Meta Collection </li></ul></ul></ul>
    9. 9. Managing Institutional Change <ul><ul><ul><li>Professional Standards </li></ul></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>Global Perspectives </li></ul></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>Interoperability of Staff Functions </li></ul></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><ul><li>– Workflow as Ping-pong </li></ul></ul></ul></ul>
    10. 10. Technological Details <ul><ul><li>System used: IDEA@ALM on MS-SQL database </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Databanks </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Templates </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Managing Standards: EAD, MARC, ISAD </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Multilingual capabilities with Unicode support </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Synonym Dictionaries </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Global Searches and Queries </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Flexibility </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Compliancy with many standards and languages </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>for information sharing. </li></ul></ul>
    11. 11. System Structure: Databanks <ul><ul><li>A databank is a virtual database into which records may be sorted and stored. </li></ul></ul>Magnes IDEA@ALM Database Archive Databank Library Databank Exhibitions Databank Administrative Databank Library Databank Museum Databank
    12. 12. System Structure: Templates <ul><ul><li>The templates are organizational structures in which specified fields are displayed. </li></ul></ul>Archive Databank Library Databank Museum Databank Administrative Databank Collection Series Sub-Series Document Photo Rare Book Manuscript Object Individuals Image Location Valuation Condition Ketubbah
    13. 13. System Structure: Templates
    14. 14. System Structure: Templates
    15. 15. System Structure: Managing Standards <ul><ul><li>Metadata Standards Applied to Magnes Installation: </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>EAD </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>MARC </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>ISAD </li></ul></ul>Scope and Content (Archive) ‏ EAD: <scopecontent> MARC: 520 ISAD: 3.3.1 Description (Museum) ‏ Abstract (Library) ‏
    16. 16. System Structure: Mastering Multilingual Capabilities <ul><ul><li>Unicode </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Synonyms </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Phonetic searches </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Translations </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Transliterations </li></ul></ul>
    17. 17. Technological Structure: Searches <ul><ul><li>Search across all databanks, templates, and fields </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Narrow searches to specific fields, databanks, and templates </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Boolean, fuzzy, exact, phonetic searches </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Synonym and preferred-term searches </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Multilingual searches </li></ul></ul>
    18. 18. Technological Structure: Flexibility <ul><ul><li>Power Users may modify: </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Fields </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Databanks </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Templates </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Layouts and structures </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Which fields are displayed on internet portal </li></ul></ul>
    19. 19. Big Picture – How We Got Here <ul><ul><li>Evaluated our information management needs </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Received support from the Executive Director and Board </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Interviewed staff & analyzed staff workflow </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Worked with vendor to develop system based on institutional needs </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Determined which individual professional processes could be rethought to support the whole </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Created workflow within the system to support information access </li></ul></ul>
    20. 20. Struggles & What We’ve Learned <ul><ul><li>Staff adoption has been slow, since we have been making changes along the way </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Confusion about how to use the system and adopting new practices </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Need for more, regular training to familiarize staff with system and methodology </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Took a lot longer than anticipated </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Housekeeping of practices can be traumatizing </li></ul></ul>
    21. 21. Next Steps <ul><ul><li>Continue training staff on procedures </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Analyze current records </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Fine-tune magnesalm.org for public launch </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Develop ongoing programs and system modifications to enhance research </li></ul></ul>
    22. 22. Thank you!! <ul><ul><li>Francesco Spagnolo: fspagnolo@magnes.org </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Perian Sully: [email_address] </li></ul></ul>

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