Opening Your Collections

An Overview of Two Open-Source

Descriptive Tools

ALABI 2008Jason Fowler, CA

Archives and Special Collections LibrarianThe Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

What Are the Descriptive Tools?

A descriptive tool is an instrument to help describe your collections

Could be a form, template, software package Archon and the Archivists' Toolkit are software

packages

Why Should I Use Them?

They create consistency for your descriptions and make it easier to share your data and conform to standards

They lessen the number of your decisions They ease training and speed up data entry They make it easier to create access to collection

descriptions These tools are free

What is Open Source?

What is Open-Source?

Often synonymous with “free software” Software with an OSI recognized software license

Free to redistribute Source Code is available Derived works allowed

Both Archon and Archivists' Toolkit are licensed as Open Source

So What?

Both Archon and Archivists' Toolkit are free (as in lunch) to download

Both Archon and Archivists' Toolkit are free (as in speech) to use

Both Archon and Archivists' Toolkit are free (as in speech) to study and tweak

Both Archon and Archivists' Toolkit are free (as in speech) to change and redistribute

Disclaimer: Free Ain't Cheap

Open source software may have tangible costs Open source often has intangible costs

More time and money devoted to staff training Can have a steep learning curve May have very little support or documentation May undergo obsolescence

What is Archon?

Web-based tool for description and access Designed by the staff at the University of Illinois at

Urbana-Champaign and funded internally Can be downloaded at http://archon.org/ Designed with both end-users (researchers) and

archivists in mind Modular – only install what you need

What does Archon do?

For archivists... Allows archivists to manage accessions Allows archivists to manage creators and subjects Assists archivists in managing and describing collections Allows archivists to upload digital objects Allows archivists to import and export EAD and MARC Allows archivists to keep track of researcher

appointments

What does Archon do?

For researchers... Allows researchers to find collections more easily Allows researchers to see collection relationships Allows researchers to access digital images Allows researchers to set up accounts Allows researchers to request appointments

What is the Archivists' Toolkit?

GUI-based tool for management and description of archives

Cooperative project of UCSD Libraries, NYU Libraries, and the Five College Libraries

Initially funded by an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Grant

Can be downloaded at http://archiviststoolkit.org/ Designed with archivists in mind

What does AT do?

For archivists... Allows archivists to manage the full life cycle of records Allows archivists to manage creators and subjects Assists archivists in managing and describing collections Allows archivists to import and export EAD, MARC,

and HTML

What does AT do?

For archivists... Allows archivists to manage metadata for digital objects Allows archivists to export METS, MODS, and

Dublin Core Allows archivists to generate really nice reports

Which System is for Me?

Not necessarily a choice. Things common to both systems

Platform independent Fairly intuitive Granular permissions Manage accessions, collections, subjects, creators,

locations, and digital objects Negligible system requirements Multiple repositories

Which System is for Me

If making a choice, you must assess your needs Do you need a fully developed reporting suite? Do you want a nice public interface for your users? Do you hate dealing with software issues? Do you have lots of minutiae to track (rights

management, donor details, etc.) ? Do you want to access easily from any location? Do you want to be able to customize the software?