Developing and Redeveloping

Digital Collections Data at

The Henry FordEllice Engdahl, Digital Collections & Content Manager

Network Detroit

September 25, 2015

• ~250,000 objects

• ~25 million archival

documents and

photographs

• Historic audio and

video

• 246 objects on loan to

70 institutions

• ~21,000 artifacts on

display in Museum and

Village (~5-10% of non-

archives collection)

• More than 30 distinct

collections storage

areas totaling nearly

200,000 sq. ft.Eye Portrait, circa 1800 (61.151.40)

Our Collections:

“The Bottomless Pit of

Wonderfulness”

pre-2010: “Random

Acts of Digitization”

2010: THF announces

intent to digitize all

collections holdings

2011: THF begins

using EMu as its

collections

management system

and repository of

record for digital

collections data and

image metadata

2010-2015: Artifacts

online grow from 300

to 43,000+

Factory Workers Testing Newly Manufactured Toasters, circa 2000 (2008.122.188)

Collections Digitization at THF

Next Stop: Digital Transformation

FROM

TO

Collections Access User Types/User Goals

User types

• Students

• Educators

• Researchers

• Campus visitors

• Enthusiasts

High-level User goals

• Understand what the archive/THF is

• Find artifacts

• Use & share artifact records

• Order (images, etc.)

School's Out Target Game, 1902-1914 (00.4.5224)

New Requirement: Archival Collection

Records

• Display archival

collection-level

records within

THF’s digital

collections

• Associate

individual items

with their

collection

• Cross-search

archival

collections

records with

individual artifact

recordsPhoto Archivist Win Sears and Co-Worker in the Ford Archives at Fair Lane,

Dearborn, Michigan, 1952-1957 (P.O.6193)

Why?

• Make our

collections

cross-

searchable

• Provide context

for individual

archival items

already

digitized

• Allow users to

understand

what items from

a collection

have and have

not yet been

digitized

Detroit Public Library, Detroit, Michigan, circa 1921 (37.102.136)

Challenge #1: Define

search & display for

collection records

• Determine what fields will be

used within our collections

management system, incl. those

that overlap with individual item

records

• Identify useful fields to include in

basic and advanced searches

• Decide metadata fields to identify

collection level records and

finding aid PDFs

Jigsaw Puzzle of Manhattan Island, New York, circa

1932 (41.214.1593)

Challenge #2: Create

plan to populate

collections records

• Determine which collections

have finding aids, and which of

these we have or have not

digitized material from

• Determine which collections

without finding aids we’ve

digitized material from

• Finalize number of collections

records to be created for launch

• Integrate creation and

publishing of collection records

into archival workflowsProvidence and Worcester Canal Boat

Company Schedule from Newspaper, Rhode

Island, 1829 (82.129.190)

Challenge #3: Draw the line on scope

• Defer desired

requirement

to display

digitized

collections

within a

functional

finding aid

hierarchy

• Defer desired

requirement

to create and

search

transcriptions

for documents

Draftsmen Working in the Lofting Division for B-24 Assembly, Willow Run Bomber Plant, 1942 (P.189.17502)

New Requirement:

Online Image

Delivery & Image

Zoom

• Allow users to zoom into high-

res artifact imagery details

• Automate previously manual

delivery of high-resolution

collections images

• Revise service fee structure and

licensing policies

Advertising Poster, "Mother Needs a Ford, Buy It Now," circa

1925 (69.114.2.2)

Why?

Actors inside Logan County Courthouse, Greenfield Village, 1983

(EI.1929.880)

• Institutional revenue

funds the deployment of

our digital repository

and content

• We want to make our

collections as

accessible as possible

• Rights are complex and

we are not lawyers

• Free up additional

digitization bandwidth

through automation and

less rights-checking

Challenge

#1: Using

High-Res

Images

Online for

the First

Time

• Standardize & resolve issues with storage for master image files

• Populate collections management system records for images with

filepaths to network storage location of master image files

• Create mechanisms for access, selection, FTP of files

Handmade Tape Recording Featuring Live Performance of Jim Croce, 1976-1977

(96.12.10)

Challenge #2:

Guidelines for Online

Delivery of Images

• Move away from misapplied

Creative Commons statements

on individual artifacts to general

policies encouraging legal use

• Develop brief, simple guidelines

for staff to determine when

images can be downloaded

• Populate download status of

images within collections

management system

Star Wars Action Figure, Stormtrooper, 1978-1985

(2000.84.2)

Challenge #3: Automate

Manual Image Delivery • Develop new

workflows to

minimize staff

time delivering

image files &

processing

payments

• Create basic

metadata

standards in

order to get

new records

online quickly

for online order

fulfillment

Starwood Hotel Card Key, 2010 (2011.88.1)

New Requirement: Enhance Online

Artifact Data• Create &

display links

to related

content &

artifacts

• Display

and/or search

“new” fields

from

collections

mgmt. system

• Make

collections

mgmt. system

changes in

conjunction

with website

changesFirst Ford Model T Production Card, September 27, 1908 (64.167.641.2)

Why?

• Share as much as we can of

what we know about our

collection

• Help users find out more from

us (or others)

• Make our data as granular as

possible to enable internal and

external future use

World War II Poster, "Keep Your Machinery in the Fight,

Share with Neighbors," 1943 (94.5.2)

Challenge #1:

Previously Internal

Data Becomes Public

• Clean up data (measurement

notes, technique, color,

inscriptions)

• Review our cataloging practices

and vocabularies with an eye

toward users

• Ensure internal consistency in

the fields and terms used

Computer Perfection Game, 1979-1985 (99.224.1)

Challenge #2:

Populate New Fields

• Move titles of works from

general subject field to title-

specific subject field

• Move names of events from

general subject field to

event-specific subject field

• Time switchover to avoid

duplication

Racing Poster, Race Cars at Le Mans, "24 Heures du

Mans," 1966 (89.1.1734.120)

Challenge #3: Develop Rules & Delivery

Strategies

• Related

content

delivered

dually—via

algorithms in

website CMS

or through

collections

mgmt. system

• Related

objects

populated

within

collections

mgmt. systemHenry Ford Posing with Painting by C. Bennett Linder, circa 1930 (P.O.6684)

Oh, and…• Define fields to be included in simple search

• Define fields to be included in advanced search

• Implement ability to shift default image from first

sequential image for archival material

• Migrate 800+ oral history video clips to digital

collections

• Determine how to handle objects with large

numbers of multimedia

• Add “Other Names” as searchable (but not

display) field

• Upgrade our collections management system to

lengthen fields, remove empty tags from XML

output, change format of multimedia credit field

• Support geotagging data (for future app

development)

• Release constraint requiring creation of

duplicate multimedia records when attached to

more than one catalog record

• Discuss (and reject) idea of “short title” field

• Develop plan, formats, metadata, data structure

to support 360-degree artifact views, both

internal & external

• Rethink existing “set” concept & consider

delivery mechanism

• Capture collections-related metadata &

narratives from existing microsites before

they sunset, & digitize as many of these

objects as possible

• Develop or modify systems & processes to

support delivery of data via daily XML export

from our collections management system &

FTP for automated loading into indexing tool

• Modify existing or create new workflows for

approving & tracking harvested records,

deleting records, error handling

• Develop most useful possible requirements

for supporting date searching, given

limitations of our existing data (e.g. formats,

ranges, “circa” dates, unknown dates, subject

vs. creation date, etc.)

• Clean up miscellaneous video formats (WMV

vs. MP4)

• Locate and reload videos that cannot be

reprocessed/optimized through 3rd-party

video platform

Lessons Learned

• Until you use any piece

of data, you cannot be

sure how consistent

you’ve been with it

• Your data is never

“done”

• It’s a challenge to find a

balance between

planning for future needs

and the number of hours

in the day

• Building a system is a

related but distinct task

from populating that

systemStudents in a Classroom at Henry Ford Institute of Agricultural

Engineering, England, 1939 (P.188.26304)

Sneak Peek

Thank you!

Ellice EngdahlDigital Collections & Content Manager, The Henry Ford

@ErisuEEE