collection-level description in practice collection-level description & nof-digitise projects...

Collection-level descriptionin practice

Collection-Level Description & NOF-digitise projectsNOF-digitise programme seminar,

London, 22 February 2002

Bridget Robinson &Pete Johnston

UKOLN, University of Bath

Bath, BA2 7AY

UKOLN is supported by:

[email protected]://www.ukoln.ac.uk/

Collection-level description & NOF-digitise projects, London, 22 Feb 2002

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Collection-level description in practice

• Collection-level description– before CLD…– in archives– in museums– in libraries– in RSLP– in the JISC/DNER– in the NOF-digitise programme


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CLDs before CLD….

• Resource managers/providers create CLDs without calling them CLDs!

– summary guides– directories– descriptions of institution’s “holdings”– etc


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CLDs in archives

• Description of aggregates as central feature of descriptive practice

– “Multi-level” description

• “Collections” defined by provenance of items• Archival emphasis on context of item• CLD embedded in standards for archival

description– International Standard for Archival Description

(General) (ISADG)– Encoded Archival Description (EAD)


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CLDs in archives (2)

• AIM25–http://www.aim25.ac.uk/– RSLP project– ISAD(G) collection(fonds)-level

descriptions (some sub-collections) – archives/manuscript collections in HE

institutions & learned societies in London area

– also exports XML (experimentally!) as– EAD documents; RSLP CD RDF/XML records;

simple DC records via OAI


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CLDs in archives (3)

• Archives Hub–http://www.archiveshub.ac.uk/– JISC service at MIMAS (Manchester)– EAD collection(fonds)-level descriptions

for archive collections in UK universities & colleges

– some hierarchical descriptions– EAD supports description down to item level

– Z39.50 target


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CLDs in museums

• Tendency to focus on description of object• But notion of “collection” is used

– collection management– collection assessment/mapping

• Various criteria – type/form of item– subject– ownership/source

• Some collection-level description– little standardisation?– some use of EAD, Dublin Core


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CLDs in museums (2)

• Cornucopia–http://www.cornucopia.org.uk/– Resource service– CLDs for UK museums– data from range of existing sources– mapping to RSLP CD schema– cross-domain considerations e.g. subject

terminologies


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CLDs in museums (3)

• 24 hour Museum–http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/– developed by mda/Campaign for

Museums; now independent charity– summary CLDs– also details of events, exhibitions, “trails”,

teaching resources etc


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CLDs in libraries

• Tendency to focus on description of item– well-established standards (MARC, AACR2)

• Until recently, collection-level description informal, unstructured

• Subject-based collections– items dispersed– complex relationships

• Standards– some use of MARC for CLD (especially in USA)– adoption of RSLP CD schema in RSLP programme


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CLDs in libraries (2)

• SCONE–http://scone.strath.ac.uk/– RSLP project– CLDs for holdings of libraries in Scotland– complex relationships between collections– support

– collaborative collection management– “landscaping” in CAIRNS

– implements RSLP CD schema


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CLD in RSLP

• Support for researchers– discovery of/access to collections– collaborative management of collections

• Collections in RSLP– projects describing primarily (but not

exclusively) collections of physical items– projects also describing digital catalogues

(which describe physical items) i.e. collections of metadata records

– projects creating new digital collections of collection descriptions


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CLD in RSLP (2)

• RSLP CD Model & Schema– Michael Heaney (Oxford), Andy Powell

(UKOLN)– means of consistent collection description in

RSLP– simple, generic

• Adopted by number of RSLP projects– use RSLP CD schema as base descriptive

schema– or use other schema internally and map to

RSLP CD– … more later today!


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CLD in RSLP (3)

• Regional– RASCAL

– http://www.rascal.qub.ac.uk/

– Mapping Wales– http://www.mappingwales.ac.uk/

• Subject-based– Caribbean Studies, Black/Asian history

CASBAH– http://www.casbah.ac.uk/

– BUFVC Researchers Guide Online – http://www.bufvc.ac.uk/


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CLD in DNER

• Collections in DNER– collections of resources

– text, images, data...

– collections of metadata about resources – subject gateways, library catalogues…

– digital items, physical items– distributed

– local institutions – JISC content providers– external collections


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CLD in DNER (2)

• Collections available to users through services

• Network services make digital collections available at digital ‘locations’

• Real services make physical collections available at physical ‘locations’


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CLD in DNER (3)


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CLD in the NOF-digitise programme

• Collections in NOF-digitise– projects creating new digital collections of

resources (images, audio, video etc)– projects creating new digital collections of

metadata records (describing digital items)– (projects maybe also describing physical

collections?)


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CLD in the NOF-digitise programme

• Collection-level descriptions – one CLD for all project resources as single

collection?– multiple CLDs for “sub-collections”?

– by item form/type?– by subject?

– CLD for consortial “super-collections”?

• CLDs might be created – by project – by “consortium”– by NOF on behalf of project


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Introducing OAI MHP

• OAI Metadata Harvesting Protocol– lightweight protocol which allows data providers

to expose metadata records for retrieval by service providers

– data providers (projects) supply metadata as XML documents

– Must provide simple DC (OAI provides XML Schema)

– May provide other metadata formats (in XML)– OAI provides a standardised means for NOF

portal - and other portals - (service providers) to gather metadata records from projects (data providers) into central database


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Resources

Website

Item-level Metadata

Resource discovery within a project

CLD(s)


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CLD

NOFPortalWebsite

OAI MHP

CLD in the NOF programme : project view

Metadata

Website

CLD

Website

CLD

export

DC

Otherdirectories,

services


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CLD

NOFPortalWebsite

CLDs for NOF collections

DC item-level records for

NOF resources

Website

CLD

DC

QueryCLDs

Queryitem-level

DC

Otherdirectories,

services


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Acknowledgements

UKOLN is funded by Resource: the Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries, the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the UK higher and further education funding councils, as well as by project funding from the JISC and the European Union. UKOLN also receives support from the University of Bath where it is based.

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/

collection-level description in practice collection-level description & nof-digitise projects...

Documents

description of object

projects nof

archival description

notion of collection

item level z39

london area

oai slide

target slide