Reimagining our Collections
byReimagining our People Sinéad Keogh CONUL 2015
Or:How We
Learned To Stop
Worrying About Lack
Of Resources To Create Our First Online
Exhibition
Hard times
Less People → deliver AND improve services
Libraries are good at sharing
So what makes us distinct and unique?
Special Collections & Archives
Local and National importance
Tour stop for VIPs
… expensive house guests
Armstrong ArchiveDonated 1999 by Susan and Graham Armstrong.
50,000 items (incl. over 13,000 photographs).
350 years of family history of the Armstrongs of
Moyaliffe Castle and related families.
Administrative and estate records
Private correspondence and diaries
Early eighteenth-century sermons
Photographs
First hand account of life at home in Moyaliffe and Folkestone by the family
First hand account from WW1 theatres by Captain ‘Pat’ Armstrong
197 Boxes ≡ 60 linear metres = €
Landed estatesLaw and Theology interestLocal and Family historyWW1 historians
What if???
Meanwhile…
New Head of Department Technical & Digital Services New workflowsNew focusNew technologies - Book sorter, PDA, Shelf-ready books, digitisation equipment
Mighty Morphin TDS
Collection Services
DigitisationTrain the TrainerPeer SupportSpecialisation
In-house Handling Archival Material training
JISC Digital Imaging BTEC
3 daysImage CaptureImage ManipulationMetadata & Copyright
© ®™
xMaternity leave cover in Special CollectionsCrossover with digitisationExposure to collectionsA different perspective
And after all that
Kate O’Brien festival
Exhibition experience and using digitisation
Yes we can
Blog style suited the materialChose WordPress but needed to upskill
$50Online
For 2 WeeksSun-Wed-Fri-Sun-Wed-Fri
…but it’s just for girls
Introduction, diary entries, pictures…
Letters, cameos, links to more information…
Invitations, articles, love triangles…
Documents, telegrams, anything and everything
Non-Armstrong Archive items
Bells
Map following the Armstrong Family during the war
Timeline of WW1 events
& Whistles
EngagementAnalytics since 29th June 2014Followers give feedbackUsers fill gaps and make correctionsFollowed, subscribed, Liked
ReflectionAutomationWork in batchesRefresh interfaceLower impact
HTML in-house training
Benefits
New skillsEstablished workflows and processesExperience for future exhibitionsStaff see fruits of labourArmstrongs are good tenants
… and then the President called
Challenges
Expected content and time to be big problems
Site maintenance
Responsibility to audience
Promotion and social media
Digital LibraryArchival Management System
Exhibitions (Decade of Centenaries)
Future
Cataloguing & MetadataMODS records from MARC and Finding Aids and AMSClean up imported records
NDAI70 Collections
By Shannon Development (Own work) [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0 )], via Wikimedia Commons at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AShannon_Development_Logo.jpg
GENERIC MOTIVATIONAL POSTER A Library is More than a Collection of Books
Hope you visit the site – feedback and ideas always welcomeHope you look at what you have in a different wayHope you get some ideas to exploit your own uniqueness
@ww1ul
Thank you for listening
[email protected] @zidatom
Thanks to the teamSpecial Collections & Archives, Technical & Digital Services,
Administration
