Authority files

I don’t know if any of you have run into the same situation with authorities that I have…

The  archives was originally setup  with item cataloging.  All  folders  are items in the card catalog.   I estimate  at best  20% of the  card catalog has  be converted to  MARC  and in our Voyager catalog. Since I came I’ve been item cataloging the digitized photographs.

Once Archivist’s Toolkit showed up on the scene, I’ve been trying to do incoming materials as collections.  Also, pulling some of the existing “items” together into subject collections for ease of use.

Now the names and subjects headings that are in the Voyager catalog are not in the AT names and subjects and visa versa.  I want to be as precise with our local names and subjects as p0ssible.  Here is my plan:

• I have Pauline, a super precise cataloger in our Tech Services, working with me.
• Pauline is checking the names and subjects I have already put in AT for correctness. (I’m not a cataloger by training.)
• She is then going through Voyager and checking that the headings conform to AT.
• I’m using AT as THE authority file.  As I’m cataloging more photos or adding collections, I check the AT headings.  If a heading isn’t there, I add one.
• I’m keeping track of my additions to send to Pauline, so she can check for correctness.  I’m hoping this way new things won’t slip through the cracks, as she moves alphabetically down the list.

I hope I’m not making both Pauline’s and my life too complicated. It just seems there are so many possibilities for forms of all those faculty and alum names that without an authority file we might loose someone.

Dime Novel Finding Aid complete

It has been a long hall on the Joseph J. Myler Collection of Half Dime Novels, but it is finally complete. The listing started in MS Access, moved and was finished in Archivists Toolkit. The finding aid was exported from AT, and cleaned-up in Note Tab using EAD Cookbook clips. It makes me think we have come a long way since we started receiving this donation.

Take a look: http://academic.hws.edu/library/archives/dime.asp

The next step with my finding aids is to do something about the colors. Perhaps I need to move to another school to do it though.

Cataloging photos

I’ve just been asked about the templates I use for cataloging photos in Voyager. Since I have it all written out I thought I might as well share it here. Any catalogers out there, feel free to tell me if I’m doing it wrong.

For the Marc bib record I use the following template:
099 _ 9 ‡a G phot file [insert phot number]

245 0 0 ‡a [insert title] ‡k photograph.

260 __ ‡c [insert date]

300 __ ‡a 1 ‡f Photograph: ‡b b&w; ‡c 18 x 13 cm. [change subfields as needed]

506 __ ‡a For use only in the Colleges Archives.

520 2_ ‡a [scope and content]

530 __ ‡a Electronic reproduction available.

533 __ ‡a Electronic reproduction, ‡b Geneva, N.Y.: ‡c Hobart and William Smith Colleges, ‡d [insert year scanned] ‡e Scanned at 300dpi and saved in TIFF format; resized at 640 pixels as JPEG for catalog display

540 __ ‡a It is the Colleges policy that material in its collection be made available for research and scholarship. We ask that should material be reproduced or published in any way, that the Colleges are given appropriate credit.

610 24 ‡a Hobart and William Smith Colleges, ‡b Trinity Hall. ‡v Photographs. [change subject as needed]

651 _4 ‡a Geneva, N.Y. ‡v Photographs.

655 _7 ‡a Black-and-white photographs. ‡2 AAT [change as needed]

856 __ ‡d /m1/voyager/images/ ‡f XXX_t.jpg ‡o UNIX [this is where the Archives webpage picks up the pictures.. the XXX is the filename for the thumbnail that shows up]

For the MARC holding record I use this template:

852 8_ ‡b ARCH.PHOT ‡h G phot file [same as bib 099]

856 41 ‡u http://archive.hws.edu/Archives/PhotFile/XXX.jpg ‡z <img src=”http://archive.hws.edu/Archives/PhotFile/XXX_t.jpg&#8221; border=”0″> [this shows the thumbnail in the voyager record, when you click it brings up the full picture. Again the XXX is the file name]

Data Entry

OK, here is what I’m thinking.

I’ll use Archivist’s Toolkit for the description of the collection.  I will definitely do the subject and names via AT.

Then I will add the inventory/container list to the finding aid via Notetab/EAD Clips.  The clips allow for a little faster data entry because you can set the box number and the folder numbers are automatically increased by one.

I have a collection of 79 boxes that I had my student workers input the Box/folder/title into MS Access.  I used it to create labels. I’ll cut and paste from that into Notetab.  I set describing this collection as my summer goal, that’s why I am thinking this through at this point.

With new collections I will try having the SWs enter the data directly into AT.  That should go fairly smoothly, I think…

Authorities in line

I just finished matching the Voyager authorities to the AT Name and Subject lists.  I seem to have cleaned up some messes I had made when I was first starting.  I’m happy because there is now a consistency throughout.

Now on to a really BIG project, making a finding aid for three collections of “stuff” that have come over from the Office of Communications over about 20 years.

First success

I finished my first record with the Archivists Toolkit yesterday.  I’m pretty happy with the way it works, though I am still finding my way around.  There are many layers.

I started with something simple, then tried both the  Export EAD and Export MARC, to see how it turned out. I went back and changed where I put the description when I saw the MARC output.

I checked with Tech Services to see if I could load a MARC .xml directly into Voyager. No luck, but it was easy to cut and paste into the MARC record.

Based on my first success, I’m ready to charge ahead.

Archivists’ Toolkit

I found out about the Archivists’ Toolkit from reading other blog. It is awesome!!!

The installation instructions were very clear. It’s important to read them all, because it requires loading MySQL as well.

I got as far as importing my already created EAD finding aids, and started working through a new accession. There is a lot to it, but is looks like it will make a lot of description easier.

I’ll keep you up-to-date on my progress.