MARC to EAD or EAD to MARC

I just got an email from Martha McTear, Metadata Librarian for special collections at College of Charleston.  Turns out she is an WS alum from the class of 1997.  That’s 6 years before I got here, but it’s still pretty cool.  Martha asked about my cataloging strategy. Seemed like an easy post to just cut and paste my answer in a post. [You say lazy, I say efficient]

I would have to say I go from EAD to MARC.  It took me a few years to get the hang of going from being a librarian to being an archivist. [collections, not items] I start by having student workers do inventory input into Archivist’s Toolkit.  Eventually I get around to doing bio/history, scope and content notes and name/subject entries. Then AT spits it out and I put it on the Finding Aids web page. I then do a MARC record in Voyager that links to the finding aid, with minimal information.  We also have the library website set up now so that in the home page you can put a keyword search in the find box and choose archives on the drop down menu and it will search the web pages and finding aids as well as Voyager.  I believe most of our researchers, other than HWS students, find us through Google searches.

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.

MARC tag for reporting digitization of photos

This is the form we decided on.  We being Sara Greenleaf, head of tech services and myself.

530 _ _ |a Electronic reproduction available.

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

I don't have much of a background in cataloging and Sara is an expert so it's great to have her help.  Apparently things like using a ; instead of have two sentences are important.   

Now I'll be able to catch up with the cataloging.  

MARC tag for reporting digitization of photos

I've been giving thought to adding a tag in my MARC records for photographs.

533 is defined as "reproduction note"

This is what I came up with.  Let me know what you think.

533 _ _ |a Photograph scanned and saved as computer file. |b Geneva, N.Y.: |c Hobart and William Smith Colleges, |d [year scanned] |e Scanned at 300dpi and saved in TIFF format.  Resized to 640 pixels and saved as JPEG for catalog display.

SAA Workshop on Archival prespectives on digititization

(Originally posted May 2, 2006)

The SAA workshop was very good, though very theoretical. I did come home with a few tips I can put into action.

* Bookkeeper to deacidify paper
* Use MARC tag 530 for information on the digitized images in the
record of the actual item.
* Types of open source depository software and what they are best
for. (all much too big and complicated for lone arranger, me)

More to come. I haven’t had time to process what I’ve learned yet and
I’m off to SE Arizonia on vacation until May 15th. I’ll get back to you
with more.

The organzation of the workshop was done by Sue Hamburger (sic) and it
was great. She made reservations and arrangements ahead for out of town
people who might want to have dinner together, and provided outstanding
snacks, including ice cream from the Penn State Creamery.