Where the rubber hits the road

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Where the rubber hits the road

• Integrating collections from museums, libraries
  and archives

Günter Waibel Program Officer/RLG
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The entertainment for today

• What Integrating collections from museums,
  libraries and archives
• Access to materials from diverse communities in
  one resource
• Example RLG Cultural Materials
• Why Creating a teaching and learning resource
• Maximize the impact of digitized materials
  through improved access
• Investigation RLG Instructional Technology
  Advisory Group
• Where the rubber hits the road
• Integration puts descriptive practices to a test
• Guidance RLG Descriptive Metadata Guidelines
• What will tomorrow bring?

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Integrating Collections RLG Cultural Materials

• Integrating materials from museums, libraries and
  archives
• State of the Alliance
• 54 Alliance Participants / 34 Contributors
• Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan,
  Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland, UK, US
• Content
• Paintings, woodcuts, posters, artists books,
  architectural photos, illum. manuscripts, maps,
  newspaper photos, econ. Pamphlets, gravestones
• 107 collections / gt 230,000 works / gt 750,000
  digital files
• Less greatest hits, more hidden treasures!

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RLG Cultural Materials
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A teaching learning resource

• Key Cultural Materials policy decisions
• All content rights-cleared for educational
  purposes
• Cultural Materials provides content - not a
  presentation tool
• Strategy for the classroom
• Users download high-resolution file
• Complement Cultural Materials content with other
  licensed, local or personal images
• Project images in their preferred presentation
  tool (PowerPoint, MDID, Luna, ARTstor)
• Advisory Group on Instructional Technology
• Reviewed validated current approach
• Advised on exchange mechanisms between databases
  and instructional technology tools
• Final report at http//www.rlg.org/en/page.php?Pag
  e_ID557

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Strategy for integration

• Centralized data integration _at_ RLG
• Contributors send descriptions surrogates
• Descriptions get converted to Cultural Materials
  data model
• Surrogates get processed (MrSid JPEG)
• Result all data lives _at_ RLG
• Contributors like
• Low overhead leverage existing collections
• Submit data in format created for local purposes
• RLG likes
• Reliability control
• Functionality
• RLG doesnt like so much
• Enormous overhead in processing diverse
  collections

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Where things can go wrong

• Data Fields Structure
• Named units of information / relationship
• What information do you want to capture?
• E.g. VRA Core, MARC Content Designation, EAD tag
  library, Dublin Core, etc.
• Data Content Value
• Data stored within the units
• What is the correct formatting / term?
• E.g. CCO, AACR2, AAT, LCSH, etc.
• Data Format
• How you manage and transfer data
• What file format do you save the data in?
• E.g. XML, ISO 2709, databases, CSV, etc

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Guidance in the face of Infodiversity

• RLG Descriptive Metadata Guidelines for Cultural
  Materials (http//www.rlg.org/en/page.php?Page_ID
  214)
• Clarify terminology (Chapter 1-4)
• Core Descriptive Fields (Chapter 5)
• Data Fields Structure
• List of fields, to be mapped to local data
  structure
• Data Content Value
• Guidance which could inform local cataloguing
  guidelines
• Discernable influence of CCO
• Data Format
• XML encoding examples for EAD and MODS
• Appendixes reviewing acronyms and the standards
  they belong to (Appendix A-D)

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Where the rubber hits the road

• More info Chapter 6 Descriptive Metadata
  Guidelines
• Data Fields Structure Mapping submissions to
  RLG Data Model
• Labor intensive, but possible
• Trouble
• Missing Data Fields Missing Information
• Information available, yet hard to use
• Concatenated Data
• Inconsistency
• Data Content Value Making data values play
  together across the resource
• Theoretically, our hands are tied we transform,
  we dont edit
• In practice instances where we try to add value
• Normalization of work-type (AAT)
• Invert personal names for browsing
• Propagate data from higher level of description
  to the item
• Data Format Making it XML
• Transformation of incoming format to XML
  relatively straightforward

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Taking a step back

• How could data integration work better?
• Example Bibliographic Data
• Mature standards infrastructure
• Data Fields MARC
• Data Content AACR2
• Data Format ISO 2709 or XML
• Benefits
• Shareable records Copy cataloguing
• Specification for Systems Vendor support
• Data stability Migration from system to system
• Invite you to speculate about how greater
  standardization would benefit you!

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Final thoughts - Assessment

• Right now Sharing possible, with considerable
  overhead
• Greater standardization will lead to greater
  functionality
• Visual Resources Community
• Shared understanding of a descriptive record
  brings benefits such as shared cataloguing (UCAI)
• You have all the ingredients in place!
• Data Structure VRA Core
• Data Content Cataloguing Cultural Objects (CCO)
• Data Format XML
• Primary Sources Community (Museums, libraries,
  archives)
• Shared understanding of a descriptive record
  brings cost of aggregation down
• Currently enormous diversity, with each community
  developing its own practice and standards

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Thank you!

• If you enjoyed this talk, youll love Rickys
  talk on Tuesday!
• Session 5, Regency Ballroom "Metadata a view
  from the trenches" w/ Ricky Erway, RLG Digital
  Resources Manager
• Questions, Comments?
• Guenter.Waibel_at_notes.rlg.org
• Visit us in the RLG Suite
• Monday, March 7 330-430 p.m.
• Tuesday, March 8 330-430 p.m.
• Wednesday, March 9 8-9 a.m.
• RLG Cultural Materials
• Info http//www.rlg.org/en/page.php?Page_ID630
• Trial Subscriptions http//www.rlg.org/legacy/tri
  als/trial-register.html
• RLG Instructional Technology Advisory Group
• Final report http//www.rlg.org/en/page.php?Page_I
  D557
• RLG Descriptive Metadata Guidelines for Cultural
  Materials
• http//www.rlg.org/en/page.php?Page_ID214