catalog refresh or: how i learned to stop worrying and love emu

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Catalog Refresh or: How I learned to stop worrying and love EMu

Heather Curtis, Project Manager

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Image courtesy of Columbia Pictures

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US Holocaust Memorial Museum

•Created by Presidential Commission in 1979•Opened in April 1993•Mission:• Advance and disseminate knowledge about this

unprecedented tragedy• Preserve the memory of those who suffered• To encourage visitors to reflect upon the moral and

spiritual questions raised by the events of the Holocaust as well as their own responsibilities as citizens of a democracy

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Office of Collections

•Objects (>16,385)•Archives (64.6 million pages)•Library (>93,132)•Photo Archives (87,200)•Oral History (>62,500 testimonies)•Film and Video (>1,247 hours)•Conservation

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Museum and EMu•Live in February, 2008•Two databases migrated over

• TMS – (Objects/Collections Management)• Voyager – (Objects/Archives/Oral History/Collections Management)

•Poor choices• Few people made sweeping decisions

• Data migration• Field usage – everyone can share!

•Results• Data migration disaster• Overwhelming frustration/distrust• No plan

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Meanwhile…

•Internal Collections Search using Blacklight• Exposing issues with data

•Claims Conference funding for cataloging objects and documents• Need to commit to standards

•Digitization Project• Inventory data residing in dcTrack

•20th Anniversary

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Refresh•4 goals:• Create a collection level record• Prioritize data clean-up • What can be done with remigration and what will be

done later?• Better management of locations• Location vs. Locations

• New tabs for each collecting unit• Keep your eyes on your own work!

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How do we do this differently?

•Better understanding of EMu•Communication• Scheduled frequent meetings with each division• Web site• Emails

•Every opinion counts• Met with each division in every step• Give each division something to react to

•Deadlines

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Goal # 1: Collection Record Type

•Donors tend to give collections that have multiple artifact types:• Objects• Documents• Oral history• Need to keep them together to understand the story

of the collection

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Goal #2: Data cleanup

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Goal #3: Location

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Location•Currently have two location tabs • We have archival collection that are multiple holder

boxes/multiple reels• Confusing data

•New solution:• One location tab• Template to be used when we move item with component

and designation• Parts tab will show with color change when something is

away from permanent storage

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Goal #4: New tabs•Focus on current workflow•Commit to fields•Where can we prevent user error:• What can be a lookup list?• What can be the same lookup list as other fields?

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Current tabs…

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New tabs…

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Image courtesy of Columbia Pictures

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Bombs Away•Reviewing second draft of new tabs•Data migration begins next week•Go live date – December 10, 2012

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Future•Narratives module for Oral History and Object Curators•Move 2 more collections into EMu – 2013•Export data to OCLC•Assign subject headings in OCLC and import them back into EMu•PARTIES MODULE REFRESH