ella winter papers
TRANSCRIPT
THE ELLA WINTER PAPERS: USING EAD
AND WEB 2.0 TOOLS TO ENHANCE
ONLINE DISCOVERY
By Ryan McComas
LIS 698 – Practicum
Dean Giannini
Pratt Institute
PROJECT IDENTIFICATION
Gain practical experience in an archive
Encode a finding aid with EAD to strengthen online
discovery through searches
Conceptualize the use of Web 2.0 tools for Archives
2.0
NATURE OF THE WORK
Primary goal: to act as a processing intern and
complete a finding aid to the addition of the Ella
Winter Papers
It is starting to become common practice in
archives to use something like EAD, particularly the
larger ones like RBML.
I began to think about the implications of things like
twitter, blogs, podcasts, and wikis on an archive.
NATURE OF THE WORK
FINDING AIDS
It progressively describes parts of an individual collection, summarizes the overall scope of the material, conveys details about the individuals, and organizations involved, and notes the conditions under which the collection may be accessed
ANALYSIS
I was to encode my finding aid with EAD, allowing for interoperability, strong online discovery, and high searching capabilities.
With the use of EAD, links can be provided to the catalog and related digitized content when available, like images of correspondence, photographs or even audio.
ANALYSIS
Digitized collections
are useful for
researchers who are
unable to physically
see the collection.
ANALYSIS
ANALYSIS
EAD will make it
possible to have better
access, along with still
providing the
hierarchical structure
provided by a paper
finding aid
ANALYSIS
The information in the finding aid is organized in a
hierarchical manner through component elements:
<eadheader> : Bibliographic and descriptive
information about the finding aid
<frontmatter>: Information on the creation,
publication or use of the encoded finding aid
<archdesc>: Description of the content, context and
extent of the materials in the collection
ANALYSIS
ANALYSIS
Archivists can use EAD to make their finding aids accessible in an online environment, but how can they bring more interaction with users?
Web 2.0 tools:
One must wonder what the role of archivists and librarians is now that we are entering an age of Web 2.0 that includes applications like wikis, blogs, and podcasts.
ANALYSIS
Archives 2.0: The
concept is not based
on specifically the tools
integrated into online
finding aids, but rather
a change in thought
and procedure in how
we approach users and
how we provide
archival content. Ukoln
ANALYSIS
Finding Aid 2.0?
Better navigation, more interoperability
Will knowledgeable researchers make contributions to
online finding aids?
Researchers can form connections with archivists,
curators, and other researchers, forming a mutually
beneficial relationship
ANALYSIS
How is the RBML
working towards an
Archive 2.0?
ANALYSIS
ANALYSIS
The RBML is working towards this goal by creating
blogs for processing a certain collection. Users can
comment and share the process through different
social media outlets.
The interaction with users is still low, by the count of
comments on the blogs. Users may be consuming
the information, but are not actually engaging with
the archivists on it
THE FUTURE
Archivists need to interact with users more in the
digital environment. This will mean the
democratization of archival control and letting
archival data be re-appropriated across new
contexts outside the current online finding aid.
Promotion of the digital collections
FINDING AID 2.0?
The goal of the project is
‘to expand the capability
of EAD, make the
archival and research
experience collaborative
and participatory, and
challenge the traditional
finding aid structure.’
The two most notable
Web 2.0 features are
commenting and
recommendations.
CONCLUSION
• Regardless of thoughts on Web 2.0 tools,
archives must be open, transparent, user-
centered, a facilitator to access, and attract
new users
• Archives must use shared standards like
EAD and DACS, be innovative and flexible,
and keep abreast of new technologies, which
may or may not include Web 2.0 applications
CONCLUSION
•The Rare Book and Manuscript Library at
Columbia is taking steps towards becoming
an Archives 2.0 by utilizing blogs and Twitter
to interact with users.
• While I am simply encoding my finding aid
with EAD (one step towards making it
discoverable in an online environment), I am
also utilizing the blog format to talk about
my experiences and research for anyone to
see