Strategies for Advancing Hidden Collections

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This resource library has been prepared for gallery, library, archive, and museum (GLAM) workers engaged in collection processing projects. Compiled by experts from the GLAM communities, the library is arranged to support the content of the CLIR Strategies for Advancing Hidden Collections (SAHC) webinar series. A wide range of solutions and suggestions for a variety of collecting organizations appear below; inclusion of links on this page does not necessarily represent an endorsement of an organization or a product by CLIR or any individual connected with the SAHC project.

Project Coordinator

Joy M. Banks, Consultant

Speakers

  • Angela Kipp, Collection Manager, TECHNOSEUM and Administrator, Registrar Trek
  • Rosemary Pleva Flynn, Principal Librarian, Library and Information Services Team Lead, Energy and Environmental Research Center (EERC) at the University of North Dakota
  • Sarah Leu, Project Archivist, Historical Society of Pennsylvania
  • Beth Knazook, Library Juice Academy and Queen's University
  • Jessica Bitely, Director of Preservation Services, Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC)
  • Yvonne Ng, Senior Archivist, WITNESS
  • Ellen Ryan, Head of Special Collections and Archives and Assistant Professor, Idaho State University

Curriculum Committee

  • Stephanie Gaub Antequino, Memorabilia Archivist, Planet Hollywood International
  • Casey Davis, Project Manager, American Archive of Public Broadcasting
  • Tamar Evangelista-Dougherty, Consultant
  • Linda Hocking, Curator of Library and Archives, Litchfield Historical Society
  • Daniel Johnson, Digital Preservation Librarian, University of Iowa
  • Holly Mengel, Manuscripts Cataloging Librarian, University of Pennsylvania
  • Matthew Peek, Military Collections Archivist, State Archives of North Carolina
  • Kelly Revak, Processing Archivist, Library of Congress

Additions to this library are welcome. Readers may contribute to its development by creating an account, or by sending suggestions to Christa Williford at CLIR.

Where to begin: Basics of project planning for GLAM organizations

The resources in this section will help lay the foundation for successful project planning and management.

Additional information on the January 11, 2017 webinar can be found here.

Participants and viewers of the recording are encouraged to offer feedback through this evaluation: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/L9CYDRQ.

General

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Selecting the best collection management system

Note: Some of these resources may be dated but can still contain useful information. SEE ALSO Collection access: Describing, cataloging, and processing with the future in mind

For all institution types

For Museums

For Libraries

  • The Small Libraries Manager's Handbook, edited by Alice Graves. Includes several chapters on system selection.

For Archives

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Collection Prioritization & Assessment

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Workflow

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Project Management Tools

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Building resources and relationships: Determining what and who you need

The resources in this section will help guide project managers through the process of estimating project costs, communicating costs with others, and building relationships for support.

Additional information on the January 18, 2017 webinar can be found here.

General

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Buy-in from Board of Directors, Community, Volunteers

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Calculating processing time, staff time, and estimating supply costs

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Communicating to people who need to approve the project

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Funding Sources and Grant Writing

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Making the most of people: Recruitment, retention, and recognition

The resources in this section consider how volunteers, interns, and staff fit into the project picture.

Additional information on the January 25, 2017 webinar can be found here.

Links to the webinar recording, slides, and a transcript will be posted here when available.

Teens and Student Workers

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Volunteers and Staff

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Celebrating Success

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Ethics of Hiring

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Collection access: Describing, cataloging, and processing with the future in mind

The resources available in this section try to provide guidance on the sometimes complicated world of description and processing. We understand that while GLAM organizations have many things in common, processing is often handled differently depending on the field. As we learn to work together, we hope that exploring best practices from different areas will help us move towards greater interoperability in the future.

Additional information on the February 1, 2017 webinar can be found here.

The webinar recording can be accessed here when available.

Communities

  • AutoCat - A general cataloging listserv, primarily for libraries but open to everyone.
  • OCLCCAT - An OCLC sponsored cataloging listserv open to everyone.
  • Metadata Support Group - A Slack forum sponsored by the Digital Library Federation (DLF). Requires registration and a Slack account but not membership in DLF.
  • SAA Lone Arrangers listserv - Hosted by the Society of American Archivists (SAA) and open to members and non-members.
  • AASLH Nomenclature Community - A space for those using or interested in using the Nomenclature 4.0 resource from the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH).
  • Connecting to Collections Care Forum - A space to ask questions about collections care and receive answers from peers and forum monitors. Requires registration for participation.

Table of Contents

General

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Institutional Ethics

SEE ALSO Ethics and Social Justice

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Cataloging and Metadata Standards

The resources listed below may require registration or subscription for access. While some are freely available online, others are fee-based.

General

Description Standards

  • RDA: Resource Description and Access - Cataloging standard that replaced AACR2 and RDA is based on the FRBR (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records) and FRAD (Functional Requirements for Authority Data) concept models
  • AACR2: Anglo-American Cataloging Rules - Standards to build catalogs in general libraries of all sizes. No longer being updated. Replaced by RDA. Still valid and used by some smaller organizations.
  • Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS), Second Edition - An output-neutral set of rules for describing archives, personal papers, and manuscript collections that can be used with any encoding standard including MARC21, EAD, and EAC.
  • Standards for Archival Description: A Handbook - 1994 Handbook of the Society of American Archivists (SAA) describing technical standards, conventions, and guidelines used by archivists to describe holdings and repositories.
  • SNAC: Social Networks and Archival Context - A cooperative in development to create a more collaborative environment for discovering records related to historical persons.
  • PREMIS: Preservation Metadata: Implementation Strategies - A data dictionary developed as the international standard for metadata to support the preservation of digital objects and ensure their long-term usability.
  • PBCORE: Public Broadcasting Metadata Dictionary Project - An XML metadata schema designed for sound and moving images that is both a content and data standard.
  • The Small Museums Cataguing Manual: A guide to cataloguing object and image collections - 4th edition of the guide (2009) published by Museums Australia (Victoria)
  • NPS Museum Handbook, Part II: Museum Records - A publication of the National Parks Service, downloadable as a pdf file.
  • The FIAF Moving Image Cataloguing Manual - Published by the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) Cataloguing and Documentation Commission. Available for free as a pdf download
  • Cataloging Cultural Objects: A Guide to Describing Cultural Works and Their Images - A data content standard for the cultural heritage community sponsored by the Visual Resources Association Foundation (VRAF)

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Encoding Standards

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Data Management Tools

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Collection Management Systems

The below systems are not an endorsement of the product by CLIR, just suggestions to highlight the range of systems available. This is not a comprehensive list of all systems available. We tried to include low cost and/or open source system options when possible.

How to choose

SEE ALSO: 1.2 Selecting the Best Content Management System

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Gallery

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Library

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Archive


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Museum

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Online Exhibits

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Controlled Vocabularies and Thesauri

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Tutorials and Online Learning

There are many options for online learning. The following list is a sampling of free or low cost options to enhance understanding of cataloging and processing techniques.

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Overcoming project hurdles: Approaches to identifying and managing collection red flags

The resources included in this section are presented to help organizations deal with areas in collections that may present problems and give managers the confidence to move forward with processing.

Additional information on the February 8, 2017 webinar can be found here.

Links to the webinar recording, slides, and a transcript will be posted here when available.

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Creating Policies for Collection Building

SEE ALSO Developing and Evaluating Institutional Documentation

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Rights, Copyright, and Legal Dilemmas

Resources included are for reference only and do not represent legal advice. Most apply only to U.S. law; other countries may have different rules and guidelines.

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Ethics and Social Justice

SEE ALSO Institutional Ethics

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Hazardous Materials


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Culturally Sensitive and Tough Topic Collections

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Sample Projects and Collections

  • Documenting the Now - A collaborative project that aims to respect both the content creator and the potential researcher and seeks to find a user-friendly means of collecting and preserving the digital content of social media.
  • South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA) - An independant, national, non-profit organization working to document, preserve, and share stories representing the voices of South Asian Americans.
  • Human Rights Documentation Initiative (HRDI) - A long-term preservation effort by the University of Texas Libraries to capture fragile and vulnerable records of human rights struggles worldwide, promote them, and make them accessible for research.
  • XFR Collective - A non-profit organization partnering with many to preserve at-risk audiovisual media by providing low-cost digitization services.
  • Moving Image Preservation of Puget Sound (MiPoPs) - A non-profit organization helping to preserve our cultureal heritage by assisting archives, libraries, and other organizations with the conversion of analog video recordings to digital formats according to archival best practices.
  • The Memory Lab at DC Public Library - A service provided to the DC public that allows for personal preservation of AV materials. A model that other organizations can follow.

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Closing the loop: Project assessment and leveraging goals for future planning

The resources included in this section provide additional information for all other topics and help provide support for sustaining and moving projects into the future.

Additional information on the February 15, 2017 webinar can be found here.

Links to the webinar recording, slides, and a transcript will be posted here when available.

During the Project

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Project Evaluation and Assessment

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Future Project Planning

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Developing and Evaluating Institutional Documentation

SEE ALSO Creating Policies for Collection Building

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