Taking the next step in online description
ARCHEION: a paradigm of partnership
Amanda HillHillbraith Ltd.
[ARCHEION Coordinator]
Current ARCHEION situation
• Server: old and unsupported– At risk of failure
• Software: functioning but slow– Only allows for fond/collection level
descriptions– Does not support incorporation of images– Bespoke system - lacking technical support
Toward an upgrade…
• Partnerships of various kinds– Artefactual Systems Inc.– Funding organisations (NADP, Museums
and Technology Fund, EMC Heritage Grant, Trillium Foundation)
– University of Toronto– Volunteers– ARCHEION contributors
After migration to ICA-AtoM
• Hosted on Artefactual’s servers in BC– Fully supported–Will be upgraded as necessary by
Artefactual
• Software is open source– Possible to hold full finding aids and digital
images–Widely used in Canada (including other
provincial networks) and beyond
• = Peace of mind!
Series-level description (Memory BC)
Series-level description (SAIN)
Item-level description (SAIN)
Recent activities• Extracting all live and draft descriptions from
existing server– submitted to Artefactual for migration
• Contacting existing contributors• Conducting usability testing at the University of
Toronto’s lab– Jordan Phoenix (University of Toronto) & 20 volunteers
• Creating basic ISDIAH records for each ARCHEION repository
• Building a gazetteer of Ontario place names– ARCHEION committee (Gina Coady, Anna St. Onge)
Post-test usability survey
http://artefactual.com/wiki/images/e/e4/AAO_Charts.pdf
http://artefactual.com/wiki/images/e/e4/AAO_Charts.pdf
Issues raised by test subjects…
• …and mock-ups of the ARCHEION interface which show how these would be addressed in the new software
Need an advanced search screen
http://artefactual.com/wiki/images/a/a3/AAO_UI_features_mockups_v03.pdf
Flexibility in display
http://artefactual.com/wiki/images/a/a3/AAO_UI_features_mockups_v03.pdf
Easier ways of editing particular areas
http://artefactual.com/wiki/images/a/a3/AAO_UI_features_mockups_v03.pdf
Archives Canada
• Records from ARCHEION have not been uploaded to Archives Canada for some time
• Development work on ICA-AtoM will include the ability to export records in the MARC format required by Archives Canada (and other library-based systems)
Timeline
• Developing ICA-AtoM features for ARCHEION requirements and migrating existing ARCHEION descriptions: April – August
• Setting up server for ARCHEION: July – October
• Contributor training: September - October
• ‘Soft launch’ of new ARCHEION in late November 2011
Watch out for updates…
• AAO mailing list ([email protected])• AAO website (www.aao-archivists.ca)• Off the Record• @AAO_Archeion on Twitter
• www.archeion.ca