Below are my replies to the 4 questions in Emmanuelle and Stefano's message about interoperability. I'm looking forward to seeing how others reply!
1. The best example of our integrating data with other institutions might PastPerfect's web site at http://www.pastperfect-online.com/ , which allows searching across the other institutions that are also using PastPerfect Online. Cross-institutional searching is limited to keyword searching, without the advanced searching options that can be used on our own site, http://statenisland.pastperfect-online.com/ . There is great flexibility in which fields are uploaded and how they are labeled and used. I use this site often to see how other institutions have described collections items like ours. At present, we have only uploaded a tiny fragment of our cataloged items (which include artifacts, photographs, archival collections, and library books/newspapers.) We have some 75,000 catalog records, but only about 1200 are posted online. 2. (Not sure I understand this question.) We've looked at things like Dublin Core and other metadata schema to help determine which fields we should require for our catalog records. For assigning object names, we use Chenhall's Nomenclature which is built in to PastPerfect, but not the current version. (We are in Nomenclature 2.0.) We also use the Library of Congress subject terms that are built into PastPerfect. These are the same terms for all four catalogs. But we've noticed that the terms we use don't quite match the terms that trained librarians are more apt to use (for instance, there isn't an option to add dashes and refine by a place name.) Also, we try (with mixed success) to establish our own standardized descriptive language (such as terms for style periods like Empire). We've used the Getty Art and Architecture Thesaurus as a guide in establishing our conventions, but don't necessarily follow it consistently. My understanding is that going forward it will be more important to anticipate all the different ways an untrained user might search for things, rather than relying on established authority lists. A big challenge for us is how to establish our own protocol for cataloging individual documents and small archival collections--how to decide which PastPerfect catalog to use and which fields we should require the cataloger to complete. For instance, individual photographs that are part of a photos-only collection (like the work of a particular photographer) are cataloged in the Photos catalog of PastPerfect, but many photographs are contained within larger archival collections (like a family or business collection), so they're included in the Archives catalog. But the fields are not all the same. Likewise, an individual item like a baptismal certificate might be cataloged as an object or as an archival item. We struggle with consistency issues. 3. We currently use PastPerfect exclusively as our collections management system, and PastPerfect Online for sharing object records and images online. In the 1990s, we used Minaret software for creating archival collection records (but we've since migrated those records into PastPerfect). For some of our archival collections, we produced collection-level MARC records for submission to national databases, but it's been over a decade since we've produced one. Decades ago, our archival collections were included in a "Guide to Historical Resources in Richmond County (Staten Island), New York Repositories" and those records have since been posted online by another party, but they are not up-to-date. Here's an example of one of our collections that can be found online, but I don't think the record identifies us as the repository; rather, it appears as if it's part of the New York State Library, which is not correct: http://184.168.105.185/archivegrid/collection/data/155570149 . More recently, in 2011 we submitted a collection-level record representing our Alice Austen Photograph Collection to the IMLS Digital Collections and Content Registry. I haven't been able to confirm that the registry is still active. Regarding software, we feel that given our staffing limitations it is important for us to be able to use one product for collections management, digital image management, and creating online collections records. 4. My title is Curator. I am interested in interoperability but it isn't exactly part of my job description. Our total curatorial staff consists of two full time and two part time, and we are responsible for all aspects of artifact, photograph, archival, and library collections, as well as over 30 historic structures located on over a hundred acres; we do not have any IT staff, just one IT consultant who we see perhaps a few times each year. Staff positions, or even short-term consultants, who could advise us on digital asset management issues, help us refine our cataloging procedures, and provide general IT assistance are among our many, many needs. I hope this makes sense. Thanks for your interest! Sarah Clark Curator Historic Richmond Town, Staten Island Historical Society 441 Clarke Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10306 718-351-1611, ext. 272 www.historicrichmondtown.org Explore our collections at: http://historicrichmondtown.org/treasures/online-collections-database -----Original Message----- From: mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of mcn-l-requ...@mcn.edu Sent: Friday, February 19, 2016 7:00 AM To: mcn-l@mcn.edu Subject: mcn-l Digest, Vol 126, Issue 14 Today's Topics: 1. LAM interoperability SIG (Delmas-Glass, Emmanuelle) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Thu, 18 Feb 2016 16:33:51 +0000 From: "Delmas-Glass, Emmanuelle" <emmanuelle.delmas-gl...@yale.edu> To: Museum Computer Network Listserv <mcn-l@mcn.edu> Subject: [MCN-L] LAM interoperability SIG Message-ID: <468934fc10c5a5448716540b926c77512cecf...@x10-mbx14.yu.yale.edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Dear all, In order to get us started with the LAM interoperability SIG, we would like to get your feedback on a few questions. 1. Use cases: as a museum, library or archive, whenever you tried to integrate your data with other institutions, what worked, what didn't, and why? 2. Interoperable metadata schemas and/or ontologies: what is out there that can help bring collection data and bibliographical data together? What do you think about them, what are the challenges and how do you plan or wish to utilize them? 3. Existing interoperability tools: what software platforms do you use? If you could design your own, what would they be? 4. Staffing: what staff member(s) usually work together on these questions of data interoperability at your institution (list titles)? What new staff position(s) would be useful? If you could give brief replies that would be great. The goal is to assess the challenges of our community as well as the opportunities. This common base should lead to some interesting discussions that we could bring up in an in-person meeting at the next MCN conference in New Orleans. Emmanuelle and Stefano Emmanuelle Delmas-Glass Collections Data Manager Collections Information & Access Department Yale Center for British Art http://britishart.yale.edu 203-410-4069 -- Stefano Cossu Director of Application Services, Collections The Art Institute of Chicago 116 S. Michigan Avenue Chicago, IL 60603 ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ mcn-l mailing list mcn-l@mcn.edu http://mcn.edu/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l End of mcn-l Digest, Vol 126, Issue 14 ************************************** -- Historic Richmond Town is a not-for-profit cultural institution of the City of New York. * historicrichmondtown.org * 718-351-1611 * @hrtown _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l@mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://mcn.edu/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://www.mail-archive.com/mcn-l@mcn.edu/
