Collectionlevel description in practice CollectionLevel Description NOFdigitise projects

Collection-level description in practice Collection-Level Description & NOF-digitise projects NOF-digitise programme seminar, London, 22 February 2002 Bridget Robinson & Pete Johnston UKOLN, University of Bath, BA 2 7 AY Email cd-focus@ukoln. ac. uk URL http: //www. ukoln. ac. uk/ UKOLN is supported by: Collection-level description & NOF-digitise projects, London, 22 Feb 2002

Collection-level description in practice • Collection-level description – before CLD… – in archives – in museums – in libraries – in RSLP – in the JISC/DNER – in the NOF-digitise programme 2 Collection-level description & NOF-digitise projects, London, 22 Feb 2002

CLDs before CLD…. • Resource managers/providers create CLDs without calling them CLDs! – summary guides – directories – descriptions of institution’s “holdings” – etc 3 Collection-level description & NOF-digitise projects, London, 22 Feb 2002

CLDs in archives • Description of aggregates as central feature of descriptive practice – “Multi-level” description • “Collections” defined by provenance of items • Archival emphasis on context of item • CLD embedded in standards for archival description – International Standard for Archival Description (General) (ISADG) – Encoded Archival Description (EAD) 4 Collection-level description & NOF-digitise projects, London, 22 Feb 2002

CLDs in archives (2) • AIM 25 – http: //www. aim 25. ac. uk/ – RSLP project – ISAD(G) collection(fonds)-level descriptions (some sub-collections) – archives/manuscript collections in HE institutions & learned societies in London area – also exports XML (experimentally!) as – EAD documents; RSLP CD RDF/XML records; simple DC records via OAI 5 Collection-level description & NOF-digitise projects, London, 22 Feb 2002

CLDs in archives (3) • Archives Hub – http: //www. archiveshub. ac. uk/ – JISC service at MIMAS (Manchester) – EAD collection(fonds)-level descriptions for archive collections in UK universities & colleges – some hierarchical descriptions – EAD supports description down to item level – Z 39. 50 target 6 Collection-level description & NOF-digitise projects, London, 22 Feb 2002

CLDs in museums • Tendency to focus on description of object • But notion of “collection” is used – collection management – collection assessment/mapping • Various criteria – type/form of item – subject – ownership/source • Some collection-level description – little standardisation? – some use of EAD, Dublin Core 7 Collection-level description & NOF-digitise projects, London, 22 Feb 2002

CLDs in museums (2) • Cornucopia – http: //www. cornucopia. org. uk/ – Resource service – CLDs for UK museums – data from range of existing sources – mapping to RSLP CD schema – cross-domain considerations e. g. subject terminologies 8 Collection-level description & NOF-digitise projects, London, 22 Feb 2002

CLDs in museums (3) • 24 hour Museum – http: //www. 24 hourmuseum. org. uk/ – developed by mda/Campaign for Museums; now independent charity – summary CLDs – also details of events, exhibitions, “trails”, teaching resources etc 9 Collection-level description & NOF-digitise projects, London, 22 Feb 2002

CLDs in libraries • Tendency to focus on description of item – well-established standards (MARC, AACR 2) • Until recently, collection-level description informal, unstructured • Subject-based collections – items dispersed – complex relationships • Standards – some use of MARC for CLD (especially in USA) – adoption of RSLP CD schema in RSLP programme 10 Collection-level description & NOF-digitise projects, London, 22 Feb 2002

CLDs in libraries (2) • SCONE – http: //scone. strath. ac. uk/ – RSLP project – CLDs for holdings of libraries in Scotland – complex relationships between collections – support – collaborative collection management – “landscaping” in CAIRNS – implements RSLP CD schema 11 Collection-level description & NOF-digitise projects, London, 22 Feb 2002

CLD in RSLP • Support for researchers – discovery of/access to collections – collaborative management of collections • Collections in RSLP – projects describing primarily (but not exclusively) collections of physical items – projects also describing digital catalogues (which describe physical items) i. e. collections of metadata records – projects creating new digital collections of collection descriptions 12 Collection-level description & NOF-digitise projects, London, 22 Feb 2002

CLD in RSLP (2) • RSLP CD Model & Schema – Michael Heaney (Oxford), Andy Powell (UKOLN) – means of consistent collection description in RSLP – simple, generic • Adopted by number of RSLP projects – use RSLP CD schema as base descriptive schema – or use other schema internally and map to RSLP CD – … more later today! 13 Collection-level description & NOF-digitise projects, London, 22 Feb 2002

CLD in RSLP (3) • Regional – RASCAL – http: //www. rascal. qub. ac. uk/ – Mapping Wales – http: //www. mappingwales. ac. uk/ • Subject-based – Caribbean Studies, Black/Asian history CASBAH – http: //www. casbah. ac. uk/ – BUFVC Researchers Guide Online – http: //www. bufvc. ac. uk/ 14 Collection-level description & NOF-digitise projects, London, 22 Feb 2002

CLD in DNER • Collections in DNER – collections of resources – text, images, data. . . – collections of metadata about resources – subject gateways, library catalogues… – digital items, physical items – distributed – local institutions – JISC content providers – external collections 15 Collection-level description & NOF-digitise projects, London, 22 Feb 2002

CLD in DNER (2) • Collections available to users through services • Network services make digital collections available at digital ‘locations’ • Real services make physical collections available at physical ‘locations’ 16 Collection-level description & NOF-digitise projects, London, 22 Feb 2002

CLD in DNER (3) 17 Collection-level description & NOF-digitise projects, London, 22 Feb 2002

CLD in the NOF-digitise programme • Collections in NOF-digitise – projects creating new digital collections of resources (images, audio, video etc) – projects creating new digital collections of metadata records (describing digital items) – (projects maybe also describing physical collections? ) 18 Collection-level description & NOF-digitise projects, London, 22 Feb 2002

CLD in the NOF-digitise programme • Collection-level descriptions – one CLD for all project resources as single collection? – multiple CLDs for “sub-collections”? – by item form/type? – by subject? – CLD for consortial “super-collections”? • CLDs might be created – by project – by “consortium” – by NOF on behalf of project 19 Collection-level description & NOF-digitise projects, London, 22 Feb 2002

Introducing OAI MHP • OAI Metadata Harvesting Protocol – lightweight protocol which allows data providers to expose metadata records for retrieval by service providers – data providers (projects) supply metadata as XML documents – Must provide simple DC (OAI provides XML Schema) – May provide other metadata formats (in XML) – OAI provides a standardised means for NOF portal - and other portals - (service providers) to gather metadata records from projects (data providers) into central database 20 Collection-level description & NOF-digitise projects, London, 22 Feb 2002

Resource discovery within a project Resources Web site Item-level Metadata 21 Collection-level description & NOF-digitise projects, London, 22 Feb 2002 CLD(s)

Other directories, services CLD Web site DC Metadata export CLD in the NOF programme : project view OAI MHP NOF Portal Web site CLD 22 CLD Collection-level description & NOF-digitise projects, London, 22 Feb 2002

Query CLDs NOF Portal Web site CLDs for NOF collections Query item-level DC DC item-level records for NOF resources CLD Web site DC CLD 23 Other directories, services Collection-level description & NOF-digitise projects, London, 22 Feb 2002

Acknowledgements UKOLN is funded by Resource: the Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries, the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the UK higher and further education funding councils, as well as by project funding from the JISC and the European Union. UKOLN also receives support from the University of Bath where it is based. http: //www. ukoln. ac. uk/ 24 Collection-level description & NOF-digitise projects, London, 22 Feb 2002