Title Goes HereJuly 29, 2004

AIMS workshop23 August 2011

Born-digital materials at the Ransom Center

• 46 hybrid collections containing digital materials

• 2,200 removable media of various types (60% 3.5-inch disks)

• 8 personal computers

• Partially to fully processed: 8 collections

• Not processed: 38 collections

• Currently available to researchers: 0

Lessons Learned #1

• Providing two separate finding aids, or one finding aid not linked to the repository database, is not helpful.

• Basic digital functionality is expected (e.g., search).

• Advanced functionality and interoperability are desired.

• User feedback is useful, important, and easy to solicit informally.

• Even people who are afraid of technology have valuable insight into how a database, interface, or other system components can be improved.

Example of finding aid for paper materials (David Foster Wallace)

Lesson Learned #2

• Technology is supposed to help.

• If using a particular system increases your workload in ways that don't make sense, reevaluate the situation and your options.

Lesson Learned #3a

• Establishing descriptive standards should be a learning process for staff, not for students and volunteers.

• Once standards are in place, students/volunteers can learn from the choices staff have already made and offer suggestions for improvement.

• Consistency in description and arrangement is vital because metadata needs to be portable between systems (e.g., from DSpace to something else).

Lesson Learned #3b

• Don't let the peculiarities of a particular repository system dictate the arrangement or descriptive standards of your born-digital materials.

• Metadata needs to be portable, robust, and transcendent.

Hybrid inventory

• Hyperlink to corresponding

series on Dspace

• “ER” denoting presence of

electronic records

• Dspace structure mostly corresponds to that of finding aid for paper materials

Lesson Learned #4

• One of the biggest challenges will be to build cataloging practices that privilege and support paper and digital components equally.

• Obstacles: staff training, equipment, expertise, pressure to finish projects and get finding aids online sooner rather than later.

Disk record, ER database

Thank you!

Gabby Redwinegredwine@mail.utexas.edu