Archival Informatics Newsletter
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ARCHIVAL INFORMATICS NEWSLETTER ISSN 0892-2179 FALL 1988 Volume 2 #3 Defining Data and Functions for r'1anagernent, Project r'1anagement, Desk Top Archives & Museum Systems Publishing and Busmess Graph1cs Effort.s to adopt amore uniform perspective software nlis market. In turn, S8t. , F2r the r'1useum Computer Network meeting on m will, 1~ ,,~nta minimal standards and reward vendors WhO f10mca mOCtober, I put together a 11st. prOVide fully capable sYstems Over t.M 01 100 vendOrs of archlV8s, museum and corning year, I will be lnyolved in contract t.o records management software! With ~ many a sYstems to choose between, users tire going to prOVide adesign t.o the Research Libraries Group for alocal archives/museum system need considerable help. The accompanying list that will serve as aworkst.ation RLI N of 75 consu ltants may be of some use here but to During the contract period. numerous I t.hink it is fort.unate on the whole that another institut.ions w1ll participat.e in requirement.s strat.egy 1S beg1nning 1.0 emerge, Let's call1t OOf1nit.ion exercises, and ageneral mode', of "codification" or "rat.ionalization" of t.he dat.a. functions, fmd structures of tlrchwes tlnd requ1rements and data will be construct.ed whic~l I would ~Iope to present. for professlOn museum mformation syst.ems, wide review, I am confident that such Hie purpose of anumber' of ongoing efforts is dissemination of models of archives and to develop frameworks within which local raqUlrements and the offerings of different museum syst.ems w1ll, in t1me. lead us to a vendors may be compared, These frameworks stronger market and better' systems, DB 0 are common defm1t1ons oltha modu'les of archives and museum syst.ems, the functions of TABLE OF CONTENTS each modu le and tJle (Jat.a of the system as a whole, Th1S newsletter contains areV1ew of an evaluation framework sold by Willoughby (In Box). adata model advanced by the ICOM I Committee on Documentation (Standards), and 50 I news of an effort to provide afunctional definition of ageneralized archival system I (Conferences - SAM, My vendor list suggests 521 that fwe mOdules may be present m afull I fledged system: Collect10ns (including Records) I f1onogement, Informat.ion Retrievol, Events I 11anagement, r1embership & Development. and 54 Space ( Exhibits and Storage) 11anaoernent en Ot.her specialized funct.lOns otten d8s1red by ~C~ 1 ~"... arcti1ves and museums but handled bv separat.e ()L.I systems mc1ude: Index Preparat.ion, Funds 63 i Accounting, Slide Library 11anooement 64 Interactive Video Development. &. Presentation "e emd Volunteer t1anagement Generlc tu 1 rWUlrements include Word Processino. File 671 ARTICLES To dOCument AIDS and me struggle agamst 1t must, therefore, Jnvoj'y'e the lona-term preservation ot" some maetl1ne-readab Ie MACHINE-READABLE VIEWS records. And some of the records must come Thomas E. Brown from the Centers for DIS-ease Control r: CDC.i A prlme candIdate IS CDC;'s AID.') Dat6lJdse Society of American Archivists containing mlcrolevel data from tne Case Ever',' annual meetlng of the Society of Report Form. Yet the representative from CDC ..~merican ArchiYists has Its ups and downs for made no reference to the arcnwal retentIon aT th()<'-R interested in the archlval administration this or any other non-aggregated master fIle or or machIne-readable records. The Atlanta database. When Questioned. the CDC conferenr.e was no exceptlon. representative acknow Iedged that no such rd,;,ns Interest Inautomated records has apparent Iy eXisted, This not only Violates legal moved into the mainstream. This was clear . requirements but l:llso abrogates social when chairs and representatives from various responSibility. Seem lnglv, CDC erroneously c.ommittees and tasK forces solicited the believe that publIshing tabular data Jr) the ReDor~s mYolvement of the newly restructured Weekly Morbidity and Mortal1ty &. rulfllis its ieaal and SOCIal obiioallOns. For ail Committee on Automated Records Techniques l~is (CART) in projects of common concern. our sakes, hope that CDC is managing the battle agaInst the epldem Ie more effectIvely Conversely I when approached by CART, other oroups aenerouslY aliowed time on alreadY than it IS managing its informatlOn resources. I~rowdeci agendas to hear CART proposals and In1tlatlves or mutual Interest Two new pUblications Severa! workshops and formal sessions were New York State ArchiVes &. Records exclusively devoted to automated records. Each Administration has .lust publiShed p, Strateglc W($ well attended. ,Ii,udiences frequently Plan for Managing ana Preserymg Electronlc Jncluded le.ader$ of the Society -- current and Records in New York State Government This former ot"ficers, council members, and chairS solid report presents recommendatlOns of the of avariety of task forr.es. sections and SpecIal MedIa Records Project mthree ~~ommittes. AddltlOnally, several presentatIOns sections. The first outHneS the strategic issues in more traditional sessions alluded to the In the ffian&j8ment and preservatIon ot all lmpact which today's electronic record keeping types of electroniC informatlOn, The second practices will have on the archives of r.:1elineates seven obJectives for managing anI) tomorrow. preservmg information from automated For me, the otherWIse solid conference had informatIOn systems. The last descrlbes 27 two disappointments. The first came on a activities to be undertaken durmg the next !"iV8 proposal to the Colleoe and UniversitY sect1on. years to achieve the objectives of section two. Building on earlier s·uccessful work with the The report has two strenQths seldom found in Ameriean AssoeiatlOn of Col1eoiate Reqlstrars government documents relatmg to automated and Adm issions Officers. CAR t propoSed to records. First, it IS asoup-to-nuts strateg.; to ldentitv cOlleJJ8 and university organizations ensure tile proper archival manaoement of dnd assoclatlOns whose members create and automated information systems. indeed. it maIntain recordS and to work with them to Gould be used as aprimer on archival develop gUidelines for preservlng archival Involvement in mformatlOn resources fl'lCumentatlon, especial jy in machine-readab Ie management. Secondly, the reoort outlmes a form. When CART outlined its proposal to the comprenenslve plan for the archival C,S•. USection meeting. the group responded with adm Inlstration of automated systems In tne Indifference. state of New York bv diyjding the problem mto The second disappointment came 1n asesslOn 27 manageable tas~.s As such, the report on "Documenting the ,A,IDS Crisis". AIDS may snould serve as amodel for other archives be the rirst eo idem ic fought with the computer. 50 Archival Informatics Newsletter vol.2 #3 8t.1,ernptmg to gam admmlstratwe contra", over macmne-reaQatlie dala that can be offered (1\/ a t.heir orQl:lnizat.lons' electronic records, traditiomlllibrary. The list 1s In ~scendlnQ [The report lS avai1ab'le wlthout cost from the order of compiexltY and cost.. In Qp.nerai \ DriP. New York Stat.e Archwes. Cultura'i Educat10n level of servICe presupposes the Prlor Center, Albanv I NY 12230. J establlshment of all the levels of servIce below The second report. from tMNatlOnal it HiS seven levels are: Archl'v'es t. Records Adm 1nlstration (t~ARA), 15 1: Offer passlVe referral serVlces another example of the Quality work bemg done '2: Provide active educatlonljl & referrljl bV N~.P.ft:s ft.rchival R,esearch and Eva"uation serVlces Staff Writt~n by ThomF.lS E Weir Jr., the 3: Purcrlase t1ochine-Readable Information report. lS ent.itled "3.480 Glass Tape Cartridge (MRI) Drives and Archival Dat.a Storage' Tactinology 4: Inventory and/or establish an archives for Assessment Report", fiRI alread}1 on campus 3480 cl/JSS cart.ndaes are a new rnoonetlc 5: Provlde mUllrnal computmQ ser'l1ce~, format for computer data storage, The mar~,et 6' PrOVide data consultation serVIces for Hlis class of drives is substantial and 7: Pr'ovide information products and d1.Ita growmg, and 1s expect.ed to dominate the analySis sarvlces mainframe t.ape market by 1991, This (Iose~; two questions for NARA; 1) should the National It is noteworthY that traditionallibranp.s ArchlVes use 3480 class tape cartncXle drives can begm to mclude data serVlces with mimITIal for storage of 11.20 arcr,ival records and 2) hOw effort using th1s paradigm but the tradl1.1onal :)hould Ule NatlOnfj] Archw8S acxc-eSSlOn archlVes needs to reach level four' before 11. can mformatlOn from agencles usmg thlS class of mcorporate machme readable records into its ijnv'e':., Trie GDncluSlOn of t~le r'epor1. lS Uiat tloldinqs. As Jacobs puts it. it "will take much ~jARA should adOpt a wait-ana-see attltude for more effort and time to accomp l1sh th1S fourth o"Iear or two level of ser'vice," The relative ease with which The st.rengtrl of the report 1S its analYS1s of libraries may mcorporate data products In future oota storaoe tectlnolocl1es, Archives will (;ompanson to what the traditlOnal1jrch1ve.s have to deal withthlS comlng technology and, faces may explain why the growth segment for w~lile mucrl lS beinq wntten on the subiec1. of dat.a services 1S in traditional1ibranes optlcal disk, thlS ls'the first report to explore expandmg thelr act1Vlt.ies. Conversely l the Hie archivallmplications of a new technology need for traditional archives to begin at level m magnetiC storage. ThOse of us who are four may have llmited their lnvolvement m 1radltiono"list.s m rnachme-readable records data products and services, This mav part.ially tlel18ve that magnetiC storage will remam answer a questlOn that has haunted members of vlab le mt.o t.he twentY-flrst century In thiS SAA.'s Committee on Automat.ed Records and sense, the report provldes asolid baslS for TechnlQues. Over 200 archiVists have Men doolinQ WitJl the future.