Integration of Collections Management and Digital Preservation Mark Evans – History Associates Curate Gear 2016, January 2016 Project Participants Client: • Trustees of Reservations Project Team: • History Associates • Preservica Key Objectives • Bring more of the ARC’s resources to an even wider audience than we currently reach through online access to our museum collections catalog • Offer enhanced internal access to institutional records, to aid staff in their roles as stewards and to contribute to future restoration efforts. • Use technology to preserve the records that document an incredible past so that they can inform and inspire far into the future. Primary Goals Implement a Digital Asset Management System to: Protect and share digital assets internally • Interoperability/ Integration with PastPerfect and other systems • Implement OAIS responsibilities Provide Online Collections Catalog • Significant step up from PastPefect public interface • Advance search and faceted browsing • Rendering of content • GPS and mapping features Desired Approach Other Information Management Systems Collections Management System Proposed Solution Preservica Core • Provide OAIS • Support Internal users • Accommodate multiple sources Preservica Enhancements • Ingest PastPerfect data Universal Access • Provide Public Access • Enhanced capabilities Key Challenges and Considerations Metadata Model • Past Perfect manages multiple catalogs with varying semantics • Consider Metadata from other sources – some not yet fully defined • Sufficient to support common access across all assets Automate as much as possible • Little to no internal IT support Past perfect has no API • Export pathways are very limited – may require custom scripts • New SIP definition Proposed Approach • Export content as XML where possible • Facilitates transformation to a Preservica SIP • Define a simple Past Perfect Package • Guided by what we can export and what we need. • Develop a custom package processor • Transforms what can be exported into a Preservica SIP • Can be incorporated into existing ingest workflows Package Definition Defines the relationship between items and digital objects – Created by a custom PastPerfect report Descriptive Metadata created by SHA1 PastPerfect checksums for Reports each digital object Export / Ingest Workflow Example Sample PastPerfect Object Record Preservation / Technical Metadata PastPerfect Metadata Early Lessons Data Quality • Never underestimate the size of this task • Garbage in – Garbage out Data Consistency • Digital object naming – Significant effort in renaming files Keep it simple • User buy in / adoption Next Steps Export and Ingest targeted PastPerfect content Development of Universal access features Explore potential use by other institutions Questions or Coffee? Contacts: Mark Evans: [email protected] Sarah Hayes: [email protected] URLS History Associates: http://www.historyassociates.com The Trustees: http://www.thetrustees.org Preservica: http://www.preservica.com.