MPLP: A Love Story

My first venture into the world of archives began in the summer (or late spring) of 2007. Preparing for an internship in the North Carolina Room/Local History Room/Special Collections Room (NCR) of the New Hanover County Public Library, I was tasked with processing a collection. But which collections would it be? My intern coordinator on campus and my supervisor in the NCR had their own ideas. One project was three to four boxes and would take under a month to complete. There was another collection however, which took up 60 file boxes...

Naturally, my superiors elected to assign me the latter--and I am glad they did. From start to finish, processing the collection took approximately 15 months. Along the way, I continued working through graduate school, studying for the comprehensive exam, foreign language exam, worked as a teaching assistant, and used the information found in the collection as the basis for my thesis ( http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/uncw/f/shahs2008-1.pdf).

The collection itself was fairly organized, but weeding, rehousing, and cataloging were required. The survey or appraisal process took approximately three weeks. After an initial survey of the collection (which left me feeling a bit overwhelmed), a second, shorter survey was conducted to develop a better sense of familiarity and grasp the context of the collection.

When it arrived, the collection came in 60 boxes.

Some boxes contained no clear organization.

After creating a rough list for the contents of the collection, I proceeded to work box-by-box, beginning with organization and committees (minutes, annual reports, etc.) and then followed by the general collection, which was in alphabetical order. Initially, I tried to adhere to the key step for rehousing and archiving materials (remove corrosive elements like staples and paperclips and unfolding folded materials). After the second month, however, I realized that both the NCR's resources and my time would be better spent if I just focused on cleaning, organizing, and rehousing the records in acid-free folders and cataloging them in the blossoming finding aid.

As my mentor pointed out, the key was creating a usable finding aid and making the collection accessible to researchers. As an intern, I was putting in about 20 hours a week and could not dedicate more time than that, and if I wanted to finish the project and graduate on time, then I needed to focus on what was important: making the collection available. Later, while pursuing my master's in library and information science, I would learn that such practice was referred to a "More Product, Less Process" or MPLP. At the time, I just felt guilty--because it seemed like I was cutting corners to get the job done.

What should my priorities be? The first was to finish the project. That was paramount. While my internship effectively ended at the end of the summer of 2007 (at least in terms of receiving a grade), I had not finished the project, and I continued with the work through to the fall of 2008. It was my white whale and my albatross. The longer I worked on the project, arranging, rehousing and cataloging records and documents, the better my understanding of the organization grew, and I saw how it connected with the city, history, architecture, economics, and politics. After discussing the topic with my mentor and university faculty, I decided to make the collection the focal point of my thesis.

Suddenly, there were deadlines. If my graduation was tied to my thesis, and my thesis was tied to the collection, then the sooner I finished processing the collection, the sooner I could complete my thesis and graduate. While this did not impact the quality of processing the collection, it did force me to speed up the pace of processing and fine-tune the weeding, rehousing, and cataloging steps.

MPLP is pragmatic. It is a compromise which addresses two issues faced by archivists and records managers working in archives, museums, libraries, and special collections: the finite amount of time and money with which they have to work. MPLP is an answer to a field that is becoming increasingly stretched in terms of resources.

Some may view the use of this practice as an unholy compromise that invalidates the very practice or integrity of the archival field, but there are two qualities which come to mind: preservation of records and access to records. Both are vital, but within the field, it is acknowledged that NOTHING LASTS FOREVER. Molecules break down and materials will deteriorate and decay and information will be lost. Giving that information structure/organization and making it accessible, while ensuring that it remains well-preserved are key. 

By September of 2008, I had completed work on the collection and the rough draft of the finding aid. Because of my familiarity with the collection, again, it proved to be central to my thesis, and much of the primary sources were drawn from reports, speeches, minutes, and letters, found in the DARE, Inc. Collection. My thesis was completed two months later and made available online in 2009. Since then, it's received over 1,200 views and has been cited by historians and referred to by city officials for planning and preservation purposes. Had I not followed practices of MPLP, then that knowledge would not have been made available.

Ultimately, the DARE, Inc. Collection, as an internship, and an experience in processing archives was excellent. I am reminded of how people described Stanley Kubrick as an obsessive perfectionist who was notorious for an insane number of shots and retakes to get that shot which best captured his vision. In response to his critics, Kubrick simply said that he put so much effort into it because he could not discern when he was loving a film too much or too little. It's about effort and dedication and seeing things through, but at some point, we all have to be satisfied with a final product and let go.

That said, I do look back on "my first" with some head-slapping. I wished I had used group and series level description when creating the finding aid. Something seemed amiss at the time, but chalk that down as a learning experience.

Why an Archivist?

In mixed company at social events and parties, the following questions are bound to arise at some point:

What do you do for a living?

Where do you work?

What did you study?

They are not an attack on a person's worth as a human being, but a subtle quest to find common ground--a curious search for some...link. Once the response to these questions is given, the interviewer may respond, "Oh! I always wanted to do that," or "that sounds interesting," or "I am SO sorry for you." 

So, people can get a bit defensive and apprehensive just before they divulge that personal information. So where do archivists fit in all of this? Well, considerable scholarship has been written on the topic--trying to assist both seasoned and would-be professionals with the task of selling their profession to others.

Here's my take: it's ensuring the preservation of truth and accountability. 

I am going to cite two works here which capture this notion from respected scholars far more experienced in the field of archives than myself. John Fleckner, former president of the Society of American Archivists and senior archivist at the Smithsonian Museum of American History, gave a classic address which is often given to students as a required reading. In "Dear Mary Jane" (1990), Fleckner writes three drafts of a letter to a graduate student detailing why she should be interested in becoming an archivist and what drew him to the profession. In the third and final letter, Fleckner makes the argument for preserving truth:

As archivists who maintain the integrity of the historical record, we guard our collective past from becoming the mere creation of "official" history. Fortunately, today there is little threat to us from a centralized Orwellian tyranny. Yet the continuing struggles of individuals and groups neglected or maligned by the dominant culture remind us that central governments are not the only oppressors.

More recently (in 2007), Maureen Dowd wrote about "macho" archivists in an open-ed in the New York Times, which focused on former vice president Dick Cheney's efforts attempts to evade making materials of public record available for acquisition by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The Archivist of the United States and NARA filed a complaint against the former vice president, and they were joined by the American Historical Association (AHA), Organization of American Historians (OAH), and Society of American Archivists (SAA)(see: Historians Sue VP Cheney Seeking Court Order to Preserve Records). 

Though this case is noteworthy in itself, it is not unprecedented, but merely highlights one of the valuable functions served by both archives and archivists--and one of the functions I value most--ensuring accountability. This quality can be traced back to the French Revolution and the establishment of the Archives Nationales--a centralized archives which contained records accessible to the public. (For more on the history and development of archives, refer to the writings of Ernst Posner.)

Ultimately, archivists serve as silent pillars who preserve the documents and records (bills, letters, receipts, memos, pictures, videos, speeches, etc.) which serve as evidence and testimony--thereby laying the foundation for accountability.

Foundations of Digital Libraries

Over the course of this summer, I will be taking two courses relating to digital libraries and digital collections at CUA, and though no a stranger to blogging (I've been doing this since 1999), I saw this as an excellent opportunity to fall back into the practice.

One of the courses I am taking is Foundations of Digital Libraries. Though the title of the course is about digital libraries, I engaged in a debate of semantics with my fellow classmates and the professor: what exactly is a digital library, and unless we properly define it and narrow the scope, how could we hope to have a course which focused on it.

As it stands, we are learning about digital project management, and the steps involved in planning a digital collection up to the creation of our own digital collections through the use of CONTENTdm. For me, this serves as a bit of a refresher. I worked with CONTENTdm for about two years before coming to the Library of Congress, and it is an excellent tool for developing digital collections. Plus, just as is the case with image manipulating software or word processors, once you develop proficiency with one, using other programs is not too difficult.

I enjoyed using CONTENTdm. While metadata entry itself was often time-consuming and involved heavy editing to provide just the perfect description or summary, I was drawn by the quest for more information--particularly when it came to locating information on mysterious photographs of the landscape. 

Then, that Sherlock Holmes (or Greg House) instinct kicked in, and I looked for clues--was it at a beach? Did the buildings look familiar? Were there any signs? If there were roads, were street names visible? Any kind of name helped, because then I could go to the city directories and go through the process of elimination and look for dates and streets and then cross-reference the city directory with maps and see if dates on the insurance maps indicated that, yes, a structure did exist in that location in that year matching those dimensions. 

Sometimes family files held clues. Maybe a local family owned a business, worked for a company, or resided at a particular address. 

Maybe a sentence or two of descriptive metadata would come of it, but the hunt for that information and finding it was, for some reason, immensely rewarding. (The itch had been scratched.)

I'm looking forward to doing that again next month.

The other class I am taking is called... let's see here... Digital Collections in Libraries, Archives, and Museums. This is a one-week course taught all day over at the Library of Congress. There's an emphasis on digital asset management systems (DAMS), but the structure and syllabus suggests that we will be seeing how local institutions (the Library of Congress, Smithsonian, etc.) digitize their items, enter metadata and go about preserving the digital content. I see this as both an excellent companion to the digital libraries course and also, because of the location, a great chance to network with others in the field of digital cultural heritage.

Future Concerns for Digital Trends

(Originally posted April 22, 2012)

Though the internet serves as an communication tool enhancing access to information, the opening of the proverbial floodgates comes with strings attached. As evidenced in the articles by S. Vaidhyanathan (2005), B. Gambles (2010), and K. A. Coombs (2005), there is reason to be concerned out future trends and the relative privacy of the consumer/patron.

In Vaidyanathan's "The Googlization of Everything and the Future of Copyright," the author addresses how Google's mass digitization efforts, while noble in intent, have received both resistance and criticism from authors, publishers, librarians, and the Copyright Office. The heart of the matter is the retention of the rights of intellectual properties. While Google hopes to make rare books available to the public through Google Books, there are concerns that the rights of the authors--even those who cannot be identified or located (creating orphaned works, still retain copyright ownership of their work (even if it goes unrepresented). Thus, the works sit in a virtual limbo.

Expanding on the notion of the digitized book is Gambles' "Rewriting the Book: On the Move in the Library of Birmingham" (2010). A project in the works, the Library of Birmingham is a novel concept which hopes to open in 2013. Just as the architecture is a fusion of old and new ideas, the premise behind the Library of Birmingham is to create an atmosphere which promotes emerging technologies which impact library patrons. Acknowledging the significance of Web 2.0 and tools/sites such as Google, Amazon, Twitter, and Facebook, the LoB views its mission as a place where users can make the transition to new technology and software--rather than to be restricted to aging means of research.

Just as Gambles demonstrates how one library is fully embracing the digital age, Coombs' "Protecting User Privacy in the Age of Digital Libraries" (2005) reminds us of the information libraries receive and are capable of retaining from users who connect online or use library computers. Though some of the information, such as browsing trends and site hits may prove useful in helping a library determine which products are utilized, there is the concern regarding personal information stored in the system. For this reason (and because of state and Federal laws which address the importance of protecting the privacy of users), Coombs emphasizes the importance of scrubbing library records and removing information which can identify a person or user.

Ultimately, accessing information on the Internet is a silent pact: the user agrees to make portions of their personal information available to a site in return for the privilege to view the information that site possesses. What kind of information that site retains, and what it elects to do with the information is the key, and while some organizations try to protect the rights of their users, others merely view their users as another product to be sold to a different customer or agency.
 

 _______________________________________________________________________________

Coombs, K. A. (2005). Protecting user privacy in the age of digital libraries. Computers in 

        Libraries, 25, 16-20.

Gambles, B. (2010). Rewriting the book: On the move in the library of Birmingham. 

        30-July-2010 Publication: Ariadne Issue 64: http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue64  

        /gambles.

Vaidhyanathan, S. (2005). The Googlization of everything and the future of copyright. 

        Retrieved from http://lawreview.law.ucdavis.edu/issues/Vol40/Issue3

        /DavisVol40No3_Vaidhyanathan.pdf.

Web ?.0

(Originally posted April 15, 2012) 

This week's readings can be broken down into two sections: "Fundamentals of the Internet and World Wide Web," and the "Emergence of Web 2.0." Jeff Tyson's "How the Internet Infrastructure Works" and Rich Tebb's "Introduction to the Web as a Platform" (2007) provide an overview of the history and underlying structure of the internet and how end-users connect and interact with each other through web sites.

Though not new, addressing the topic was a bit of a refresher and reminded me of terms I had not used in 17 or 18 years. I remember the squawk created from dial-up modems (and the word "baud"). Upon entering college, was given a crash-course in accessing the internet when I was manually installed the Ethernet card in my desktop (which operated at 33-50 mhz with a pre-Pentium processor and had a whopping 500 MB of storage on the hard drive). From there, I read a five-paged sheet which explained how I created identified my computer and connected it to the school's Local Area Network (LAN). I had no idea as to what I was doing, but with a little trial and error, I figured it out.

Updates in computers and computing technology followed. From the Ethernet and dial-up modems to cable to wireless: new technology brought more complications. While the original issue may have involved the computer, modem, or phone connection, modern problems include (but are not exclusive to) the computer, the connection to the router (password for instance), the router itself, the connection to the cable line, or the cable provider. (Fortunately, computers can identify the source of the problem and offer solutions.)

Wireless computing is but one of the catalysts for Web 2.0. As the clocked counted down to Y2K, the Internet bubble burst and millionaires became insolvents overnight. Thirty years in the making, the internet blossomed from a government-run project geared towards defense and research purposes to a place where anyone with a connection could socialize, shop, conduct research, and, yes, even play games. While O'Reilly is promoting innovations, his angle is what struck me.

Maybe I'm a cynic, but in reading Tim O'Reilly (and John Battelle)'s articles on Web 2.0, I felt like someone was trying to sell me something. Sure enough, looking at O'Reilly's background, one learns he has been involved in tech marketing for over 30 years. So what's O'Reilly trying to sell? Reassurance. He wants the public and investors to feel optimistic about the future of the internet and technology related to it by pointing out its flexibility and growth potential through products like Facebook, Twitter, and Flckr. True enough, Apple has grown from a floundering company to the wealthiest corporation in the world--riding high on the promise and potential Web 2.0 offers.

Are libraries taking notice? Obviously. It's hard to find an institution which does not have at least a Facebook page for outreach purposes (though more aggressive organizations also make use of Twitter and the development of mobile apps.) So is O'Reilly right? Yes and no. There is not really much of an argument. Technology improves. It's innovation. It's not isolated to internet technology (cars, movies, and even light bulbs have made considerable advances). Labeling this change, Web 2.0, as something new is more of an advertising campaign to further separate the success of the current innovations from the dot-com bust.

Computers for Libraries 2012: A Travelogue

(Originally posted March 25, 2012)

For Week 10, students in LSC-555 were asked to visit the Computers in Libraries Conference, held in the Hilton Hotel in Dupont Circle. Held over three days (March 21-23), the conference offered registered members and visitors the opportunity meet with vendors from across the library tech spectrum and examine their offerings.

Timing was an issue. Because of my schedule, it was not possible to attend the conference on Thursday or Friday, so I left work early on Wednesday and spent a few hours at the conference before going to class. Consequently, my ability to absorb the information and speak with vendors was rushed (and matters worsened when a big presentation let out--filling the exhibition floor with visitors). However, I managed to meet with, and speak to vendors from five different organizations (EBSCO Host, OCLC, TLC, VTLS, and Emerald). 

For starters, I was drawn to organizations with which I already possessed a level of familiarity. Being in closest proximity to the entrance, EBSCOhost drew me in first, and I spoke with two individuals about the products (or journals) they offered, services to universities and public libraries, and their role in the CIL Conference. While I mentioned familiarity with e-journals, I was informed that EBSCOhost also provided eBooks and audiobooks. (I should have asked if these were accessible via smart phone or tablet.)

 

EBSCOhost Booth

After walking down one of the vendor isles, I spotted an image on a screen I had previously seen on the NHC Public Library's web site (which I thought was designed by NHC). 
(http://srvlibpac.nhcgov.com:8080/kids/)

As it turns out, this page was designed by The Library Corporation (TLC). It made sense, because NHC turned to TLC when the library updated its ILS from VTLS's Virtua. However, it seemed I gave NHC too much credit for developing their own children's page. This created a new question, because the NHC library is using both OCLC software (particularly WorldCat and CONTENTdm) and running on TLC's LS2PAC. When examining possible ILS to update to, my former supervisor requested that CONTENTdm be part of any package, and I asked the vendor for TLC if there was a relationship/partnership between TLC and OCLC. He could not confirm it, but given the special circumstances, it was entirely possible some deal had been made in order to fulfill NHC's requirements and get the deal made.

TLC Vendors and LS2PAC

 Given the new mystery, I decided to take the matter up with OCLC. Unfortunately, the vendor was busy (and I was pressed for time). However, I did pick up some brochures.

Busy OCLC Vendor

While I am sure vendors are fully capable of working together to make a deal with a customer, I wondered what kind of problems might arise in the IT side should programs not interact well with one another (or are the programs structured so that they can function alongside products from possible competitors). Conducting a quick Google search for LS2Pac (TLC ILS used by NHCPL) and CONTENTdm, I was hoping to see other libraries which used both products--suggesting that such a partnership was not a novel concept. The result made me smile:
 http://ls2pachelp.tlcdelivers.com/1_11/UserApp/I_Want_To/Understand_and_Search_Digital_Collections.htm

The images included in this page are taken from collections I created ("that's my metadata up there!").

 I also made brief stops by VTLS and Emerald--not so much to talk, but to look over products, brochures, and see if anything jumped out. Prior to starting at CUA, I never used Emerald. The main journals for historians are Jstor and Project MUSE. 

Ultimately, it was the experience at the TLC booth which proved to be the most enlightening. Beyond learning more about LS2PAC, the vendor also told me how TLC offered two ILS plans--the mentioned LS2PAC (for small libraries) and CARL X for larger library systems.

I was hoping to learn more about ExLibris, but they were not listed (or simply were not there). Based on the recent research paper, I had some questions regarding the specific differences between Rosetta and DigiTool and I was hoping someone could explain them to me. (Always next year!)

Understanding Integrated Library Systems (ILS)

(Originally posted, March 3, 2012)

In this week's collection of readings, we examined Integrated Library Systems (ILS) and the challenges faced by libraries as they try to balance between staying abreast in the latest technology and ensuring that an update to a new ILS will not tax the libraries' existing resources.

Marcia Deddens's "Overview of Integrated Library Systems" (Deddens, 2002) provides a glimpse at the evolving market for ILS and the relationship between vendors and libraries. Citing examples from Endeavor Information Systems, Innovative Interfaces, Inc., and SIRSI--all of which promise products which ease the library's task of making information digitized and accessible online. Deddens brings up an excellent point in questioning whether the term ILS has become dated, and offers an appropriate replacement: Digital Access Management Systems (DAMS) (Deddins, 2002).

Marshal Breeding's (2005) "Re-Integrating the Integrated Library System" delves into issues facing the increasingly convoluted waters of the standard ILS. In an effort to meet the information demands of their users and to keep up with the simplified browsing capabilities of sites such as Amazon.com and Google, libraries expand the offerings on their ILS by including Add-ons and links to e-journals (Breeding, 29). Though Breeding notes how the dated history of a traditional ILS creates compatibility issues with new, digitized resources, and while Breeding calls for a means of improving the integration within the existing ILS, he confesses there is no realistic solution (Breeding, 30).

Like Breeding, Andrew Pace pushes for integration and interoperability (Pace, 2004). Likewise, Pace also touches on ideas offered by Deddens, in that the old notion of an ILS is dead--particularly because as vendors push new and improved systems for digitized collections, the advances make the traditional ILS less integrated (thus making the name itself a contradiction). Pace also raises the question of exactly how much of an existing system needs to be updated/revamped. Is it necessary to start from scratch (Pace, 2004)?

Stephanie Taylor's "A Quick Guide to Z39.50" (2003) highlights the issue surrounding dated ILS practices by discussing the history of the development of Z39.50--a clint-server protocol which which functions as a translator between two ILS. Though Z39.50 serves as a tool which provides the interoperability and integration libraries desire, there are questions about whether Z39.50 itself requires an update. If so, would such an update force libraries to update their existing ILS accordingly?

While the question raised by these scholars is simple, the answer is complex. Should libraries update when they run the risk of further isolating their existing/future systems in an attempt to gain increased visibility and usage? Does upgrading run the risk of being counter-productive? Technology evolves, and people adapt accordingly. Imagine Microsoft and Apple were based on the same programming and hardware. Imagine the Sony Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii could all play the same discs. For users, this would be advantageous, because they could pick a computer or system without feeling a sense of risk. However, for the companies, this would prove disastrous, because it is the unique quality and character of their products which appeals to different users. Vendors depend on that uniqueness to stay competitive and develop products which appeal to some libraries (who, in turn, hope the final product will appeal to their targeted patrons).

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Breeding, M. (2005). Re-Integrating the integrated library system. Computers in Libraries, 25, 28-30.

Deddens, M. (2002). Overview of ILS. EDUCAUSE. http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/DEC0201.pdf

Pace, A. (2004). Dismantling integrated library systems. Library Journal.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA374953.html

Taylor, S. (2003). A quick guide to …Z39.50. Interlending and Document Supply, 31, 25-30.