Describing%20museum%20collections:%20metadata%20schemas%20for%20CLD%20Pre-conference%20Workshop,%20mda%20Conference%20

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Describing museum collectionsmetadata schemas
for CLDPre-conference Workshop,mda Conference
Common Threads, Edgbaston, Birmingham, 3
September 2002

• Pete JohnstonUKOLN, University of Bath
• Bath, BA2 7AY

cd-focus_at_ukoln.ac.uk http//www.ukoln.ac.uk/
UKOLN is supported by
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Describing collectionsmetadata schemas for CLD

• CLD in museums
• Encoded Archival Description (EAD)
• RSLP Collection Description model and schema

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Collection-level description in museums

• Existing CLDs often informal, unstructured
• For presentation to human reader
• Little standardisation of content
• Or where structured, specific to project/service
  application?
• Limited capacity for
• exchange and reuse of collection-level metadata
• cross-searching of distributed collection-level
  metadata
• sharing of tools

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The Encoded Archival Description DTD
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Encoded Archival Description (EAD)

• N.B. Only a simplified overview!
• SGML/XML Document Type Definition for encoding
  archival finding aids
• Owned/maintained by Society of American
  Archivists/Library of Congress
• Hierarchical finding-aids
• Structured document approach
• Designed to encompass broad range of existing
  practice
• flexibility v interoperability issues?
• retrospective v prospective
• (Shaw, 2001)

http//www.loc.gov/ead/
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Structure of an EAD-encoded document
EAD
Header
Description of archival collection/fonds
DSC
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Structure of an EAD-encoded document
EAD
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Structure of an EAD-encoded document

• lteadgt
• lteadheadergt
• lteadidgtlt/eadidgt
• ltfiledescgtlt/filedescgt
• ltprofiledescgtlt/profiledescgt
• lt/eadheadergt
• ltarchdescgt
• ltdscgt
• ltc01gt
• ltc02gt
• lt/c02gt
• lt/c01gt
• ltc01gt
• lt/c01gt
• lt/dscgt
• lt/archdescgt
• lt/eadgt

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Core descriptive elements in EAD

• did
• unitid
• unittitle
• origination
• physdesc
• physloc
• unitdate
• abstract

• Basic descriptive information
• identification
• title
• agent responsible for creation/accumulation
• size and form
• locator
• creation date
• brief summary

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Core descriptive elements in EAD

• admininfo
• acqinfo
• custodhist
• accessrestrict
• userestrict
• altformavail
• accruals
• appraisal
• processinfo

• Background descriptive information
• immediate source
• custodial history
• conditions affecting availability
• conditions affecting use
• alternate forms
• anticipated additions
• info about determining archival value
• info about processes applied

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Core descriptive elements in EAD

• bioghist
• scopeandcontent
• add
• bibliography
• otherfindaid
• relatedmaterial
• separatedmaterial
• controlaccess
• subject
• persname
• corpname
• geogname (etc)

• Information about creator
• Narrative description of range/coverage
• Description of supplementary material
• works based on/about material
• other catalogues, guides etc
• related material
• material related by provenance but separated
• Access points

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EAD and non-archival collections

• Some use of EAD for describing non-archival
  collections
• Museums in the Online Archive of California
  (MOAC)
• Natural History Museum, London
• Archival
• Library
• Specimen
• Is EAD a collection description schema?
• Are the semantics of EAD specific to archive or
  archive-like collections?

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The RSLP Collection Description Model and Schema
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Research Support Libraries Programme

• Support for academic researchers
• disclosure of collections
• discovery of/access to collections
• collaborative management of collections
• Collections in RSLP
• projects describing primarily collections of
  physical items (library/archive)
• projects also describing digital catalogues
  (which describe physical items)
• collections of metadata records
• projects creating new digital collections of
  collection descriptions
• collections of metadata records

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RSLP Collection Description project

• Project
• funded by RSLP, with support from OCLC, Sept 1999
  Sept 2000
• collaboration between
• Michael Heaney (Oxford)
• Andy Powell, Michael Day (UKOLN)
• Aims
• means of consistent collection description in
  RSLP
• minimise duplication of effort in projects
• simple, high-level description
• aligned with other metadata work

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A Model for Collections

• Michael Heaney, An Analytical Model of
  Collections and their Catalogues
• Implementation independent
• Based primarily on a library and archival view of
  collection...
• but intended to be applicable across wide range
  of collection types
• Identifies
• Entities
• Attributes/properties of entities
• Relationships between entities
• Functionally (IFLA FRBR) concerned with
• Finding (access points for discovery)
• Identifying (sufficient for user interpretation)

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RSLP Model (simplified view)
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Entities in RSLP Model

• Content
• an intellectual creation, without reference to an
  instantiation
• Item
• a concrete realisation (physical/digital)of
  Content
• Collection
• an aggregation of items
• implementer to make pragmatic decisions about
  level of aggregation
• functional granularity

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Entities in RSLP Model

• Location
• the physical or digital place where a collection
  is held
• physical location - e.g. a library or museum
• postal address
• digital location i.e a network service
• URL of Web site, Z39.50 target details
• Note physical item at single location, but
  digital item available through multiple services

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Entities in RSLP Model

• Agent
• a person or corporate body related to the
  collection or location
• initiates actions
• has rights, controls access/use
• Collector
• gathers items into a collection
• Owner
• has legal possession of a collection
• Administrator
• has responsibility for the physical or digital
  environment in which a collection is held

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External relationships

• Collection to collection
• Has-Part, Has-Complement
• Has-Association
• Has-Version
• Collection to publication
• Has-Publication
• Collection to collection description
• Is-Described-By

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A Schema for Collection-Level Description

• RSLP Collection Description Schema
• structured set of metadata attributes
• simple description of subset of entities in
  Heaney model
• Collection
• Location
• Agents
• attributes based on Dublin Core Element Set
  (including refinements) where possible
• RSLP CD schema supports creation of unitary
  collection description
• RSLP CD instance
• set of linked descriptions of several resources

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RSLP CD Schema as subset of model
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RSLP CD Schema agents
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RSLP CD Schema isPartOf relations
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Collection attributes

• general attributes
• title, identifier, description, strength,
  physical characteristics, language, type, access
  control, accrual status, legal status, custodial
  history, note
• subject attributes
• concept(s), object(s), name(s), place(s), time(s)
• date attributes
• contents date range, accumulation date range

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Location attributes

• general attributes
• name, identifier, access conditions, see also
• location (physical)
• postal address, postcode, country
• location (digital)
• locator

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Agent attributes

• general attributes
• name, organisation, role, phone, fax, email,
  agent history

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Relation attributes

• relations between collection and location
• hasLocation/isLocationOf
• relations between collection and agent
• collector (creator), owner
• relations between location and agent
• administrator
• relations between collections (external)
• hasPart/isPartOf, hasDescription/isDescriptionOf,
  hasAssociation hasPublication

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Data entry guidelines

• Produced by RSLP CD project
• Guidance for content of RSLP schema attributes
• especially encoding schemes
• language
• dates
• subject terminologies for CLDs?
• Associated list of collection types
• terms split into four areas
• type, curatorial environment, content,
  policy/usage
• Extended collection types for museums?

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A Schema for Collection-Level Description

• Can be expressed using RDF model
• RDF/XML syntax for serialising descriptions
• Web-based creation tool
• Implemented by several RSLP projects
• subject-based or regional databases of CLDs
• presently no cross-RSLP search
• Some application to museum collections
• Crossroads
• Find It In London
• potentially Cornucopia, SWMLAC?

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A Schema for Collection-Level Description

• RSLP CD Schema
• A means of creating simple, high-level
  descriptions for wide range of collections
• Not a substitute for existing richer schemas for
  CLD
• A Dublin Core for collections?
• Useful for museums?

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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/

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References

• Encoded Archival Description (EAD)
  lthttp//www.loc.gov/ead/gt
• Elizabeth Shaw, Rethinking EAD balancing
  flexibility and interoperability, New Review of
  Information Networking, Vol 7 (2001)
• RSLP Collection Description project
  (1999-2000)lthttp//www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/rslp/
  gt
• Michael Heaney, An Analytical Model of
  Collections and their Catalogues (Jan
  2000)lthttp//www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/rslp/model/
  amcc-v31.pdf/gt