No Need for Cotton Gloves

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No Need for Cotton Gloves

• Accessing Archives in a Virtual World
• Simon Wilson
• NWRAC Access Seminar - 15th April 2002

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• Mersey Gateway Project Manager
• NOF funded digitisation project
• British Waterways Project Officer
• HLF funded online catalogue project
• Society of Archivists, Website Developer and
  Chair of Web Advisory Group

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Access Archives in a virtual world

• who are your virtual users?
• where are your virtual users?
• what do your virtual users want?
• what can you provide for virtual users?

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Who are your virtual users?

• are they the same as your real ones? (ie
  genealogists)
• how do you find out who they are?
• feedback forms
• you decide who they are - user profiles

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Profiling your virtual users?

• one profile for each type of user
• name, age, work, likes dislikes
• experience of using the web etc
• reason for visiting the web site
• what information would they use
• would they come back again

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Profiling your virtual users?

• Mr Graham Philips
• civil servant (retired) 58
• interest in ship building
• uses email not considered web for research
• visits the MG site looking for info on Cammell
  Lairds
• finds history, plans, books, ship models

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Where are your virtual users?

• real users
• sign-in/anecdotal evidence
• virtual users
• may include real users
• will certainly include some who have never
  visited your repository before
• some who will never visit your repository

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Where are your virtual users?

• web server statistics
• where they came from
• when they visited
• which pages were looked at the most
• how long they spent on your site
• how they got to your site

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What do your virtual users want?

• if you dont know who they are are how can you
  ask them what they want?

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What we think virtual users want...?

• online databases
• especially personal names
• familysearch.org 1901 Census
• facsimile of an item not just a description
• easy to use understand
• the Google effect

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What can you provide for virtual users?

• what information do you have / could you convert?
• is this what the users want?

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Case Studies

• BW Virtual Archive Catalogue project
• Mersey Gateway (NOF digitise)

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BW Virtual Archive Catalogue Project

• collections held in 15 repositories
• listed to varying degrees (inc. unlisted)
• material relating to one waterway may be located
  in several repositories

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BW Virtual Archive Catalogue Project

• Stage 1
• detailed survey of collections
• extensive user needs analysis and consultation
  programme
• better understanding of how it would be used
• public perception of archives

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BW Virtual Archive Catalogue Project

• Stage 2
• union catalogue - access to ALL information
  regardless of its physical location
• mix of cataloguing/retrospective conversion
  data enhancement to an agreed standard

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BW Virtual Archive Catalogue Project

• Stage 3
• combine with TWT museums online database
• cross-domain service
• possible through use of common thesaurus and
  authority terms

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Mersey Gateway Project

• showcase rich resources held in libraries,
  archives and museums across Merseyside
• use material to illustrate a narrative account of
  the development of the port, city and Merseyside
  region
• themes inc transport, war, slave trade etc

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Mersey Gateway Project

• able to create virtual exhibitions
• link related material from different locations
• translate virtual into real users?
• selecting items from millions available
• far broader appeal than if a single subject or
  collection were digitised

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Mersey Gateway Project

• user group
• real and virtual users in parallel
• interest in a particular theme or place
• will assess content, design functionality
• NOT genealogists
• an online history using locally held material
• there are distinct genealogy NOF projects

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Conclusion

• balance
• user needs and expectations
• repositorys aims objectives
• ICT opportunities
• legal (FOI DPA)
• funding agencies priorities

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Conclusion

• archives no shop-window
• libraries/museums rotate stock
• cataloguing must be the priority
• without knowing what we have how can we tell
  users (whether real or virtual)
• framework for additional services