Speeding Up Archival Description with FAST

- Mackenzie Brooks

Assistant Professor & Metadata Librarian Digital Humanities Librarian // brooksm@wlu.edu // @mackymoo

- Washington & Lee University

Small liberal arts university with 2200 FTE

Leyburn Library: 25 employees, relevant players:

• 1 metadata librarian
• 1 digital scholarship librarian
• 1 director of library technology
• 1 cataloging assistant
• 3 special collections assistants

The problem

Solution #1

• Stop relying on MARC for archival description.

Solution #2

• Batch load FAST topical headings into ArchivesSpace.
• Let Special Collections staff create their own description. 

Implementation options

#1 Batch load MARC XML

Pros:

• predictive search
• reduces human error
• integrates into record description interface

Cons:

• too many irrelevant options
• requires XML massaging

Implementation options

#2 ArchivesSpace Plugin

Pros:

• predictive search
• reduces human error
• only adds the subjects you need

Cons:

• plugin required
• must create subjects separately from resource description

Credit:

Rachel Maderik, Metadata Librarian at Virginia Military Institute, https://github.com/maderikra

Credit:

Rachel Maderik, Metadata Librarian at Virginia Military Institute, https://github.com/maderikra