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

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