Orbis Cascade Alliance Northwest Digital Archives Annual Report for FY14 (July 2013-June 2014) Jodi Allison-Bunnell, NWDA Program Manager 2014 June 30

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1 Orbis Cascade Alliance Northwest Digital Archives Annual Report for FY14 (July 2013-June 2014) Jodi Allison-Bunnell, NWDA Program Manager 2014 June 30 Executive Summary The Northwest Digital Archives program has had another productive year with exceptional engagement by the membership, working groups, and Steering Team. Integration into the Alliance s Strategic Agenda process; substantial work on the Archive Engine West IMLS grant; preparation of specifications for the functionality, design, and name of the Researcher Site (nwda.orbiscascade.org); and substantial consideration of revisions to standards all serve as highlights for the year. The coming year promises changes with the launch of the Content Creation & Dissemination Team and its consideration of how the Alliance may continue and expand its program offerings that support the curation and discovery of unique content. Report Components Progress on Charge for FY14 Working Group Reports for FY14 Proposed Committee and Working Group Charges for FY14 Database Report for FY14

2 Progress on Charge for FY14 Actively work to add value to the program by serving our members needs Our overarching goal always. We look to constantly improve our services and communicate this to our member institutions and beyond. Follow-up on NWDA strategic planning as Alliance completes its own strategic planning activities. Pursue expanded program offerings in digital preservation, shared human resources, digitization, unique collection sharing, and digital content linking/exposing. Full participation of NWDA in Alliance strategic planning process: Previous Steering Team Chair Jeremy Skinner and Program Manager Jodi Allison-Bunnell participated in the Alliance Strategic Planning Retreat in July. The Steering Team communicated with the program membership about priorities for new program offerings and provided that feedback to the Board of Directors and Council in February and March on the strategic agenda and on the Center of Excellence work with Ex Libris. The Steering Team provided more input to the Board of Directors in April on the name and charge for the Content Creation and Dissemination Team. Provide for new program name/identity as part of membership expansion, researcher site redesign, and completion of the IMLS National Leadership grant Hired Partners Creative of Missoula, MT, to assist with name development and graphic identity. Solicited program member feedback at annual Committee meeting on May 29. Solicited end user feedback through user testing sessions June Steering Team approved the following at its June 19 meeting: o A new Researcher site name of Archives West; o A graphic identity that combines the best of the two options developed by Partners for review. (See june-19/ for details) Solicited program member approval of the Steering Team recommendation. The name Archives West was approved by 30 of the 39 members, with support for the proposed design from 29 of 39 members. Tools provision/development: Continue support of Archivist s Toolkit, plan/provide for a successor tool (administratively, technically); major Best Practices revision to incorporate EAD 3.0; Work with other consortia to create shared best practices; Consider place of Encoded Archival Context. The Archival Management Systems Working Group did a great deal of work on researching a successor to Archivist s Toolkit. (See their report for details.) The Standards Working Group did a great deal of work on, among other things, EAD3 and EAC, and developed recommendations for a Best Practices revision in FY15. EAD3 was not released on time and, as of this writing, does not have a projected release date. This has, in turn, proved a barrier to developing shared best practices with others, though the Program Manager is coordinating the nationallevel EAD3 Study Groups. (See their report for details.)

3 Technical infrastructure: Accommodation of Utah members in current infrastructure; infrastructure change; begin researcher site redesign; complete XCU grant project and consider whether and how to sustain it, or what lessons learned to take from it. We fully integrated our Utah members into our technical infrastructure in late January with a few trailing activities into April. The Infrastructure Working Group provided recommendations in September that included keeping our current Researcher Site infrastructure for the time being. We completed the preliminary work for the Researcher Site redesign (name/graphic identity; specifications) but pushed the actual work into FY15. (See the Interface and Usability Design-Infrastructure Working Group report for details.) The XCU grant (now known as Archive Engine West) wrapped up its major activities as scheduled on December 31, With extensive member feedback, the program took a proposal for a self-funded continued pilot of the AEW project that included preparation to become a DPLA hub to the Alliance s Board of Directors and Council in March Although the project solicited great interest and support, Council ultimately recommended not pursuing the project at this time and asked that a consideration of the project be wrapped into the activities of the new Content Creation & Dissemination Team, the first work of which is to consider current and new initiatives around unique collections and propose program offerings for this area. And during the anticipated close-out of the AEW grant in March 2014, the University of Oregon s grant administration office found sufficient unspent funds in the grant to recommend an additional no-cost extension. That extension through December 31, 2014 was granted by IMLS and has a set of goals and objectives designed to closely intersect with the work of the CCD Team and the NWDA program s planned activities for FY15. (See the charge of the AEW Working Group for more details.) Training and Education: Continue DACS training and support; integrate DACS 2nd edition into all training; continue EAD training and user support; continue AT training We continued all of our training and support of DACS 1 st edition and EAD this part year. This spring, we re-released the AT that we co-developed with Online Archive of California in 2012 on the members-only utility site. Adoption and training on the 2 nd edition of DACS is wrapped into the recommendations of the Standards Working Group. (See their report for details) Retain and gain members: Addition of University of Utah, Utah State University; gain members in appropriate numbers (to be determined by Steering Team based on membership applications) We gained not only University of Utah and Utah State University as planned, but our first sovereign nation: The Confederated Tribes of the Siletz. In December, we accepted our first program membership applications from the Tacoma Public Library and the Salt Lake County Archives. Steering Team

4 accepted the applications and agreed that both organizations would become program members on July 1, Publication of general use stats monthly; improve accuracy and usefulness of reports; production of customized reports as members request them; assistance with Google Analytics as needed; continue to make clear the value of expenses through accurate, thorough, and timely communication. Continued publication of database use reports monthly; refinements to Google Analytics improved the accuracy of those reports. We produced other reports on member request. Publication of NWDA News every Friday to provide an overview of program activities and news. Special communication with members about the desired direction for the Archive Engine West project, Strategic Agenda initiatives, and the name and graphic design of the Researcher Site. Internal Communications: Alliance website redesign will bring better tools for communication, including search for documentation and a blog for updates. The Alliance completed its new website and launched it on March 4, The site has a much-improved search function. Alliance staff opted not to implement the blog module for now but are posting weekly updates (e.g. NWDA News) on the site for easy search. External Communications: Ensure that program has continued national visibility; facilitate member communication with end users by providing marketing materials; Steering Team will maintain an open dialogue with ArchivesSpace Program had continued national visibility, particularly through the Archive Engine West Project. The NWDA Program Manager and Partner Institution representative Sam Meister took presentations about the project to the LITA Forum, Digital Library Federation meeting, the Digital Frontiers meeting, and the Society of American Archivists Description Expo. Updated paper bookmarks with new members and distributed to all members In December 2013, the Steering Team sent the ArchivesSpace Board of Trustees a letter proposing a consortial membership model that would work for NWDA members. On May 29, 2014, the Steering Team received a response from ArchivesSpace, which reiterated its existing Service Partner model. Sponsor annual Committee meeting in conjunction with Northwest Archivists, Spokane, WA Meeting was held on May 29, 2014, at the Davenport Hotel with 24 Committee representatives or designees, one Council liaison (via phone), two staff members, and one guest present. See meeting minutes at

5 Working Group Reports for FY14 Archival Management Systems Working Group AMS-WG Members Stephanie Kays (University of Oregon), chair Eva Guggemos (Pacific University) Bryce Henry (Portland State University) Tony Kurtz (Western Washington University) Randy Stilson (Evergreen State College) Keith Folsom (Orbis Cascade Alliance), ex officio Summary of Recommendations ArchivesSpace (AS) is not yet suitable for NWDA adoption. Despite large strides forward over the past year too many issues and unknowns remain. The AMS-WG recommends supporting Archivists Toolkit (AT) for 1-2 more years as the AS system and community evolves. During this time, NWDA should: (1) support further testing through an ArchivesSpace pilot project (2) take a closer look at other options (AtoM, non-ams options) and (3) resolve the timeline for migration out of AT. The above recommendation was accepted by the NWDA Committee at its annual meeting on 2014 May 29. On May 29, the NWDA Steering Team received a response to its 2013 December to the ArchivesSpace Board of Trustees proposing a consortial membership model that would meet the needs of NWDA members. The AS BOT is not interested in pursuing that model. The ST subsequently decided to fast-track finding a successor tool for Archivist s Toolkit. Recommended WG Charge for FY15 By 2014 December 31, find a successor tool for Archivist's Toolkit for the NWDA program Assess members' needs for a collection management tool Calculate financial impacts of a successor tool and make a decision in time for integration into FY16 budget Seek feedback from NWDA membership on option(s) developed Seek approval from the NWDA ST and endorsement by the Content Creation & Dissemination Team. Track 1: Evaluation of Tools Find out how members currently use AT Re-evaluate current list of needed functionalities for collection management Consider relationship of multi-tenancy versus single Identify options for evaluation, evaluate, and articulate costs

6 Track 2: Continued Pilot of AS Test import from AT, Archon (if possible), maybe one homegrown system o Test large installation(s) with legacy data from AT to AS o Test small installation(s) with relatively new/clean data from AT to AS The above charge was approved by the NWDA Steering Team at its 2014 June 19 meeting. Interface and Usability Design-Infrastructure Working Group IUD-I WG Members for FY14 Cris Paschild (Portland State University), chair Karen Bjork (Portland State University) Sam Meister (University of Montana) Jodi Allison-Bunnell (Orbis Cascade Alliance), ex officio Keith Folsom (Orbis Cascade Alliance), ex officio Summary of Recommendations All specifications stem from a core principle that any new design must be informed by user needs. In a reflection of membership feedback, particular emphasis has been placed on improvements to the efficiency and usability of the search function and the display and sort of search results. Based on the preceding findings of the FY13 Interface and Usability Design WG, the FY13 Infrastructure WG and findings from the Archive Engine West project, the IUD-I has compiled specifications for the first phase of a comprehensive NWDA website redesign, focusing on changes and improvements to the following components: 1) Design Principles and General Site Characteristics Redesigned researcher site meets general web usability guidelines Intuitive design Responsive design for mobile and desktop devices Meets the needs of priority end users (college students, college research and teaching faculty, avocational researchers, genealogists, administrators) 2) Identity and Branding Name and graphic identity that accurately reflects content, geographic and institutional coverage, and purpose of the site Based on user testing, Steering Team approval, and member review and approval, rename the site Archives West with the approved graphic design (see ST minutes

7 from 2014 June 19, for details). 3) Home Page Home page has a single search box plus browse entry points (see #6) 4) Search Basic search provides better results for known item searches Must allow user to limit search to results associated with digital objects If user testing of basic search plus facets demonstrates need, will provide advanced search option: Test search with priority end users first. Also set up specific additional test with internal users (reference archivists, archivist of many hats) to assess if combination of improved search precision and effective faceting meet the needs of those users. 5) Search Results Search results offer faceting to limit results (institution, collection, dates, subject, material type, digital object(s) available) 6) Browse Functionality Home page offers visual browse entry by institution, on a map by location of institution. Clicking on an institution initiates a search that lists all of that institutions finding aids. Home page offers subject browse. Approaches to subject browse that should be tested with users: A list or other way of offering high-level topics on the home page that launch high-level searches, and also offers a link to a subject page (example: An icon on the home page that links to a subject page with highlevel and specific subject lists (example: 7) Metadata Display Display of finding aid information: moves away from static display of long document without moving to component-level NB: Steering Team approved not pursuing component-level based on review of Princeton s experience. This is a reversal of the Committee decision of 2013 May. Display of finding aid accounts for majority of users who land there directly from search engines or referring pages, without using search site

8 Imperative to provide a more effective display of information than a static scrolling presentation of the full finding aid. 8) Visibility of Contributing Institutions Must include collections available from that institution Must include consistent and complete but concise contact information, institutional description & scope, and limited administrative information 9) Help Functionality and Features Good design limits need for help features Help features developed in response to user testing as needed 10) Infrastructure Revisions Retain TEXTml for the time being This was recommendation of FY13 Infrastructure WG Improve known-item search results so that a basic search on a known collection title returns that collection in the top three results Rationalize utility site (making it easier to maintain) Build repository registry in utility site to create a more consistent user experience that is easier to maintain Update tools to accommodate changes in standards: Compliance checker Single and batch ingest Evaluate continued need to maintain web encoding template The above recommendations were accepted by the NWDA Committee at its annual meeting on 2014 May 29. Additional notes on site name, design, and approaches to browsing from the home page were approved by the WG at its 2014 June 25 meeting based on the results of user testing conducted on June 17-19, Recommended WG Charge for FY15 Although most aspects of the actual site redesign will fall to Alliance staff (e.g. specifications to final form, hiring contract assistance, internal implementation, making realistic schedule of work, communicating with membership), the Working Group recommends the continued maintenance of the IUD-I WG in order to facilitate user testing and appropriate member involvement in the site redesign, as follows: Continue the combined approach to interface and infrastructure; thus Interface and Usability Design-Infrastructure Working Group Create user testing plans and interpret/evaluate feedback to inform redesign efforts.

9 Continue to ask all members to recruit end users for testing sessions. Revise and improve recruiting efforts (e.g. make a flyer in addition to announcements). As needed, recruit program members to serve as internal user test subjects. As needed, test back-end functionality. Standards Working Group Standards WG Members for FY14 Jodi Allison-Bunnell (NWDA Program Manager), chair Elizabeth Nielsen (Oregon State University) Nathan Georgitis (University of Oregon) Liz Wolcott (Utah State University) Cheryl Oestreicher (Boise State University) Ruth Steele (Western Washington University) Summary of Recommendations The group has carefully considered external changes in standards and desired outcomes for efficient workflows and outcomes in the interface and recommends that the following should be integrated into a revision of the NWDA Best Practices Guidelines to be carried out in FY15: 1. DACS (Describing Archives: A Content Standard), 2nd Edition Adopt DACS 2nd edition including Multilevel Required elements and require that all (new, revised) finding aids be compliant. Require that pre-dacs 1st edition finding aids be made compliant to ensure consistent outcomes in the search interface. 2. EAD3 We support near-term adoption of EAD3 in principle, but can t adopt a standard not yet released We recommend near-term adoption knowing that if we don t adopt in a timely fashion we will be stuck in the past We will need to accommodate EAD 2002 in some way for some time, but not forever Adopt the schema, move away from DTD Note: TS-EAD announced in early June that EAD3 will not be released this summer 3. RDA

10 Recommend against program-wide implementation in next year, but accept finding aids from institutions that have adopted it. The compliance checker will need to be modified lightly to accept either DACS or RDA finding aids. Continue coordination with Collaborative Workforce/CTST around implementation/support Once implemented, create a means to train/support non-alliance members 4. EAC-CPF Wait for more information on NAAC project and support/be involved in that project in whatever way is useful and possible Keep apprised of developments with EAC-CPF and communicate them to the membership Not build the infrastructure to support EAC-CPF at this time Encourage all names to have dates of existence when known to facilitate creation of compliant EAC-CPF records in the future 5. Links to Digital Content Close coordination with the Archive Engine West Working Group is required when we revise the EAD BPG. Sequence work of Standards Working Group accordingly. Standards need to be much more specific and prescriptive in order to facilitate doing the most with the least amount of encoding. Draw on the Triangle Research Libraries Network, UNC-Chapel Hill/North Carolina Central Libraries as a possible model; seek more information. FInding aids with corresponding digital objects should point to them; digital objects with corresponding finding aids should point to them; BPG will be more prescriptive about methodology. 6. Browsing Terms Continue to use browsing terms as revised in fall 2013 Build more effective visual/subject browse interface as part of redesign (communicated to IUD-I WG) Assess results with user testing (communicated to IUD-I WG) 7. ID Attributes in <archdesc> Drop id attributes in <archdesc> No probable need to cleanup existing metadata 8. MARC records for EADs

11 Continue practice of making MARC records (requirement: Every EAD in the NWDA database should have a MARC record in the local catalog and WorldCat/NUCMC) for the present Look for opportunity to harvest into SILS for the Alliance members in 2015 Know that the practice of creating MARC records will likely continue for non- Alliance members 9. Repository Information Create and maintain repository records at the consortial level that can be pointed to from finding aids Accommodate sub-repositories at institutions: allow more than one record per institution If AT users prefer to continue use of the AT repository module, AT2NWDA strips it out. Requires modification of AT2NWDA script. Any repository information other than the pointer to the repository record is stripped out on submission 10. Digital Content Workflows This is an important area for consideration, but is ultimately beyond the purview of the Standards Working Group at this time. Continued integration with Collaborative Workforce and Content Creation & Dissemination Teams and programs at the Alliance will be essential. The above recommendations were accepted by the NWDA Committee at its annual meeting on 2014 May 29. Infrastructure Revisions Changes in practices require revisions in infrastructure. Both the tools needed to produce, maintain, and host the finding aids will require revision. The researcher site redesign will also need to take full advantage of revisions to practices to be effective. Recommended WG Charge for FY15 Complete a minor revision of the NWDA BPG that incorporates the following: DACS 2nd edition Digital content links (as per recommendations of the AEW WG and CCD Team) Any needed updates in browsing terms ID attributes MARC records Repository registry

12 Coordination with the Interface and Usability Design-Infrastructure Working Group, Alliance staff carrying out the Researcher Site redesign, the Archive Engine West Working Group, and the NWDA Steering Team and Content Creation & Dissemination Team. Continue to monitor the status of the following and make recommendations as needed: EAD3 EAC-CPF RDA implementation and support at the Alliance

13 Proposed Charges for FY14 The coming year will be one of transitions. With the deployment of the Content Creation & Dissemination Team in June 2014 as the Team providing governance for the Alliance s program offerings around unique materials, the NWDA Steering Team is expected to complete its work. However, the NWDA Program has commitments to its members to continue to run an effective and responsive program. Thus, the following draft charge is subject to review and endorsement by both the NWDA Steering Team and the Content Creation & Dissemination Team: Draft Committee Charge Actively work to add value to the program by serving our members needs Integration into Content Creation & Dissemination Program CCD Team reviews current program offerings and proposed charge for FY15 CCD Team recommends new offerings to the Board and Council. NWDA Steering Team s and NWDA Committee s role clarified. Implement Researcher Site redesign New name and graphic identity. Functional redesign as per specifications developed by FY14 IUD-I Working Group. End user review during development to ensure that site meets the needs of identified priority users, including both researchers and internal users. Complete Archive Engine West grant by December 31, 2014 AEW Working Group completes its work Additions to technical infrastructure (repository registry, better digital content linking as per recommendations of Working Group) Completion of final narrative and financial reports. Medium-scope Best Practices revision: As per Standards WG recommended charge. Necessary changes to infrastructure. Continue support of collection management by finding a successor tool for Archivist s Toolkit by December 31, 2014 As per charge of AMS WG. Training and Education Maintain and update training and support as needed. Seek clarity in relationship between NWDA site and SILS Work with Discovery Working Group. Explore Primo harvest as alternative to MARC records.

14 Retain current members; gain members in numbers appropriate for capacity Continue to seek member engagement and make clear the value of expenses through accurate, thorough, and timely communication. Ensure that program has continued national visibility. Working Group Charges Archival Management Systems Working Group (reviewed and approved by NWDA ST; WG is charged, staffed, and working as of 2014 July 1) By 2014 December 31, find a successor tool for Archivist's Toolkit for the NWDA program Assess members' needs for a collection management tool Calculate financial impacts of a successor tool and make a decision in time for integration into FY16 budget Seek feedback from NWDA membership on option(s) developed Seek approval from the NWDA ST and endorsement by the Content Creation & Dissemination Team. Track 1: Evaluation of Tools Find out how members currently use AT Re-evaluate current list of needed functionalities for collection management Consider relationship of multi-tenancy versus single Identify options for evaluation, evaluate, and articulate costs Track 2: Continued Pilot of AS Test import from AT, Archon (if possible), maybe one homegrown system o Test large installation(s) with legacy data from AT to AS o Test small installation(s) with relatively new/clean data from AT to AS Archive Engine West Working Group Group (reviewed and approved by NWDA ST; WG is charged, staffed, and working as of 2014 July 1) Review the project s findings around infrastructure needed to continue and consider how to integrate it into NWDA s technical infrastructure; Coordinate with NWDA s planned redesign of its finding aid site and revision of its Best Practices in FY16; Review the project s findings around digital content metadata; Create shared digital content metadata standards; Determine what contract technical staff needs to create after October 1 to more efficiently facilitate connections of EAD and digital content in the NWDA infrastructure; Create a proposed plan for digital content and EAD metadata cleanup; Continue active conversations with the DPLA about becoming a service hub,

15 including pursuing external funding; Coordinate with the work of the CCD Team in order to be able to consider continuation of AEW and DPLA participation in the context of the Alliance s new structure, program offerings around unique content, and integration into the FY16 budget. Interface and Usability Design-Infrastructure Working Group (as proposed by the working group; NWDA ST will review at July meeting) Although most aspects of the actual site redesign will fall to Alliance staff (e.g. specifications to final form, hiring contract assistance, internal implementation, making realistic schedule of work, communicating with membership), the Working Group recommends the continued maintenance of the IUD-I WG in order to facilitate user testing and appropriate member involvement in the site redesign, as follows: Continue the combined approach to interface and infrastructure; thus Interface and Usability Design-Infrastructure Working Group Create user testing plans and interpret/evaluate feedback to inform redesign efforts. Continue to ask all members to recruit end users for testing sessions. Revise and improve recruiting efforts (e.g. make a flyer in addition to announcements). As needed, recruit program members to serve as internal user test subjects. As needed, test back-end functionality. Standards Working Group (as proposed by the working group; NWDA ST will review at July meeting) Complete a minor revision of the NWDA BPG that incorporates the following: DACS 2nd edition Digital content links (as per recommendations of the AEW WG and CCD Team) Any needed updates in browsing terms ID attributes MARC records Repository registry Coordination with the Interface and Usability Design-Infrastructure Working Group, Alliance staff carrying out the Researcher Site redesign, the Archive Engine West Working Group, and the NWDA Steering Team and Content Creation & Dissemination Team. Continue to monitor the status of the following and make recommendations as needed: EAD3 EAC-CPF

16 RDA implementation and support at the Alliance