Archivists make use of many different tools and systems in their day-to-day work, all of which cover a wide range of functions in the big, bold (and, of course, sometimes difficult!) archival enterprise: research request and workflow management, archival information management, digital preservation, web archiving, digital repositories, and more. These tools necessarily specialize in one function or another, but none of them do it all, and managing
so many resources can become overwhelming. The good news — at least when it comes to technology — is that many systems are designed to connect with one another, and systems integration can support a variety of archival needs, creating efficient workflows from accession to ingest to access.
Weaving together both theory and reflective practice, Making Your Tools Work for You: Building and Maintaining an Integrated Technical Ecosystem for Digital Archives and Libraries gives an overview of the what, why, and how of systems integration for archives and digital libraries. Using examples from his work at the University of Michigan’s Bentley Historical Library as well as others’ work in the field, Max Eckard outlines
- how to design an integrated technical ecosystem,
- how to select systems capable of “playing nicely” with others,
- various integration methodologies to get systems talking to one another,
- tips for starting a systems integration project, and
- ways to clean, reconcile, program, and ultimately support data and metadata on the move.
Whether designing integration from the ground up or taking steps to improve upon current systems, Making Your Tools Work for You is a comprehensive manual that will help readers adapt and apply these ideas to set up archives and digital libraries for success.
Product Details
Publisher: Society of American Archivists (2020)
Paperback: 338 pages
Product Dimension: 10x7 inches
Weight: 1.5 pounds
ISBN: 978-1-945246-44-9