Cross
Currents No 17 October 2003
A
digest of cross sectoral information management events, issues and ideas in
organisations, libraries, archives and museums, with special emphasis on
arts and the humanities.
|
ARTS
& HUMANITIES Arts & Humanities Data Service | Arts education
& libraries | Broadband & the humanities | Creative Industries
e-learning | Music libraries in the UK | Rethinking the humanities in
the global age
ASSOCIATIONS
DIGITISATION
Challenges | E-prints | Economics | National initiative | Visual
resources
LIBRARIES
Collaborative reference services | Competition from direct access |
Economics | Future | Statistics
|
MEDIA
& NEWSPAPER ARCHIVES Australian Broadcasting Corporation | BBC |
Moving Image Collections | Newspaper archives MUSEUMS Museum
Treasures CD Series | National Forum on Performance in Cultural
Institutions
PORTALS
& GATEWAYS
RECORDKEEPING
& ARCHIVES Australian National Audit Office report | Business
records and archives | Describing Archives in Context | National Online
Archival Network | NSW DIRKS manual
STANDARDS
& SYSTEMS Fedora digital resource management | Metadata, Really
Simple Syndication | XML
|
Australian Broadcasting Corporation to digitise archive
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation will be
converting its archived collections of television and
radio programs from analogue to digital format. The analogue video and audio
collections are under threat from the gradual deterioration of the analogue
tapes as well as from the increasing lack of playback equipment for formats
that are becoming obsolete. The ABC¹s Archives and Library Services,
working in partnership with IBM Global Services Australia Ltd and using
open standards, will drive a three year project which will see an initial
60,000 hours of television and radio content preserved in the digital format.
[Source: ALIA NSW]
BBC Archive to made available online
The BBC has announced that
selected BBC radio and television programs will be available
online. The initiative is driven by recommendations in a
report that urgers the broadcaster to move away from commercial considerations to providing public
value in the digital revolution. Web: http://www.bbc.co.uk [Source: The
Update]
Moving Image Collections Archive Directory
MIC: Moving Image Collections is soliciting entries for its
international online directory of moving image repositories.
The MIC portal, a collaboration between the Association of Moving Image
Archivists (AMIA) and the Library of Congress, facilitates collaborative
cataloguing, preservation, exhibition and digitisation activities and includes
a union catalogue, international directory of moving image repositories,
cataloguing utility, education/outreach space, and dynamic and static portals
based on user-selected criteria. [Source: Aus-archivists] Web: http://gondolin.rutgers.edu/MIC/.
Newspaper archives
Larry Krumenaker in Searcher July 2003 lauds
recent efforts by newspapers to make their archives available online, but says
in many cases researchers must still rely on first-tier electronic databases -
like Dialog and LexisNexis- or paid archives like ProQuest and Factiva.
Krumenaker cites NewsLibrary as a reasonably priced second-tier option.
NewsLibrary offers 61 of the Top
100 newspapers listed by Editor & Publisher at US$2.95 per article.
He also recommends RealCities and the Financial Times' World Press
Monitor. Individual newspaper Web sites offer a mix of paid, free, short-term
or longer term access. Ft.com and NewsLibrary services are recommended for
libraries on a tight budget looking for US newspapers to complement an annual
subscription to their local big paper, and a long-term discount archive rate
to the Washington Post.
[Source:
ShelfLife].
Web:
http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/
Museum Treasures CD Series
The Museum Treasures is a series of 5 CDs with information on
over 500 museums, historical societies, heritage buildings, art galleries and
science centres in Australia. It includes contact details, maps, pictures and
other material relating to their collections, as well as information on
exhibitions and future developments. The Museum Treasures in New South Wales
& the Australian Capital Territory CD includes information on 137 museums,
historical societies, heritage buildings, science centres and art galleries in
NSW & ACT in 80 cities and towns.
Produced by Ciao on the Net Pty Ltd, 2/140 Pascoe Vale Road, Moonee
Ponds Vic 3039, Ph/fax: (03) 9370
1268, Web: http://www.museumcd.com. Email: info@ciaonet.com.au
National Forum on
Performance in Cultural Institutions
Spotlight
on Performance: Second National Forum on Performance in Cultural Institutions
is the name of of a seminar presented by the National Museum of Australia,
Australian War Memorial, ScreenSound Australia, Questacon and Old Parliament
House (Canberra on 23-25 October 2003). Sessions will be devoted to
interactive storytelling, commissioning and collaboration, working with
indigenous communities, developing performances, evaluating a performance
program, performance and outreach. Web: http//www.nma.gov.au/ [Source: amf]
Ross Coleman, Collections
Coordinator, University of Sydney Library, presented the paper The
Australian e-Humanities Network - Building a Community of Scholars,
Practitioners and Cctivists at Digital Resources in the Humanities 2003,
University of Gloucestershire. Web: http://www.hcu.ox.ac.uk/ocs/index.php.
Sten Christensen, Humanities Librarian, University of Sydney Library
and Michael Roper, Programmer, SETIS, University of Sydney Library gave
a poster session Dynamic XML on the Australian e-Humanities Gateway at
AusWeb 2003 (http://ausweb.scu.edu.au/aw03/papers/christensen/).
Australian e-Humanities Website: http://www.ehum.edu.au/.
Other
recent articles on portals include
-
Pienaar
Heila’s Design and Development of an Academic Portal in LIBRI:
international journal of libraries and information services, vol 53 no 2, June
2003, defines portal services, describes the factors that must be considered
during the design and development of an academic portal, and looks
specifically at Infoportal.
-
Vine, vol 33 no. 1, 2003, is devoted to theme of portals
and includes Portals: enabling discovery for all in higher and further
education by Chris Awre (p. 5-10); Our Student Stakeholders:
Requirements For Institutional Portals by Liz Pearce (11-16) on the work
of the PORTAL (Presenting natiOnal Resources To Audiences Locally) project,
focusing on stakeholder requirements; The library Portal Marketplace by
Anne Ramsden (17-24) on portal products and solutions; MetaLib and SFX at
Loughborough University Library by Ruth Stubbings (25-32) on the
implementation of MetaLib and SFX; Portals: a Strategic New Direction to
Improve Access to Information Resources by Mary E. Jackson (33-36) on the
Association of Research Libraries’ Scholars Portal; and Choosing a
Library Portal System by Andrew Cox (37-41) on the main functional
elements of portals as supplied by library management system (LMS) suppliers.
-
Andrew Cox and
Robin Yates write on Library Portal Solutions in Aslib Proceedings Vol
55 no 3, 2003 (p 155-165). Web: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/ap.htm
Australian National Audit Office report
The Australian Auditor-General has
released Audit Report No.7 2003–04 on Recordkeeping in Large Commonwealth
Organisations, the second in a series of audits on recordkeeping,
involving Centrelink, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry,
Department of Family and Community Services; and Department of Health and
Ageing. It concludes that although the audited organisations ‘met Government
policies, legislation, accepted standards and principles to varying degrees…
there was a significant risk of the non-capture and unauthorised disposal of
records because: [a] organisations had not placed sufficient attention on the
risks associated with recordkeeping, including those related to outsourced
functions; [b] formal recordkeeping systems, which are intended to provide for
the appropriate maintenance of records, were not being used to their full
potential as not all records were being entered into the recordkeeping system;
[c] limited controls were in place over electronic records, especially for
those saved to shared network drives or personal workspaces; [d] formal,
long-term sentencing programs for the disposal of records were not in place,
and instances of non-compliances with existing Records Disposal Authorities
were identified; [e] physical records were not being stored in compliance with
National Archives’ standards; [f] contracts with outsourced providers did
not include all of the recordkeeping elements recommended by National
Archives, and minimal monitoring and review activities were being conducted to
determine whether outsourced providers were meeting the recordkeeping
requirements; and [g] Business Continuity Plans did not identify
organisations’ vital records. The previous audit completed by the Australian
National Audit Office in 2001-2002 concluded that, among other issues,
organisations were not able to be assured that all significant records,
particularly electronically-sourced records, were being captured and
maintained in accordance with Commonwealth records disposal requirements under
the Archives Act 1983. [Source: aus-archivist]
Business records and archives
The Noel Butlin Archives Centre’s symposium Where
have all the archives gone? (Australian National University, 24 October)
is devoted to the fate of business archives in the 21st century and aims to to
formulate new strategies for the preservation of Australian business archives.
According to the blurb: “Business archives in
Australia could be said to be in a state of decline, or at least of structural
transition. A number of in-house business archives have been closed, or
downsized or are about to close. Some have been transferred to collecting
institutions. Mergers and takeovers have left the fate of valuable collections
of business records in doubt. There is an urgent need for a cooperative effort
from the creators, custodians and users of business records to seek ways to
ensure the preservation of the heritage of Australian business. Commonwealth
and State archives authorities have focussed on the preservation of government
records. University based collecting archives and state libraries need to
develop a coordinated response to the situation of business archives.
Meanwhile recent corporate collapses have highlighted the need for greater
accountability on the part of businesses and for a more ethical business
culture. This is the time for businesses and peak business organisations to
turn their attention to the creation, management and preservation of business
records and to take an active role in preserving this country's documentary
heritage.”
Presentations
and sessions include Challenges to Society in Preserving the Business
Heritage of Australia by Professor David Merrett, Department of
Management, University of Melbourne; What Are We Losing? by Professor
Simon Ville, Head of School of Economics & Information Systems, University
of Wollongong; Locating the Records of the Retail Industry in Australia
by Ellen McArthur, PhD candidate, University of Technology, Sydney; Where
are the Records of Businesses Operating in the Pacific? by Ewan Maidment,
Executive Officer, Pacific Manuscripts Bureau, ANU; Challenges Facing the
Institutions Collecting Business Archives and the Strategies Adopted by Them
by Elizabeth Ellis, Mitchell Librarian and Director, Collection Management,
State Library of NSW and Trevor Hart, Business Archivist, University of
Melbourne Archives; Issues, Hardships and Opportunities: Why a Company
Should be Interested in Maintaining an Archives by Speaker: Chris Hurley,
Manager, Archives, Commonwealth Bank; Infrastructure Models for Preserving
Business Archives by Dr Sigrid McCausland, University Archivist, ANU; and Forging
Alliances: panel discussion of the future strategies for the creation and
preservation of business records, with Clive Smith, Australian Society of
Archivists, Records Management Association of Australia, Mike Potter, CEO,
Council of Small Business Organisations of Australia, Dr Anthea Hyslop,
Australian Historical Association, Michael Organ, MP and archivist; Summation by
Kathryn Dan, Assistant Director-General, Government Recordkeeping, National
Archives of Australia. Web: http://www.archives.anu.edu.au/nbac/html. [Source:
aus-archivists}
Describing Archives in Context
The Australian Society of Archivists Committee on Descriptive
Standards has released a draft guide on the Australian Series System,
explaining the workings of the series system and recommending its
implementation in order to enable full and accurate description of records in
archival environments, increase standardisation of descriptive practice across
Australia, and facilitate the sharing of archival data. Deadline for comments:
30 November 2003. The draft is available on the ASA website at http://www.archivists.org.au/cds/
[Source Aus-archivists]
National Online Archives Network
The
Minister for the Arts and Sport, Senator Rod Kemp, has announced that a
national online network will be developed to make Australian archives
available to all Australians. Phillip Dermody, Distant Communications
Technologies, who completed the business analysis for the redevelopment of the
Australian Museums and Galleries On Line (AMOL) website, has been assigned to
prepare a strategic plan for the National Online Archival Network. [Source:
Arts Hub Australia]
NSW DIRKS Manual
State Records NSW has released Strategies for
Documenting Government Business: The DIRKS Manual. The manual aims to
promote more efficient and accountable business practices through the design
and encouragement of good recordkeeping. Originally developed with the
National Archives of Australia, the New South Wales version of the DIRKS
Manual has developed its own jurisdictionally specific format and content. The
two manuals continue, however, to share a common theoretical basis for the
improvement of recordkeeping. [Source: Aus-Archivists]
Web: http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/
STANDARDS & SYSTEMS
Fedora digital resource management
The
University of Virginia and Cornell University, with support from the Andrew W.
Mellon Foundation, has made available the first version of Fedora (Flexible
Extensible Digital Object Repository Architecture), software designed to
support a repository containing one million objects. Fedora has the following
key features: Management API (API-M); Access API (API-A); Access-Lite API
(API-A-Lite); Datastreams; XML Submission and Storage; Versioning; Access
Control and Authentication; Disseminators; Default Disseminator; Searching;
OIA Metadata Harvesting Provider; and Batch Utility. Fedora is being made
available as an open-source product under a Mozilla Public License. The system
is also being tested by the Library of Congress and other institutions. For
information and to download the software visit http://www.fedora.info/.
Metadata
The National Information Standards Organization (NISO)
has published Metadata Demystified: A Guide for Publishers by Amy
Brand, Frank Daly and Barbara Meyers as overview of evolving metadata
conventions in publishing and description of specific initiatives like ONIX,
CrossRef and the Open Archives Initiative. The guide is available free of charge
from NISO at http://www.niso.org/standards/resources/>
A comprehensive summary of the RLG/CIMI forum on metadata
standards is available at http://www.rlg.org/events/metadata2003/summary.html.
The forum focused on the utility and viability of 19 current standards and
resources, including the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model, Functional
Requirements for Bibliographic Records, Anglo-American Cataloging Rules,
authority files from the Getty Museum and Library of Congress authority files,
and XML-based standards intended to increase interoperability and data sharing
among institutions - Encoded Archival Description, Metadata Object Description
Schema (MODS), Research Support Libraries Programme's Collection Description
schema - Dublin Core, VRA core, SPECTRUM and SPECTRUM XML schema. [Souce:
ShelfLife]
Really Simple Sydnication
M.Moffat’s
A Primer for Publishers & Content Providers (August 2003) is
available at http://www.eevl.ac.uk/rss_primer/. RSS underlies blog,
newsletter, journal, and web site publishing as a method for current awareness
services using a simple XML-encoded metadata format.
Paul Festa, in Battle of the Blog: Dispute Exposes Bitter
Power Struggle Behind Web Logs (CNET News.com 4 August 2003), writes about the the turf war being
fought over control of the RSS format. Web: http://news.com.com/
[Source Current Cites]
Work Process Analysis for Recordkeeping
A new Australian Standard, AS 5090:2003 - Work Process
Analysis for Recordkeeping, has been published by Standards Australia to
help businesses manage the ever-increasing costs of managing information. The
Standard provides a definition of work process analysis and its application,
guidelines for undertaking the analysis, and specific questions to assist
companies implement the Standard. Web: www.standards.com.au.
[Source: Aus-archivists]
XML: a long way to go.
Andrew
Donoghue, in XML: Extremely Critical or
Exhaustingly Complex, says that fragmentation in XML standards and
specifications can be intimidating for the uninitiated and potentially
damaging for anyone using XML for mission-critical operations. According to
recent Gartner report, he says, of the US$3 billion likely to be spent
worldwide on XML modelling activities between 2001 and 2004, US$2 billion of
it will be wasted. It predicts that the current hodgepodge of standards will
consolidate over time as companies gain experience in applying XML, but that
it will require additional cooperation among users and customers to make the
whole system workable in the long run. [Source: ZDNet UK 5 Aug 2003 http://insight.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020415,39115499,00.htm
]
Previous page
This
issue of Cross Currents compiled by Paul Bentley
The
Wolanski Foundation would be grateful for feedback
on the scope, format and content of this bulletin..
