UI develops free, easy-to-use web tool kit for archivists

Archivists at the University of Illinois Library believe they have built a better tool kit. Their new online collections management program called Archon has more than a few attractive features – not the least of which is that it was developed for “lone archivists with limited technological resources and knowledge,” said Scott Schwartz, one of the developers of the software program and the archivist for music and fine arts at Illinois.

The state-of-the-art tool also is free, adaptable to any institutional setting and is easy to download and use.

“We wanted our application to be particularly useful to small, one-person repositories that have been unable to take full advantage of current tools under development,” Schwartz said.

According to Chris Prom, assistant university archivist and co-project director, the developers knew the system had to meet staff needs.

“But what really makes it special is that it makes an archives’ holdings much more accessible to its users,” Prom said. “The program automatically creates its own searchable Web site. It’s based on extensive research about how people search for and use archival materials.”

Prom said that users can now “browse and search all of our information in one place. They can view photos and other materials we’ve scanned right alongside descriptions of related materials that are available only in the search room.”

“In essence, our primary goal was creating a tool that provides immediate public access to information about various collections of historical documents and records found in archives,” Schwartz said, noting that Archon functions in both English and Spanish.

The emphasis in the design was on encouraging efficient work processes.

“We didn’t want anyone to become burdened with having to learn complex methods or standards required by the archives profession just to make their collections available to the public in today’s online environment,” Schwartz said. “We took a minimalist approach, yet didn’t sacrifice the standards of the profession. We recognized what people and researchers need to access collections of historical documents preserved in archives, and developed the tools to help put archivists and the public in the driver’s seat to meet these important access needs.”

As it happens, Archon is one of two major programming efforts that the archives profession is pursuing to enhance the management of libraries’, archives’ and museums’ historical documents and the public’s access to the physical and intellectual content contained in these records. The other effort is called the Archivist’s Toolkit and is a Mellon Foundation-funded collaboration of several universities.

Schwartz and Prom likened the development of their product to a shoestring
do-it-yourself project in the family garage.

“We knew what we wanted, but every time we added a new feature, we thought of something even better to add on next,” Prom said.

To be sure, the archivists had a bit of help building Archon. A couple of “very talented” undergraduate students did much of the programming: Kyle Fox, from Marion, lead developer and graduating senior in computer science; and Chris Rishel, from Chatham, lead developer prior to 2007, who majored in computer science and chemistry.

Developing Archon was “a very organic process,” Prom said. “It wouldn’t have happened if we hadn’t had such a talented team and the great ideas that Chris and Kyle brought at every step of the development process.”

“We provided the vision and a set of expectations and let the students run with it,” said Schwartz, who directs the Sousa Archives and Center for American Music at Illinois. Schwartz uses Archon to manage the large Sousa collection database. The archives and center are part of the University Library and the University Archives.

Since Schwartz and Prom presented Archon to a meeting of the Society of American Archivists in August 2006, it has been downloaded nearly 900 times; 117 completed installations of the program have been achieved by a variety of repositories; and some 25 institutions around the world have already committed to Archon. Among those institutions are the College of William and Mary, Purdue University, Southern Illinois University, the University of Houston and the University of West Florida.

“We are a community of users across North America and Europe,” Schwartz said, “and our community continues to grow.”

Amy Schindler, university archivist in the Special Collections Research Center at the College of William and Mary, is part of the community. She calls the new management program the “Archon miracle.”

“This is the first time that users have been able to search more than a token handful of university archives collections outside of a card catalog in the Special Collections Research Center as well as the first time that a significant number of manuscript collections and university archives collections could be searched through the same interface – whether electronic or card catalog.”

Illinois’ mammoth University Archives library also is realizing the benefits of getting aboard the Archon express.

“It’s a great resource for the University,” Prom said, noting that in terms of photographs alone, he has added more than 3,000 of them in the last several months, and that anyone can browse, search and download them from the University Archives Web site. Prom hopes that one day soon the Library will put its important and popular Illinois History and Lincoln Collections into Archon, a Greek word meaning “ruler” or “king.” In the Archon’s house, the story goes, all the government documents and records were kept.

Source: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Related stories:

Researchers make noises of pre-Columbian society
(AP) -- Scientists were fascinated by the ghostly find: a human skeleton buried in an Aztec temple with a clay, skull-shaped whistle in each bony hand. But no one blew into the noisemakers for nearly 15 years. When someone finally did, the shrill, windy screech made the spine tingle. If death had a sound, this was it.
Complexity of Crohn's disease revealed as 'gene' count tops 30
New research has trebled the number of genetic regions known to be implicated in Crohn's disease, a form of inflammatory bowel disease, to over thirty. The research, published today in the journal Nature Genetics, has identified a number of potential new targets for drug development as well as providing surprising new links between the condition and other common diseases including asthma.
Beyond chess: Deep green models rapid change for combat commanders
Can an artificial intelligence program anticipate military surprises? The USC Information Sciences Institute is playing a $7.6 million part in a DARPA research effort called Deep Green aimed at creating a system that can do so, one that might help future combat commanders in the field anticipate enemy moves.
Study links gastric bypass surgery to increased risk of kidney stones
Procedure associated with kidney stone formation earlier than previously reported
CHICAGO (June 26, 2008) – Morbidly obese patients who undergo a particular type of gastric bypass surgery called Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) are at an increased risk of developing kidney stones – small, pebble-like deposits that can result in severe pain and require an operation to remove them – earlier than previously thought. These stones develop in patients within only a few months following the procedure rather than several months to years, according to research published in the June issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.
When threatened, a few African frogs can morph toes into claws
At least 11 species kick at predators with sharp, protruding bones as a defense mechanism
Biologists at Harvard University have determined that some African frogs carry concealed weapons: When threatened, these species puncture their own skin with sharp bones in their toes, using the bones as claws capable of wounding predators.
Scientists Find New Type of Comet Dust Mineral
NASA researchers and scientists from the United States, Germany and Japan have found a new mineral in material that likely came from a comet.
Northwestern chemist investigates lost reds in Homer painting
More than 30 years ago, when Northwestern University chemist Richard Van Duyne developed a powerful new sensing technique, he never thought he would be using it to learn more about treasures in the Art Institute of Chicago's collection -- including a watercolor recently featured in the museum's exhibition "Watercolors by Winslow Homer: The Color of Light."
Woolly-Mammoth Gene Study Changes Extinction Theory
A large genetic study of the extinct woolly mammoth has revealed that the species was not one large homogenous group, as scientists previously had assumed, and that it did not have much genetic diversity.

News discussion:

Technology news