Combining Forces: Using multiple out of the box programs when programmers are out of the question!
Loading...
Links to Files
Permanent Link
Author/Creator
Author/Creator ORCID
Date
2010-08-12
Type of Work
Department
Program
Citation of Original Publication
Rights
This item may be protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. It is made available by UMBC for non-commercial research and education. For permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the author.
Subjects
Abstract
We will outline the interaction between two third-party software applications for streamlined collection management and user access to Special Collections materials. Combining the accession, donor and patron management, description, and online user interface capabilities of PastPerfect with the more sophisticated digital asset management system of CONTENTdm, we have centralized access to our diverse collections. Special Collections, Reference, Collection Management, and Administration Departments have collaborated to make PastPerfect our single access point for over twenty separately maintained Library created databases that are not included in the University System consortium’s catalog. Standardized metadata creation for accession and descriptive records in both PastPerfect and CONTENTdm facilitates interoperability between the two systems. If digital objects are available, we can extract the metadata from PastPerfect using a Dublin Core crosswalk; conversely, our digitization workflow allows for item level metadata from CONTENTdm to be imported into PastPerfect. This ensures that PastPerfect is a one-stop shop for discovery of Special Collections’ analog and digital materials. Researchers now search one interface and retrieve results from our varied collections – including finding aids, photographs, fanzines, and university publications - with a link to the digital object in CONTENTdm if one exists. Due to our lack of programming staff it was essential to select out of the box software that offered customization and a high level of support, as opposed to building a program in-house or utilizing open source software. We feel that this is a unique and valuable workflow that has not been implemented by other institutions in similar circumstances.