JISC

1 September 2001

To:	Heads of Higher Education Institutions funded by the English, Scottish and Welsh HEFCs and DEL
Copies:	Librarians/Information Services Directors and Archivists in those institutions, Members of the JISC and its Sub-Committees

1. Summary

1.1. This circular invites proposals from institutions or consortia to develop and contribute collection-level content to the Archives Hub service. Funding is available for descriptions of archive collections and manuscripts for which institutions have curatorial responsibility and which are made available to researchers. The closing date for receipt of proposals is Wednesday 7th November 2001.

1.2. The Archives Hub service allows users, ranging from the novice to the experienced researcher, networked access to descriptions of archival collections in the UK higher and education sector. Initially records will be collection-level, however the long-term vision is to include access to multi-level descriptions, full-text and digitised items where appropriate. The service is funded by JISC and forms part of the Distributed National Electronic Resource (DNER) and the emerging national archives network. The Archives Hub service is hosted by MIMAS at the University of Manchester under the auspices of the Consortium of University Research Libraries (CURL).

1.3. The structure of this circular is:

1. This Summary

2. Background and context

3. Nature of content contributions

4. Proposals

5. Proposal requirements

6. Proposal evaluation and selection criteria

7. Further information

2. Background and Context

The Distributed National Electronic Resource

2.1. The DNER is a managed environment for accessing quality assured information resources on the Internet. These derive from many sources and include scholarly journals, monographs, vector and numeric data, as well as moving picture and sound collections. The DNER is being developed by thewith JISCfunds for the UK FE and HE communities.

The Archives Hub

2.2. The Archives Hub was initially funded as a pilot project during the academic year 1999-2000. This established a prototype service which was developed by the University of Liverpool and hosted at MIMAS in the University of Manchester. The University of Southampton provided editorial support. 15 higher education archive repositories took part in the pilot phase, generating over 3,000 collection-level descriptions.

2.3. Following the success of the pilot phase, JISC has agreed to fund the service for a further three years (to 31 July 2003) in order to form an important element in the DNER and in the developing national archive network. The project infrastructure and management is being taken forward through CURL as a continuation of the pilot phase. The first call for content in the current phase was issued in October 2000 and as a result, 34 institutions are providing over 13,000 new descriptions for the Archives Hub. This circular is the second (and final) call, and it is hoped that institutions which were not in a position to submit a bid in the earlier round will be able to do so now.

2.4. Currently the Archives Hub is centralised, but in the future it aims to provide a substantially distributed service allowing remote cross-searching of databases and enabling more local control of data. The service will continue to focus on collection-level descriptions but is also capable of holding complete finding aids. Recognised standards are used to enable the cross-searching of data from different repositories and to enable interoperability between the Archives Hub and other initiatives working in this area, e.g. A2A, SCAN and the RSLP projects dealing with archives and manuscripts. The International Standard of Archival Description (General) (ISAD(G)) is the data structure standard, Encoded Archival Description (EAD) is the data delivery format and the search protocol is based on the Z39.50 standard.

3. Nature of Content Contributions

3.1. The funds available through this circular are for the creation of collection-level content only, i.e. fonds and sub-fonds.

3.2. Proposals are invited for funding to develop content to suitable standards for incorporation in the Archives Hub service. All content for the service will have to conform to ISAD(G) 2 for data structure and also to the supporting guidelines developed as a result of the earlier stages of the Hub. These are available from the ‘Guidelines’ page on the Archives Hub website at http://www.archiveshub.ac.uk/. Full training will be available for contributors.

3.3. Collection-level records for the Archives Hub should include the following ISAD(G) 2 elements:

IDENTITY STATEMENT AREA

3.1.1 Reference code(s)

3.1.2 Title

3.1.3 Date(s) of creation

3.1.4 Level of description

3.1.5 Extent of the unit of description

CONTEXT AREA

3.2.1 Name of creator(s) (unless explicit in the title)

3.2.2 Administrative/Biographical history

CONTENT AND STRUCTURE AREA

3.3.1 Scope and content abstract

CONDITIONS OF ACCESS AND USE AREA

3.4.1 Conditions governing access

3.4.4 Language of material

3.4.5 Finding aids

DESCRIPTION CONTROL AREA

3.7.3 Date of description

The text of ISAD(G) 2 can be downloaded from the International Council on Archives website at http://www.ica.org/ISAD(G)E-pub.pdf.

3.4. The inclusion of access points (index terms) is also mandatory. Access points can be included for Personal, Family, Corporate and Place Names, Subject and Genre. Advice on the creation of access points can be sought from the Data Editor. UNESCO, LCSH, AACR2 and NCA rules have been used for the creation of existing access points in the Archives Hub.

3.5. Collection-level records at both fonds and sub-fonds levels will be acceptable. ISAD(G) defines a fonds as ‘the whole of the records, regardless of form or medium, organically created and/or accumulated and used by a particular person, family or corporate body in the course of that creator’s activities and functions’. Institutions may also hold artificial groups of material, organised by subject or format rather than strict provenance. Collection-level records for the Hub will inevitably reflect local management practices. A collection may contain sub-fonds which are related to the main collection but which have a separate origination, such as the records of merged companies. In general, single manuscripts will not be considered eligible for inclusion.

3.6. The Data Editor will work with contributors to advise on collection definition and appropriate description within the Archives Hub. Data creation guidelines are available from the ‘Guidelines’ page of the Archives Hub website. Training sessions are arranged in Manchester for contributors to the Hub, and the Archives Hub service team at Manchester are always available for advice.

3.7. All descriptions must be for collections that are accessible to external users.

3.8. Acquisitions will not be funded.

3.9. All content incorporated into the Archives Hub will be made freely available via the network to the UK HE and FE community and beyond for the forseeableforeseeable future. The Archives Hub will make its data widely available in order to collaborate as fully as possible with other networking initiatives.

4. Proposals

4.1. Proposals in one of the following areas or a combination of areas will be considered:

1. Institutions with archive and manuscript collections that have to update and edit current catalogues in order to produce descriptions of the required standard;
2. Institutions that have yet to create collection-level descriptions;
3. Institutions that have already contributed records, but have further collections for inclusion;
4. Institutions that have content available to the necessary standard, which will require minimal editing for inclusion in the Archives Hub.

4.2. To enable institutions that have a relatively small number of holdings and limited archival staff to participate, it is suggested that institutions consider submitting collaborative bids. Many of the institutions currently taking part have found this to be an effective way of using existing expertise.

5. Proposal Requirements

5.1. Funds are available for collection-level descriptions only.

5.2. Funding will be available up to a maximum of £25,000 per academic year, however since funding is limited it is expected that where circumstances permit grants of less than this will be requested. Institutions should be aware that the records in the first phase of the Hub averaged at about £20/£25 per record, although this cost does vary. It might be higher for less experienced institutions and for small collections the costs will be less.

5.3. Where it is possible institutions are invited to make financial contributions to the work.

5.4. Proposals should:

1. Include a statement of support signed by the Director of Information/Library Services (or equivalent);
2. Specify the number of collection-level records to be offered, the broad subject areas they cover and the research value of the material;
3. Specify the percentage of total holdings the number of records to be contributed represents;
4. Specify whether any finding aids are currently accessible online, and in what format. Proposals should also state whether finding aids are available via the National Register of Archives;
5. Specify the standards that will be used in the creation of access points;
6. Demonstrate understanding of the standards mentioned and issues related to data incorporation and indicate any experience of the use of ISAD(G) and EAD;
7. Include the sum requested to contribute data and give a breakdown of indicative expenditure plans. The funds available will not cover overheads, however the evaluation panel will consider covering costs of equipment and travel in exceptional circumstances;
8. Include the start and end dates of the proposed work and the number of months (the parameters for this are 1 February 2002 – 31 July 2003);
9. Quantify institutional contributions in terms of overheads, equipment, staff time and finance;
10. Give details of the personnel to be involved, stating the appropriate person to contact in relation to the proposal;
11. Detail how this bid relates to other archival network bids the institution has submitted or is considering submitting to other initiatives and also how this proposal relates to any institutional strategy for networking of archival catalogues;
12. Be accompanied by examples of data in its current form;
13. Be no more than 6 sides of A4 excluding the data examples, letter of support and the cover sheet which is to be found at Annex A and also on the JISC web site as a downloadable file (see http://www.jisc.ac.uk/pub01/index.html….);

• The deadline of receipt of proposals is 5pm on Wednesday 7th November 2001.
• Ten paper copies should be sent to: Amanda Hill, Manchester Computing, Oxford Road, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL.
• An electronic copy should also be e-mailed to Amanda Hill; amanda.hill@man.ac.uk .
• Faxed copies will not be accepted.
• The ten paper copies and electronic copy both need to arrive by the deadline of receipt of proposals.
• Late proposals will not be accepted.

6. Proposal Evaluation Criteria

6.1. In evaluating the proposals the following criteria will be taken into account (not listed in any particular order):

1. The credibility of the proposal;
2. Value for money;
3. Understanding of the requirements;
4. Institutional support;
5. The research and learning value of the collections;
6. Evidence of the general availability of the collections.

6.2. It is anticipated that all biddersproposals will be informed of their success or otherwise by Friday 14th December 2001. Funding will be available from February 2002. All descriptions must be submitted to the Archives Hub by 31 July 2003.

7. Further Information

7.1. Enquiries about this circular should be addressed to:

Amanda Hill, Manchester Computing, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL
Tel: 0161 275 6055
e-mail: amanda.hill@man.ac.uk

7.2. Procedural issues may also be dealt with by:

Alice Colban, JCEI Secretary / Joanna Harrison, Assistant JCEI Secretary, JISC Secretariat, Northavon House, Coldharbour Lane, Bristol, BS16 1QD
Tel: 0117 931 7257/7252
e-mail: a.colban@jisc.ac.uk or j.harrison@jisc.ac.uk

7.3. Further information can be found at the following URLs:

Archives Hub site

ISAD(G) rules

EAD website

MIMAS

CURL website

 

JISC Secretariat
Bristol

 

JISC Circular 4/01	Annex A
Cover Sheet for Proposals (All sections must be completed)	Developing the Archive Hub: Call for Collection-Level Content

Name of Lead Institution/Organisation
Full Contact Details for proposal leader:
Name: Position: Address:     Tel: Fax: Email:
Proposal area – please tick one or more areas:
A: To update and edit current catalogues B: To create collection-level records for collections C: To complete listings of holdings from earlier phase D: To deliver content which is available to the necessary standards and which can be incorporated into the Archives Hub with minimal work
Length of project (please give start and end dates and number of months):
Estimated cost of proposal (to JISC) during the following periods:
1 February 2002 – 31 July 2002 1 August 2002 – 31 July 2003		£
		£
Estimated full cost over the life of the project:		£
Outline description: