JISC

This project has prepared and digitised a range of objects and coins from the Fitzwilliam Museum collections for disclosure using the Open Archives Initiative protocol, and delivery of this metadata has been tested through the Archaeology Data Service (ADS) and Arts & Humanities Data Service (AHDS).  Issues addressed have included the metadata requirements for museum objects and the disclosure of images using OAI.  The work has been carried out in close conjunction with Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA)-funded OAI-based projects and experience has been shared across these initiatives. 

Further information is available via the JISC project page and the project website. 

Outputs from this project include experience in the use and development of OAI-related software, a body of museum object records with attached images, documentation and an issues paper on the creation and use of images for use with OAI, and a range of presentations. The associated initiatives indicated above are also listed. 

Contact

Shaun Osborne
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Trumpington Street
Cambridge CB2 1RB

Email: smo30@cam.ac.uk
Tel: 01223 332900

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Software

The Adlib collection management system used as the basis for the Museum’s internal collection management was also used for the collections created within the project.  The Adlib Internet Server module, used for the Adlib OPAC, also provides OAI data provider capability and this was used to disclose the main database of museum objects created.

For the Early Medieval Coins database, PHP data provider software over a PHP/MySQL database was used. This was developed by Heinrich Stamerjohanns and is available under a GNU GPL licence.

A PHP script has been developed within the project to enable an OAI data provider such as the Fitzwilliam to test whether the collection is ready for harvesting.  It is intended as an internal testing tool only. 

The project has produced exemplars and much experience of the provider/harvester model of data distribution using OAI for non-documentation and non-print materials with the AHDS and ADS.  This OAI infrastructure has been of great benefit to the museum in enabling flexible delivery methods based on a common content repository.

Content

100,000 catalogue records with associated metadata adhering to the SPECTRUM UK standard have been created and enhanced.  These are from the main collection and cover a range of museum objects.  40,000 of these records have associated digital images, providing over 88,000 images in total.  50,000 catalogue records from a specific collection of Early Medieval Coin Finds have also been made available via OAI, each with images of both sides and, where relevant, the edge.

All content produced is accessible via the main Museum OPAC and specific coins OPAC, respectively. See examples of the XML generated for harvesting.  Availability of the collections through OAI harvesting has been tested through the project partners at the AHDS, for the main collection, and the ADS, for the coins collection, but is not available for service. A major factor in this has been the work required to adapt the data for use by service providers and their audiences.  Data providers cannot just expose data for harvesting, but also need to manage it according to who will make use of the information, making it useful wherever it is delivered.

Images

A procedural document for the imaging and cataloguing of coins through the use of scanning techniques has been produced.

Images and Harvesting Issues paper, produced under the auspices of the FAIR Museums & Images cluster group, July 2004.

Links with related initiatives and projects

The following projects are also based at the Fitzwilliam and are also investigating the use of OAI to disclose museum metadata and content.

• 24Hour Museum The Fitzwilliam Museum participated as a test OAI data provider to the 24Hour Museum pilot.  This data provision is based on the DC.Culture schema.
• BRICKS An EU FP6 project seeking to establish a distributed European cultural network.  The Fitzwilliam is a BRICKS member and hopes to provide content via OAI to this project, a role that was enabled through the Harvesting the Fitzwilliam project.
• DSpace@Cambridge The Fitzwilliam is an early adopter of DSpace within this University of Cambridge initiative and is investigating metadata provision required to support the use of DSpace institutionally and how such a repository can be used for preservation.
• MLA Designation Challenge Fund The Fitzwilliam receives funding as a designated museum to put in place systems and processes to support collections management, data creation, and the building and maintenance of back end systems.

Publication

Osborne, S., Towards electronic cataloguing, EEMLAC Newsletter, September 2003: 2-3

Presentations

Reaching Out: extending museum access electronically – a MLA Designation Challenge Fund Regional Event, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 25th October 2004, available at http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/projects/dcf/seminar25102004/index.html.  This seminar had references throughout to the OAI work within the project.  Specifically, the presentation below covered work undertaken for the project directly.

Building collections information - capturing coins, Evangeline Markou, Reaching Out: extending museum access electronically – a MLA Designation Challenge Fund Regional Event, available at http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/projects/dcf/seminar25102004/index.html

Harvesting the Fitzwilliam - a poster, JISC Joint Programmes Meeting, Brighton, 6-7th July 2004

Museums & Images cluster synthesis, JISC Joint programmes meeting, Brighton, 6-7th July 2004

Harvesting the Fitzwilliam, Shaun Osborne, Open Archives Forum, 4-5th September 2003, available at http://www.oaforum.org/workshops/bath_programme.php

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See also

Accessing the Virtual Museum
BioMed Image Archive
Hybrid Archives