Interoperability without effort:Interoperability without effort:too

much

the development of the the development of the distributed Archives Hubdistributed Archives Hub

Amanda HillUniversity of Manchester, UK

What do we want from What do we want from a union catalogue of a union catalogue of

finding aids?finding aids?

SustainableOwned by the

community

Comprehensive

Ubiquitous

Archives HubArchives Hub Developing since 1999: a union catalogue Developing since 1999: a union catalogue

for archives held in universities, colleges for archives held in universities, colleges and other organisations throughout the UKand other organisations throughout the UK

– Funded by the JISCFunded by the JISC

Now holds c.20,000 finding aids from 150 Now holds c.20,000 finding aids from 150 institutionsinstitutions

Distributing the data was part of the plan Distributing the data was part of the plan from the early stages of the servicefrom the early stages of the service

It's been a long time coming...

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Pro

gre

ss o

n S

po

kes

soft

war

e

Mo

od

of

con

trib

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rs

Frustrated

Happy

Graph inspired by Jessica Hagy http://indexed.blogspot.com/

Testing

Feedback

Development

Testing

Feedback

Development

Cheshire Development

Team, University of Liverpool

Archives Hub service team, Manchester and

early adopters at universities in

Scotland and England

Direct from testers and more formally through

Spokes Users and Developers group and Contributors’ Forum

Cheshire for

Archives 3.2

Quick guided tourQuick guided tour

Spoke home pageSpoke home page

Results displayResults display

Collection-level recordCollection-level record

Full multi-level finding aidFull multi-level finding aid

Search term ‘photograph’Search term ‘photograph’

Administration interfaceAdministration interface

Managing EAD filesManaging EAD files

Overview of activityOverview of activity

Technical detailsTechnical details

Runs on a Linux (Red Hat or Fedora) Runs on a Linux (Red Hat or Fedora) serverserver

Cheshire3 information retrieval Cheshire3 information retrieval softwaresoftware

Cheshire for Archives EAD-specific Cheshire for Archives EAD-specific softwaresoftware

All open source

InstallationInstallation

Takes around one hour to installTakes around one hour to install

Free to download Free to download (http://www.archiveshub.ac.uk/arch/s(http://www.archiveshub.ac.uk/arch/spokes.shtml)pokes.shtml)

Documentation and support from Documentation and support from Archives Hub website and Spokes Archives Hub website and Spokes mailing listmailing list

Cheshire for ArchivesCheshire for Archives

Provides Web, Z39.50 and SRU Provides Web, Z39.50 and SRU interfaces to archival descriptionsinterfaces to archival descriptions

Highly customisable: XHTML display Highly customisable: XHTML display controlled by XSLT and CSScontrolled by XSLT and CSS

Search options make full use of Search options make full use of EAD’s descriptive markupEAD’s descriptive markup

IssuesIssues Time: software development is a time-consuming Time: software development is a time-consuming

businessbusiness

Evolving standards: Z39.50 being succeeded by Evolving standards: Z39.50 being succeeded by SRU has entailed additional workSRU has entailed additional work

Requirements: institutions’ needs and Requirements: institutions’ needs and preferences vary considerably - important to build preferences vary considerably - important to build flexibility into the software flexibility into the software

Communication: importance of keeping a wide Communication: importance of keeping a wide user community up to date with developments user community up to date with developments and any problemsand any problems

Benefits for Archives Hub Benefits for Archives Hub communitycommunity

Software gives control of data back to the Software gives control of data back to the repositoriesrepositories

– Makes it more likely that they will add new Makes it more likely that they will add new descriptions and expand upon existing onesdescriptions and expand upon existing ones

Built-in interoperability means that data Built-in interoperability means that data can be accessed by a wide range of can be accessed by a wide range of services, from search engines to services, from search engines to metasearch applicationsmetasearch applications

– Including the Archives Hub!Including the Archives Hub!

Sun Mill CompanySun Mill Company

John Rylands’ SpokeJohn Rylands’ Spoke

The Archives Hub becomes…The Archives Hub becomes…

More sustainableMore sustainable

Community-ownedCommunity-owned

Increasingly comprehensiveIncreasingly comprehensive

Available to users wherever they areAvailable to users wherever they are