As the metadata intern for the AMNH Archive Project, it’s been my job to evaluate several archival content management systems (CMS), weighing them against a detailed set of functional requirements previously established by my colleagues — in short, to find a good place for our stuff. I’ve examined ArchivesSpace, AtoM, Collective Access, and xEAC, and I can say with some certainty that there is currently no open-source option for managing both EAC-CPF and EAD records that meets all of our needs. However, as these applications are all under active development, we are hopeful they will be improved over time, especially with regard to EAC support, and we will still forge ahead with the best option available to us at present.
It’s been a challenging exercise, and I’ve learned a lot in the process. It has required switching between operating systems, including OS X, Windows 7, and Ubuntu, using VirtualBox and fine-tuning configurations therein, forking GitHub repos and updating code after major releases, lots of terminal/command line work, data imports, exports, and migrations, examining log files, troubleshooting, troubleshooting, and more troubleshooting.
Below I’ll give a brief report on my experience with each application so far. Please do comment below if you’d like some more detail, or if you’d like to share your own experience using one of these platforms.
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Ainu AMNH library catalog Anthropology Archives Archbold Archival Arrangement archives Authority Names CAT Cataloging CLIR 2010 clir 2012 Correspondence Crocker Land Department of Preparation and Installation Department Records EAC-CPF expeditions Fall 2011 Field Notes Finding Aid finding aids Hayden Planetarium Herpetology Archives hidden connections IMLS LARA linked data Mammalogy Archives Manuscript Collection Museum History Non-Curatorial Field Notes Ornithology Archives Paleontology Archives Phase 2 photographs Photo Print Collection Processing Research Library Risk Assessment Slide Collection Spring 2011 Spring 2012 Summer 2011 Summer 2012 T. Don CarterLinks to Related Sites
- Encoded Archival Context – Corporate Bodies, Persons, and Families (EAC-CPF)
- Bowdoin College Crocker Land Expedition Blog
- PACSCL Hidden Collections Processing Project
- Smithsonian Institution Field Book Project
- Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History Archives and Special Collections Blog
- Metropolitan New York Library Council
- Linked Data
- Field books