Blogging for your organisation

If you find yourself needing to put forward a case outlining the potential positive results that a blog could provide your organisation then this post from the Cabinet Office in the United Kingdom may come in handy:

where they can get the real-life story of our work from those who are actually out there doing it and to allow visitors to ask questions directly and continue the debate. We wanted to move away from a purely one-way online presence, to a two-way interaction with our audience.

• Read the post – The benefits of blogging

Challenges for the next generation

Nick Poole, CEO at the Collections Trust in the UK addresses some future issues [slideshare presentation]

Online text correctors received Australia Day awards

To quote from the National Library of Australia media release:

Six people who have helped correct millions of lines of text online in the National Library of Australia’s Newspaper Digitisation Program will be presented with special Australia Day awards tomorrow, Thursday 28 January, 2010.
…
The National Library’s newspaper digitisation program began two years ago, using Optical Character Recognition software to automatically convert old newspaper images into digital text.  Although this is the latest technology, the small fonts and uneven printing of many of the newspaper pages made conversion difficult and not always accurate. Enter online users from all over Australia who were keen to help by correcting the text.

• Read the full media release

British Library launches online science archive

The British Library have initiated a project to create an online oral history of British Science.

A study carried out prior to the project being started found that in the last ten years, 30 leading British scientists including 9 Nobel winners have died leaving little or no archive of their work.

Storage space

Archives Ireland raises a storage space issue for newly released papers held by the National Archives Ireland

• Storage problems with State papers

Post from: Archives Outside@State Records NSW

February 2010: Link roundup post

Most Commented Posts

• Can you date this photograph? [Causeway at Audley, Royal National Park]
• Can you date this photograph? [Noreuil Park, Albury]
• Can you date this photograph? [Tram in operation at Mosman]

Archivist of the Year

We stumbled across the announcement of the Archivist of the Year award over at ArchivesNext:

This annual award recognizes an archivist who has made a contribution to his or her profession or who has provided support to scholars conducting research in history and biography.

» Read the post to find out more about the two winners

Women and technology

Around the World in 80 Gigabytes writes an interesting follow-up article on a [deliberatively controversial] topic first posted in the Archives2.0 ning forum, namely:

the high proportion of women in the archives profession (at least this is the case in the UK) with a slow take-up of web2.0 technologies.

» Women and the history of computing in West Yorkshire

Delving into your website statistics

Seb Chan from the Powerhouse Museum provides insight into the benefits of analysing your website traffic more closely. Is your content really reaching the people you think you are targeting?

Now this is where it gets really interesting and where the team realised the importance of geographic segmentation…In fact, the more local we go the less popular it gets!

» “Let’s make more crowns”, or, the danger of not looking closely at your web metrics

Behind the scenes of the National Archives (UK)

From the BBC News website a 2:47mins video:

a rare tour behind the scenes of the National Archives – including both highlights of the past and plans for the future.

» Watch the video here

The largest book in the world?

Indeed, this six foot tall atlas, made in 1660 by a Dutch merchant, is going to be on display at the British Library in April. It dwarfs the two people holding it upright

» View the image and article in the telegraph.co.uk

Post from: Archives Outside@State Records NSW

January 2010: Link roundup post

Also of interest:

• Can you date and locate this photograph? [unidentified townscapes]
• Womens Australian National Service (WANS) in Wagga Wagga
• Working with stakeholders: A brief history of CSU Regional Archives Advisory Committe

I wonder why there aren’t more comic strips about archivists?

The Archivist and The Aardvark (Archeion Issue 5 June 1987)

Originally published in:

Archeion – the Newsletter of the State Archives
Issue No. 5 June 1987
ISSN 0812-6755

This cartoon has been reproduced with permission of the creator, Michael R Allen.

Post from: Archives Outside@State Records NSW

The Archivist and The Aardvark [a comic strip]

Most Commented Posts

• Can you date this photograph? [Causeway at Audley, Royal National Park]
• Can you date this photograph? [Noreuil Park, Albury]
• Can you date this photograph? [Tram in operation at Mosman]

We thank you!

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for the wonderful  support you have given us over the last seven months (yes, we are still in nappies) and we hope you have enjoyed reading our posts as much as we have had writing them. Special thanks goes to our guest posters and those who have left comments: this has really created a sense of community at the blog. For all those lurkers out there, we thank you too…stay tuned for a special ‘lurker’ post in the future.

Some light reading

While we take a break from Archives Outside for a couple of weeks, don’t despair! We have been looking at our last seven months online and below we have listed some of our more interesting and popular posts. There is quite a variety and some that you may have even missed.

Photos

You’d see from the Popular Posts widget on the sidebar that the photo posts dominate the popularity contests at Archives Outside. Thanks to Rhonda Campbell for sharing these with us. Instead of listing them all here follow the tag link below to see all the posts. Perhaps you might even be able to help?

• Moments in Time

How to read handwriting

This post was widely read and still receives quite a bit of attention six months after it was published:

• Useful Tips for Reading Handwritten Documents

Conservation tips

Another hot topic at Archives Outside. Catch up on Conservation Tip 1:

• Sticky tape removal

A Day in the Life…

And who could forget the cheeky adventures of Ann Item, a record from our collection who experiences a visit to the reading room: from request to delivery:

• Read the adventures of Ann Item

Archives and climate change?

Yes, we blogged about that too!

• Blog Action Day 2009

Regional Repositories

Fiona introduces the regional repository network around New South Wales

• Part One – Introduction
• Part Tw0 – Wollongong

and explains

• Distributed management

Social media and archives

I re-visit our:

• first year on Flickr

and give you some tips on

• adding a digital gallery to your website

Happy reading and see you in the New Year!

Anthea and Fiona

Post from: Archives Outside@State Records NSW

Looking back over the last six months (or some light Festive Season entertainment)

Most Commented Posts

• Can you date this photograph? [Causeway at Audley, Royal National Park]
• Can you date this photograph? [Noreuil Park, Albury]
• Can you date this photograph? [Tram in operation at Mosman]

Close behind was “Other answer” with comments including:

• clean hands policy, cotton or nitrile gloves when viewing some formats
• When using photos or rare books
• Only when handling photos or metal items
• depends on fragility of material i.e. clean hands in this case otherwise nitrile
• When photos or metal is handled; for paper no gloves are required

It appears that the traditional cotton style has been slowly overtaken by the disposable nitrile variety.

Until the next poll…

By the way, if you have a question you’d like answered in a future poll please contact us.

Post from: Archives Outside@State Records NSW

Results of the ‘glove’ poll

Also of interest:

• Quick poll: do your readers use gloves when accessing archives
• Archival detective work in action at the University of Newcastle
• Creating a digital gallery (part 5 – putting it all online)

A visual feast of some of the world’s most beautiful libraries around the world at Curious Expeditions:

• Librophiliac Love Letter: A Compendium of Beautiful Libraries

Something to wonder

Every wonder how long paper records can last … take a look at a 415 year old record:

• Catholic documents in oldest US city preserved

Something for the locals

Stay up to date with “the effective use of internet technologies from a New South Wales local government perspective.”

• Stap isi

Ah! Bugs! Something for everyone

What to do to keep your collection safe – advice from Northeast Document Conservation Center:

• Integrated Pest Management

Something to watch

Just in case you hadn’t heard, Team Digital Preservation are back!

Post from: Archives Outside@State Records NSW

Archival links for November 2009

Also of interest:

• Sesquicentenary of Local Government in Newcastle

Link Roundup

Something to watch

From the Collections Australia Network a “five-minute video threading stories about seemingly ordinary objects together to reveal their dark and often emotionally-charged nature.” Titled Not So Innocent Objects this CAN video is a wonderful example of how combining archives and objects can bring history to life:

• No So Innocent Objects [YouTube]

Something to do

At Librarians Matter, Kathryn Greenhill has put together a short video on how Zotero helps her to correctly attribute the Creative Commons Flickr photos she uses in presentations:

• Zotero and saving Flickr images. Wowza!

Something to contemplate

An older post from Archives Next but in this online environment it is definitely still the theme ‘du jour’. The concept of Archives 2.0 is not just about using the available  technologies but about changing our attitudes. Being open, flexible and user-centred…well worth the read:

• Archives 2.0

Another fascinating item is a Society of Archivists presentation by George Oates on the Flickr Commons and Open Library (a project of the Internet Archive):

• Into The Wild: Breathing New Life Into Collections [slideshare]

Thinking about Twittering?

Haven’t yet taken the plunge? Watch this slideshare presentation:

• Twitter for Archivists

Join the discussion

Archives 2.0:  The Social Network Community for Archivists 2.0 asks the following question:

• What are the most effective web 2.0 technologies for archives?

Post from: Archives Outside@State Records NSW

Archival links for September 2009

Also of interest:

• CAN Special Event: Developing a social media strategy for archives
• January 2010: Link roundup post
• Social media strategies for archives – what we learned

[or: The Amazing Adventures of Dame Nellie Melba's Probate Packet]

The viewing! It’s 9am and our savvy web surfer is here. In fact, he arrived a bit earlier than the opening time and has been patiently waiting in the reader’s lounge with a cup of tea.

Most researchers drive to the reading room at Kingswood but there is a bus which stops here frequently.

If you are just tuning in to the “Day in the Life of a State Archive” series then here is a brief run-down: I’m a Probate Packet living at State Records NSW. Someone found me on the Internet and has requested to see me. I’ve been retrieved and I’m about to be viewed.

Issuing

Mr Jones [not his real name] is in the reading room chatting with the friendly archivist on duty. He shows his confirmation email and reader’s ticket.

The archivist finds his request slip. He signs for me and is handed a pair of gloves. Cotton or latex? He goes for latex.

It’s important to handle items with great care and follow the reading room procedures.

Mr Jones takes me over to the manuscript area and sits down. He opens me and stares intently. I’m on best behaviour as he quietly and carefully inspects my contents. After the inital shock of yesterday’s retrieval I have to say I’m enjoying all the attention.

Copying

Mr Jones is impressed and asks if he can get a copy of me. Of course! says the archvist. But one of the clerks must do it; they are trained to copy fragile documents. On average they can copy up to 200 pages a day.

The archivist shows Mr Jones the form to fill in for a copy request. She explains that photocopies are priced at 45cents per page for loose leaf files (that’s me). Larger pages and volumes are priced at $2.00 – a special format copier has to be used for these items.

He can also request high resolution digital copies (to be completed within 20 working days) or, if he prefers he can use his digital camera to take photos of me. He’s happy to hear that and sets to work snapping happily away.

He decides to use the photos as his working copy and selects a few of my more important pages to be scanned.

It’s been a productive day all ’round. Mr Jones requested some other files while he was visiting, bought some food from the lunch truck which comes past most days and collected some information leaflets of interest.

The end

What an adventure I have had….I’ve been scanned and am now ‘back in my box.’ It’s good to be back but I can’t deny I enjoyed my outing.

Questions

1. Do your researchers have to wear gloves?
2. Can your researchers use cameras and scanners in the reading room?

We hope you enjoyed our “Day in the Life of” series. Our aim was to highlight some of our public access procedures and the actual process of providing access to a record in the reading room. We hope to learn about your own in-house procedures and any ‘retrieval’ experiences you might think of interest. Please use the comment form below.

Post from: Archives Outside@State Records NSW

A Day in the Life of a State Archive (part 4)

Also of interest:

• Creating a digital gallery (part 5 – putting it all online)
• Creating a digital gallery (part 4 – digitisation and transcription)
• Creating a digital gallery – Macquarie through the magnifying glass (or part 3 – research)

[or: The Amazing Adventures of Dame Nellie Melba's Probate Packet]

OK, it’s retrieval time; OMG, how exciting! The clerk on retrieval duty is on her way to collect me. Boy, does she have a long way to walk. The retrieval staff at State Records NSW walk, on average, 10-12km a day. According to her GCC pedometer she has already walked 15,564 steps.

If you are just tuning in to the “Day in the Life of a State Archive” series then here is a brief run-down: I’m a Probate Packet living at State Records NSW. Someone found me on the Internet and has requested to see me. I’m about to be retrieved.

Before setting off to find me among the 60km of State archives, I was located electronically in our in-house business operating system. The clerk now knows which part of the building to head towards, the compactus in which I live…even which position on the shelf I take up.

Identifying conservation issues during retrieval

I’m a bit nervous, actually. The clerks have basic training in identifiyng conservation problems and if I have any abnormalities I’ll be sent straight to Conservation. I could even be listed as “Too Fragile to Issue”…The box is on the move, the lid is being opened…oh my, the bright light, I’m blind! I’m being manhandled …this isn’t as much fun as I thought it would be…the temperature out here is different, the space, the light…

…I’ve passed the preliminary checks. I don’t suffer from mould, I’m not torn and my pages are not stuck together. I also have not been eaten by vermin or insects, phew!

How long does a retrieval take?

The turnaround time for retrievals is 30 minutes. The probate packets are extremely popular and SRNSW have introduced set retrieval times during the day, called Probate Runs. This is to maximise the number of packets delivered to the reading room at Western Sydney.

Of course, I wasn’t collected during a Probate Run as I’m a pre-order. I have been collected the afternoon before ‘the visit.’

Lights out

I’m in the waiting room. The clerks deliver all pre-orders to a ‘holding area’ near the reading room.

Don’t worry, the space is archivally sound with the correct temperature and safety measures in place. From here it is an easy trip to the reading room and we (the pre-orders) will be there in time for the 9am opening (10am on Saturdays).

The big day out is tomorrow…

Questions

1. Do your records have to pass a ‘conservation test’ before being issued?
2. Do you have set retrieval times?

Post from: Archives Outside@State Records NSW

A Day in the Life of a State Archive (part 3)

Also of interest:

• Creating a digital gallery (part 5 – putting it all online)
• Creating a digital gallery (part 4 – digitisation and transcription)
• Creating a digital gallery – Macquarie through the magnifying glass (or part 3 – research)

[or: The Amazing Adventures of Dame Nellie Melba's Probate Packet]

Well, it’s ‘tomorrow’ and the pre-order is under way. Our savvy web surfer submitted the pre-order form yesterday and the archivist on ‘pre-order duty’ has received my details.

If you are just tuning in to the “Day in the Life of a State Archive” series then here is a brief run-down: I’m a Probate Packet living at State Records NSW. Someone found me on the Internet and has requested to see me in a few days time.

Pre-order details

Look at that, a preorder with my very own metadata…

[note: to ensure my safety and keep my whereabouts unknown some details have been 'smudged out'. It's comforting to know my security comes first.]

As mentioned yesterday, there are several ways you can ‘book in’ to view records at State Records NSW. The new option in Archives Investigator is straightforward and streamlined. Staff were fortunate enough to work with the programmer during the development phase and explain the process – from request to delivery. Unfortunately, not all items are listed in Archives Investigator [yet] and so the other methods will remain for some time to come.

Online request slip

This (image above) is the information the archivist has received. There is the reader’s name; reader’s ticket number and date of impending visit. The metadata includes the series to which I, the item, belong, the item number and a brief description (this helps to quickly verify the information is accurate and to alert staff to the type of record being requested).

The benefit of the new system is that the information is received in the form of a request slip, similar to those used in the reading rooms. The online request slip is simply printed out, the information verified and placed into the pre-order retrieval box. The older methods are more clunky and require the archivist to (in addition) check the “open to public access” status in the Register of Access Directions and transfer the request details by hand onto a retrieval slip. The archivist also confirms the order with the client whereas in the new system a confirmation email is automatically generated.

I’ve received the green light and have been placed in the pre-order queue. Hoorah! Oh the anticipation…will I be presentable enough to make the cut?

Stay tuned.

Questions

1. How do you manage your ‘pre-order’ requests?
2. How much information does the reader have to supply?

Post from: Archives Outside@State Records NSW

A Day in the Life of a State Archive (part 2)

Also of interest:

• Creating a digital gallery (part 5 – putting it all online)
• Creating a digital gallery (part 4 – digitisation and transcription)
• Creating a digital gallery – Macquarie through the magnifying glass (or part 3 – research)