scholarly journals An Experiment to Increase Online Archival Accessibility: Using Unique Page Views to Measure Online Efficiency

2011 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 2
Author(s):  
Jonathan Dembo ◽  
Mark Custer
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Methods ◽  
Control Sample ◽  
Home Page ◽  
Research Tool ◽  
Previous Attempt ◽  
Special Collections ◽  
Finding Aids ◽  
Online Access ◽  
East Carolina University ◽  
Comparable Finding

The authors, Prof. Jonathan Dembo and Prof. Mark Custer have used Unique Page Views generated by Google Analytics to identify and track ten of the least used online manuscript finding aids on the Special Collections Department home page of the J. Y. Joyner Library website at East Carolina University.  The authors are unaware of previous attempts to use online access statistics to identify and select archival finding aids for experimental purposes.  They are also unaware of any previous attempt to use online access statistics, Unique Page Views (UPV's) or Google Analytics to track and assess the results of finding aid revision experiments. In their experiment, Prof. Custer first generated reports showing Unique Page Views of each online finding aid.  Prof. Dembo then revised the finding aids to add information to selected elements, including biographical / historical notes, scope notes, accession information, and inventories. He then tracked the changes in unique page views over more than a year.  The authors' findings demonstrate that increasing detail to the finding aids had a dramatic impact on unique page views received.  Comparable finding aids selected as a control sample increased at a fraction of the rate of the revised finding aids.  Moreover, the authors provide evidence to show that revisions to specific online finding aid elements significantly impacted the relative ranking of the finding aids on the website.  Prof. Custer who developed Google Analytics as a research tool at Joyner Library has provided Notes on Technical and Statistical Methods.  The authors have also provided five tables illustrating the results and providing web addresses for all the finding aids included in the experiment. 

Manuscript libraries and archival description in the Caribbean

2015 ◽  
Vol 116 (5/6) ◽  
pp. 289-301
Author(s):  
Lorraine M Nero
Keyword(s):  
Archival Description ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Special Collections ◽  
Online Databases ◽  
Indexing Method ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Finding Aids ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Materials Used ◽  
The Uk

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the indexing method used by Caribbean libraries to describe special collections and manuscripts. Design/methodology/approach – Various types of finding aids spanning 1960-2014 are used to show the pattern of descriptions adopted by the librarians. At the same time, the factors which have sustained the approach at national libraries and university libraries are highlighted. Findings – The paper concludes that while the indexing approach may be labour-intensive, this practice is perceived as developing a national and regional documentary heritage. The materials used for this study are primarily accessible to the public inclusive of published guides and online databases. Originality/value – The literature is replete with theories and cases from places such as the UK, the USA and Australia, this paper presents a perspective on the development of archival description in the Caribbean.

Making Special Collections Accessible to Users: Finding Aids

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clayton McGahee
Keyword(s):  
Health Sciences ◽  
Special Collections ◽  
Finding Aids ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Law Library ◽  
College Library

Good afternoon, thank you for having me. My name is Clayton McGahee and I am the Archives Manager for Emory. My colleagues refer to me as the “Roving Archivist” in that I currently work in four archival repositories throughout Emory each week. These four areas consist of the Woodruff Health Sciences Library, Oxford College Library, Pitts Theology Library, and the MacMillan Law Library. I've been at Emory since 2013, and among my duties is that I am responsible for the creation and upload of finding aids for WHSCL, Law, and Oxford College archives.

scholarly journals Increasing the Discoverability of Digital Collections Using Wikipedia: The Pitt Experience

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ed Galloway ◽  
Cassandra DellaCorte
Keyword(s):  
Service Center ◽  
Digital Collections ◽  
University Of Pittsburgh ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
Effective Strategies ◽  
Special Collections ◽  
Library Resources ◽  
Finding Aids ◽  
The University

During the Fall 2013 academic semester at the University of Pittsburgh, two undergraduate history majors performed a Wikipedia internship in the University Library System’s Archives Service Center and Special Collections Department. The purpose was to enhance the discoverability of Pitt’s digital collections and finding aids by creating links from Wikipedia articles to relevant content held by the library’s specialized collection units as well as to generally improve the quality of articles by adding additional information. By editing nearly 100 articles in Wikipedia, the interns developed their own effective strategies to perform this work and learned how to use and edit Wikipedia efficiently, how to navigate library resources effectively, how to decide what types of content would be valuable to add, and how to present new and respectable information. As a result, usage of Pitt’s online digitized collections and finding aids appears to have increased.

scholarly journals Tour Through Scotland: A Finding Aid of Scottish Travel Photography at the Archival & Special Collections, University of Guelph

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle McAllister
Keyword(s):  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Specific Group ◽  
Photographic Material ◽  
Special Collections ◽  
Integral Role ◽  
Biographical Sketches ◽  
Finding Aids ◽  
Travel Photography ◽  
The University

Among the various collections housed in the Archival & Special Collections CASC) at the University of Guelph is a group of photographic material that exhibits the integral role photography played in Scotland's tourism industry from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Photographic publishing firms such as G.W. Wilson & Co. and Valentine & Sons, Ltd. incorporated photography into their commercial repertoires and both helped to create and capitalize on Scotland's vibrant tourism industry during this period. This thesis focuses on this specific group of material that includes four bound albums, five opalines, seven travel view books, and over four hundred stereographs, and additionally looks at how institutions such as the ASC use descriptive tools like finding aids to provide access to and information about their collections. This thesis project reevaluates the structure and role of the finding aid as applied to photographic material in archival collections. Additional components such as a biographical sketches, a glossary of photographic terms, a geographic index, and a historical overview, have been incorporated to further demonstrate how a finding aid can build a greater web of connections and narratives for such collections.

scholarly journals Finding, Saving, and Relocating Dick, Jane, Alice, Jerry, Janet and John: Historical and Archival Collections in Education

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 19
Author(s):  
Nancy P. O'Brien
Keyword(s):  
Web Sites ◽  
Special Collections ◽  
Finding Aids ◽  
Historical Education ◽  
The Web

In summer, 2002, the Education Division of the Special Libraries Association held a panel presentation on "Historical and Archival Collections in Education." From that session developed this article which discusses the need for finding aids, publicity, creative uses of the web, and collaborative ways to deal withthese issues. Specific references to finding aids and web sites of interest to education historians and librarians, and brief descriptions of several special collections of historical education materials are included. Also highlighted is a new service, an exchange registry, which offers institutions a way to placematerials where they are most needed. 

scholarly journals A Tour Through Scotland: A Finding Aid of Scottish Tavel Photography at the Archival & Special Collections, University of Guelph

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle McAllister
Keyword(s):  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Historical Overview ◽  
Specific Group ◽  
Photographic Material ◽  
Special Collections ◽  
Integral Role ◽  
Biographical Sketches ◽  
Finding Aids ◽  
The University

Among the various collections housed in the Archival & Special Collections (ASC) at the University of Guelph is a group of photographic material that exhibits the integral role photography played in Scotland’s tourism industry from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Photographic publishing firms such as G.W. Wilson & Co. and Valentine & Sons, Ltd. incorporated photography into their commercial repertoires and both helped to create and capitalize on Scotland’s vibrant tourism industry during this period. This thesis focuses on this specific group of material that includes four bound albums, five opalines, seven travel view books, and over four hundred stereographs, and additionally looks at how institutions such as the ASC use descriptive tools like finding aids to provide access to and information about their collections. This thesis project reevaluates the structure and role of the finding aid as applied to photographic material in archival collections. Additional components such as a biographical sketches, a glossary of photographic terms, a geographic index, and a historical overview, have been incorporated to further demonstrate how a finding aid can build a greater web of connections and narratives for such collections.

scholarly journals An Evaluation of Finding Aid Accessibility for Screen Readers

2013 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina L. Southwell ◽  
Jacquelyn Slater
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Visual Disabilities ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Research Libraries ◽  
Screen Readers ◽  
Association Of Research Libraries ◽  
Special Collections ◽  
Library Resources ◽  
Finding Aids

<p>Since the passage of the American Disabilities Act in 1990 and the coincident  growth of the Internet, academic libraries have worked to provide electronic resources and services that are accessible to all patrons. Special collections are increasingly being added to these Web-based library resources, and they must meet the same accessibility standards. The recent popularity surge of Web 2.0 technology, social media sites, and mobile devices has brought greater awareness about the challenges faced by those who use assistive technology for visual disabilities. This study examines the screen reader accessibility of online special collections finding aids at 68 public U.S. colleges and universities in the Association of Research Libraries.</p>

scholarly journals On Collaboration: Government Documents and Political Collections in Libraries and Museums

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Sandy Staebell ◽  
Sue Lynn McDaniel
Keyword(s):  
Political Process ◽  
The Political ◽  
Academic Institutions ◽  
Special Collections ◽  
Government Documents ◽  
Online Access ◽  
Western Kentucky ◽  
Western Kentucky University

Government documents librarians, special collections librarians and museum curators should collaborate. When they do, researchers and students benefit. While government documents tend to report the beginning and the end of the political process, political ephemera, artifacts and manuscripts provide a deeper understanding of what happens in between. Knowledge of readily available political collections equips information specialists to better serve users. Our survey reveals several U.S. academic institutions that provide online access to significant political collections. A close examination of the Rather-Westerman Political Collection at Western Kentucky University demonstrates how some university-held political collections are created, utilized and further developed.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document