Launch of the Integrated Archives and Manuscript System (IAMS) Bill Stockting, Cataloguing Systems and Processing Manager (Scholarship & Collections) UKAD Forum: TNA, 21 March 2012 Introduction Development of the Integrated Archives and Manuscript system (IAMS) at the British Library over the last 5 years has touched on many of the themes of today’s forum: An innovative data model describing the material and related contextual entities Migration of legacy data User interface development Provision of access to digital versions of the material Some success so CELEBRATION as well as looking to the future! Unique and Distinctive Collections Extensive collections of unique archives and manuscripts: Manuscripts: Western, Oriental, Literary and Music Records of India Office and its predecessors, and related private papers and manuscripts Digitised collections from across the world as part of the Endangered Archives Programme (EAP) IAMS Mission Statement To deliver a powerful, flexible integrated cataloguing and resource discovery system that will unite and broaden access to the British Library’s archives and manuscript collection and will provide standards compliant data for external co-operative projects Catalogue System Innovative Data Model Places, Subjects, Events, Titles Project & Collections acquired / funded by have subjects Archives & Manuscripts Archive institutions 1 held by 2 3 2 3 3 created by Persons, Families, Corporate Bodies Legacy Data Migration Main phase of complex legacy migration now nearing completion – 1.5 million records migrated: India Office Records: ISAD(G) compliant spreadsheets from A2A and other projects relatively straightforward to migrate Western Manuscript Catalogues: A very different story... Migrating Western Manuscripts Catalogue: Stage 1 (late 1990s) Migration of published catalogues and indexes of Western Manuscripts... ...to Molcat : data held as WORD and converted to HTML for presentation Migrating Molcat: Stage 2 (2009-2012) User Interface Development http://searcharchives.bl.uk Supporting Access to Digitised Manuscripts and Archives http://searcharchives.bl.uk Success! Much progress then to achieving our mission: Raised profile of collections and metadata as an a asset IAMS now defined as a Master Metadata Repository Advantages of flexible data model seen by other collection areas – photographs and philatelic IAMS metadata used for discovery and delivery of digital content To do... Celebration but much still to do: Further legacy migration: Oriental manuscripts Retro-conversion of hardcopy catalogues/indexes with help of online communities perhaps Integration with Library’s infrastructure for preservation and delivery of digital content Open access to data Contact Bill Stockting: Cataloguing Systems and Processing Manager (Scholarship & Collections): william.stockting@bl.uk