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Society of American Archivists Student Chapter Hawaiʻi

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Short Summary of Stanislava GardAsevic’s Talk “Opening Archives for General Public--a data modelling approach”

11/6/2017

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By Ellen-Rae Cachola


On Nov. 1, 2017, Stanislava Gardasevic shared her training on ontologies and the Semantic Web at her talk "Opening Archives for General Public--a data modelling approach," for the UH Manoa Library Information Science Colloquium.  

What is ontologies and the Semantic Web? I suggest asking Dr. Quiroga for more details.

But anyway, Stanislava, or Stasha, as she likes to be called, learned these skills in the International Masterʻs Digital Library Learning program in Oslo, Norway.   Through guidance of a professor, she conducted her Masterʻs research with the Europeana database, which uses the Europeana Data Model (EDM).  

What’s that?  

Well, what I gathered was that the Europeana Database is infrastructurally similar to the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA). So the “back end” of the database is not one-of-a-kind; but instead, similar to another database, thereby allowing more people who know one system, like the DPLA, to also be able to navigate the Europeana database.

Anyway, Stasha’s focus was how to connect different repositories of collections across many cultural heritage institutions, to centrally present their stuff in one database that could search across all of them. A similar database in Hawai'i that can be used to search across multiple Native Hawaiian repositories is Papakilo.

What are those acronyms about?
But Stasha’s talk was important because she discussed how to go about translating the archival data that was in the Encoded Archival Description (EAD) into the EDM.  

EAD is based on XML (eXtensible Markup Language), which looks similar to HTML.  XML has specific tags to mark different parts of the finding aid, such as <control>, <abstract>, <filedesc>, <did>.     Check out this Library of Congress resource to understand more about EAD and its XML structure.

EAD to EDM
But don’t get too lost down that rabbit hole because archivists have been transitioning away from the EAD model. It is found to be not user friendly for non-archivist people, therefore repelling them from accessing information about archival collections.  EAD was, after all, created only for archives to communicate with other archives, to transfer metadata about their collections to one another.  

The EDM Model is a schema for how the classes and properties of a data set can be configured to be integrated into the Europeana database.  The EDM model, like other machine readable finding aids, are also constructed using XML.

Like I said before, regular folk don’t have that same passion for archival intelligence as archivists.  Archival vocabularies and standards that we often use, such as “finding aids,” "scope note," or "description," that archivists use to describe their collections, are not part of the everyday vocabulary of researchers or history buffs.

Lastly, EAD is very hierarchical.  Item level information is often at the bottom of the very long XML document. It’s so far down the XML page that people give up before finding out the treasure that exists in the repository.

Data Mapping
Stasha’s journey to translate from EAD to EDM including mapping out data sets to understand how data grouped and related to one another. The EDM model also uses dublin core fields that can hold specific descriptive data points about an item or a group.

Her research to move toward the EDM model was to find a way to "flatten" EAD’s hierarchy. She created a data modeling scheme to visualize how the EAD model tags could be mapped onto the EDM model, in order to conceptualize the relationships between groupings, so that we wouldn’t see the descriptive information from a top-down point of view, but rather, a more lateral perspective.

The EDM model also allowed records to start including linked data, or linking records from other databases that aggregate information about a particular subject, place or person. That way, databases could build their own documentation of a subject by linking to information being aggregated about it in another database. Examples of repositories considered as resource for linked data are viaf.org and wikipedia.

In addition, the EDM provided a search engine in order for users to just type in a word in a search box, to bring up a web page in the Europeana Database, that has the information they need. This solved the issue of users having to dig through a finding aid’s hierarchy in order to find a particular item.

EDM is an example of a database that tries to embody the semantic web by linking across multiple repositories.  Rather than trying to recreate a central database and change everything to fit into this new model, Stasha’s research showed how we can manipulate and reconceptualize our data sets so that they can be read, across a singular database.

Feel free to add your understanding of this topic below.

​
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Association of Hawaii Archivists​ Annual Meeting 2016

4/14/2016

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  • Location: Windward Community College
  • Saturday, February 13, 2016
  • Time: 8:30am to 3pm
  • For more information visit the AHA website HERE
  • Register for the meeting HERE​​
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Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii Service Project

4/14/2016

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Where: Japanese Cultural Center Tokioka Resource Center (JCCH is located across from McCully Longs at 2454 South Beretania St.)
[For students on campus catching the 6 bus coming out of Manoa on University Ave. will take you right there, or if the UH shuttle runs Saturdays they have a JCCH shuttle]

When: Saturday February 20, 2016
Time: 
Tasks: 

More information and registration form is forthcoming
Visit the JCCH website HERE!
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Hawaiian Historical Society - Mold Cleaning

4/14/2016

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Hawaiian Historical Society - Mold Cleaning

Where: Hawaiian Historical Society (650 Kawaiahao St.)
When: Saturday February 27, 2016
Times: 2 shifts 8:30-11:30 & 12:30-3:30
Max number of attendees: 8 per shift
Tasks: We will be helping HHS to clean the 8 volume Cook's Voyages books using alcohol to remove mold page by page.

Warning: If you have respiratory problems, this may not be the project for you.

More information & registration form forthcoming
Visit the HHS website HERE!
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IT'S OFFICIAL

3/16/2016

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HHS Serivce Project: Plews Collection Inventory

11/14/2015

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Gathered in the HHS reading rooms, four SAA-sc members sat anxiously around several cardboard boxes belonging to the Plews Collection. Donated by the esteemed lawyer, the contents of the Plews Collection boxes were unknown; we were to open, inventory, and assess the books we found. Like an early christmas gift, we dove in ripping off yellowing tape and wiping down plumes of dust. The rest of the day was spent logging book metadata, noting the quality of each item and searching for book prices. The hospitality of the HHS surprised us once again. We were greeted with smiles and left with full stomachs and books. Thank you HHS for this great opportunity.
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SAAsc Brown BAG: Winning Your Oral Exam

11/12/2015

 
This past Thursday SAAsc hosted a brown bag, with LIS-ers who recently rocked their oral exams. We gained invaluable insight into oral exam process and how they succeeded. For those reading, feel free to post notes taken from the brown bag.

​ALSO:

Virtual high-five to Kinau for supplying the delicious 
homemade poke bowls and ensuring a second career in the culinary world. 

Hawaiian Historical Society Service Project

9/12/2015

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Our first day of the HHS service project exposed us to the less glamorous but essential side of archival work - stack cleaning. Masked with wet towels in hand, we wiped away years of dust and mold ensuring the sound preservation of the records. We also replaced lights and enveloped the florescent tubes in UV filters to prevent damage from the harmful rays.

Despite it being our first time at HHS, it felt like home. We were graciously welcomed by Nicki Garces and Jennifer Higa, who patiently explained archival procedures to us and provided us with a delicious spread from Chun Wah Kam.
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Libraries & Librarianship in the Czech Republic

11/19/2014

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Presentation by Maila Van Heukelem who attended the UNC Summer Seminar in Prague, May 18-31, 2014. 

Sightseeing and wonder in Prague! Malia talked about the course which gave her 3 credits. If you subscribe through the LIS-listserv, there is usually a call out by Chapel Hill on these seminars. They are open to all library students, librarians, and library technicians. Concurrently the program is held at Prague and London. 
There were 7 students with 5 professors taking them around. Malia and co. were able to tour 14 libraries in 10 days! 2 days included lectures and 3 day trips to special libraries in: Kromeriz, Liberec, Cesky Krumlov
Interestingly, digitization is getting big after a flood in Prague so books from a particular library the group visited were shipped to Germany to be scanned. 
Thank you Malia for showing us your experience in Prague! A great opportunity for anyone so be sure to be on the lookout when the seminar comes out next year!

Digitization Projects:
Manuscriptorium  
Kramerius
Book Provenance Research Project

*If you do go, be careful since there is a different grading system from Chapel Hill so be sure to doublecheck with the LIS program as well. 
**The price ranges from $3950~$4400, depending on roommate or no roommate. Airfare is not included.  - Kelly Campbell (Secretary/Treasurer Fall 2014)

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Hawaiian Historical Society Tour

11/7/2014

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Our tour to the Hawaiian Historical Society was a success and very informative. Administrative Director and Librarian Barbara Dunn and Preservationist Nicki Garces, both graduates of the UHM mLIS program, took time to show us some of the collection and tell us about some of the new things that are to come in the near future for the Historical Society. Mahalo for sharing the knowledge and this gem of Hawaii to future librarians!

The Hawaiian Historical Society will be holding an annual Holiday Craft Fair on Saturday, November 29, 2014 from 8:30 am - 3 pm. They will also hold an open house and book sale on Thursday, December 11, from 4 pm - 6:30 pm.  

The Hawaiian Historical Society Website. 
A few pictures from our tour:
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