ROWING IN THE SAME DIRECTION COLLABORATION ACROSS DISPARATE

ROWING IN THE SAME DIRECTION: COLLABORATION ACROSS DISPARATE ORGANIZATIONS

GOALS FOR TODAY Overview and update of the Pe. DALS project Persistent Digital Library and Archives System www. pedalspreservation. org Panel discussion of lessons learned by participants from each state Matt Guzzi (South Carolina) Richard Pearce-Moses (Arizona) Alan Nelson (Florida) Bonnie Weddle (New York) Abbie Norderhaug (Wisconsin)

PEDALS GOALS To develop and sustain multi-state collaborative Began with four states South Carolina joined on its own dime Two additional states to be added in 2009 To use middleware to automate processing of large volumes of records and publications Follows OAIS reference model Can be audited using RLG/OCLC Cost-benefit of programming v. staff processing requires sufficiently large body of consistent materials

PEDALS GOALS Test LOCKSS as storage system Automated correction Articulate integrity checking and error a curatorial rationale suitable for electronic records and digital publications Create a community of shared practice Work as inexpensively as possible Build a functioning digital repository in each partner state

CURRENT PEDALS STATUS Core Metadata v. 1 completed Admin catalog database designed and implemented First iterative review in progress Admin catalog web interface nearing completion Simple AIP schema completed Proof of concept AZ Marriage certificates ingested Marriage certificates code reused for SC Commission orders

SUGGESTED RESEARCH PROJECTS Vulcan mind meld Cloning Don’t waste time and take risks hiring new people. Just clone your good employees! Time Travel Significantly increased efficiency of communication among participants. Faster! Less confusion! Easier to meet deadlines without losing sleep or sanity Teleportation All the benefits of a face-to-face meeting, with the time savings of teleconferences!

LESSONS LEARNED Importance of effective collaboration Within agencies Across geographic and political boundaries Structured, consistent activities and expectations instill sense of involvement and project ownership Lack of face-to-face interaction makes it harder to get engaged Working in smaller teams capitalizes on our individual strengths

LESSONS LEARNED Partner teams need the right mix Archives, Team library, and IT members must be Open to “learn as you go” Creative and innovative

LESSONS LEARNED The project as viewed by our peers Other repositories very interested By government agencies and other stakeholders Often excited Recognize project is ambitious Impatient with a research project; they want a solution

PROJECT CHALLENGE: COMMUNICATION Keeping everyone informed of what each group is doing Metadata IT Group Keeping project leaders informed of progress Keeping the larger group informed Curatorial Group

TOOLS FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION Regular communication Bi-weekly update conference calls Committee meetings as needed Quarterly reports Go To Meeting Vo. IP can keep long distance costs down Simultaneous editing of documents Basecamp Central document repository

SCRUM

PROJECT CHALLENGES: DIFFERENT INSTITUTIONAL CULTURES Library and archives AZ and FL: part of same agency, close relationship NYS: part of larger agency, some collaboration SC: different agencies WI: no state library, working with the WHS library which is the state depository library Archives and records management AZ, FL, NYS, SC: archives and RM under one agency WI: another agency responsible for RM

PROJECT CHALLENGES: IT Some partners maintain their own IT AZ and SC have complete control over firewalls, network, and infrastructure Some partners have agency-level, centralized IT NYS must integrate Pe. DALS work into its parent agency’s overarching IT work schedule Some partners have state-level, centralized IT WI has opted to place Pe. DALS servers at U. W. -Madison, not state IT unit One state opted against joining Pe. DALS because it could not work through its IT infrastructure

PROJECT CHALLENGES: COLLABORATION No one is working on the project full-time Scheduling complications Partners spread across three time zones State holidays, employee furloughs, office moves, vacation plans Perception that we’re not working quickly enough; reality that we’re making good progress, slow and steady

PROJECT CHALLENGES: LEARNING EACH OTHER’S LANGUAGE Working on a technical project with non-technical people Archivists and librarians don’t always grasp limitations of project software Programmatic staff need basic knowledge of IT concepts and practices Database structures, etc. Working on an archival/library project with technical people IT staff need basic knowledge of core library and archival concepts Permanence, trustworthiness, series, etc.

PROJECT CHALLENGES: CONSULTANTS Consultants The adventures of finding the right consultant The decision to make sure each partner state had someone who knows Biz. Talk

FUTURE CHALLENGE: SUSTAINABILITY Efforts to sustain the project after the grant Project agreements Models Common practices Informal collaboration Consortium—formal agreements

ROWING IN THE SAME DIRECTION Pe. DALS creates a flexible community of shared practice Mandatory metadata and system requirements kept to a minimum Partners NYS can continue to follow their own workflows can use Pe. DALS standards as leverage and WI now catalog archival e-records in conformance with Pe. DALS metadata

Richard Pearce-Moses Pe. DALS Principal Investigator Deputy Director for Technology & Information Resources Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records rpm@lib. az. us (602) 926 -4035 Matthew R. Guzzi Electronic Records Archivist South Carolina Department of Archives and History mguzzi@scdah. state. sc. us (803) 896 -6103 Alan S. Nelson System Project Administrator State Library and Archives of Florida anelson@dos. state. fl. us Abbie J. Norderhaug Public Records Accessioner Wisconsin Historical Society abbie. norderhaug@wisconsinhistory. org (608) 261 -1037 Bonita L. Weddle Coordinator, Electronic Records New York State Archives bweddle@mail. nysed. gov (518) 473 -4258