Case History:Library of Congress

Audio-Visual Prototyping Project

METS Opening Day (2003), Revised

For the CUL Metadata Working Group

July 22, 2004

Carl Fleischhauer

Office of Strategic Initiatives, Library of Congress

cfle@loc.gov

The AV Project

• Preservation, sense one: reformatting into digital-file form

• Preservation, sense two: sustaining digital objects

• Participation by Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division (M/B/RS) and the American Folklife Center

Reformatting Documentation

• About the source – original disc or tape being reformatted– <amdSec><sourceMD><AMD audio ext schema>

• About the process– how the copy file was made, what devices/tools– <amdSec><digiProvMD><PMD process ext schema>

• About the outcome– characteristics and features of the copy file– <amdSec><techMD><AMD audio ext schema>

Diagram of Extension Schemas See also: http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mopic/avprot/metsmenu2.html

<mets>

<dmdSec> descriptive metadata <MODS> MODS standard as maintained by LC

<techMD> technical metadata <AMD> audio (file) metadata rolled our own, using data dictionary from AES <MIX> image (file) metadata standard as maintained by LC, data dictionary from NISO

<rightsMD> rights and access mgt metadata <RMD> access “category” metadata rolled our own, just tracking categories

<sourceMD> source metadata <AMD> audio (source) metadata same schema as AMD above <MIX> image (source) metadata same schema as MIX above

<digiProv> digital provenance metadata <PMD> digital provenance metadata rolled our own, data dictionary from AES, with some simplifications

<behaviorSec> behavior section did not use will METS profiles play this role?

<fileGrp> file group (inventory) from METS proper

<structMap> structural map from METS proper

</mets>

PRODUCERS

ADMINISTRATION

DATAMANAGEMENT

ARCHIVALSTORAGE

INGEST ACCESS

CONSUMERS

PRESERVATION PLANNING

Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System (OAIS)

SIPs (Submission Information Packages) will be

produced by the AV preservation activity, ready to

submit to LC’s future digital repository.

AV Project Web Site Home Page http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mopic/avprot/

AV Project Extension Schema Page http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mopic/avprot/metsmenu2.html

AV Project Initial Data Capture System

MS-Access Database - Collation Input Screen

Top level: work

Second level: sound recordings

Third level: disc sides

Fourth level: cuts

Recorded Sound Processing Section

Content selected for reformatting

1. Initial creation or copying-in of metadata

Workflow Sidebar

Recorded Sound Processing Section

Content selected for reformatting

1. Initial creation or copying-in of metadata

LC Recording Lab or offsite contractor

Scanning activity

2. Creation of second layer of metadata

Workflow Sidebar

Recorded Sound Processing Section

Content selected for reformatting

1. Initial creation or copying-in of metadata

LC Recording Lab or offsite contractor

Scanning activity

2. Creation of second layer of metadata

3. Return loop to processing, edit and possible addition of third layer of metadata

Workflow Sidebar

The AV METS System Today

OUTCOME ONE: A VIRTUAL DIGITAL OBJECT (SIP)

Logical storage structure based in a UNIX filesystem

master -- family of logical directories where the master files are stored (there is a parallel set of “service” directories)

afc -- “owner” is the American Folklife Center

afc1941001 -- group or aggregate of items, often from an actual collection

sr05 -- item directory (at the level of the digital object, counterpart to a bib record or “line” in a finding aid)

sr05am.wav -- the master file for side A of this disc

sr05am.wav -- the master file for side B of this disc

Index of master/afc/afc1941001/sr05

OUTCOME ONE: VIRTUAL DIGITAL OBJECT

The fileGrp segment of a METS instance “binds” the object

Includes logical pathnames for files, future switch to persistent names possible.

OUTCOME 2: PRESENTATION OF OBJECT

Presentation in Browser

Zoom on Image in Presentation

Interim username/password access management

In the Presentation: Metadata Map for the Dedicated

sourceMD data from the Metadata Map

Extension schema content displayed as name-value pairs

Generator takes data from the database and makes METS XML

Snapshot of the database back end

Selection from the database diagram: tables for METS id, agent information, and structMap data

Selection from the database diagram: tables for extension schema data for image source, video source, and audio source

Selection from the database diagram: tables for digiProv (“digitization process”) information

Builder: the data-entry front end to the database

Builder: template making tool

Builder: tool to shape a structMap using indent, outdent, up, and down. May be used in both template and individual object modes.

“Cut wizard” – a twenty more like this one tool

Part of MODS descriptive data for a recorded interview with a former enslaved person.

File Association Tool

Tool to append a MODS record

Two samples from the MODS entry and editing tool.

+ repeats the section

x and – delete sections or subsections

Selection from the online data dictionary

Some METS objects, by title

Administration Tool Menu

Example of data entry screen

Blue terms are used to select separate data entry screens

Some Shortcomings

• Cumbersome data entry – many screens, many actions

• Bugs – hard to get them all fixed now that the contractor is gone

• Best if users understand METS and the structMap – barrier to entry for new team members

• Does not include tools for bulk compilation from pre-existing data

Distributed Data Entry

• Each team enters its own data in less cumbersome “local” tools

• Tool for descriptive data, especially copying in and out of the ILS

• Tool for data about the source item and certain technical aspects, copied in and out of MAVIS

• Tool for digiProv data, “the engineers’ form”• Tool or a MAVIS extension to encode the

structMap

Supporting Tools

• Approach being discussed– Dispersed tools produce XML outputs– Centralized tool gathers and compiles the

various XML data units into a METS instance– Downstream facility to manage the METS

XML documents

Supporting Concept• METS profiles

– LC implementation in early development by Morgan Cundiff

• Rationale– METS is very flexible, need to narrow use within

an organization or community– Profiles establish limits that make for more

efficient tool-building and more efficient work– Profile-governed objects will enhance

interoperability between repositories

METS Profile for “simple phonodisc”

• Relatively simple object but profile with some detail

• May evolve into a more general profile for a wider range of phonodiscs

• For now: agnostic about administrative metadata

Show examples

METS Profile for “simple phonodisc”

• Limit to discs partly for management of semantics

• Apply judgment to find the right point between specific and general– not much experience yet

• History of reformatting may inhibit our imagination – we still are using terms that fit the source object and not the digital object