Appraisal and Arrangement Tab 101

With the forthcoming release of Archivematica version 1.6, folks are going to get a chance to roll out the new Appraisal and Arrangement Tab.  We're excited to implement Archivematica—and the Appraisal Tab—in a production environment and will continue to blog about our experiences (as well as the additional enhancements we've contracted with Artefactual Systems to complete).

In the meantime, we wanted to share two screencasts to help folks get up and running with the Appraisal Tab and also get a better idea of the digital archives workflow we're implementing here at the Bentley Historical Library.  Without further ado, I give you:

Part 1: Configuring ArchivesSpace and DSpace Integration within Archivematica

This screencast provides a step-by-step guide to adding instances of ArchivesSpace and DSpace for use with the Appraisal and Arrangement Tab. 

Part 2: Appraisal, Arrangement to ArchivesSpace and Deposit to DSpace

This screencast demonstrates the functionality of Archivematica's Appraisal and Arrangement Tab, including the appraisal of digital content within the Appraisal and Arrangement Tab, the arrangement of content to corresponding ArchivesSpace Resource records, and the deposit of content to a DSpace collection.

Some features in the above may change over time and with subsequent releases of Archivematica—and our local practice is sure to evolve as we get more experience under our belt—but we hope you find these videos helpful.  As always, please feel free to leave a comment or drop us a line at bhl-mellon-grant[at]umich.edu

Introducing New Project Archivists to Processing at the Bentley

We interrupt this blog to bring you breaking news: the Bentley Historical Library is thrilled to welcome three new project archivists: Emily Swenson, Elizabeth Carron, and Julia Teran.  They join current project archivists Dallas Pillen, Shae Rafferty, and Cinda Nofziger as part of an exciting new program at the Bentley to help new professionals develop essential career skills while contributing to strategic goals aligned with the library's priorities in academic outreach, collections development, digital curation, and research services.

As part of our welcome, Max Eckard and I gave an introduction to archival processing at the Bentley, which included an overview of our grant project.

Processing at the University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library