UCSD Accession Records

Page history last edited by GregReser 5 months, 2 weeks ago

Transitioning Accession Records from Paper to Digital

Bonus: adding Embedded Metadata!

Greg Reser

Arts Library, University of California, San Diego

Objectives

Replace paper documentation with electronic files

With our paper accession records and image documentation files continuing to grow every year while our file cabinet space is shrinking, we want to move to digital versions that take up less space and can be easily backed up.

Replace photocopied sheets of 35mm slides

In addition to the physical space photocopies take up, they are inadequate as a means to match images to metadata. In most cases the images are not viewable, they come out as black rectangles. We want a digital file that shows both the text on the slide label and the image on the film. This will provide positive identification of the image (assuming the slides were correctly labeled in the first place) making it unnecessary to keep the original slides.

Process

Create PDFs of accession and documentation documents by scanning them on a flatbed scanner or, for slides, photographing them with two balanced light sources, one from behind and another from above.

While this fulfills our needs, it is possible to do more by taking advantage of addition capabilities of the PDF format. We could embed accession information in the file header so that it can be read when the file is open - it wont be necessary to also search the Library's main database. All members of the team could open a PDF at their own desk and have instance access to everything that has been recorded about an order. Because the metadata would be encoded using XMP, it would be searchable using Adobe Bridge, which most team members use while working on image orders. It would also be possible to export the metadata to the Library's database and DAM if desired.

Another benefit would be the ability to embed production workflow data to make tracking the status and history of an order easier. The PDF could become a "job ticket" where each participant in the production process can sing off when their part is complete. Having one location for this would be much better than the scattered worksheets and notebooks we had previously. Creating a custom input form (known as a "panel" in Adobe terms) also allows us to control some parameters of the data input, something we couldn't do not available in the Library's database. For instance, the accession begin and end must be six digits each, the date must be formatted MM/DD/YYYY. There are also several drop-down lists which provide controlled values and speed up data entry. Commonly used terms are saved and presented as "most recently used" lists which allow the user to instantly fill in a field with one click.

Current accession record process:

Basic accession data recorded in a notebook.
Full accession record created in central database (Library system using MARC).
If labeled slides are provided, photocopies showing the labels are made.
Paper documentation is marked with the order number and each item is marked with a unique accession number (barcode labels are placed on slides and beside the corresponding description in the paper documentation).

Proposed process:

Basic accession data recorded on a department wiki.
If labeled slides are provided, scans/photos showing the labels and images are made. This is saved as a PDF.
Full accession record created in the PDF header using a custom XMP panel in either Acrobat Pro, Photoshop, or Bridge.
Completion of production steps are recorded in using the same custom XMP panel in either Acrobat Pro, Photoshop, or Bridge.