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- First, lists of desired features and functionalities are useful, but it is equally important that potential user experience designers and developers understand archival workflows. To this end, it would be helpful to develop a set of case studies or user stories.
- Second, there appears to be a lack of consensus regarding the degree to which existing archival management packages address the needs of the SC&A community. Some members of the SC&A WG believe that the existing packages—of which there are at least three in wide use in North America and the UK—represent good solutions for SC&A processes, workflows, and materials. As one member put it, he would not like to see the WG recommend that FOLIO reinvent the wheel by developing yet another archival management package. Other members believe that there may be room in the FOLIO development space for specific apps that are currently absent or inadequately implemented in existing systems. These two views are not mutually exclusive—this is not an either/or question—but they do imply that FOLIO will need to develop a multi-level approach to this community.
- In connection with the preceding point, many institutions in North America and the UK have already implemented open-source or commercial archival management software packages and have invested considerable time and effort in populating and customizing them. Regardless of what new development work may be undertaken under the FOLIO umbrella, FOLIO also needs to work with these legacy systems.
- The SC&A landscape is more complicated than originally anticipated. It includes open-source and commercial products that already enjoy a substantial degree of adoption by institutions in different countries. Forming a comprehensive picture of how they stack up against each other and the community's requirements is a complex undertaking in its own right. Figuring out where FOLIO might fit into that picture adds another layer of complexity. The WG's convener had hoped that this would prove to be a fairly straightforward assignment. It has proven to be anything but that.
- It is unclear whether the concerns that led to the creation of the SC&A WG are widespread throughout the SC&A community, or whether they reflect the situation at a few institutions. In other words, it is difficult to gauge the urgency of these issues and whether there is sufficient interest and engagement to justify transitioning to a SIG, with the higher level of commitment that would entail. The convener's working assumption is that there is enough interest to continue the WG's work through the end of the calendar year. At the very least, it would be helpful to organize live demonstrations of AtoM, Calm, and Aeon for the group.
- Finally, there is general agreement that the SC&A WG is not ready to graduate to full FOLIO SIG status. The WG is still at the exploratory stage and there is no FOLIO SC&A product to speak of. That said, it has been suggested that the WG eventually transition to a "floating SIG", on the model of the Consortia and Internationalization SIGs, in order to ensure that SC&A issues are represented in the other SIGs (e.g. Metadata Management).
Recommendations
- We recommend that the SC&A WG continue to work in its current form at least through the end of 2018, with its focus shifting to evaluating existing SC&A software solutions and identifying possible points of connection (e.g. through documented APIs) with FOLIO instead of trying to design a new SC&A system from the ground up.
- To that end, we recommend that the FOLIO PC spin up test versions of ArchivesSpace, AtoM, and (if possible) Calm. For its part, the SC&A WG will arrange live demonstrations of these and other SC&A software solutions.
- We recommend that the WG identify SC&A resource people and product specialists and ask them to serve as liaisons to FOLIO developers and developer teams.
- Given the numerous claims on people's time and attention, forming a "floating SC&A SIG" is probably not realistic at this point. Instead, we recommend that the WG draft and distribute a position paper on SC&A issues in order to get and keep these issues in front of the other FOLIO SIGs. That said, the WG floated the idea of forming a so-called an umbrella "Integration SIG" for the SC&A community and other library communities (e.g. Art and Architecture, Corporate, Media, Music, and Law) that have specialized requirements.
- We recommend that the WG initiate conversations with potential new developers (e.g. Arkivum and Hermesz-SOFT). We also recommend that the WG reach out to potential new members among SC&A specialists in Europe, Mexico, and other regions or countries where FOLIO is active.
Reporting
The SC&A WG will submit its next progress report and recommendations to the FOLIO PC in January 2019.
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