20180319 SC&A WG Meeting Notes

Owned by Aaron Trehub
Last updated: Mar 23, 2018

FOLIO SC&A Working Group Zoom #8

March 19, 2018

Attending: Sebastian Hammer (Index Data); Pablo Morales Henry (Harvard/Radcliffe); Julia Kim (Library of Congress); Peter Murray (Index Data); Sarah Schmidt (Duke); Aaron Trehub (Auburn University); Catherine Uecker (University of Chicago); Christine Wise (SOAS)

Regrets: Gregory Bailey (Texas A&M); Ricc Ferrante (Smithsonian); Jeanine Nault (Library of Congress); Aaron Rubinstein (UMass-Amherst)

The meeting began at 11:00 AM Eastern/10:00 AM Central. Aaron Trehub welcomed Christine Wise of SOAS to the group.

Agenda

1. Discuss last week's FOLIO overview. Aaron thanked Sebastian, Peter, and Sarah for organizing the FOLIO overview on the March 12 SC&A call. In the overview, Sebastian compared FOLIO to a smartphone that contains different apps for different purposes. Christine said that she is primarily concerned with making "rare and unique" materials discoverable through FOLIO. SOAS is currently using VuFind as a discovery layer, as are a number of FOLIO member libraries in the United States (e.g. Auburn). Sarah Schmidt stressed the need to think about the metadata behind the discovery layer and asked whether the FOLIO Codex might itself serve as a discovery layer. Sebastian Hammer said that it could, but pointed out that FOLIO also needs to work with well-established external discovery tools like the EBSCO Disovery Service (EDS) and Ex Libris Primo. Sebastian said that VuFind recently joined OLE/OLF and therefore could be considered part of the FOLIO project. He suggested that we think about incorporating SC&A materials into FOLIO through three facets: discoverability, integration, and workflows.

On the question of SC&A workflow and existing software packages, Sarah mentioned that Duke uses Aeon by Atlas Systems. Catherine Uecker said that the University of Chicago also uses Aeon. Catherine pointed out that Atlas also markets ARES (a library reserves system) and ILLiad (an interlibrary loan system) and asked whether any of the SIGs have approached Atlas about participating in FOLIO. Apparently none have, but Sebastian said that Index Data has been in touch with Atlas regarding ILLiad and resource sharing. Pablo Morales Henry said that Harvard is implementing Aeon and ArchivesSpace. Christine said that many UK institutions use the Adlib (collections mangement) and Calm (archives management) software packages, both of which are marketed by the Axiell Group (https://alm.axiell.com/ and https://alm.axiell.com/collections-management-solutions/technology/calm-archive/).

2. Review where the WG stands. Aaron observed that the group's conversation seems to have moved from identifying specific SC&A features to discussing SC&A workflows. He encouraged group members to continue adding features and workflows to the blue-sky desiderata list or the new "Workflows" category block on the SC&A Wiki page.

Communicating in the chat space, Julia Kim added an item about relationships among digitized items and digital collections to the Wiki list; she also pointed out that migration from other systems to FOLIO could be "messy" and represents a workflow challenge.

Sarah recognized that while the WG may not be ready to become a SIG, it could nevertheless serve as an advocate for SC&A issues with other SIGs, e.g. by stimulating conversations about inserting SC&A features into other apps. Sebastian said that this is similar to what the Consortial SIG is doing with other SIGs. Although there is not a dedicated consortial app in FOLIO, the Consortial SIG has been encouraging other SIGs to incorporate consortium-friendly features into their apps.

3. Start sketching out the WG's progress report to the FOLIO PC (May 1). Aaron reminded the group that the WG's progress report to the FOLIO PC is due on May 1. He said that he is starting to rough out a draft report and will share it with the group when ready. Like Sarah, he does not think that the WG is ready to go SIG yet.

4. Other business (e.g. WOLF-CON, May 7-11, Durham, NC). Sarah pointed out that WOLF-Con coincides with graduation at Duke and suggested that we make reservations for WG dinners and/or meet-ups at Durham restaurants and watering holes soon. She offered to help with that. She also suggested that we try to connect with members from other SIGs.

Aaron asked Sebastian and Peter about spinning up test instances of ArchivesSpace on a FOLIO server. Sebastian said that it might be more useful if a WG member who is currently using ASpace or another archival management package could demonstrate real workflows through Zoom's shared screen feature on a future WG call. Sarah offered to reach out to her colleague Noah Huffman about doing a demo of ASpace at Duke. (Note: Noah will be doing an ASpace demo on the April 2 call. Thanks to Sarah and Noah!) In the chat space, Julia recommended that we focus on "egregious examples" in this and future demos. The group agreed that "egregious" will be the watchword for the next month or so.

The call ended at 11:40 AM Eastern/10:40 AM Central. The next call is automatically scheduled for Monday, March 26, at the same time.