Rowing in the Same Direction: Collaboration Across Disparate Organizations

1. Rowing in the Same Direction: Collaboration Across Disparate Organizations

2. Overview and update of the PeDALS project • Persistent Digital Library and Archives System • www.pedalspreservation.org • Panel discussion of lessons learned by participants from each state • Matt Guzzi (South Carolina) • Richard Pearce-Moses (Arizona) • Alan Nelson (Florida) • Bonnie Weddle (New York) • Abbie Norderhaug (Wisconsin) Goals for Today

3. PeDALS Goals To develop and sustain multi-state collaborative Began with four states South Carolina joined on its own dime Two additional states to be added in 2009 To use middleware to automate processing of large volumes of records and publications Follows OAIS reference model Can be audited using RLG/OCLC Cost-benefit of programming v. staff processing requires sufficiently large body of consistent materials

4. PeDALS Goals Test LOCKSS as storage system Automated integrity checking and error correction Articulate a curatorial rationale suitable for electronic records and digital publications Create a community of shared practice Work as inexpensively as possible Build a functioning digital repository in each partner state

5. Current PeDALS Status Core Metadata v. 1 completed First iterative review in progress Admin catalog database designed and implemented First iterative review in progress Admin catalog web interface nearing completion Simple AIP schema completed Proof of concept AZ Marriage certificates ingested Marriage certificates code reused for SC Commission orders

6. Vulcan mind meld • Significantly increased efficiency of communication among participants. Faster! Less confusion! • Cloning • Don’t waste time and take risks hiring new people. Just clone your good employees! • Time Travel • Easier to meet deadlines without losing sleep or sanity • Teleportation • All the benefits of a face-to-face meeting, with the time savings of teleconferences! Suggested Research Projects

7. Lessons Learned Importance of effective collaboration Within agencies Across geographic and political boundaries Structured, consistent activities and expectations instill sense of involvement and project ownership Lack of face-to-face interaction makes it harder to get engaged Working in smaller teams capitalizes on our individual strengths

8. Partner teams need the right mix • Archives, library, and IT • Team members must be • Open to “learn as you go” • Creative and innovative Lessons Learned

9. Lessons Learned The project as viewed by our peers Other repositories very interested By government agencies and other stakeholders Often excited Recognize project is ambitious Impatient with a research project; they want a solution

10. Project Challenge: Communication Keeping everyone informed of what each group is doing Metadata Group IT Group Keeping project leaders informed of progress Keeping the larger group informed Curatorial Group

11. Tools for Effective Communication • Regular communication • Bi-weekly update conference calls • Committee meetings as needed • Quarterly reports • Go To Meeting • VoIP can keep long distance costs down • Simultaneous editing of documents • Basecamp • Central document repository

12. Scrum

13. Library and archives • AZ and FL: part of same agency, close relationship • NYS: part of larger agency, some collaboration • SC: different agencies • WI: no state library, working with the WHS library which is the state depository library • Archives and records management • AZ, FL, NYS, SC: archives and RM under one agency • WI: another agency responsible for RM Project Challenges: Different Institutional Cultures

14. Some partners maintain their own IT • AZ and SC have complete control over firewalls, network, and infrastructure • Some partners have agency-level, centralized IT • NYS must integrate PeDALS work into its parent agency’s overarching IT work schedule • Some partners have state-level, centralized IT • WI has opted to place PeDALS servers at U.W.-Madison, not state IT unit • One state opted against joining PeDALS because it could not work through its IT infrastructure Project Challenges: IT

15. Project Challenges: Collaboration • No one is working on the project full-time • Scheduling complications • Partners spread across three time zones • State holidays, employee furloughs, office moves, vacation plans • Perception that we’re not working quickly enough; reality that we’re making good progress, slow and steady

16. Project Challenges: Learning Each Other’s Language Working on a technical project with non-technical people Archivists and librarians don’t always grasp limitations of project software Programmatic staff need basic knowledge of IT concepts and practices Database structures, etc. Working on an archival/library project with technical people IT staff need basic knowledge of core library and archival concepts Permanence, trustworthiness, series, etc.

17. Project Challenges: Consultants • Consultants • The adventures of finding the right consultant • The decision to make sure each partner state had someone who knows BizTalk

18. Future Challenge: Sustainability • Efforts to sustain the project after the grant • Project agreements • Models • Common practices • Informal collaboration • Consortium—formal agreements

19. Rowing in the Same Direction • PeDALS creates a flexible community of shared practice • Mandatory metadata and system requirements kept to a minimum • Partners can continue to follow their own workflows • Partners can use PeDALS standards as leverage • NYS and WI now catalog archival e-records in conformance with PeDALS metadata

20. Richard Pearce-Moses PeDALS Principal Investigator Deputy Director for Technology & Information Resources Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records rpm@lib.az.us (602) 926-4035 Matthew R. Guzzi Electronic Records Archivist South Carolina Department of Archives and History mguzzi@scdah.state.sc.us (803) 896-6103 Alan S. Nelson System Project Administrator State Library and Archives of Florida anelson@dos.state.fl.us Abbie J. Norderhaug Public Records Accessioner Wisconsin Historical Society abbie.norderhaug@wisconsinhistory.org (608) 261-1037  Bonita L. Weddle Coordinator, Electronic Records New York State Archives  bweddle@mail.nysed.gov (518) 473-4258