The Urley Bird Opens in Word: Digital Documentation of Leon Uris and John Crowley as Authors

1. The Urley Bird Opens in Word: Digital Documentation of Leon Uris and John Crowley as Authors Jennifer Lindley Sidney Tibbetts Jose Javier Garza INF 392 K 5 May 2007 John Crowley Leon Uris

2. Creator Sketch Uris (1924-2003) Crowley (1942- ) • American historical novelist and writer of screenplays; great supporter of Ireland and Israel • Best known for novels Exodus and Trinity and screenplay of the film Gunfight at the O.K. Corral • HRC materials include Trinity screenplays and cash disbursement files • American novelist, teacher and writer of documentary films; known for combining science fiction, fantasy, and philosophy in his works • Best known for Little,Big and his Ægypt tetralogy • HRC materials include Dæmonomania, The Translator, a documentary about China, and correspondence

3. Physical Description Uris Crowley • 169 boxes • 43 oversize boxes • 6 galley folders • 20 3.5” diskettes • (108 linear feet) • Gifts 1997, 2003-4 • 21 boxes • 1 print box • 9 3.5” diskettes (9.24 linear feet) Purchases: 1992, 1994, 2000

4. Digital Archaeology Uris Crowley • Worked primarily with Apple Macintosh OS 8.5 and OSX • Only 3 of 20 disks mounted properly on OS 8.5 • 1 disk was corrupt • Worked with Quinn Stewart to attempt to open other disks • Worked primarily with Windows 2000 and Windows XP • All disks mounted and all files readable

5. File Formats/Migration Uris Crowley • Microsoft Word files migrated to RTF and TXT using Microsoft Word 2004 for Mac • Microsoft Works Spreadsheets (AWSS) would not render • After many attempts, opened and migrated in Microsoft Word • Invalid or unidentified file formats • WordPerfect 9 files opened • Microsoft Word files would not open on Win 2000 • RTF and Unicode copies were generated in ABC AmberText Converter or WordPerfect 9 or Word 2003

6. Checksums Uris Crowley • Integrity calculates three MD5 hashes: file checksum, data fork, resource fork • Only some files had resource forks • One file had differing file checksum and data fork hashes • Jacksum calculates MD5 hashes through a command line interface

7. Cataloging & Metadata Uris Crowley • Used CatFinder to generate file catalog containing technical metadata • Searched LOC authorities list for subject headings • Used WinCatalog Light to generate file catalog containing technical metadata • Searched LOC authorities list for subject headings • Harvested “Date created” metadata by hand

10. Finding Aids and File Structure Uris Crowley • DSpace arrangement reflects HRC finding aid • DSpace arrangement reflects HRC finding aid • Added new series to incorporate Correspondence files

11. Uris File Structure

13. Crowley File Structure

15. Ingest Process

16. Administrative Issues Uris Crowley • How much information should we provide in Dspace regarding the files we know about only from disk labels? • How/whether to represent the letter Æ (ash) in the metadata • Should finding aids describe intellectual content or physical location? • Navigation woes of the ‘mære-weriges mod’

19. The Bigger Picture Uris Crowley • Try before you buy! • Get hardware/software configurations from the author • Process digital materials now; they won’t wait • Even Tech Gurus fail sometimes • Discuss metadata requirements and levels of service before acquisition • Pray that authors stick to MS Word until we can get this digital archiving business sorted!