University of Wales Swansea

A Mine of Information

Project Plan

Project title A Mine of Information

Lead institution University of Wales Swansea

Project Manager Adam Green

Mine of Information / Gwybodaeth am y Glofeydd

Library and Information Services

University of Wales Swansea

Singleton Park

Swansea SA2 8PP

j.a.s.green@swansea.ac.uk

tel: 01792 513245

fax: 01792 295851

Outline description

The aim of this project is to improve access to research resources on the South Wales Coalfield during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Academic researchers have long been interested in the development and subsequent decline of this area, in industrial, political, economic and social terms. Partner sites hold a variety of printed and archival material which supports research into the South Wales Coalfield. This material is geographically dispersed, and while printed catalogue records exist at some level for most of the material, there are relatively few electronic records. Project workers will create these electronic records in EAD or MARC format as required.

A suitable web-based delivery system will be provided to give access to the records. The ENCompass software from Endeavor Information Systems Inc. is being considered for this, along with other cheaper options. ENCompass works with Endeavor's Voyager library management system (in use at the University of Wales Swansea) to enable the end-user to carry out parallel searches across both types of records, displaying a single set of results. A mapping exercise will be carried out as part of the project, in order to identify further collections of relevance to the South Wales Coalfield held outside the partner sites, and draw attention to these via the project's website.

The project will contribute to the DNER by creating a unique resource for researchers interested in the South Wales Coalfield, enabling them easily to discover what exists and where, and crossing the boundaries of physical location, format of material, and organisational sectors

Milestones

Target dates are currently planned as follows:

Proj. Mth	Caldr. Month	Milestone
24	Jul 02	All main datasets fully accessible on web with full cross-searching capabilities; mapping exercise complete; introductory pages complete
21	Apr 02	All main datasets in single database at UWS
20	Mar 02	Passive partner catalogue conversion completed
18	Jan 02	Final selection of medium term access tool
15	Oct 01	Completion of Collection level work at UWS
12	Jul 01	First phase website available
11	Jun 01	First phase of user consultation completed
9	Apr 01	Full alignment of standards across sectors
8	Mar 01	Full partner consultation completed

Quantified targets

Month	Collection-level descriptions projected/completed	File-level descriptions	MARC records
6	220	18000	2000 (est)
12	500	22000	6000
18	900	25000	9000
21	1100	27000	12800
Totals	1167	27000	12800
For interim months divide pro-rata e.g Month 15: 700; 23500; 7500

Progress to date

Two archivists and a librarian were appointed by UWS by October 2000. There was a six-month delay in appointing a Project Manager who began work in February 2001. This inevitably delayed the start of some aspects of the project, but in the mean time work was begun on:

· Devising EAD data entry tools

· Implementing relevant standards

· Preparing descriptions of core material from the UWS holdings

· Preparing MARC records from the holdings of the South Wales Miners’ Library

· Consultation with partners on standards and methods

· Creation of file descriptions at Warwick University

· Catalogue conversion work began at Nottingham University

Partner organisations

Active partners

The principal active partners are Nottingham and Warwick Universities. Both of these organisations have begun to use project funding to buy staff time for original cataloguing and/or retro-conversion of library and archival materials. Certain minor standardisation issues remain to be addressed, but a good start has been made towards the primary goals of their parts of the programme.

The Public Record Office is producing its contribution as a by-product of its main cataloguing programme – systems are in place to identify appropriate material and export it to the project database.

Semi-active partners

The principal semi-active partners (ie those who are not using project funding to support additional cataloguing effort) are local authority archive services across South Wales. The task here is mainly retro-conversion with the bulk of the editorial effort being supplied by UWS. The size of the task has been re-assessed by the project manager and work at UWS is being re-scheduled to ensure that this material can be properly processed within the lifetime of the project.

The project manager has, in particular, identified the need for a significant quantity of para-professional staff time to handle the more routine processing – under professional supervision – of the bulk of retro-conversion tasks, of both UWS and passive partner materials. A small-scale pilot has begun, and a more extensive programme can be funded within the budget be using funding originally allocated to the project manager who has (1) started later, and (2) is working part-time.

Another 2 months is required to assess the impact of these changes and to confirm that they will enable the full project to be completed within the original timetable. The year 2 plan and expenditure profile is likely to need some revision to take account of these variations. The appended staffing charts and expenditure projections incorporate changes on these lines.

Project Plan

Month	Semi-active Partners	Active Partners	University of Wales Swansea
1-6	--	Cataloguing begun: archives and books	Base standards settled Core cataloguing begun: archival collections;books
7	Detailed assessments	Standards issues	Revision of methods; Consultation lists compiled
8		Cataloguing continues	Pilot paraprofessional input
9	Work timetable agreed		Holding database prepared User consultation begins
10	Initial sample of lists copied to UWS à		Pilot passive partner lists processed
12			Public website available
15	Some fieldwork on minor collections		Internal cataloguing substantially completed Focus on retro-conversion of semi-active partner lists
18		Cataloguing to UWS à	à reconciliation of active partner EAD records
19	Mapping of related materials begins
22	Retro-converted cataloguing received	All cataloguing and retro-conversion received	All core data on main database Web framework for project prepared
23	Publicity campaign for project results
24	Public access to full system

Financial projections and targets

Please see appended spreadsheets.