We have some exciting news to share in Special Collections! After years of work behind the scenes, we are rolling out a new database to help you conduct research using our archival collections.
For the last 11 years, we have used a tool called ArchivesUM to provide access to our archival finding aids. The time has come to say goodbye to ArchivesUM. We are rolling out a new product, called ArchivesSpace, to help improve our user experience, database search-ability, information organization and indexing of our finding aids. ArchivesSpace is a an open source web application used by many other academic libraries for managing archives information.
ArchivesSpace helps us to move away form static, single-page finding aids to a dynamic database that will allow users to easily search by keyword, dates, names, and other useful terms. Users will be able to locate relevant collections, series, folders, and items returned in each search. We will outline more about features and tips over the coming weeks, so follow our blog to learn more.
Our staff has been working with ArchivesSpace for several years, using the back end system to help us organize information about our collections and prepare for the time when we were able to move forward with a new and improved public interface. We have been working with a group of librarians and technicians, both within the UMD Libraries and across the country, to continue to improve the system.
We are excited to announce that we will officially switch to our new discovery system January 28th. To see the upcoming changes, you can use the new Beta site link. More changes are still to come, and we would appreciate your help making those final changes. Please send us feedback as you use this new tool and help us make it even better.
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