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Mobilizing Unique Materials

  • ArchiveGrid

ArchiveGrid

ResearchWorks

ArchiveGrid is a collection of nearly two million archival material descriptions, including MARC records from WorldCat and finding aids harvested from the web. It is supported by OCLC Research as the basis for our experimentation and testing in text mining, data analysis, and discovery system applications and interfaces, and it provides a foundation for our collaboration and interactions with the archival community.

ArchiveGrid provides access to detailed archival collection descriptions such as documents, personal papers, family histories, and other archival materials held by thousands of libraries, museums, historical societies, and archives. It also provides contact information for the institutions where these collections are kept.

The majority of archival material descriptions in ArchiveGrid are from WorldCat and primarily represent archival collections held by institutions in the United States. This reflects the contribution patterns for descriptions of materials under archival control in WorldCat. We may extend ArchiveGrid beyond its current scope if it is necessary to support OCLC Research experimental objectives.

Background

ArchiveGrid was offered as an OCLC subscription-based discovery service from 2006 until it was discontinued in 2012. At that time, OCLC Research released this freely-available ArchiveGrid interface that shares some of the same attributes as the original subscription service. Although it is not a full production service, researchers can expect to use it for discovery of archival materials, and archives can work with OCLC Research to have their materials represented in the aggregation in a reliable and persistent way.

Impact

From our work with ArchiveGrid, we expect to share the results of MARC and EAD tag analysis, provide discovery system analytics for contributors, document investigations of text mining and data visualization, participate in community working groups pursuing improvements to description and discovery, and more. To support those interests and objectives, we'll continue to build this extensive and current aggregation of archival material descriptions, within the constraints of OCLC Research's committed and on-going support for this project.

If you’re interested in contributing to ArchiveGrid, please let us know. If you have questions about your collection descriptions in ArchiveGrid, please get in touch.

Outputs

Most recent updates: Page content: 2013-05-06

Lead

Bruce Washburn

Team Members

Ellen Eckert

This activity is a part of the Mobilizing Unique Materials theme.

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We are a worldwide library cooperative, owned, governed and sustained by members since 1967. Our public purpose is a statement of commitment to each other—that we will work together to improve access to the information held in libraries around the globe, and find ways to reduce costs for libraries through collaboration.