Recent Posts

Migration Testing, Data Quality Checks, and Troubleshooting Errors – 295 hours in 8 months

After finishing the initial data cleanup, it was time to start testing our migration; the only way to identify major issues was to do a dry run. To set up for our initial testing, I took a MySQL dump of our AT database, loaded it up into an empty AT instance, and then installed the AT Migration Plugin. To install the AT Migration Plugin, just place the scriptAT.zip in your base AT plugins folder, either on a server or on your local machine.

Our first migration test did not go smoothly.

Among the many things that Aeon will do for us, communicating directly with DIMES to import data about our materials is among the most important, and a feature that will likely save both researchers and staff a great deal of time and frustration. Starting in February, researchers will no longer have to fill out requests for materials by hand; staff will no longer have to decipher researchers’ handwriting, correct inaccurate or missing information, or complete charge-outs by hand. In addition, we’ll be able to run much more accurate reports on use of our collections, which will help us better target digitization and preservation efforts. This post explains how that data moves from DIMES to Aeon, detailing some of the things that happen along the way with restrictions information and grouping of folders within the same box.

Since the RAC was founded in 1974, we’ve collected information about our researchers, including contact details, visit dates, topics of research, and publications. Starting in the 1980s, we captured this information in a number of different databases. Currently, this data is stored in ATReference, a customized version of the Archivists’ Toolkit that was developed by the RAC. As part of both the Aeon and ArchivesSpace implementation processes, we needed to migrate that data forward into Aeon so we can continue to access and add to the wealth of information it contains without having to support ATReference.

About a year and a half ago, we decided that we were going to make the switch from our current Archival Management System, the no-longer-updated Archivists Toolkit, to its next iteration, ArchivesSpace. The RAC officially began preparing ourselves for ArchivesSpace in January of 2014.

It’s been a while since we posted anything about our Aeon implementation, so I wanted to share some of what we’ve been working on, as well as what you can expect in the coming months.