Andornot Archives Starter Kit update released

We have just released an upgrade to the desktop version of our Andornot Archives Starter Kit. This was formerly known as Archives Online and is an add-on to Inmagic DB/TextWorks for managing archival accessions and descriptions.

The Archives Starter Kit is designed to allow quick and easy creation of databases for archival accessions and descriptions and is especially suited to small- and medium-sized archives with limited IT resources. It is designed to comply with the following archival standards:

• Canadian Rules for Archival Description (RAD)  
• International Standard for Archival Description (ISAD)

The Archives Starter Kit includes ready to use databases for:

• Accessions
• Descriptions
• Contacts (i.e. donors, researchers suppliers, volunteers etc.)
• Research Requests
• Subject thesaurus populated with nearly 5,000 English terms from the Government of Canada Core Subject Thesaurus as of May 2010. These terms can be deleted or modified and are included to provide a starting point for building a local thesaurus.
• Name Access thesaurus
• Geographic Thesaurus which can be populated with local provincial entries from the Geobase Canadian Geographical Names Data Base (CGNDB).
• Profiles (to fill various forms with the institution address and contact names).

The databases can be adopted as-is, or customized for specific needs. They can also be augmented with other databases available through Andornot's mix and match options. For example,you can add on databases managing artifacts, a library catalogue, donations, provenance, records management and more. Reports include forms for printing deeds of gift or loan; hierarchical finding aids and an EAD XML report.

Our Archives Starter Kit - web version has also recently been updated. The web version allows you to create a web interface to your descriptive data quickly and easily. While the web interface is based on the fields in the Archives Starter Kit fields it can be easily modified to use fields from any DB/TextWorks archival database instead.  An alternate web interface is also available for schools or for organizations with just digitized resources, and features gallery style search results. We can also create a customized interface to suit your needs, and blend it with your website template or content management system.

Existing users of Archives Online version 2 and 3 may be able to upgrade for free. You will need a recent copy of DB/TextWorks – preferably the current version which is v12, however version 10 and up should also work. If you have an older version please contact us for upgrade pricing.   If your databases or forms have been customized since your original purchase, these changes may need to be replicated or merged into the new version. Upgrade assistance is of course available on a consulting basis.  Contact us to receive a copy of the upgrade instructions to see whether you would be able to handle this yourself or would need our help.

Brad Morrison, Archives Manager for Sidney Museum & Archives recently upgraded from Archives Online version 2 purchased in 2003 and writes that “One of the marked improvements over the previous version is the Digital Asset data entry screen, wherein the ability now to satisfactorily catalogue, describe and view our photographic collection is becoming a significant asset in assisting our cliental.  I just want to thank you again for developing and providing us with this useful archival tool which makes my day to day job so much easier to accomplish.”

Read more details on our website; let us know if you would like to set up a time for a demo; or contact us for more information and pricing.