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Dear All We should also remember the fantastic work A2A achieved in 'making' us collaborate as a sector. In comparison (- my personal opinion) the UK museums have suffered by online catalogues being driven by the needs of the national museums or those large museums with funding. It's very separatist. By grouping archive offices together in bids a huge proportion of the sector gained a foot on the ladder of retroconversion irrespective of how big or small or whether university or local authority etc. TWL would have taken an awfully long time to get our records online without A2A's input.... If you look at the number of museums with online catalogues in the UK it is a lot smaller than the number of archives. Plus as a sector we have several joint searching mechanisms - A2A, Hub Genesis, Artists Papers Register etc. The process also created a generation of archivists who were used to working collaboratively and had key transferable skills when looking to move jobs. It's just a shame that (a) the project was not completed - a lot of archive offices still have significant amounts of retroconversion to get through and (b) the project wasn't developed and taken to another level! Teresa Brough Paul wrote: > I would agree with Jo's and Teresa's comments. > > However, these changes to A2A only confirm to us that we were right to > identify our 'direction of travel' as away from A2A. We were always > disappointed with the inability to up-load further catalogues and by the > always rather 'clunky' search system (though I guess we never thought it > would trade useful fields for faster operation as it were). The loss of > statistics and the new platform are just further evidence that we were > right. > > It's a shame (but not necessarily a criticism of TNA) that a sustainable > and expandable single catalogue presence has not proved to be feasible - > what A2A did was prove what an appetite there was for online catalogues > and the advantage of cross-searching. And let us not forget that the > part it played in giving retro-conversion a boost was invaluable. > > No doubt technologies will render the aspiration to have an integrated > site redundant sooner than we expect. > > Paul > > -----Original Message----- > From: Archivists, conservators and records managers. > [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Teresa Doherty > Sent: 17 June 2008 09:59 > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: A2A TNA Search Platform > > Joanne > > I had a brief look at the new site when it went up. > > We mainly use A2A for extra publicity as we now have our own online > catalogue. We still get a good number of users who come because of A2A. > > Also, like most archivists it is good to know there is 'back up' in > case our catalogue is down for any length of time (not that it's > happened so far!) > > Two other useful things they have removed from the search are: > * the catalogue reference > * the name index search (where you could pick names from a list) > > It may be that they can add these back to the search screens without too > > much work - it depends how their database is set up > > Teresa > > Joanne Robson wrote: > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >>This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and >>intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they > > are > >>addressed. If you have received this email in error you must delete it > > >>and notify the system manager (e-mail: [log in to unmask] >><mailto:[log in to unmask]>). >> > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >>Dear All >> >> >> >>I was wondering if anyone has looked at the new A2A search platform? > > It > >>can be found at: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/ or by >>following the link on the old A2A homepage which is still currently >>active. >> >> >> >>As an office we do have some issues with the new searching method >>particularly as they appear to have removed the 'Location of Archives' > > >>field which we used [as A2A is our only source of electronic > > catalogues] > >>to perform a quick search on our own holdings. Through experimenting > > it > >>appears that if we put our full title in one of the key word fields on > > >>the new platform, that does help narrow the results to just our >>collections but it is rather frustrating to have to type our full > > title > >>in each time we perform a search [just Oldham is not specific enough]. >> >> >> >>We are intending to send our comments to TNA and though it might be >>useful if other repositories could have a look and perhaps feed back >>comments to the TNA. I do not know if there was any consultation with > > >>repositories about the layout of the new platform, I certainly have > > not > >>received anything. >> >> >> >>For as long as it is active I will be continuing to use the old > > platform > >>at http://www.a2a.org.uk/ and keep my fingers crossed CALM gets here >>before it is taken down. >> >> >> >>Cheers >> >> >> >>Jo Robson >> >>Archive Officer >> >>Oldham Local Studies and Archives >> >>84 Union Street >> >>Oldham >> >>OL1 1DN >> >>Tel: Direct 0161 770 1887 >> >>Tel General: 0161 770 4654 >> >> >> >> > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >>As a public body, the Council may be required to disclose this email > > [or > >>any response to it] under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, unless >>the information in it is covered by one of the exemptions in the Act. >> >>This note confirms that this email message has been swept for the >>presence of computer viruses, however we advise that in keeping with >>good IT practice the recipient should ensure that the e-mail together >>with any attachments are virus free by running a virus scan > > themselves. > >>We cannot accept any responsibility for any damage or loss caused by >>software viruses. >> >>http://www.oldham.gov.uk >> >> > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > -- ___________________________________________________________________________ Teresa Doherty Archives and Museums Manager The Women's Library London Metropolitan University Old Castle Street London E1 7NT [log in to unmask] www.thewomenslibrary.ac.uk t +44 (0)20 7320 3513 (direct) f +44 (0)20 7320 2333 (shared) For our online catalogue see www.thewomenslibrary.ac.uk/archivemuseumcatalogue For Genesis, a resource for women's history maintained by The Women's Library, see www.genesis.ac.uk Companies Act 2006 : http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/companyinfo