Katherine Kott

Apr 102013
 

Contractor Position Description
ArchivesSpace Stylesheet Development

The ArchivesSpace Team seeks a stylesheet developer to develop Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) stylesheets to be used with the ArchivesSpace software.

Application Deadline

May 31, 2013, 5:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time

Background

ArchivesSpace (http://archivesspace.org/) is an open source software application under development that combines the functional strengths of two leading North American archival management systems: Archivists’ Toolkit and Archon. The project is a partnership between New York University, University of California San Diego, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, generously funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Statement of Needs

The selected contractor will provide development resources as needed to create XSLT and XSL:FO stylesheets used to transform exported records from the application. These resources will be under the direction of Katherine Kott, the ArchivesSpace Development Manager. The ArchivesSpace project is geographically distributed, and as such there is no location requirement for the selected contractor.

We expect the development to produce three specific deliverables:

  1. An XSLT stylesheet to transform EAD 2002 (Encoded Archival Description version 2002) finding aids to HTML;
  2. An XSLT stylesheet to transform EAC-CPF (Encoded Archival Context – Corporate Bodies, Persons, and Families) records to HTML; and
  3. An XSL:FO stylesheet to transform EAD 2002 finding aids to PDF.

Each deliverable may be assigned a milestone date in consultation with the ArchivesSpace Development Manager.

The selected contractor will be expected to participate in weekly or bi-weekly check-in meetings with the Development Manager and/or Mark Matienzo, the ArchivesSpace Technical Architect.

To remain consistent with the software license for the ArchivesSpace software, all stylesheets must be licensed under the Educational Community License (ECL) version 2.0. The selected contractor, at their discretion, may adapt the EAD-related stylesheets packaged with Archivists’ Toolkit to be used with ArchivesSpace.

Application Format

Applications should be submitted in PDF format and should include the following information along with a resume/CV and cover letter:

  • Experience in working with XSLT and XSL:FO, as well as other relevant XML-based technologies
  • Experience in working with EAD Version 2002 and EAC-CPF
  • Experience or familiarity with other archival description standards
  • Experience or familiarity with open source archives management systems
  • Experience or familiarity with open source software development

Upon request, applicants may be asked to provide samples of XSLT and/or XSL:FO stylesheets and relevant source documents to be transformed. Applicants are encouraged (but not required) to include these as separate attachments when submitting their proposal.

Timeframe

Applications are due by 5:00PM EDT, May 31, 2013. Applications should be sent via email to Mark Matienzo, ArchivesSpace Technical Architect (mark.matienzo@nyu.edu), and Katherine Kott, ArchivesSpace Development Manager (katherine.kott@gmail.com). Please format the subject line with the phrase “ArchivesSpace XSLT Application – [Name of respondent]”.

Work is to be performed no sooner than June 1, 2013.
Work is to be completed no later than August 31, 2013.

Conditions

Work is to be performed at contractor’s address.
Contractor must be a US citizen.
Contractor is not related to, and has no past/current affiliation with, any University of California employee.

Contract

  1. Applications must be submitted by the due date.
  2. The contractor will enter into a contract with University of California San Diego on behalf of ArchivesSpace that is consistent with UCSD’s standard contracting policies and procedures.
  3. The University reserves the right to negotiate with each contractor.
  4. This will be a fixed price contract, not to exceed $3,000.00. There is no allowance for project expenses, travel, or ancillary expenses that the contractor may incur.
  5. Funds will be released per work Track upon acceptance of that Track. The University reserves the right to cancel the contract with no further payment if the work on any Track is past due by more than 20% of the scheduled period for that Track.
  6. Acceptance will include code review by ArchivesSpace project staff.
Jul 092012
 

The ArchivesSpace Team is pleased to announce the selection of Hudson Molonglo Pty Ltd as the development partner for ArchivesSpace, an open source software application that combines the functional strengths of the two leading American archival collection management systems: Archon and the Archivists’ Toolkit.

Hudson Molonglo is an IT consulting firm for higher education, libraries, and archives with staff located both in the US and Australia. The selection of Hudson Molonglo was conducted through a formal Request For Proposal and rigorous evaluation process. The ArchivesSpace Team is excited to have reached this milestone and looks forward to working with Hudson Molonglo over the next 12 months.

Luc Declerck, University of California, San Diego
David Millman, New York University
Beth Sandore, University of Illinois

Katherine Kott, ArchivesSpace Development Manager
Mark Matienzo, ArchivesSpace Technical Architect

Dec 202011
 

Agile Scrum will be used as the development methodology for the ArchivesSpace project. You can learn more about Agile Scrum from this overview put together by ArchivesSpace Team member Joe Pawletko, and his colleague Esha Datta, at New York University.

What does Agile Scrum mean for the ArchivesSpace community? Unlike more traditional software development methods, Agile focuses on getting a “minimum viable product” in front of the people who will be using the system as soon as possible. This means the ArchivesSpace team will be asking community members who have volunteered to test the software to try the software before it is “done”. This early testing insures that the product will meet requirements before the software is so far along in development that changes would be difficult.

Because testers are looking at an unfinished product, it is important to focus on basic functionality, rather than detailed design features in the early phases. This new methodology requires a little different way of working, but the payoff should be a product that more closely meets the needs of the community when the development phase winds down.

Nov 092011
 

DLF Forum in Baltimore provided an excellent opportunity for the ArchivesSpace team to update members of the digital library community on project status. A diverse audience of over a hundred people attended the presentation, which was followed by a lively discussion.

The presentation, available from our website , provided information on project status, plans, and team roles. The presenters, Mark Matienzo and Katherine Kott encouraged members of the audience to get involved, and to post the questions they asked in the session to the ArchivesSpace Google Group to make sure all members of the community get the benefit of the answers.