TARO Redesign Timeline

2019-2022 Work Plan Activities as outlined in the 2018 NEH grant application.

May-October 2019:

  • Convene standards, outreach & education, funding, and website & technology subcommittees; discuss charges for the grant term (Steering Committee & TARO Subcommittee chairs)
  • Determine specifications for server and other technical infrastructure and purchase/lease infrastructure as needed (UT Libraries Technical Team)
  • Initiate conversations with Texas LAM (libraries, archives & museums) community to discuss integration of TARO into other online tools; ongoing throughout grant term (Steering Committee)
  • Recruit and onboard new TARO membership; ongoing throughout grant (Steering Committee)
  • Summerlee project finding aids (200+ finding aids) submitted to committee for review then submitted to vendor for encoding (Summerlee institutional participants and review committee)
  • Begin planning for grant for member training (Funding and Sustainability Subcommittee)
  • Identify training modules required for TARO updates (Outreach and education subcommittee)

November 2019-April 2020:

  • Post and hire web application developer position, onboarding of new staff (UT Libraries)
  • All-hands meeting to kick off interface development (Steering Committee, TARO subcommittee chairs, UT Libraries technical team, applications developer)
  • Interface development begins; includes drafting of site architecture (sitemap and wireframes) and visual style. Work will consider proposed approaches to: expand-contract options; collection-level display; links to related collections via controlled-access terms; transparent display of digitized materials hosted on other sites, similar to this example from Archives West; and display of institution name and contact information. At the initiation of the project, the developer will meet with stakeholders to define the scope of the project and identify the project goals and target audiences (TARO applications developer)
  • Outsource rebranding project to graphic design firm (communications through TARO Steering Committee, payment through UT Libraries)
  • Initial usability studies for testing new interface Work includes development of sample user personae and testing with priority end users (Ad hoc usability committee)
  • EAD3 research; assessment of developments and use in the archival community (Standards subcommittee)
  • Summerlee project finding aids returned from vendor and added to TARO (UT Libraries)
  • Write grant proposal for membership training (Funding and Sustainability subcommittee)
  • Post and hire metadata librarian project position, onboarding of new staff (UT Libraries)

May-October 2020:

  • Interface development continues (TARO applications developer)
  • Metadata consistency analysis and cleanup assessment begins with review of existing dataset of all TARO controlled vocabulary. Develop master list of all approved controlled vocabulary for the following elements: name, place, subject, genre (Metadata librarian)
  • Begin development of EAD3 finding aid template (TARO applications developer)
  • Summerlee project finding aids (200+ finding aids) submitted to committee for review then submitted to vendor for encoding (Summerlee institutional participants and review committee)
  • All hands meeting to review interface development, wireframes and site architecture (Steering Committee, TARO subcommittee chairs, UT Libraries technical team, metadata librarian, applications developer)

November 2020-April 2021:

  • Revision of interface based on stakeholder meeting comments (TARO applications developer)
  • Edit portion of controlled access terms; prepare spreadsheet for each institution comparing current controlled access terms to approved terms; and write training documentation that TARO members can use to edit their own subject headings (Metadata librarian)
  • Investigate contribution of controlled access terms to the SNAC project (Metadata librarian)
  • Follow up interface testing and evaluation; UI testing with priority end users (Ad hoc usability committee). Usability tests of the site will consider expand-contract options; preferred approaches for the display of component-level information; approach to links to related collections; and proposed approach to display of institution name and contact information
  • Organize finding aids and pilot test EAD3 conversion (Website & Technology Subcommittee)
  • Summerlee project finding aids returned from vendor and added to TARO (UT Libraries)
  • Develop training modules (Training grant staff/education subcommittee)
  • File migration to new infrastructure (UT Libraries technical team)

May-October 2021:

  • Member training (Training grant staff/Outreach and Education subcommittee)
  • Site Adapt site based on user feedback. Test search engine optimization (TARO applications developer)
  • Summerlee project finding aids (200+ finding aids) submitted to committee for review then submitted to vendor for encoding (Summerlee institutional participants and review committee)
  • Provide geographically dispersed backup for files (UT Libraries technical team)
  • Write and deliver papers; demonstrate work at conferences and meetings (Steering Committee)
  • Summerlee project finding aids returned from vendor and added to TARO (UT Libraries)
  • Repository-led edit of controlled access terms (all TARO repositories)
  • Provide ArchiveGrid harvest mechanism (UT Libraries technical team)
  • Site maintenance and revisions based on user feedback (TARO applications developer)

November 2021-April 2022 and beyond:

  • Write and present 3-year strategic plan to TARO members at the Society of Southwest Archivists annual meeting and revise based on feedback from TARO members (Steering Committee)
  • Project participants continue to write and deliver papers; demonstrate work at conferences and meetings (Steering Committee)
  • Networking with peer organizations, connections with national level initiatives (Steering Committee and subcommittee chairs)
  • Member training (Training grant staff/Outreach and education subcommittee)
  • Repository-led edit of controlled access terms (all TARO repositories)

2018 Activities

  • Confirmed UT Libraries as organizational home for TARO
  • Submitted implementation grant application to NEH, in Summer, with Spring 2019 notification date
  • Submitted and was awarded Summerlee Foundation grant funding the encoding of hundreds of new finding aids

2017 Activities

  • Conduct organizational home discussions
  • Additional planning for sustainability
  • Gathering TARO member feedback on additional topics
  • Writing implementation grant for Summer 2018 submission

January 2016

  • Planning meeting for stakeholders (facilitated by Project Manager and Steering Committee Co-Chairs). Agenda items will include: status report by Project Manager on implementation planning and tasks as outlined in methodology, with possible distribution of additional charges to Working Groups; status reports by Working Group chairs on policy work and other tasks in progress, with Steering Committee feedback; review of usability studies preparation by Project Manager; live presentation of pilot-tested platforms with review of customization issues by Technologies & Website Working Group; possible selection of platform from pilots (Steering Committee); discuss student data normalization reports and identify next steps for schema-compliance and descriptive standardization projects (Steering Committee); Funding & Sustainability Working Group presents three sustainability models to be reviewed by TARO members

February-April 2016

  • Technologies & Website Working Group studies alternate platforms, if necessary
  • TARO Outreach & Education Working Group creates plan for TARO member repository training to be created during implementation phase (e.g., in-person training, webinars)
  • TARO Working Groups drafts are posted to TARO wiki for full TARO member feedback

May-June 2016

  • TARO Working Groups revise policy documents based on membership feedback
  • Present project findings at SSA annual meeting, adopt policy documents (Steering Committee)
  • Project Manager submits white paper and supporting planning documentation to UT Libraries and Steering Committee

August-December 2016

  • Panel session at SAA Annual Meeting in August 2016 (Steering Committee member)
  • NEH planning grant report was finished in November 2016

July 2015

  • Hire TARO Planning Project Manager, consultant position (UT Libraries staff)
  • Introductory meeting for TARO stakeholders (facilitated by Project Manager and Steering Committee Co-Chairs). Agenda items include: introducing upcoming grant tasks, clarifying communication methods and addressing member questions; UT Technical Team will briefly discuss status of dtd- to schema-compliance issue, outline services offered during pilot systems testing, and field questions; planning for usability testing during implementation phase will be discussed; and speaker from a peer consortium will address the group, sharing their experiences and fielding questions.
  • Data normalization student intern positions posted on UT iSchool Capstone projects page and iSchool employment site with subsequent hire (Briscoe Center staff)
  • Review results of brief user and member repositories; surveys in progress are available at: user survey and member repository survey.  Summarize findings and report to Steering Committee (TARO Planning Project Manager)

August-September 2015

  • TARO Technologies & Websites Working Group will create representative sample of TARO finding aids (3 per institution) for use in upcoming platform pilot testing. Work will include converting dtd- to schema-compliant finding aids using existing script. Schema-compliance data normalization intern will assist, gathering information on common errors.
  • Presentation at SAA Annual Meeting announcing planning project and inviting feedback (Planning Project Manager and/or Steering Committee member)
  • UT Technical team installs software platforms (XTF, ArchivesSpace and ICA-AToM) for pilot tests (1 week set up for each platform). Technologies & Website Working Group collaborates with UT Technical team on platform customizations (1 week per platform)
  • Data normalization student interns begin work at the Briscoe Center. Schema-compliance intern meets with UT Libraries Technical Team, Project Manager, and Briscoe Center site supervisor for an introduction to common issues impacting batch migration to schema-compliance
  • TARO Working Groups begin policy infrastructure planning and other tasks as outlined in project methodology and Appendix G. Descriptive standards data normalization intern attends all virtual meetings of Standards Working Group
  • TARO Technologies & Websites Group updates TARO functional requirements document
  • TARO Funding & Sustainability Working Group begins TARO sustainability modeling

October-December, 2015

  • Pilot testing and evaluation of three test platforms (Technologies & Website Working Group)
  • TARO Working Groups continue policy planning work and other charges
  • Ad hoc Usability Working Group convenes
  • Data normalization interns deliver reports to site supervisors

Pre-grant activities

  • Presentation at SSA Annual Meeting (May 2015) announcing project and describing methods for input by TARO contributors (e.g., TARO listserv signup) (Steering Committee)
  • Post TARO Planning Project Manager consultant position (UT Libraries)

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