Information Science

Libraries, Archives and Museums : How They Are Alike, How They Are Different

Libraries
Archives
Museums
Professional Culture and Barriers to Integration

Projects

Collcomm - History
Collcomm - 1998
User Studies
Data Dictionary
AAT
Subject Headings
Encoded Archival Description (EAD)
Digital Imaging Projects

The Tools We Are Using

Relational databases
Oracle
Voyager
MultiMimsy
Information Retrieval and Tying It All Together

Copyright

Glossary

Mystic Seaport in the Information Age

We are living in an age which by all accounts is requiring fundamental shifts in the way we, as a society, view information, and the way in which cultural organizations are expected to provide for the information needs of users. There is great expectation that within a few short years, the digitization of information currently held in libraries, archives and museums will have advanced to the point that it will be possible to remotely access vast holdings of cultural heritage materials. As the information becomes progressively less constricted by its physical format, there will be a greater demand for crossing traditional boundaries between library, archive and museum collections.

At Mystic Seaport we are initiating changes that will prepare us to meet the challenges of this new age. The most tangible component will be a new integrated information system that strives to encompass our resources in all its forms, but this system is also a reflection of a theoretical and philosophical shift in the way we see ourself as an information provider.

It has been an exciting process that has brought us to where we now are, and the prospects of equal or greater excitement loom large as we work to bring our hopes and plans to fruition. In the desire to share this excitement, we offer this glimpse into where we have been, where we are now, and where we hope to be in the future.

last updated on 5/12/05