Project Background
Our Problem
The Marietta House Museum’s research library contains a valuable but underutilized collection of historical books, manuscripts, and archival materials. Currently, the library lacks a centralized, searchable catalog, forcing researchers and staff to rely on outdated paper records and ad hoc spreadsheets.
Marietta is working to increase access to our research resources for museum visitors by creating a web-based catalog of scholarly materials, developing an online database, and making our physical collections more accessible. In the next year we hope to support 20 researchers with access to materials from the library.
Our current system creates several critical problems:
- Limited Accessibility
- Poor Preservation
- Inefficient Management
- Budget Constraints
Researchers cannot easily discover or access materials, reducing the collection’s scholarly and public value.
Fragile items remain at risk of damage from unnecessary handling due to lack of digital surrogates.
Staff struggle with time-consuming manual tracking, leading to errors and lost materials.
As a small institution, Marietta cannot afford expensive proprietary cataloging software.
Our Solutions
By implementing free, open-source software (FOSS) solutions, Marietta will transform its library into an accessible, professionally managed resource while maintaining fiscal responsibility—a model for other small museums facing similar constraints. A FOSS-based digital catalog will solve these challenges by ensuring sustainability by eliminating licensing fees and leveraging community-driven tech support.
- Koha
- DSpace
- Omeka
Organizing the collection in a searchable database for cataloging and circulation.
Improving preservation through digitization and metadata management for digital archiving.
Enhancing public engagement with online exhibits for digital storytelling.
T h e r i s k s
Implementing a free open-source software (FOSS) cataloging system offers significant benefits, but Marietta House Museum must also anticipate and mitigate potential risks. Successful open source software implementation will require managing complex software setup, quality control during data migration, overcoming user adoption barriers, and ongoing maintenance to ensure the solution will have long term sustainability. Through phased implementation, training, and community support Marietta can ensure a smooth transition to a sustainable, cost-effective digital catalog system. This approach balances innovation with practicality, aligning with the museum’s mission and resource constraints.
Technical Challenges & Software Complexity
To ensure staff and volunteers have access to the technical expertise to install, configure, and maintain FOSS tools like Koha or Dspace we:
- Partner with local universities, library consortia, or tech volunteers for initial setup support.
- Prioritize tools with strong documentation and active user communities.
Data Migration & Quality Control
To ensure manually transferring legacy records (paper/spreadsheets) don’t introduce errors or inconsistencies we:
- Start with a pilot project (e.g., one collection subset) to refine workflows before full migration.
- Use OpenRefine to clean and standardize metadata before import.
- Train staff on basic cataloging standards (Dublin Core, MARC) to ensure consistency.
User Adoption Barriers
To overcome researchers and staff resistance to using the new system we:
- Provide hands-on training workshops and video tutorials.
- Customize the public catalog interface for simplicity (e.g., Koha’s OPAC theming).
- Gather feedback early via a beta-testing phase with key users.
Long-Term Sustainability
FOSS systems require ongoing maintenance. To ensure staff turnover or lost institutional knowledge dose not render the system unusable we:
- Document all workflows in a shared, cloud-based manual (e.g., Google Docs or Wiki).
- Assign redundant staff/volunteers to oversee the system.
- Join FOSS user groups for troubleshooting support.