Metadata salad at the Cordoba Observatory

TL;DR

This paper details the preservation, digitization, and metadata standardization efforts for the extensive glass plate archive at the Cordoba Observatory, enhancing access for researchers and the public.

Contribution

It introduces a multidisciplinary approach to preserving and providing access to a historic astronomical glass plate archive, including metadata standardization across institutions.

Findings

Successful preservation interventions implemented

Comprehensive metadata framework developed

Enhanced public and scholarly access achieved

Abstract

The Plate Archive of the Cordoba Observatory includes 20.000 photographs and spectra on glass plates dating from 1893 to 1983. This contribution describes the work performed since the plate archive was transferred to the Observatory Library in 2011. In 2014 an interdisciplinary team was assembled and a research grant from the National University of Cordoba was obtained with the objectives of preserving the glass plates and generate public access for astronomers and other audiences. The preservation work not only includes practical intervention to improve conservation conditions for the whole archive, but also a diagnose of the preservation conditions for the plates and identification of best practices for cleaning the plates. The access envisioned through digitization requires not only the scanning of all the plates, but also careful definition and provision of metadata. In this regard, each institutional level involved -in this case: archive, library, astronomical observatory and public university - demands and provides different bibliographic practices, involving multiple standards of description and coding.