Airtable and Archival Description
March 16, 2018
Airtable and Archival Description
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Airtable
I am currently using Airtable to describe and manage the company's archival collections. Occasionally, I will share a view with someone and I have had collaborators assist with metadata entry in the past, but right now I am the sole user. Software commonly used for archives management is costly and entails complex database systems that require extensive training. These platforms can be helpful when managing large collections but for a much smaller scale project, Airtable provides tools for building the foundation of a very simple linked database.
- Linking across tables.
- Toggling between views. This allows me to more easily evaluate visual collections containing artwork and photographs.
- Filtering. The method for filtering is very straightforward and I can clearly distinguish the criteria being applied.
- Building blocks. I have just started to use these but I feel they could be more integrated with the view of a table once they are selected.
- Searching across bases. I don't believe this is possible but I've just started to experiment with the 'search' building block.
- Sharing views. There are limitations to the views that are shared. For example, it doesn't look like you can access records that are linked to the records in the shared view.
- Customer service/personal account management. I have had spotty customer service, sometimes having to email multiple times to receive an answer. I also find it somewhat difficult to access information about my account. When I select the upper right hand profile icon, I think it would be more intuitive to see information about upgrades, remove/add collaborators, and my messages with Airtable staff (since they will pop up when current but after that I actually have no idea where to access them once more).
- I'm not sure this is really applicable for our uses, but I would say that it has been very helpful in clarifying the makeup of our archival collections, from description to scope. This helps with our internal research for performance reconstruction, promotion, and education. Externally, this allows us to more easily assist research requests and inquiries.
- ArchivesSpace, Archivists' Toolkit, Excel and FileMaker Pro
I've stated this in earlier sections but to put it simply, Airtable provides a way to create a customizable database with standardized metadata across archival collections without being overly complex or costly. This has supported our description of paper materials. The pro–a system that is not overly robust for our needs–is also a limitation and we would not be able to use it for records in need of more layered description, for which we are using FileMaker Pro.