This repository includes documentation and code for the prototyping of a Pre-Ingest Metadata Management System (PIMMS) at the British Library using Python and SQLite.
In my role as Project Analyst at the British Library, I assess and prepare selections of the BL’s legacy digitised content for ingest into our future Digital Asset Management and Preservation System (DAMPS). Over a period of a few years, we aim to analyse at least 1 PB of digitised content (tiffs) stored across the BL network, as well on external media such as CDs and DVDs. Metadata about this digitised content is stored and gathered in a wide range of systems, including the BL catalogues and the ‘analysis spreadsheets'. Our current methods for analysis are heavily dependent on Excel and manual copying and pasting of metadata. Through a 'Computing for Cultural Heritage' course at Birkbeck, I developed a proof-of-concept for a SQLite database to aggregate select metadata from some of these systems and query across them for reporting and analysis. Outputs from this database include a series of reports and spreadsheets for a range of colleagues around the BL as we work towards the shared goal of preparing digitised content for ingest and online publication. I have now begun implementating aspects of this database and training my colleagues in the use of SQLite to semi-automate this work.