Archive Reviews

Labor Movement Archive
The portal design includes some interesting images, but I would say it's still text-based. Maybe I'm just technologically inept, but I found the search tools deceivingly complicated. I assumed all I had to do was click on the link titled "collections list/finding aids," not realizing that they're essentially the same thing. So, after spending quite a bit of time (and labor har har har) trying to bypass the finding aids and see the actual collections, I gave up, returned to the portal, and realized that there was a large link in the middle of the page that then took me directly to the online archives. Oops. I must admit that the finding aids provided rich descriptions of the primary sources inside the library and would be helpful for anyone close enough to access them, but that doesn't help the majority of online users, especially the inexperienced ones. Returning to the actual online exhibits, I thought they included plenty of context but were not very manipulable; I could choose to either click on the thumbnails or view the images as a slide show.

Victorian Women Writers Project
Let me first say that I appreciated how easy it was to navigate this site. All I had to do was click on the not-so-misleading link titled "Proceed to the Victorian Women Writers Collection" and I was taken to an alphabetized list of the works, all of which linked to the primary sources: transcriptions. While the tools are definitely easy enough for anyone to use, the archive is a little boring because it lacks both images and context, discouraging exploration. However, those who are interested in Victorian literature by female writers will find the archive valuable.

Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections
Unlike the other two portal pages, this site is image-based and includes a large slide show, encouraging just about anybody to explore it. Although I clicked on the slide show to see different collections, I could've also used a separate set of links at the bottom of the page, so I would say the site is fairly flexible. The site includes a couple of features that are particularly inviting: watching videos using iTunes and following the portal page on twitter. Unlike the other two archives, the primary sources here are both manipulable and contextualized. My only qualm with the archive is that certain exhibitions are only available to Duke students, but maybe there's a way to subscribe to these, not that I'm willing to pay a fee for it.