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ICYMI: It's IN SAIN !

Thought I'd give a little recap of my talk on some of the newer features on the Saskatchewan Archival Information Network since last year's upgrade to AtoM 2.4 software.

Those who may have been put off of using it in the past by an unfriendly user interface will find the new interface a bit more easy to navigate


The newest iteration of SAIN is intended to be more user friendly, and to allow individual institutions more opportunity to personalize, and to use the database as their own online Institutional Repository, should they so choose.


As you can see here, one new feature is that each institution is allowed its own unique icon, which automatically lets users know what institution the finding aid or photograph they are looking at came from. There are also accessioning tools built in to this version, to facilitate the use of SAIN as an Institutional Repository. 
 
Another exciting new feature in the updated SAIN (and probably the one we are the most excited about at the University of Saskatchewan Archives and Special Collections) is the ability to upload full searchable  pdf Finding Aids. That means that once a Finding Aid is uploaded to the SAIN Collections Database, every word within that Finding Aid is searchable by our patrons. The PDF format also has the advantage of maintaining the context of the materials in relation to one-another (rather than file-by-file links which are easy to get lost in). We have already seen a great increase in the use of our materials since putting a chunk of our Finding Aids up in this format.

From the photograph side of things, we now have the ability to do bulk uploads of photographic data without the involvement of the University of Saskatchewan's IT department, which makes for a smoother working bulk data experience for everyone. If you are an SCAA member and have any bulk data you are interested in uploading to SAIN, contact SCAA Adviser Cameron Hart . Individual institutions who have upload permissions are also now able to upload more than one image at once to a shared description, as in the example below:


Images appear on a sliding carousel, and for bulkier uploads, will show in a grid as follows:

I hope this short post will have answered some questions you may have been having about SAIN, and will provide you with some inspiration for how it could be beneficial to your archives!

- Stevie Horn
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