[Archivesspace_Users_Group] Subject headings for type of material

Fri Apr 24 13:46:56 EDT 2015

Hi Max,
I'm not sure I have any ideas (we don't currently utilize something like
this), but just to clarify, you basically want your subjects grouped into
categories? Do you want the categories to be searchable as well? Or you
would just like for every subject that there be a label including what it's
'category' is? Is the important thing the mimicking of the structure, or
just that the information is there?

-Maura

On Fri, Apr 24, 2015 at 1:29 PM, Max Eckard <eckardm at umich.edu> wrote:

> Hello everyone,
>
> We're currently working through how to clean up and import our 2800+
> legacy EAD finding aids into ArchivesSpace, and making good progress!
>
> We've run across a bit of a tricky issue, however, that we don't quite
> know how to overcome. Our current practice is to divide our
> collection-level subjects into different headings for type of material,
> such as Visual Materials or Manuscripts (see this example
> <http://quod.lib.umich.edu/b/bhlead/umich-bhl-8725?byte=582943;focusrgn=controlaccess;rgn=Entire+Finding+Aid;size=25;sort=occur;start=1;subview=standard;type=simple;view=reslist;q1=visual+materials>,
> and there are a few other categories as well). We do this frequently.
>
> Note: You'll see that we've also included Genre Terms, but I think we have
> a good idea of how to handle these (perhaps by designating them by source
> or type in ArchivesSpace).
>
> If it helps these are <head> tags before the subjects inside of the
> <controlaccess> tag in the EAD. For example:
>
> <controlaccess>
>   <head>Subjects - Visual Materials:</head>
>   <subject></subject>
>   <subject></subject>
>   <persname></persname>
>   etc.
> </controlaccess>
>
> How are people handling these categories for type of material (not to be
> confused with Type of subject term), upon import? ASpace doesn't recognize
> the <head> field.
>
> We thought about using the Scope Note or External Source field, but
> neither of those seem quite right, especially going forward. We thought
> about indicating category based on source of subject term, but that won't
> always work because of overlap. We also thought about moving subjects for
> Visual Materials to the appropriate component, but there won't always be a
> clear cut relationship between these subjects and a particular component.
>
> These divisions are important for us to maintain, but just don't know how
> to do it. I've searched the list archive without a lot of luck. We'd be
> happy to hear how other people are handling this, or any ideas they might
> have for how to import this information into ArchivesSpace (even if all it
> did was visually replicate what we're doing).
>
> Thanks!
> Max
>
>
> --
> *Max Eckard*
> *Assistant Archivist for Digital Curation*
>
>
> Bentley Historical Library
> 1150 Beal Ave.
> Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2113
> 734/763-7518 <734.763.7518>
> http://bentley.umich.edu/
>
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>

-- 
Maura Carbone
Digital Initiatives Librarian
Brandeis University
Library and Technology Services
(781) 736-4659
415 South Street, (MS 017/P.O. Box 549110)
Waltham, MA 02454-9110
email: mauraa at brandeis.edu
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