[Archivesspace_Users_Group] Agents as originators, creators, and subjects

[Powers, Susanna S]

Hi Lara and all,  You’re right that the agent-as-creator does not differentiate between main-entry vs. added-entry—I don’t see that as too much of a problem, since there are free-text notes which may explain the relationships.

However, I have issues with the agent-as-subject idea in ArchivesSpace (the fact that they are not retrieved in a subject search.)     The solution to that problem would be to have an agent-as-subject be indexed in the subject index, similar to how a 600 field is retrieved in subject searches in a catalog.     It would be desirable to incorporate this feature, especially since the majority of personal papers archival collections use the person as creator and subject.

Thanks,

Susanna S. Powers
Archives Catalog Librarian
Louisiana Research Collection
Howard-Tilton Memorial Library
Tulane University
New Orleans, LA 70118-5682
office phone 504.247.1819
cell 504.430.6859

From: archivesspace_users_group-bounces at lyralists.lyrasis.org [mailto:archivesspace_users_group-bounces at lyralists.lyrasis.org] On Behalf Of Lara Friedman-Shedlov
Sent: Monday, August 29, 2016 3:18 PM
To: archivesspace_users_group at lyralists.lyrasis.org
Subject: [Archivesspace_Users_Group] Agents as originators, creators, and subjects

Hi all,

We are in the process of migrating over to ArchivesSpace, and I have noticed that the public interface of ArchivesSpace does not indicate whether an agent is a creator or a subject. Furthermore, it does not differentiate between creators that are the equivalent of the collection-level <origination> element in EAD (i.e. the "main entry') and creators that are just contributors (i.e. "added entries").

See for example: http://archives.lib.umn.edu/repositories/7/resources/6763

It seems very confusing to me, as there is no way for the user to tell who actually is the main creator of a collection unless you are careful to make it very clear in the collection title.

Has this issue been raised before?  Do others feel it is a problem?

Thanks,
Lara Friedman-Shedlov


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Lara D. Friedman-Shedlov
Kautz Family YMCA Archives | University of Minnesota Libraries
ldfs at umn.edu<mailto:ldfs at umn.edu> |  612.626.7972 | www.lib.umn.edu/ymca<http://www.lib.umn.edu/ymca> | @yarchives
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