[Archivesspace_Users_Group] Digital objects

[Angela Kroeger]

Greetings, fellow ArchivesSpacers,

We have a spreadsheet full of digital objects (streaming videos digitized from VHS) to add to a resource record. There appear to be two ways to add them to component view:

1) Add an item-level archival object, then add a digital object as an instance on that archival object. (One-to-one correspondence between archival objects/components and digital objects.)

2) Add the digital object directly as an instance of a series-level component. (End result will be many item-level digital objects attached to a series-level component.)

Some archival objects + digital objects were added to the record in a previous project. My director would prefer we do the new batch the second way, to eliminate a step, and then go back and convert those which were done the first way to match the second way. Part of the reasoning behind this is that having what appear to be two records (the archival object and the digital object) for the same thing seems to be confusing for some of our users.

However, when we have multiple digital objects with the same title (i.e.: University of Nebraska at Omaha vs. University of Nebraska at Kearney Football Game) that are differentiated by date, archival objects will show the dates under components, but digital objects will NOT show the dates under instances.

Example:
http://unomaha-public.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/4/archival_objects/32891

If you follow the above link, you'll see a dozen components, which are the archival objects added in the earlier project. There is one instance which I have added so far for this new project. You can see how helpful the dates are in the component list. If I convert those components to instances as my director asked, then we will have three digital objects titled "University of Nebraska at Omaha vs. University of Nebraska at Kearney Football Game" and no easy way to tell them apart without the dates. Once I add in the rest of the many, many digital objects to come, the problem will be compounded.

So my first question is, is there a setting or option to make the date (from the date subrecord in the digital object) display after the title in the link to the digital object record under instances? Otherwise, we may need to add the date to the title element itself.

Conversely, is there a compelling reason why we should continue doing things the old way, adding item-level components with one and only one digital object attached to each? Would having multiple item-level digital objects attached to a series-level component be likely to cause some problem down the road?

Thank you!

P.S. -- Peripherally related issue: When I try to add a digital object to a component, and I have to create a new digital object record uswing the "create" option right next to the input/search box, it won't let me save the new record. I have to create the digital object record separately as a standalone, and then go into the component record and link to the digital object. When searching for the digital object from the component, that list of multiple digital objects with the same title makes it difficult. Having dates display here would also be helpful.

Angela Kroeger
akroeger at unomaha.edu<mailto:akroeger at unomaha.edu>
Archives and Special Collections Associate
Dr. C.C. and Mabel L. Criss Library
University of Nebraska at Omaha
(402) 554-4159

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