[Archivesspace_Users_Group] Lingo Cheat Sheet?
Kari R Smith
smithkr at mit.edu
Mon Apr 9 12:57:03 EDT 2018
As others have said, examples are helpful, especially when you are moving from producing Finding Aids (as in a document with specific formatting) to having to put metadata of various types into a data model driven database that can then produce a variety of output, including a formatted Finding Aid.
Have people use the ToolTips (roll-over text) that explains what should go into any given data field – and make access to the online documentation easy for all staff using ASpace. A particular challenge at this stage in the AS application development is that the rendering on the staff side isn’t what is expected and so the desire to put data into the incorrect fields (but fields that render on the screen) is great.
I find that using the VRA Core metadata model is helpful for illustrating the ArchivesSpace models of the Resource, Instances, Archival Objects, Containers, etc. I think especially for the Instances, this model is useful.
We have collections where we might have 4 or 5 instance of the same Archival Object and I believe that it’s useful to understand that the Archival Object is the intellectual idea of an object … the instance is the physical manifestation of that Intellectual idea, and the containers are where those instances are located. Multiple instances can be linked at the top (Resource) level of a record or at an Archival object level – all depends on your collections. But what is allows for is not having to have a separate Archival Object for each physical TYPE of thing, just one Archival Object that has many instances.
For an example:
Resource = Collection of My Best Audio Recordings (1976-1988)
Linked Accession = Today I received 5 reel to reel tapes of recordings
Linked Accession = last month I received 5 CD-ROMs from reformatting of reels
Archival Object = My favorite performance done using a Theremin
(1) Instance = Reel to Reel recording
Container – Box 1 with barcode #######
Location = Cold Storage
(2) Instance = CD-ROM with recording from the reel to reel
Container Box 5 with barcode #######
Location = storage area A, bay 5, shelf 2
(3) Instance = digital files (pulled from the CD-ROM)
Container = Theremin_recordings.zip (BagIt package of digital files)
Location = Digital Preservation Storage; Collection_MBAR; Accession_#####
&
Digital Object = MP3 file of the recording that I put online for Web access.
Location - Webserver
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Kari R. Smith
Institute Archivist and Program Head, Digital Archives
Institute Archives & Special Collections, MIT Libraries
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139
IASC office: 617.258.5568 http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/
she | her | hers @karirene69 [smithkr at mit.edu]
From: archivesspace_users_group-bounces at lyralists.lyrasis.org <archivesspace_users_group-bounces at lyralists.lyrasis.org> On Behalf Of Olivia S Solis
Sent: Monday, April 09, 2018 12:24 PM
To: Archivesspace Users Group <archivesspace_users_group at lyralists.lyrasis.org>
Subject: Re: [Archivesspace_Users_Group] Lingo Cheat Sheet?
Thank you all for this feedback! Yes, the data model will probably take getting used to, and I can see how some kind of visualization would be useful. As staff has come on board to help with the ASpace implementation, I have often included some version of this<https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1RYa-fhHmWQFyPKvlDXfQcWE8TcbuENtUCcCWHlqiUk0/edit?usp=sharing> in very high level overviews of the system. I need to add Archival Objects and Instances. And yes, "Instance" took me some getting used to as well. If I had more time, I would try to do more screen shots like the second slide in the link I'm sharing for more visual learners (such as myself).
I certainly welcome any documentation sharing and when ours in in better shape be happy to do the same!
On Mon, Apr 9, 2018 at 11:13 AM, Joan Curbow <CurbowJ at bvu.edu<mailto:CurbowJ at bvu.edu>> wrote:
Hi Olivia,
I have struggled with “Instance” and have to refer to my cheat note occasionally: “Manifestation of intellectual content” – meaning it could be physical or digital, so this is where containers enter (for physical objects) and also description about format. I’m not handling digital objects at this point, either.
The conceptual model takes getting used to in the beginning, but as someone else pointed out, once the concepts are more clear, the terminology should be less of a “thing.” The other nice thing is that one can mouse over labels in Aspace and the application often provides helpful additional information about the term.
Sincerely,
Joan Curbow
Reference Librarian and Archivist
Buena Vista University Library
Buena Vista University
610 West Fourth Street
Storm Lake, Iowa 50588
712.749.2094
www.library.bvu.edu<http://www.library.bvu.edu>
From: archivesspace_users_group-bounces at lyralists.lyrasis.org<mailto:archivesspace_users_group-bounces at lyralists.lyrasis.org> [mailto:archivesspace_users_group-bounces at lyralists.lyrasis.org<mailto:archivesspace_users_group-bounces at lyralists.lyrasis.org>] On Behalf Of Olivia S Solis
Sent: Friday, April 06, 2018 4:04 PM
To: Archivesspace Users Group <archivesspace_users_group at lyralists.lyrasis.org<mailto:archivesspace_users_group at lyralists.lyrasis.org>>
Subject: [Archivesspace_Users_Group] Lingo Cheat Sheet?
Hi all,
I always seem to post on Friday afternoons.
Throwing this out to the group because training is of immediate and scary concern. One of the things that I am acutely aware of is that our staff is going to have to get used to new terminology and fast to be able to use ASpace. Lingo is going to be a big barrier to access.
What have been some of your conceptual/terminology roadblocks in terms of staff training?
Things I know I will have to explain as new terminology/conceptual reframing are included as headers below. I'm laying my work bare here, but I'm thinking that the crowdsourcing could be useful here. We've got people at varied levels of technical proficiency. I was thinking of an informal cheat sheet.
Did you make a cheat sheet for ASpace lingo for staff training? Am I not including some conceptual leaps here? Did you have ASpace terminology you had to explain in multiple ways?
Thanks,
Olivia
Agent Record
A record type for a person, family, corporation, or software. A major record type in ASpace that can link to Accession Records, Resource Records, Archival Object Records, and Event Records in various roles, most often as subjects and creators. Every distinct agent has one and only one record.
Archival Object Record
[NOTE we're not using ASpace for digital objects]
A record type for an item in an inventory. If are familiar with EAD, this corresponds to a <c##> level. If not, think of this as a tabbed level of an inventory.
Child
ArchivesSpace thinks of hierarchical relationships as "parent"/"child". A parent could be the <c01> to a child <c02>, though ASpace would never frame it in terms of specific numbered component levels. A parent could also be the box that a child reel/folder/box within the parent box
Classifications
Container Profile
Basically, the type and dimensions of a container. Container profiles are consecutively numbered by type. For a description of container types see [this link]. For specs/pictures of different container types, see [this link].
Event Record
In DBCAH's implementation, Event Records document specific steps taken in archival processing, most comprehensively in Accession Records (e.g. Deeds of Gift sent or received). Event Records are bound to specific dates.
Instance
Indicator
Location Profile
Note (resources)
Parent
Resource Record
Essentially a finding aid plus some additional collection management information.
Space Calculator
--
Olivia Solis, MSIS
Metadata Coordinator
Dolph Briscoe Center for American History
The University of Texas at Austin
2300 Red River St. Stop D1100
Austin TX, 78712-1426
(512) 232-8013
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--
Olivia Solis, MSIS
Metadata Coordinator
Dolph Briscoe Center for American History
The University of Texas at Austin
2300 Red River St. Stop D1100
Austin TX, 78712-1426
(512) 232-8013
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