[Archivesspace_Users_Group] Better notifying users of digital content presence

[Jordon Steele]

Andrew,

This is great information. Thanks everyone for their responses. I’m not sure for us if the labor of upkeep is worth the benefit of implementation (TBH, how many users/staff are still not going to read the notes?).

This exchange will be good for us to keep on file, though, for a rainy day. Harvard’s solution is pretty nifty.

Best,

Jordon

Jordon Steele
Hodson Curator of the University Archives
Sheridan Libraries
Johns Hopkins University
3400 N Charles St
Baltimore, MD 21218
410-516-5493
jsteele at jhu.edu<mailto:jsteele at jhu.edu>
he/him/his

From: archivesspace_users_group-bounces at lyralists.lyrasis.org <archivesspace_users_group-bounces at lyralists.lyrasis.org> On Behalf Of Andrew Morrison
Sent: Friday, February 28, 2020 12:52 PM
To: Archivesspace Users Group <archivesspace_users_group at lyralists.lyrasis.org>
Subject: Re: [Archivesspace_Users_Group] Better notifying users of digital content presence

Just a warning that _record_innards.html.erb is a large, complex and often-changed template. So if you override it in a plug-in, even just to move one value (altformavail in this case) between those two lists that Mark explained, you will probably need to download the latest version of it and redo that change every time you upgrade ArchivesSpace in the future. If you don't then, for example, if you're currently running 2.6.0, then you upgrade to 2.7.1, languages of materials will disappear. That is because changes to languages in 2.7.0 included modifications to _record_innards.html.erb.

The folder and non_folder lists could be turned into config file options, but that would make it easy to do bad things, display the same note twice, or end up with an empty additional description box. And it wouldn't allow re-ordering, removing, or changing the contents of the other accordion boxes.

Andrew.


On Fri, 2020-02-28 at 16:35 +0000, Custer, Mark wrote:
Jordon,

1)      As far as I know, you would have to do that in a plugin right now. Here’s an example, since it’s not obvious where one would do that:  https://github.com/YaleArchivesSpace/yale_pui_customizations/commit/18b7be17825cc84916d2b0ad6cd4cfe776545462#diff-7ff34653933e2e6d670c7b053db80db6  So, you just put a list of the notes you want to display above the accordions in the “non_folder” variable, and include the ones that appear in the accordions” in the “folder” variable.   All that said, I’d personally like to see the PUI try something else other than using accordions by default to hide notes.


2)      I also think that Digital Objects in general should be overhauled in ArchivesSpace (both on the staff and public side)….  I’d actually prefer something like the “File URI” subrecords be something that you could associate with archival object, resource, an accession records, rather than have digital object records at all (we don’t isolate description in ASpace for anything else based on format).  That said, some folks have used a plugin to add a bit of javascript that opens all of the accordions by default so that the contents are immediately visible (and findable with a browser search).  That might be another way rather than just re-ordering what notes display above the accordions.  And then Harvard did even more helpful customizations to highlight digital objects by making them their own tab on the collection-level pages.  E.g. https://hollisarchives.lib.harvard.edu/repositories/24/resources/1248/digital_only  I definitely think that feature (or something like it) needs to be part of the core public interface!

Mark



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] On Behalf Of Jordon Steele
Sent: Friday, 28 February, 2020 10:53 AM
To: Archivesspace Users Group <archivesspace_users_group at lyralists.lyrasis.org<mailto:archivesspace_users_group at lyralists.lyrasis.org>>
Subject: [Archivesspace_Users_Group] Better notifying users of digital content presence

Hello,

When our collections have digital content associated with them, our practice is to add an “Existence and Location of Copies” note to the collection level indicating the presence of digital content like digitized copies of the originals. (We do other stuff at lower levels, too.) However, by default, this note only appears if you click the “Expand All” button. This means that users and staff often request boxes—especially small collections—without noticing that all or part of the collection is scanned.

We’re considering changing the order of the notes so that this note features more prominently, above the “Expand All” fold. I have two questions.

1)      Is this something that is configurable in the standard staff-side interface of ASpace, or would the PUI plug-in need to be edited? (I think the answer is the latter, but just confirming I am not missing something.)
2)      Bumping the note above the “Expand All” fold is just the first idea that came to mind. Do you have other ways you signal to users on the collection-level page the presence of digital content? If so, I’m all ears.

Thank you in advance, and sorry if this has been discussed before!

Best,

Jordon

Jordon Steele
Hodson Curator of the University Archives
Sheridan Libraries
Johns Hopkins University
3400 N Charles St
Baltimore, MD 21218
410-516-5493
jsteele at jhu.edu<mailto:jsteele at jhu.edu>
he/him/his


_______________________________________________

Archivesspace_Users_Group mailing list

Archivesspace_Users_Group at lyralists.lyrasis.org<mailto:Archivesspace_Users_Group at lyralists.lyrasis.org>

http://lyralists.lyrasis.org/mailman/listinfo/archivesspace_users_group
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lyralists.lyrasis.org/pipermail/archivesspace_users_group/attachments/20200228/86b984fc/attachment.html>