[Archivesspace_Users_Group] Digital objects import with incorrect Published value

Tue Jan 11 11:48:41 EST 2022

Hi,

I wanted to clarify and expand upon the email I sent yesterday regarding
our current (proposed) use of Digital Objects in ArchivesSpace and the
related issues that we've encountered when importing DOs using the
importer. My thought is that perhaps there are others out there who are
working on a similar or related workflow issue who may have some
suggestions for us.

When we have a digital object publicly available on our external digital
collections site and we wish to provide a link to that object from the
component (archival object) level in the ASpace PUI:

We leave *Publish? *unchecked *(that is Publish? = FALSE) *in the Basic
Information section, but we *do *click Publish? in the File Version section:

In the PUI, the above looks like this:

Here, what we wanted was the link out to the digital object on the external
site. The reason we do not click *Publish? *in the Basic Information
section is because we believe users find it confusing when there are two
disconnected references to digital objects within the component record.

This is what the PUI looks like if both *Publish? *fields are clicked (both
are TRUE):
[image: image.png]

Clicking FALSE under Basic Information suppresses the link to the Digital
Object record in ASpace.

However, the import spreadsheet has a single field for Publish and the File
Version field inherits the imported selection for the Basic Info field, and
does not provide the option to mark the Basic Information field FALSE and
the File Version field TRUE:

This means that we don't have the option to import a batch of digital
objects in the same way that we want them to display, which results in
having to manually edit DOs after import.

Feel free to email me independently with any questions or if you'd like to
continue this conversation offline.

All best,

Wendy

____________________________________

WENDY SCHEIR

director
THE NEW SCHOOL ARCHIVES & SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK, NY 10011

scheirw at newschool.edu
<https://www.newschool.edu/email-signature-generator/robinsa1@newschool.edu>

T 212-229-5942

Explore the Archives <http://archives.newschool.edu> | Digital Collections
from the Archives <http://digitalarchives.library.newschool.edu/> | New
School Histories <http://newschoolhistories.org/> | @tnsarchives
<https://twitter.com/tnsarchives>

[image: THE NEW SCHOOL]

On Mon, Jan 10, 2022 at 7:15 PM Wendy Scheir <scheirw at newschool.edu> wrote:

> I think a related or adjacent issue to this is that there are 2 separate
> *Publish?* fields for each Digital Object record, but the import
> spreadsheet has the option to select TRUE/FALSE for only 1 of them.
>
> The way we're using DOs, sometimes (often, actually) we want one=TRUE and
> the other=FALSE within a single record.
>
> Wendy
>
> The New Archives and Special Collections
>
> On Mon, Jan 10, 2022, 5:11 PM Wetherill, Julie M. <
> julie_wetherill at harvard.edu> wrote:
>
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>>
>>
>> In August 2021, a list message
>> <http://lyralists.lyrasis.org/mailman/htdig/archivesspace_users_group/2021-August/008619.html>
>> from Benn Joseph at Northwestern UL described their trouble getting
>> incorrect Publish values when importing digital objects via spreadsheet.
>> Harvard migrated to v3.0.2 in Fall 2021 and we also have this problem. It
>> seems like the ASpace code that interprets the incoming spreadsheet data is
>> being extra picky about the Type value of the “publish” (Publish Digital
>> Object Record) attribute that is supplied in the spreadsheet.
>>
>>
>>
>> If the archivist uses the TRUE/FALSE controlled values provided in the
>> official template on github (bulk_import_DO_template.xlsx), digital objects
>> load with the correct “publish” values and their PUI display looks good.
>> When I run the TYPE function on these values, I get type 4 (logical value).
>>
>>
>>
>> But sometimes, an archivist will paste in TRUE/FALSE values copied from
>> another file (especially true in high volume automated workflows). At a
>> glance these TRUE/FALSE values look identical but they aren’t. I noticed
>> that these values are left aligned in the cell, rather than centered as
>> Excel does to indicate a logical TRUE or FALSE. And when I run the TYPE
>> function on a cell with these values I get type 2 (text). Seems like ASpace
>> wants only the logical TRUE/FALSE. An imported digital object that has the
>> text value TRUE for “publish” will be set to the default FALSE
>> (unpublished). When this happens in high volume it’s a mess to clean up.
>> And despite being marked Published=FALSE in staff mode, in the PUI, these
>> digital objects are partially displaying. By that I mean, there is no
>> digital link but the DO’s are labeled DIGITAL and display in the PUI list
>> of digital objects.
>>
>>
>>
>> I guess the work-around is user education (warn users to only supply
>> logical TRUE/FALSE). But I’d prefer we tweaked ASpace code to accept either
>> the logical or text value of TRUE/FALSE as I suspect used to be the case
>> when spreadsheet import was plugin-based.
>>
>>
>>
>> Regards. –julie
>>
>>
>>
>> Julie Wetherill
>>
>> HUIT Library Technology Services
>>
>> Harvard University
>> _______________________________________________
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>> Archivesspace_Users_Group at lyralists.lyrasis.org
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>>
>
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