[Archivesspace_Users_Group] linking to related Resources / Archival Objects in ArchivesSpace

[Ron Van den Branden]

Whoa, thanks for sharing both your code and those pointers, Corey! That’s study stuff for when the dust’ll have settle a bit.

I’ll present the current option for internal linking in ArchivesSpace to our colleagues and IT partner; if this leads to structured suggestions for improvement, it would be great if that could result in a Jira ticket. Many thanks in advance for your support.

Best,

Ron


Van: archivesspace_users_group-bounces at lyralists.lyrasis.org <archivesspace_users_group-bounces at lyralists.lyrasis.org> Namens Corey Schmidt
Verzonden: woensdag 25 mei 2022 17:29
Aan: Archivesspace Users Group <archivesspace_users_group at lyralists.lyrasis.org>
Onderwerp: Re: [Archivesspace_Users_Group] linking to related Resources / Archival Objects in ArchivesSpace

Ron,

My pleasure! I’m glad the example helped get you going for your test instance. Thanks for the follow-up Cory. It’s a shame that functionality was rejected, but understandable.

As you pointed out Ron, it’s still a brittle process, not helped by the fact that it’s sometimes difficult to ask colleagues/volunteers to familiarize themselves with XML syntax and EAD tags and attributes. If after considering improvements for internal cross-links you want to post a ticket and need/want help, just let me know! I’m happy to make suggestions and give a +1.

Sure, after migrating to ArchivesSpace, we compiled a bunch of tests we did for checking our data. I wrote a python script<https://github.com/uga-libraries/aspace_scripts/blob/master/ASpace_Data_Audit.py> to do the tests, create a spreadsheet with the results, email those results to our users, and I worked with our sysadmin to make a cron job to run the script once a year. It checks:

  *   controlled vocabularies for non-permitted terms
  *   resources/items with Component Unique IDs (we don’t use them)
  *   containers with no barcodes or indicators
  *   archival objects with multiple containers or digital objects
  *   archival objects falsely labeled as “collection” level
  *   EAD-IDs (we make these in our EAD.xml exporter)
  *   duplicate subjects and agents
  *   archival objects on the same level but have different labels (i.e. a file and series on the same level together)
  *   XML errors
  *   URL errors

With a little programming knowledge, you could modify this script or make one yourself. There’s also a number YouTube videos on data cleanup in ArchivesSpace: ArchivesSpace Data Cleanup Webinar: Tips, Tricks, and Tools<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnZErWH0XmU>, How to Make Technology Work for You In an ArchivesSpace Data Cleanup Project<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTuROXsEjqo>, Someday is Here! ArchivesSpace Projects for Working from Home<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LupV331hg8E>.

Corey

From: archivesspace_users_group-bounces at lyralists.lyrasis.org<mailto:archivesspace_users_group-bounces at lyralists.lyrasis.org> <archivesspace_users_group-bounces at lyralists.lyrasis.org<mailto:archivesspace_users_group-bounces at lyralists.lyrasis.org>> On Behalf Of Cory Nimer
Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2022 11:15 AM
To: Archivesspace Users Group <archivesspace_users_group at lyralists.lyrasis.org<mailto:archivesspace_users_group at lyralists.lyrasis.org>>
Subject: Re: [Archivesspace_Users_Group] linking to related Resources / Archival Objects in ArchivesSpace

[EXTERNAL SENDER - PROCEED CAUTIOUSLY]
Ron,

I would agree that it would be preferable to have a more EAD3-friendly configuration for related materials notes, at least in order to reduce/remove the need for mixed content within these notes. I don't know if there is widespread interest in moving implementing something more like the Agents module's Sources subrecord or the Metadata Rights Declarations with their fields for recording a descriptive note and a URL separately. It looks like the project has already rejected the idea of being allowing linking between different records within the database, though (ANW-763; https://archivesspace.atlassian.net/browse/ANW-763).

Best,

Cory Nimer
University Archivist
Brigham Young University

From: archivesspace_users_group-bounces at lyralists.lyrasis.org<mailto:archivesspace_users_group-bounces at lyralists.lyrasis.org> <archivesspace_users_group-bounces at lyralists.lyrasis.org<mailto:archivesspace_users_group-bounces at lyralists.lyrasis.org>> On Behalf Of Ron Van den Branden
Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2022 10:05 AM
To: Archivesspace Users Group <archivesspace_users_group at lyralists.lyrasis.org<mailto:archivesspace_users_group at lyralists.lyrasis.org>>
Subject: Re: [Archivesspace_Users_Group] linking to related Resources / Archival Objects in ArchivesSpace

Hi Corey,

Many thanks for your helpful reply! In our current data, these structured links are indeed connected to a field that maps to <relatedmaterial> in ArchivesSpace, so that’s indeed the destination we had in mind.

Your example for embedding ArchivesSpace-internal links via the ArchivesSpace ID for a @href attribute was really helpful and finally made me get it working in the test instance, great! That’s a useful mechanism, though I fully agree the manual input process is brittle, even with the (limited) “mixed content” completion help. In order to make the most semantic sense, as you exemplified with the <archref> example, our colleagues and volunteers describing the archives would have to be knowledgeable of XML syntax rules, and the suitable EAD structures for the information they’d want to enter. Yet, even if a new structured resource-to-resource link field would be too far off the implementation horizon, perhaps a general improvement for adding such internal cross-links in text fields in a more guided way could be of interest. I’ll think about it!

Finally, your data audit remark sounds intriguing and -considering the amount of data cleanup this data migration project has confronted us with- a vital part of best practice. Would you mind elaborating on that, or pointing me to any available documentation?

Best,

Ron

Van: archivesspace_users_group-bounces at lyralists.lyrasis.org<mailto:archivesspace_users_group-bounces at lyralists.lyrasis.org> <archivesspace_users_group-bounces at lyralists.lyrasis.org<mailto:archivesspace_users_group-bounces at lyralists.lyrasis.org>> Namens Corey Schmidt
Verzonden: woensdag 25 mei 2022 14:57
Aan: Archivesspace Users Group <archivesspace_users_group at lyralists.lyrasis.org<mailto:archivesspace_users_group at lyralists.lyrasis.org>>
Onderwerp: Re: [Archivesspace_Users_Group] linking to related Resources / Archival Objects in ArchivesSpace

Hey Ron,

Glad to see you reaching out! I’m not sure if others have emailed you regarding this, so I’ll put in my 2 cents worth.

  *   From what I understand, there is no mechanism within ArchivesSpace that provides a structured “Agents/Related Accessions” type link from one resource to another, nor one archival object to another.
  *   Have you considered using the “Related Materials” note (<relatedmaterial><https://www.loc.gov/ead/tglib/elements/relatedmaterial.html>)? The advantage with this is the note is made specifically for related materials either within the repository or without and you don’t need a full URL, just the ArchivesSpace ID if you’re using the PUI, like so: <archref><unittitle href="/repositories/2/resources/100">Related Collection title</unittitle>. The problem with this is you have to enter the info by hand, which is error prone (we’ve scheduled a yearly “data audit” to help us catch errors like these).
  *   I don’t know of any institution that has developed a plugin<https://github.com/archivesspace/awesome-archivesspace>, nor is this on the roadmap I think. Nevertheless, you can submit a JIRA ticket<https://archivesspace.atlassian.net/jira/software/c/projects/ANW/issues/ANW-1334> for this feature (how to do that linked here<https://archivesspace.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/ADC/pages/19202060/How+to+Request+a+New+Feature>) – explaining how you want it to work with as much detail as possible. The Development Priority Team will then determine if the ArchivesSpace development team or community can/should prioritize it in future releases. The more attention a ticket gets (comments, clarifications, etc.) the more likely it is to be implemented (great YouTube video here about the process<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlquifRXwmA>).

I hope this is helpful, but if you’d like to talk more about it, feel free to email me: Corey.Schmidt at uga.edu<mailto:Corey.Schmidt at uga.edu>. To everyone on the listserv, please feel free to correct any of this info if it’s incorrect/misleading.

Sincerely,

Corey
Corey Schmidt
Special Collections Libraries | Project Management Librarian/Archivist
300 S Hull St | Athens, GA 30605
Corey.Schmidt at uga.edu<mailto:Corey.Schmidt at uga.edu>
From: archivesspace_users_group-bounces at lyralists.lyrasis.org<mailto:archivesspace_users_group-bounces at lyralists.lyrasis.org> <archivesspace_users_group-bounces at lyralists.lyrasis.org<mailto:archivesspace_users_group-bounces at lyralists.lyrasis.org>> On Behalf Of Ron Van den Branden
Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2022 3:45 PM
To: archivesspace_users_group at lyralists.lyrasis.org<mailto:archivesspace_users_group at lyralists.lyrasis.org>
Subject: [Archivesspace_Users_Group] linking to related Resources / Archival Objects in ArchivesSpace

[EXTERNAL SENDER - PROCEED CAUTIOUSLY]
Hi all,

This is my first message to this group; apologies if this has been addressed before (tried my best researching the list archive at https://www.mail-archive.com/archivesspace_users_group@lyralists.lyrasis.org/). At my institution, we’re preparing a migration of data from a previous archival description system to ArchivesSpace. The previous system allowed for structured links between archival descriptions within the system. For example, resource A could point to resource B within the same system by means of a system identifier, which the system would resolve to a full link in the PUI. This is functioning in a similar way as Agents Links or Related Accessions sections in ArchivesSpace; only with a different record type (resources / archival objects instead of agents, resp. accessions).

Please correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t see an immediate equivalent mechanism in ArchivesSpace. This raises some questions:

  *   Am I overlooking the obvious, and does ArchivesSpace provide a structured mechanism to point from a Resource / Archival Object to another Resource / Archival Object?
  *   If not, I do see the External Documents section as a close fit, with the semantic drawback that these linked resources are not really external but rather internal. More substantially, though, External Documents only allows for a literal URL, which is less elegant, more error-prone, and less sustainable than the dynamically generated links provided via Agent Links or Related Accessions.
  *   If not, is this something that’s on a development roadmap, or have others implemented this as a plug-in?

Many thanks for your thoughts!

Best,

Ron

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