[Archivesspace_Users_Group] Audit changes (through API)

Tue May 2 21:12:34 EDT 2023

Hi Joshua and all,

The public version of as_history probably won’t work outside of the QSA context - very heavily customized AS.

We do have a generalized version that works on vanilla AS, but it isn’t open.

Feel free to get in touch if you’re interested in trying it out. It gives full version tracking with diffs etc through the staff UI.

Cheers,
James

> On May 3, 2023, at 3:30 AM, Dan Michelson <dmichelson at smith.edu> wrote:
> 
> Hi All,
> 
> Something related to this issue that I learned today from Brian Hoffman is that whenever ArchivesSpace saves a top-level record, all the subrecords are actually deleted and recreated.  This means that it is not possible to reliably track when notes or other subrecords are created or modified.
> 
> All the best,
> 
> Dan
> 
> On Tue, May 2, 2023 at 12:12 PM Joshua D. Shaw <Joshua.D.Shaw at dartmouth.edu <mailto:Joshua.D.Shaw at dartmouth.edu>> wrote:
>> There is an extensive set of changes for the Queensland State Archives that includes functionality like this. I have not used or tested this, so not sure how customized it is to QSA's needs, but it was developed by Hudson Molonglo, so it should be good stuff! https://gitlab.gaiaresources.com.au/qsa/as_history It may or may not work with the latest version of AS.
>> 
>> Best,
>> Joshua
>> 
>> 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 Corey Schmidt <Corey.Schmidt at uga.edu <mailto:Corey.Schmidt at uga.edu>>
>> Sent: Tuesday, May 2, 2023 11:44 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] Audit changes (through API)
>>  
>> Hey Scott,
>> 
>> >From my understanding, you are correct that besides a last modified timestamp, that’s as deep as ASpace goes in tracking changes to data. We’ve had colleagues here express similar interest in wanting to track more detailed changes to records, such as when an archivist publishes a record or edits a note, but that functionality doesn’t exist as far as I’m aware.
>> 
>> If your local practice is to track changes to records using events, then it’s possible the user could access the “Get a list of Events for a Repository <https://archivesspace.github.io/archivesspace/api/?python#get-a-list-of-events-for-a-repository>” API endpoint (if they are a user in your ArchivesSpace instance) and filter the results based on records related to a specific resource. That requires your ArchivesSpace users to be using events in that way to work.
>> 
>> The only other methods that I can think of is possibly using something like the WayBack Machine <https://archive.org/web/> or a web scraper like BeautifulSoup <https://beautiful-soup-4.readthedocs.io/en/latest/> with Python to track changes to any public facing websites you have. WayBack would only be good for occasional captures and BeautifulSoup would need to scrape your public-facing website for any updates/newly published records. I did something like that in grad school, but it was with a blog website and not finding aids.
>>  
>> I hope this was helpful. Anyone here, please correct me if I’m wrong or forgetting anything.
>> 
>> Sincerely,
>> 
>> Corey
>> Corey Schmidt 
>> Special Collections Libraries | Project Management Librarian/Archivist
>> 
>> 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 Scott Renton
>> Sent: Friday, April 28, 2023 5:55 AM
>> To: archivesspace_users_group at lyralists.lyrasis.org <mailto:archivesspace_users_group at lyralists.lyrasis.org>
>> Subject: [Archivesspace_Users_Group] Audit changes (through API)
>>  
>> [EXTERNAL SENDER - PROCEED CAUTIOUSLY]
>> 
>> Hi there folks
>>  
>> We've had a user request to see if we can extract lists of records that have changed and what the change is (eg list of records that have changed from unpublished to publish- part of their work is working through an unpublished repository and tracking how much they're making available periodically). They'd like to be able to build something round the API for this.
>>  
>> I didn't think AS went down to that level- we'd see a last modified timestamp, but I didn't think there was anything deeper. Is that correct? I know "event" is accessible through the API, but I still couldn't see how that would get down to a specific data change.
>>  
>> Cheers
>> Scott
>>  
>>  
>> ==========
>> 
>> Scott Renton
>> 
>> Digital Library Development & Systems
>> 
>> Floor F East
>> 
>> Argyle House
>> 
>> 515219
>> 
>> The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336. Is e buidheann carthannais a th’ ann an Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann, clàraichte an Alba, àireamh clàraidh SC005336.
>> 
>> 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 Corey Schmidt <Corey.Schmidt at uga.edu <mailto:Corey.Schmidt at uga.edu>>
>> Sent: Tuesday, May 2, 2023 11:44 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] Audit changes (through API)
>>  
>> Hey Scott,
>> 
>> >From my understanding, you are correct that besides a last modified timestamp, that’s as deep as ASpace goes in tracking changes to data. We’ve had colleagues here express similar interest in wanting to track more detailed changes to records, such as when an archivist publishes a record or edits a note, but that functionality doesn’t exist as far as I’m aware.
>> 
>> If your local practice is to track changes to records using events, then it’s possible the user could access the “Get a list of Events for a Repository <https://archivesspace.github.io/archivesspace/api/?python#get-a-list-of-events-for-a-repository>” API endpoint (if they are a user in your ArchivesSpace instance) and filter the results based on records related to a specific resource. That requires your ArchivesSpace users to be using events in that way to work.
>> 
>> The only other methods that I can think of is possibly using something like the WayBack Machine <https://archive.org/web/> or a web scraper like BeautifulSoup <https://beautiful-soup-4.readthedocs.io/en/latest/> with Python to track changes to any public facing websites you have. WayBack would only be good for occasional captures and BeautifulSoup would need to scrape your public-facing website for any updates/newly published records. I did something like that in grad school, but it was with a blog website and not finding aids.
>>  
>> I hope this was helpful. Anyone here, please correct me if I’m wrong or forgetting anything.
>> 
>> Sincerely,
>> 
>> Corey
>> Corey Schmidt 
>> Special Collections Libraries | Project Management Librarian/Archivist
>> 
>> 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 Scott Renton
>> Sent: Friday, April 28, 2023 5:55 AM
>> To: archivesspace_users_group at lyralists.lyrasis.org <mailto:archivesspace_users_group at lyralists.lyrasis.org>
>> Subject: [Archivesspace_Users_Group] Audit changes (through API)
>>  
>> [EXTERNAL SENDER - PROCEED CAUTIOUSLY]
>> 
>> Hi there folks
>>  
>> We've had a user request to see if we can extract lists of records that have changed and what the change is (eg list of records that have changed from unpublished to publish- part of their work is working through an unpublished repository and tracking how much they're making available periodically). They'd like to be able to build something round the API for this.
>>  
>> I didn't think AS went down to that level- we'd see a last modified timestamp, but I didn't think there was anything deeper. Is that correct? I know "event" is accessible through the API, but I still couldn't see how that would get down to a specific data change.
>>  
>> Cheers
>> Scott
>>  
>>  
>> ==========
>> 
>> Scott Renton
>> 
>> Digital Library Development & Systems
>> 
>> Floor F East
>> 
>> Argyle House
>> 
>> 515219
>> 
>> The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336. Is e buidheann carthannais a th’ ann an Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann, clàraichte an Alba, àireamh clàraidh SC005336.
>> _______________________________________________
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>> Archivesspace_Users_Group at lyralists.lyrasis.org <mailto:Archivesspace_Users_Group at lyralists.lyrasis.org>
>> http://lyralists.lyrasis.org/mailman/listinfo/archivesspace_users_group
> 
> 
> -- 
> Dan Michelson
> Collections Archivist
> Smith College Special Collections
> 
> For current library access and services details, see Library Services During COVID-19 <https://libraries.smith.edu/library-services-during-covid-19>.
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