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Slides presented at Archeion workshops in March 2012.
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Archeion Workshop
Amanda HillArcheion Coordinator
ARCHEION
Archeion
• Ontario’s archive information network• Established in 1999• Holds over 8,000 fonds- and collection-level
descriptions from more than 70 institutions across Ontario
• One of a network of provincial systems feeding in to ArchivesCanada
• Major upgrade in 2011 with a move of all existing information to ICA-AtoM software
Old ARCHEION combined creator information with fonds description
Information about
records
Information about
creator(s)Archival description
Institutional information held elsewhere
Information about
records
Information about
creator(s)Archival institutions
Held in ARCHEION
Held on AAO site
New Archeion’s structure
Online display
Archival institutions
Record creatorsArchival descriptions
Standards-based records
• ISDIAH – International Standard for Describing Institutions with Archival Holdings
• RAD – Rules for Archival Description
• ISAAR-CPF – International Standard for Archival Authority Records - Corporate, Personal, Family
Archival institutions
Archival descriptions
Record creators
Easy to update
Archival institutions
Archival descriptions
Record creators
All these records can be edited by
Archeion contributors
CREATING ARCHEION RECORDS: INSTITUTIONAL INFORMATION
Institution records (ISDIAH)
• Minimal records at the moment– Name of institution– Contact details
• Can hold a lot of quite detailed information:– Opening hours– Accessibility – Collecting policy…
Form-based data entry
Click on headings to open section
CREATING ARCHEION RECORDS: AUTHORITY RECORDS
Authority records (ISAAR-CPF)
• Records describing people, organizations, families who created records or were the subject of them
• Created using Biographical sketch/Administrative history fields from existing ARCHEION records
• Can hold additional information, allowed for by the ISAAR-CPF standard
Check existing authority files
• Import from ARCHEION usually worked fine, but occasional issues
• If there was more than one creator associated with a fonds, the biographical/admin information might have been linked with the wrong one
Authority file import issues
• Biographical information was overwritten if a name appears more than once– Not a problem within a single repository– Can be an issue if an archive creator is represented in more
than one repository– Or if records for a single individual exist in both English and
French versions
• Check your own descriptions for anomalies– Original EAD records from the old system have been retained
and information can be retrieved from them, if needed
Creating new authority files
• Log in to Archeion
Authority record editing screen
Mandatory fields
• Type of entity– Corporate body, Family or Person
• Authorized form of name• Dates of existence– Put dates here rather than in the name field
• Description identifier– Leave this blank unless you have a local identifier
for name authority files
Other important fields
• Other forms of name– E.g. maiden names, pseudonyms
• History– Narrative (equivalent to RAD Biographical
Sketch/Administrative History)• Language– Record the language of the authority file
• Source– Record any printed or online sources used in creating
the authority record
Relationships
• Separate authority files can be linked to more than one archival description, saving duplication of information
Record creator
Archival description
Archival description
Relationships between creators
• Links can also be made between authority files
Organization
Organization
Person
Family
Member of
Predecessor of
Founder
of
Categories of relationship
• Hierarchical– Superior/subordinate, owner of/owned by
• Temporal– Over time, e.g. predecessor/successor
• Family• Associative– Any other sort of relationship between entities
Links between authority files
• A link between two authority records can be made in either record
• Once established, the link will automatically appear in the other file
Tips for authority files
• Check that the person/family/organization isn’t already in the system before you start creating one
• You can edit existing authority records, even if you did not create them, but you can’t delete them– Think of the authority files as a community resource– Don’t get too possessive about them
• We don’t want any Wikipedia-style editing wars
• Once you click ‘Create’, the authority file record is live on the Archeion website and visible to Google, even if you have marked it as a draft
CREATING ARCHEION RECORDS: ARCHIVAL DESCRIPTIONS
Archival descriptions
• Form is designed to reflect the fields in the Rules for Archival Description
• ‘Archeion for Archivists’ manual acts as a RAD-refresher for the fields required by Archeion
• It is easier to create authority files for creators of archives before you start on the archival description
Mandatory fields
• Title proper
• Level of description
• Repository
• Name of creator
• Date
• Physical description
• Scope and content
• Language (of materials)
• Restrictions on access
• Finding aids
Creation fields
Creation fields
Dates of creation area
Access points
• Archeion now has a place-name gazetteer and a list of (very general) subject headings
• Start typing a place name or subject and choose it from the drop-down list to add it to your description
Publishing descriptions
• Possible rights in relation to archival descriptions:– Create– Edit– Delete– Publish
• You will generally only have the right to edit, create, delete and publish your own institution’s descriptions
• Rights are customizable for each user of Archeion• Your institution must be an institutional member of
the Archives Association of Ontario
Tips
• You do not have to complete your description in one sitting
• Save your work at any time by clicking the 'Create' button at the bottom of the editing window (it then becomes a ‘Save’ button)
• An archival description is not visible to the public (or to search engines) until you change its status from ‘draft’ to ‘published’
• You can edit your description at any time, before or after publication, to correct it or add new information
More tips
• Be concise• Put key information at the start of longer text
fields, particularly:– History of person/family/corporate body– Scope and content
• Remember you are writing for a global audience– The reader is (probably) not in your building
In your first sentence…
• Include the name, birth and death dates, major occupation, and geographical area of the creator(s) in the biographical sketch/ administrative history.– Adam Lindsay Webb (b. 1879) was a physician who
practised in Brighton, Ontario.
• Give a single sentence overview in the scope and content note.– Fonds consists of photocopies of records created and
received by A.L. Webb, primarily relating to his medical practice.
Remember world-wide context…
Pitfalls
• Be careful when linking your description to your institution and to creators
• It’s easy to accidentally create a new institution or a new creator if you don’t click on the existing one
• Just type a few characters, not the whole name, then click on the name in the list
Adding lower levels of description
Display of lower levels
Information needed at lower levels
• You don’t need to add:– Repository– Creator (unless different
from top level)– Custodial history– Finding aids– (anything which is the same
for the whole fonds)
• You do need:– Title– Dates of creation– Physical description– Scope and content
• Some details are inherited from the fonds or collection description
Adding digital objects
• Digital materials can be added to archival descriptions at any level– You might want an image at fonds- or collection-level
to represent the whole group of records– Or you could associate a digital object from a
description of an item
• You can either upload objects to Archeion (cost implication) or link to objects hosted elsewhere (free)
Adding digital objects
Adding digital objects
Costs
• Artefactual will provide hosting space for digital objects
• AAO will pay for 1 gigabyte of storage space for institutional members
• Any additional space will be paid for by institutions to Artefactual
DEMO
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