Batch Load to Digital Commons

Purpose: The following outlines the steps required to successfully process and publish a batch load to Digital Commons utilizing a spreadsheet template with Maine Town Reports as a specific series example: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/towndocs/

1. Open previously obtained template spreadsheet; immediately click on File –> Save As and name new file accordingly; save.

2. Freeze top row of the spreadsheet for ease of correlating metadata headings throughout process (View, Freeze Panes, Freeze Top Row).  Note: columns marked in red are mandatory.  Column labels cannot be changed in any way including spaces and case.  

3. Columns for content used in Maine Town Report batchloads are:

  • Column A: title: include full title of town report
  • Column B: fulltext_url: navigate to location of report, copy and paste the URL to this field
  • Column C: keywords: keywords MUST be separated by a comma, for town reports use the following: town name, county name, “town report”, “local government”
  • Column E: author1_fname: Town Name (Me.)
  • Column K: author1_is_corporate: Spreadsheet template includes FALSE in this column – it must be changed to TRUE for each row
  • Column R: author2_is_corporate: FALSE (if more than 10 rows must complete the column using the drag cell feature)
  • Column Y: author3_is_corporate: FALSE
  • Column AF: author4_is_corporate: FALSE
  • Column AL: create_openurl: FALSE
  • Column AO: document type: report
  • Column AZ & BA: latitude & longitude – information can be obtained  under the “Upload Submission” tab.  Scroll way down to  the “Geolocate This Submission” field, enter [town name] Maine and coordinates will appear.  Copy and paste back to spreadsheet then drag down column.
  • Column BD: publication_date: enter year of publication. NOTE: In order for four-digit year to show correctly, column will need to be formatted to Number, General. Highlight entire column, right click, select Format Cells, click on Number tab, click on General in the Category menu, Click on OK.
  • Column BF: publisher: enter name of publishing company; this information may not always be available
  • Column BI: pub_place: enter name of municipality where report was published; this information may not always be available
  • Column BK: rights: enter appropriate verbiage associated with copyright permissions.  http://rightsstatements.org/ 
  • Column BL: rights_statements: enter appropriate URL pointing toward explanation of copyright permissions
  • Column BR: version: for town reports, this column must always contain: publisher’s version of the published document (dropdown option when working on individual posts).

4. Once spreadsheet is complete and saved, navigate to: Manage Submissions in the Maine Town Documents community in Digital Commons.

a. Click on Manage Submissions
b. In the left hand menu, click on Batch upload Excel
c. Click on Choose File, navigate to saved Excel sheet, highlight and click on Open
d. Click on Upload

5. DC will send confirmation email; if email notes errors, typically the message is clear where to address a problem, fix errors and resubmit spreadsheet. If confirmation email does not include error message(s) – click on Accept Changes.

6. DC will ingest individual records and send back notice to click on Update Site – NOTE: the link in DC reads, “Update ir_series” (found in left hand menu of Maine Town Documents, Manage Submissions tab in admin portal)

7. It will take several hours for site to be updated and newly ingested records to be visible in public domain

TIP: populate columns that are consistent throughout the spreadsheet with a drag and pull down in Excel. For example, column R for author 2 is always false so place in first cell and drag down to last row. This will expedite the data entry process as well as give a visual guide to the overall framework and progress of the sheet.

Be sure all cell content does not contain space(s) before the first character (i.e. in column AO, be sure the r in report is flush against the left hand side of the cell) a space will result in an error message and rejection of file during the upload process.

6/4/18 shr; rev 6/15/18