Digitization: Uploading Finding Aids to Digital Commons
Purpose: This guide documents the procedures for uploading Special Collections Finding Aids to Digital Commons. This document presumes the user possesses knowledge of how to login to Digital Commons and navigate to the Digital Commons Finding Aids upload interface.
Preliminary Steps
1. Open the Finding Aids Excel spreadsheet at Share > DigitalCommons > FindingAids > FindingAids_html.xlsx.
- This list indicates which Finding Aids exist in both HTML and in ArchivesSpace. The list order is sorted by manuscript number in descending order.
- This list includes MACON keywords assigned by Special Collections.
2. Generate a Finding Aid PDF from ArchivesSpace.
3. Delete physical location of the collection from the PDF.
4. Confirm the Finding Aid PDF contains SpC box and file numbers (as appropriate) before published in Digital Commons.
Digital Commons Metadata Entry
1. Title = the title statement for the collection. Use the manuscript collection title as recorded in ArchivesSpace (e.g. Hatch (Benton L.) Collection, 1696-1960). If the title from ArchivesSpace does not include the date range of the collection, append the year range from the “Date [inclusive]” field to create a title statement (e.g. American University in Bulgaria Records, 1989-1999)
NOTE: Proper names should be formatted as
LastName, (FirstName, M.I.) Papers, Date-Range or
LastName, (FirstName and FirstName) Papers, Date-Range
2. Author = check “corporate” and enter Special Collections, Raymond H. Fogler Library, University of Maine
3. Description = copy the abstract notation from the Summary Information section of the Finding Aid PDF and paste into this field. Define any acronyms included in the abstract to provide additional discovery points and enhance clarity for patrons.
4. Publication Date = the year the Finding Aid PDF is uploaded to Digital Commons.
5. Keywords = are limited to the following list of terms defined by participants in the MACON project. This controlled vocabulary is referred to as the MACON list. (Refer to the FindingAids_html.xlsx document for collections with MACON terminology previously defined by Special Collections archivists.)
Separate multiple MACON terms with commas.
MACON List of Keywords
Agriculture
Architecture
Business and Industry
Education
Fine Arts
Forestry
Government and Law
Health and Medicine
Immigration and Emigration
Languages and Literature
Maritime
Military and War
Nature and Geography
Performing Arts
Race and Gender
Recreation and Tourism
Religion and Philosophy
Science and Technology
Social Life and Customs
Social Movements and Services
Transportation
6. Disciplines = History has been pre-selected. No additional disciplines are required unless otherwise instructed.
7. Size of Collection = Find this information within the “Physical Description” field of the Summary Information in the Finding Aid PDF.
8. Dates of Collection = Enter the inclusive date available under “Date [inclusive]” of the Summary Information in the Finding Aid PDF (even though it appears in the title statement) followed by the bulk date if that information is available. (e.g.1696-1960, bulk 1795-1900). For additional guidelines regarding date ranges, please reference Describing Archives, a Content Standard (DACS), 2nd edition (2013), p. 25-26.
9. Document Type = Document type has the default status of “Finding Aid.” No further action is required.
10. Comments = Leave the Comments field blank unless otherwise instructed.
11. Upload File = Upload the appropriate PDF. Never link out to files.
12. Cover Image = Leave the default set at “Use 1st page of PDF” unless a cover image is provided by Special Collections.
13. Additional Files = Additional files will be uploaded only when instructed.
14. Review your work, checking for typographic errors.
15. Click the Submit button only once.
16. Review your work on the resulting page.
17. If metadata and documentation is complete, publish the Finding Aid to the public.
18. On the FindingAids_html.xlsx file, note the date the Finding Aid was uploaded and/or published in Digital Commons.
Update Links in URSUS
Once a Finding Aid is published in Digital Commons, update the URL on the bib record in URSUS.
1. Search the manuscript name in Sierra.
2. Update the 856 line with the appropriate URL in Digital Commons.
3. Document the date this step was completed on the FindingAids_html.xlsx spreadsheet.
Archive and Remove HTML Finding Aid
As part of migrating Finding Aids from the Fogler Library website to Digital Commons, existing HTML versions of Finding Aids must be archived and removed from Fogler’s public server. This step should be done only after URSUS links have been updated to point to Digital Commons.
1. Using information available in the FindingAids_html.xlsx spreadsheet, search for collections by title from Digital Commons.
2. Identify the html file name associated with the collection published in Digital Commons.
3. Login to Expression Web.
4. Confirm that the most current version of the html Finding Aid is archived in the Development-side speccoll webshare.
55. Delete the file from public server.
6. Document the date this step was completed on the FindingAids_html.xlsx spreadsheet.
Contact: um.library.technical.services@maine.edu
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