DRS Collections | Finding Aids | Functional Requirements

Digital Repository Service (DRS) Collections

Functional Requirements for the Finding Aids Platform

June 1, 2007

BACKGROUND

In its report, Finding Aids: Public Interface Requirements, the Finding Aids Task Force identified functional requirements for a new finding aids platform to replace the current finding aids database whose underlying software, LiveLink, is no longer supported.[1] Moving to a new platform was viewed as an opportunity to improve the underlying software, in addition to the public interface.

Coincident with the Finding Aid Task Force’s work, IAC sponsored a research project to investigate the use of VITAL, a VTLS product that provides a public and an administrative interface to Fedora, open source software for digital repositories.[2] The VITAL research project included the following use cases for finding aids: Web client ingest, batch ingest, simple search, advanced search, EAD-specific navigation, and OAI harvesting.[3], [4]

Pending the conclusion of the VITAL research project, the Finding Aids Task Force suspended discussions about technical requirements for a finding aids environment “since a decision to implement VITAL would have obviated the need for these requirements.”[5] After the conclusion of the VITAL trial and a review of available applications, the Finding Aids Task Force recommended the migration of the finding aids database to either a native Fedora framework or VITAL.

The DRS VITAL/Fedora implementation project coincides with the development of a shared EAD authoring tooland the conversionof existing finding aids to EAD 2002. DRS will provide a platform for EAD 2002 encoded finding aids created with the new authoring tool. The Finding Aids Coordinating Committee (FACC) and the DRS Implementation Team are jointly responsible for the conversion of existing finding aids to EAD 2002 andtheir migration to the DRS.

During the initial implementation of finding aids in the DRS(June – December 2007), FACC has agreed to a subset of the requirements identified in the public interface requirements report that, at a minimum, replicates the functionality provided by the current environment. This document addresses requirements for the initial implementation phase.

Finding aids from the following libraries will be made availablein the new environment:

  • BRBL
  • Divinity
  • MSS/A
  • Music

Other librariesmay add finding aids later in the year, as the new authoring tool is implemented:

  • Arts
  • BAC
  • Medical
  • VRC

CONTENT DESCRIPTION

ENC: Finding aid will be encoded in the new authoring tool.

CONV: Finding aid will be converted with a stylesheet.

MIGR1: Finding aid will be migrated as part of the initial ingest (June – July 2007).

MIGR2: Finding aid will be made available in a subsequent ingest (August – October 2007).

LIBR / TYPE / # / NOTES / ENC / CONV / MIGR1 / MIGR2
Arts / MS Word / ≈30 / 30-40 AOB collections have been processed but not all have finding aids; not available in the current platform / X / X
BRBL / EAD 1.0 / 645 / X / X
BRBL / HTML / 1220 / ≈1000 of these are pre-1600; not all have Orbis records / X
Divinity / EAD 1.0 / 207 / X / X
Divinity / HTML / 55 / Available in the current platform[6] / X / X
MSS/A / EAD 1.0 / 1408 / MSS/A hosts its own finding aids platform[7]; not all are available in the shared platform / X / X
Music / EAD 1.0 / 99 / X / X
VRC / EAD 2002 / 44 / Not available in the current platform / X / X
VRC / EAD 1.0 / 1 / Available in the current platform / X / X
VRC / MS Word / 6 / Not available in the current platform / X / X
TOTAL / 3715 / 136 / 2359 / 3579 / 136
  • Finding aids available in the current environment will be migrated to the DRS, with or without re-encoding, at the discretion of the owning library.
  • Arts, Divinity, and VRC will encode their MS Word and HTML finding aids in EAD before making them available in the DRS. BRBL will not convert or encode its HTML finding aids but will derive Dublin Core metadata for indexing.
  • Finding aids encoded in EAD 1.0 will be converted to the Yale Best Practices Guidelines, implemented as an application profile of the EAD 2002 RNG schema. BRBL and MSS/A (Mike Rush and Stephen Yearl) will convert their own files. CMS and ILTS (Youn Noh and Este Pope) will work with Divinity and Music to convert their files.
  • VRC will modify its EAD 2002 finding aids to conform to the Yale Best Practices Guidelines before they are made available in the DRS. FACC and CMS (Mike Rush and Youn Noh) will coordinate training for the VRC and other libraries as needed.
  • Large finding aids that are split in the current environment in order to ensure acceptable response times will be combined and tested in the new environment. BRBL (Mike Rush) and MSS/A (Stephen Yearl) will provide files for testing. The goal will be to manage these large finding aids as single documents. If response times are inadequate, large files will be split.
  • Associated files are not managed directly in the current environment but are available via links from the finding aid. These links will be preserved in the new environment. As time permits, the management of multi-file objects will be tested in the new environment. Targets for testing includeMARCXML metadata, TEI documents, and images.

SEARCHING

The initial implementation of finding aids in VITAL/Fedora will provide all search options available in the current environment, with one exception noted below, as well as options not currently available:

  • The ability to limit searches to the community Archival & Manuscript Descriptions;
  • The ability to limit searches to specific collections or subcollections in the Archival & Manuscript Descriptions community;[8]

COLLECTION / SUBCOLLECTION / SUBCOLLECTION
Arts Library / Arts of the Book Collection
Bookplate Collection
Drama Library
Art and Architecture Library
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library / Yale Collection of American Literature / James Weldon Johnson Collection
Yale Collection of Western Americana
Yale Collection of German Literature
James Marshall and Marie-Louise Osborn Collection
General Collection of Modern Books and Manuscripts
General Collection of Early Books and Manuscripts
DivinitySchool Library
Manuscripts and Archives
Medical Historical Library
Music Library
Visual Resources Collection
YaleCenter for British Art
  • The ability to search by Dublin Core elements derived from EAD;[9], [10]

METADATA DESCRIBING THE FINDING AID
DC / EAD 2002 XPATH / NOTES / SEARCH
contributor / //eadheader//author / Creator
date / //publicationstmt//date[@type='revised']//publicationstmt//date[@type='original'] / use revised if available; else, original / Date
format / text/xml / default MIME type / Format Type
identifier / //eadid
language / //langusage//language / repeatable / Language
publisher / //publisher / repeatable / Publisher
subject / //did[1]/origination / Subject
title / //titlestmt/titleproper[@type=‘filing’] / index for display
title / //titlestmt/titleproper[@type=‘formal’]
//titlestmt/subtitle / index all / Title
type / Text / default DCMI Type
type / finding aid / default / Resource Type
METADATA DESCRIBING THE ARCHIVAL MATERIALS
DC / EAD 2002 XPATH / NOTES / SEARCH
abstract / //did[1]/abstract / Abstract
bibliographicCitation / //prefercite[1] / Citation
contributor / //corpname[@encodinganalog=‘110’]
//corpname[@encodinganalog=‘111’]
//corpname[@encodinganalog=‘710’]
//corpname[@encodinganalog=‘711’]
//persname[@encodinganalog=‘100’]
//persname[@encodinganalog=‘700’]
//famname[@encodinganalog=‘100’]
//famname[@encodinganalog=‘700’] / index all / Contributor
creator / //origination/* / Creator
date / //did[1]/unitdate[@type=‘inclusive’] / Date
description / //archdesc/scopecontent / Description
extent / //did[1]/physdesc / index for display
format / mixed materials / default text / Format Type
identifier / //did[1]/unitid
language / //langmaterial[1]//language / repeatable / Language
publisher / unpublished archival materials / default text / Publisher
subject / //corpname[@encodinganalog=‘610’]
//corpname[@encodinganalog=‘693’]
//persname[@encodinganalog=‘600’]
//persname[@encodinganalog=‘692’]
//famname[@encodinganalog=‘600’] / index all / Name as Subject
subject / //title[@encodinganalog=‘630’] / Title as Subject
subject / //subject
//geogname / index all / Subject
title / //did[1]/unittitle / Title
  • The ability to search by EAD-specific elements that do not map to Dublin Core;

METADATA DESCRIBING THE COLLECTION
EAD 2002 XPATH / SEARCH
//bioghist / Biographical or Historical Notes
//scopecontent / Scope and Content
//acqinfo and //custodhist / Provenance
//archdesc/scopecontent and //dsc / Collection Description
//genreform / Types of Material
  • The ability to search by term or phrase;
  • The ability to conjoin terms or phrases with Boolean or positional operators.[11]
  • AND
  • OR
  • NOT
  • NEAR
  • Results displays will include the following:
  • Number displayed of total hits (e.g., 1 to 10 of 50);
  • Search term(s) redisplayed;
  • Results ordered by relevancy;
  • Title of the archival collection (//did[1]/unittitle[1]);
  • Call number (//did[1]/unitid);
  • Standardized form of name for the parent collection or the owning library. (Refer to the list of collections above.)

FUNCTIONS IN THE FINDING AID

  • Supplementary disseminations will be not be generated for HTML finding aids.
  • The following disseminations will be available for EAD encoded finding aids:
  • An HTML version of the finding aid for display;
  • A PDF version of the finding aid for printing.
  • The following additional functions will be available:

FUNCTION / CURRENTLY IMPLEMENTED IN…
1 / Ask! a librarian / None
2 / Connectto library's home page / All
3 / Search Orbis for corresponding MARC record / BRBL, Divinity, MSS/A
4 / Search finding aids / BRBL, Divinity, MSS/A, Music
5 / Find text in finding aid / BRBL, Divinity, MSS/A
6 / Search for or link to related digital images / BRBL, Music
  • A link to Ask! a librarian will be part of the standard template for pages in the DRS.
  • Functions 2-5 will be available from all finding aids.
  • The text for the link to the library’s home page will be the standardized form of name for the library.
  • CMS (Youn Noh) will update the /ead/eadheader@id in Music finding aids and the035 field in corresponding MARC records to enable Orbis searches for Music.
  • Implementation of direct links to Orbis that incorporate bibliographic record IDs will be slated for future consideration.
  • Broader implementation of links to imageswill be slated for future consideration.

OTHER

  • ILTS will update the MARC 856 fields for finding aids that have been migrated to the DRS.
  • FACC will update links to finding aids on Yale University Library Web pages.
  • The current finding aids database will remain available until the new environment is stable.
  • ITS will provide URL redirection from the current finding aids database when it is no longer available.

ASSESSMENT

  • FACC will conduct an informal assessment once a representative sample of finding aids is available in the new platform.
  • FACC will conduct formal testing once the new environment is stable. The testing will address the functional requirements identified in this document.
  • The Usability and Assessment Librarian (Katie Bauer) will conduct usability assessment with user groups identified in consultation with FACC. The usability assessment will be timed to permit the design of the public interface to be revisited.

1/9/20191

[1] The current implementation of the finding aids repository is available at

[2] Documentation on Fedora is available at

[3] Documentation of the use cases is available to members of the research project from the Library VITAL site on Classes*v2 at

[4] EAD (Encoded Archival Description) is a metadata schema for finding aids developed by the Society of American Archivists and the Library of Congress. For more information, see

[5] Finding Aids Task Force. Finding Aids: Public Interface Requirements, p. 1.

[6] Available from

[7] Available from

[8] Finding aids will be organized into collections and subcollections at the discretion of the owning library.

[9] FACC (here: Bill Landis, Mike Rush, and Stephen Yearl) determines the EAD to Dublin Core mapping.

[10] Metadata about the finding aid will be integrated with metadata about the archival materials described by the finding aid in a manner that facilitates access. The public search interface may only provide access to a subset of the elements identified above.

[11]FOLLOWED BY is not available.