ArchivesSpace Local Practices Manual for UHM Archives Staff: Agents And Subjects

1. Agents: Overview

2. Good Practice Fields for all Agent Records

3. Agents: Persons

4. Agents: Families

5. Agents: Corporate Entities

6. Agents: Software

7. Subjects: Overview

8. Subjects: Good Practice Fields

Purpose: To provide information on authorized and/or local names that can then be linked to Accession, Resource, or Digital Object records, as well as to Event records linked to one of those types of records.

Who creates, and when: ArchivesSpace creates Agent Records for all staff user logins (and also one for itself).

For use in Accession and Accession-related Event Records: Any staff member who creates Accession Records can create Agent Records for the donors and/or creators of accessioned materials.   

• The ArchivesSpace-created staff Agent Records are useful to record the archivist/librarian who received material / authorized a deaccession / sent an acknowledgement, etc.

For use in Digital Object and/or Resource Records: In most cases, catalogers only, and only after being asked to link agents to a Resource or Accession Record.  There are exceptions for donors’ Agent Records and for Event Records that are part of Digital Object or Resource Records:

• If ArchivesSpace requires an agent link with role = ‘Creator’ in order to save a new Resource Record or Digital Object record, the person creating the record should do the best they can and then ask a cataloger familiar with ArchivesSpace—as of Fall 2017, Margaret Joyce—to double-check the new Agent Record. 

For use in Digital Object and/or Resource Record-related Event records:  Most Event Records require associated Agents.  The staff member who is overseeing that Event should always be linked to, and for some transactions donors or other people or entities may be linked to as recipients, signers, etc. 

• Similarly, when creating Event Records relating to Digital Objects, it is good practice to link to the software actually executing the action as well as the staff member authorizing or initiating it.  In any of these cases, non-catalogers may need to create new Agent Records.

Special note on Agents-as-Subjects: Agent-type entities who are the subjects of archival material should be created (and linked to materials) via Agent Records, not via Subject Records. 

• For example, the Resource Record for a collection from the Acme Corporation comprising data on its largest customer, W.E. Coyote, would link to an Agent Record for Mr. Coyote—with ‘Role’ set to “Subject”—and not to a Subject Record for him.   However, only catalogers should do this. 

To Create a New Record:

Under the ‘Create’ menu, click ‘Agent’, and then choose the type of agent record according to what sort of entity is being described: ‘Person’, ‘Family’, or ‘Corporate Entity’.  

• ‘Software’ is also a choice, but it would generally only be used in Event Records for Digital Objects (e.g. to identify a program that has performed a process like a fixity check or a file migration on that object). 

The good practice fields for each type of name should be filled out according to proper cataloging rules and standards for name parts and order, fuller forms of names, subordinate corporate entities, etc.

• Notes can be added for new (i.e. non-authorized) names that need extra information to distinguish/disambiguate them from existing authorized names. 
• For all agent records that are also donor records:
  • The ‘Contact Details’ section may be filled out; these fields do not show up in the Public User Interface even for published records.  However, be aware that this will make the donor’s contact information visible to most staff users of the program.  Anything truly confidential should not be entered into ArchivesSpace.

ArchivesSpace requires ‘Source’ or ‘Rules’ for all Agent Records.  Both should be used whenever possible. 

• Additionally, an ‘Authority ID’ should be entered for all authorized terms:
  • Using the information from the Library of Congress’ Linked Data Service, Enter the URI for the authorized term.
  • Note! This is a change in practice from previous instructions, which had called for entering just the term's authorized number in this field.  For example, the Jean Charlot Collection is an authorized LCNAF corporate entity:
    • Number of term only: nr2001041373
    • Full URI: http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/nr2001041373
  • (Using the full URI is more linked-data-friendly than using just the number.)
• Most agent records should have their ‘Publish’ checkboxes marked; if they aren’t, then the agent won’t show up in the Public Interface even if and where it is linked to from Resource and Digital Object Records.
  • Nevertheless, the ‘Publish’ Box for some types of Agent Records—notably library staff, software programs, and donors who are not creators or subjects—should generally be left unchecked, unless that agent ends up being a creator and/or subject of material described in a Resource or Digital Object Record.

ArchivesSpace requires ‘Name Order’ and ‘Primary Part of Name’. Useful optional fields:

• A ‘Biographical/Historical’ note (in the Notes section) can be used to note information that could further distinguish this person from others with the same name.
• ‘Related Agents’: Can be used to link to other family members, or to associated corporate entities. 
• ‘External Documents’: Can be used to link to biographies, obituaries, or other information about the person. 

The only field ArchivesSpace requires is ‘Family Name’.  Useful optional fields:     

• A ‘Biographical/Historical’ note (in the Notes section) can be used to note information that could further distinguish this family from others with the same name.
• ‘Related Agents’: Can be used to link to individual family members, or to related corporate entities.
• ‘External Documents’: Can be used to link to genealogies or other information about the family.

ArchivesSpace requires ‘Primary Part of Name’.  Useful optional fields:

• A ‘Biographical/Historical’ note (in the Notes section) can be used to note information about the corporate entity’s purpose, function, or goals, as well as about any relevant antecedent and/or successor organizations.
• ‘Related Agents’: Can be used to link to subordinate entities (or the parent organization, if the agent is itself a subordinate entity), to antecedent and/or successor organizations, or to people notably associated with the corporate entity.

ArchivesSpace requires 'Software Name', and the appropriate data should also be entered into the ‘Version’ and ‘Manufacturer’ fields. Useful optional fields:

• The ‘Contact Details’ section may be used to document customer service information.
• A ‘Biographical/Historical’ note (in the Notes section) can be used to describe the history of the software, either in general and/or specifically at UHM Libraries.
• ‘External Documents’ can be used to link to github repositories, user manuals, or other technical documentation.

Purpose: To provide information on authorized and/or local subjects that can then be linked to Resource or Digital Object Records.  (Please don’t link subjects to Accession Records.)

Who creates, and when:  Catalogers only, after being asked to link subjects to a Resource or Digital Object Record.

Special notes: As noted in the overview for Agent Records, Agent-type entities who are the subjects of archival material should be created (and linked to materials) as agents, not as subjects.  For example, the Resource Record for a collection from the Acme Corporation comprising data on its largest customer, W.E. Coyote, would link to an Agent Record for Mr. Coyote—with ‘Role’ set to “Subject”—and not to a Subject Record for him. 

To Create a New Record (minimum fields / level of description):

Under the ‘Create’ menu, click ‘Subject’.

‘Source’, ‘Term’, and ‘Type’ are the only fields required by ArchivesSpace, but it’s good practice to also add ‘Authority ID’, if the data is available.

‘Source’, ‘Term’, and ‘Type’ are the fields required by ArchivesSpace, but it’s good practice to also add ‘Authority ID’, if the data is available.

‘Authority ID’:

• For LCSH terms, enter the URI for the authorized term using the information from the Library of Congress’ Linked Data Service. 
• Note! This is a change in practice from previous instructions, which had called for entering the term's authorized number in this field.  For example, the LCSH term “Wildlife conservation--United States--Periodicals” has a number of “sh2010118559”, but its full URI is ‘http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2010118559’.
•  (Using the full URI is more linked-data-friendly than using just the number.)

'Source':

• Choose from drop-down menu; will usually be either “Library of Congress Subject Headings” or “Local Sources”. 

'Term and Type':

• The main part of the subject term goes into the ‘Term’ field; using the above example, this would be “Wildlife conservation”.  For the ‘Type’ field, choose from the drop-down menu.  (“Topical” will be the most common option.)
• To add subdivisions: Click the ‘Add Term/Subdivision’ button in the upper right hand corner of the ‘Terms and Subdivisions’ box. 
  • This adds an additional Term/Type pair; in the above example “United States” would be go in an added ‘Term’ field with the “Geographic” subdivision.
• Continue adding Term/Type pairs for additional subdivisions as needed; in the above example “Periodicals” would be entered as a second additional ‘Term’ field, with the “Genre / Form” subdivision.
• You can rearrange the order of the subdivisions by clicking and dragging the three horizontal bars in the upper left hand corner of the Term/Type pair (the cursor will change to a cross).  The subdivisions will appear in the order listed.