MS Section Work with NET Holdings/Digital Objects

There are some instances where MS Section archivists working to create finding aids or provide a more detailed level of process need to edit or create new digital objects in ArchivesSpace.

Changing the Title of an Archival Object with a Digital Object Attached 

Archival Objects may receive updated titles as part of iterative description, due to previous inaccuracy, or new research

1. Edit AO (archival object) title, i.e. "Photo of unknown cats" to "Tintype of Professor Biscuits and Lady Pawley, cats"
2. Edit attached DO (digital object) to match.
3. Contact someone in Digital Collections Section with
   1. the URN for the digital object link
   2. the new title
4. Ask to update the item metadata in the DRS i.e. "Photo of unknown cats. Mary Higginbottom Collection of Pet Photos. MS Eng 12345. Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass." to "Tintype of Professor Biscuits and Lady Pawley, cats. Mary Higginbottom Collection of Pet Photos. MS Eng 12345. Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass."

Creating a New Finding Aid for a collection with an Alma Record with NET Holdings Attached

A collection level record for an unprocessed archival collection may have NET Holdings attached. These should be transferred to a finding aid, when created, and the NET Holdings deleted

1. Identify AO that matches each link in an 856 field in the collection level NET Holdings record. Titles may be different, or link may be to incomplete digital object, i.e. archival object title: "25 drawings of Professor Biscuits, 25-27 May, 1901.," $$u description in Alma "3 drawings of Professor Biscuits 26, May 1901."
2. In edit mode of identified AO record, scroll to "Instances" and click "Add Digital Object."
3. In the new digital object instance, click arrow on the right and then "Create" on the drop down menu (see image below)
   
4. In the "Create Digital Object" window, input the following information
   1. Title: Either the identical title of the new AO, if the DO is complete, or the title for a partial DO copied over from the Alma record
   2. Identifier: The Ref ID for the AO with a "d" appended
   3. Publish: If the materials have no rights issues, select the publish button. If they are clearly in copyright, do not select. If there are questions, contact the relevant curator or someone in the Digital Collections Section
   4. File URI: Copy the URN from the 856 field in the Alma record
   5. Publish: If the materials have no rights issues, select the publish button. If they are clearly in copyright, do not select. If there are questions, contact the relevant curator or someone in the Digital Collections Section
   6. XLink Acutate Attribute: Select "onRequest" from the dropdown menu
   7. XLink Show Attribute: Select "New" from the dropdown menu"
      
5. Click "Create and Link" button
6. When all links from NET Holdings record are attached and saved to the Finding Aid in ArchivesSpace, delete NET Holdings

Creating New Levels of Description for Archival Objects with Digital Objects Attached 

Collections that are minimally processed for timely reading room access often lead to digitization requests at a scale that requires deposit in the DRS. These objects are large and described at the level of the finding aid at time of digitization.

Examples:  AO: Higginbottom, Mary to Frankie "Cat Fancier" Smith. 3495 letters.

      DO: Higginbottom, Mary to Frankie "Cat Fancier" Smith. Letters 1200-2300.

      AO: Essays on Lady Pawley, 1947-1950 (Box 1)

                              DO: Essays on Lady Pawley, 1947-1950 (Box 1)

As time allows, minimally processed collections may be reprocessed to add more description, at folder or item level, breaking up what was previously a single archival object into multiples.

           Example: Minimal AO:  Sketches of Lady Pawley, 1947-1950 (Box 1)

  Reprocessed AO: On Lady Pawley's Fur mss, 1947 (Box 1, Folder 1)

                       Reprocessed AO: On Lady Pawley's Mousing Ability mss, 1948 (Box 1, Folder 2-4)

                           Reprocessed AO: On Lady Pawley's Relationship with Professor Biscuits mss, 1949-1950 (Box 1, Folder 5)

This leads to a situation where there is a single digital object for three archival objects. If the archival objects are easily identifiable in the digital object, the processing archivist should provide sequence number information to the Digital Collections Program Manager, who will then go into the DRS, create new structural metadata adding the AO titles to the first image of each AO, and create new URNs within that structural metadata to link to the new AOs.

There are other situations, however, where it is not possible to visually identify the first image sequence of an AO without having those materials physically on hand to review. If that is not possible, the DO should be linked to each new AO, and summary and processing information notes should be added to the DO that provide information about the changes made and including all the various new AOs that are linked. 

The summary takes the place of a scope and content note in an AO, and lists all the AO titles that are linked. The processing information note explains what was done during processing and when, and that all the AOs are linked to this single DO.

DO: File 27, once linked to a single AO, now linked to 16 separate AOs.

Summary note: Contains the following works, which during processing were separated into separate files: "Le chat incroyable" typescript partial draft, undated; "Les habitudes culinaires de Lady Pawley" typescript draft, undated; "Horaire de toilettage du professeur Biscuits" typescript draft, undated; "Le grand duel de chat de 1915" typescript draft, undated; "Honnêtement, je n'aime même plus les chats" two typescript drafts, undated; Les nombreuses cordes du Professeur Biscuit typescript prologue draft, undated; De qui je plaisante, j'adore les chats, partial typescript draft, undated; Higginbottom, Matthew. "L'amour débordant de Mary pour les chats," Le Monde, 1965 April; "Professeur Biscuits et mariage de Lady Pawley" typescript drafts with notes, undated; "Le soin et la garde des chats aristocratiques" typescript draft, undated; "Ma vie à Paris avec des chats : l'histoire de Mary Higginbottom" II and III typescript drafts, undated; "L'amour d'une anglaise pour les chats : la biographie non autorisée de Mary Higginbottom" partial typescript draft, undated; "L'amour d'une anglaise pour les chats : la biographie non autorisée de Mary Higginbottom" typescript draft with notes, undated; Proposition de statue commémorative du professeur Higginsbottom partial typescript draft, undated; "Proposition de fontaine commémorative pour Lady Pawley" two typescript drafts, one partial, undated; and "Kitty Cuisine: Un guide des croquettes gastronomiques" two typescript drafts, undated.

Processing information note: During the processing of this collection in 2021-2022, physical materials digitized in larger groups were separated. As much as possible, their new titles have been included in the summary note, and each is linked to this digital object.