General notes for creating a finding aid, A-Z

Alphabetization: For rules to alphabetize descriptive entries, use Library of Congress Filing Rules found on-line in Cataloger’s Desktop, OR use this pamphlet: ALA filing rules. There is a department copy in Houghton.

<c>: A <c> must go around cumulative listings (such as series or subseries), and around each folder description. <c>s nest. If you find it difficult to keep track of where each <c> ends, you may use numbered <c>s (<c01>, <c02>, etc.), but before sending your file to the OASIS database you must run a macro to change these into plain <c>s.

Cross references: For text-only references use: <c><did><unitid>(3) </unitid><unittitle> Omitted from series. </unittitle></did></c>

Dates: <unitdate> can mark single dates (e.g. 1998) or inclusive dates (e.g. 1933-1935). Years within <unitdate> or <date> elements should always be four digit numbers. Put month and year outside these elements, or use "normalize" attribute to standardize the dates. Use <unitdate> within the <did>; use <date>, if necessary, within <note>.

Diacritical marks: Should be inserted using Unicode characters.

ID Attributes: Beginning in November of 2013, LTS began inserting id attributes to all <c> elements in OASIS finding aids. Component IDs will take the form of the eadid + c00001-c99999. For example: <c id="hua04010c00001">. Any existing component IDs will be maintained. A new @maxcomponentid attribute will be added to the root <ead> element to help maintain the ID sequence during subsequent reloads. If components are added to a finding aid, component IDs will be updated each time a finding aid is reloaded to OASIS either through the batch OASIS loader or the interactive loader. IDs for any deleted components will not be reused. Additional information available at: http://hul.harvard.edu/ois/systems/mat/OASIS_Component_identifiers.pdf

NOTE: These ID attributes can be bothersome when a cataloger is revising a finding aid and adding items at a later date (when the finding aid will already have all the <c> items assigned with ID attributes). The OASIS system will not allow a finding aid to have 2 of the same ID attributes, so if a cataloger is adding material and reuses an old <c> item as a format template to catalog new data into the finding aid, he/she will have to delete the old ID attribute from the new item. The OASIS system will automatically assign a new number at the time of upload.

Index: If an index is necessary, it should be put outside the <dsc> and a short entry for the material being described should be placed inside the <dsc> if possible. Houghton has coded index in these two variant ways, depending on the markup that is desired:

EXAMPLE for Index 1

<odd><head>Index to Volume 1: Jul 1-Sep 3 1918</head>

<item><persname>Abbot, Franklin </persname> 1-15-17-23-37 </item>

<item><subject>L'Action Francaise </subject> 38 </item>

<item><subject>Aeroplanes </subject> 19-25 </item>

</list></odd>

EXAMPLE for Index 2

<index><head>VI. Index of names. </head>

<indexentry><corpname>Abbeville County Medical Society (S. C. ), </corpname>

<function>correspondent. </function>

</indexentry>

NOTE: Using this tag <ref target> in an index, implies that there is a text somewhere else in the finding aid which is the "target". Here is a sample of how we have used the coding for a targeted index:

In the American Birth Control League Records (hou00030):

The target: <c level="item"><did><unitid id="hou00030f302">(302) </unitid>

The index entry: <indexentry><namegrp><persname>Zundel, Wilbur, </persname><function>correspondent.

</function></namegrp><ref target="hou00030f302" xlink:type="simple">(302)</ref></indexentry>

In the Paul Goodman Papers (hou00031):

The target: <c level="item"><did><unitid id="hou00031f579">(579) </unitid>

The index entry: <indexentry><name role="title">Your fists are ablaze </name><ref target="hou00031f579" xlink:type="simple">(579)

</ref></indexentry>

Language of materials: Though this is highly unusual, it may sometimes be desirable to add information concerning the language of the materials for each item described. Use this form of coding:

Example: <c><did><unittitle>Smith, John. Letter to Mary Smith, <unitdate>1987. </unitdate></unittitle><langmaterial>In <language langcode="fre">French. </language></langmaterial><physdesc><extent>1 folder. </extent></physdesc></did></c>

MARC records: According to Harvard Bib-standards, there must be a MARC record in HOLLIS for every finding aid. The main entry [creator] and title must be the same for the MARC record and the finding aid, with the finding aid being the source for the MARC record (as in DACS content standard). The first 555 field will include the text: "Electronic finding aid available." A link must be created from the MARC record using the 555 field and properly formatted.

Namegroup: There is a set of coding decisions for marking up old finding aids using "otherlevel". Example: <c level="otherlevel" otherlevel="namegroup"><did><unittitle> <persname>Abbey, Richard, 1805-1891. </persname></unittitle></did><c level="item"><did><unitid>(1) </unitid><unittitle>Autograph letter (signed); <geogname> Nashville, </geogname> <unitdate>1866 </unitdate>September 22. 1s. (1p.) </unittitle</did></c>

"Otherlevel" with "document" attribute: Due to the limited possibilities of "locating" the element <dao>, we have made a set of coding decisions for detailed cataloging of documents within a folder (with <c> = item level). This coding type is to be used for documents (such as images) that will potentially be digitized at a later date. This is especially being used to replace the use of <list><item>.

Example:

<c level="item"><did><unitid>(5) </unitid><unittitle><persname>Gould, Morton, 1913-1996. </persname>Photographs, undated. </unittitle><physdesc><extent>3 items in 1 folder. </extent></physdesc></did><note>Includes the following images: </note></c>

<c level="otherlevel" otherlevel="document"><did><unittitle>Morton Gould composing : photograph (signed), undated. </unittitle></did><note>Inscribed to HM. </note></c>

<c level="otherlevel" otherlevel="document"><did><unittitle>Morton Gould : portrait photograph (signed), undated. </unittitle></did><note>Inscribed to <persname>Boaz Piller. </persname></note></c>

<c level="otherlevel" otherlevel="document"><did><unittitle>Morton Gould : portrait photograph (unsigned), undated. </unittitle></did><note>Duplicate image of above. </note></c>

</c>

Punctuation: Keep punctuation together with the word(s) it modifies, inside the elements, i.e., treat it as character information that belongs with the text, not as separate white space. Put punctuation outside of the elements in <title> tags (which default to italics). Punctuation, meaning the symbols such as commas, periods, quotation marks, brackets, etc. and NOT meaning whitespace (tabs and blanks and carriage returns) will be normalized out of the indexes so that users won't have to know the punctuation to retrieve documents.

<ref>: For linking internal cross references. See also "Index". Example:
<note>See item <ref target=HOUnnnnnF22>(22) </ref>for another version. </note>[Set targeted <c><unitid id=HOUnnnnnF22>.]
Target and id number are comprised of the <eadid> for the finding aid, and "F" followed by the targeted <c>'s <unitid> number.

Shelving issues: Occasionally, a finding aid must indicate variant shelving issues. This can be tagged in two different ways, choice will determine how item displays in finding aid:

<c><did><unitid>(2766) [Shelved with item 2804]</unitid><unittitle> <title>Balanchine. Life and legacy, </title>undated. </unittitle>
<physdesc><extent>3 audiocassettes in 1 box. </extent> </physdesc>
</did></c>

<c><did><unitid>(2779) </unitid>
<unittitle> <corpname>Newspaper Guild of New York. </corpname>Page One award, <unitdate>1958 </unitdate>April 25. </unittitle><physdesc><extent>1 item in 1 box. </extent> </physdesc><container>Shelved at end of collection. </container>
<note> <genreform>Electrotype </genreform>copper plate in black leather case with a mirror inside.</note></did></c>

Spacing: Keep spacing immediately following the word, inside the tags. Always put two spaces following every terminal ".". The OASIS stylesheet often overrides spacing within our finding aids and this can be reported to OIS and possibly changed if it causes a serious display problem.

<unittitle>: Always include the element <unittitle> in the folder listing, even if the only information is a <persname> or <unitdate>.