Dear All,
We have recently selected our Archival system and are currently
customising the back-end and have found ourselves facing an interesting
dilemma concerningthe structure of the various levels of description.
As it stands right now, I can enter the Fonds, Sub-Fonds, Series, File
(and other intermediate levels) from the main menu bar.
Our system defines the File level as the smallest indivisible unit and it
includes an area to list the Item(s) contained within it, with fields for
a brief description of the Item(s).
Our collections are extremely varied and we will be working quite
extensively at the item level as we are currently digitising our
collections. One of the problems we are facing is that we might not always
have a File which contains item(s). In fact, we might go straight down to
the item level from the Sub-fonds or a Series.
If this is this case, we an only describe these items by entering the File
level from the main menu bar and then use the Item area contained
within the file level to describe our items. We just want to have the
flexibility to catalogue Item(s) as part of a File, but also as single
Item(s).
The archive developers suggested that one way around this would be to
rename the File level as Files & Items(s) which will enable us establish a
connection between File and Item(s) if there is one, but also work with
Items(s) independently.
I would appreciate any feedback or guidance and would be interested to
find out of other projects have experiences similar problems
Thanks,
Anita Sharma
Anita Sharma
Digital Archivist
SALIDAA
(South Asian Diaspora Literature & Arts Archive)
c/o Commonwealth Institute
Kensington High Street
London W8 6NQ
SALIDAA is a Registered Charity No 1081584
|