Linking Digital Content to EAD Guides in Batches

Owned by Andrea Payant
Jun 07, 2021
4 min read

Purpose:

These procedures outline the steps needed to batch upload links into a legacy finding aid from the digital content found in CONTENTdm or other digital asset management system.  This process works best when an entire collection has been digitized.

 

Tools:

Excel

Word

Internet Browser

Oxygen

Mail Merge code template

Notepad

 

Additional Resources:

Archives West login

 

Procedure 1: Exporting and cleaning up spreadsheets

  1. Export the metadata from CONTENTdm

    1. Open the CONTENTdm Web Administration website

    2. Select the correct collection

    3. Click on the “Collection” Tab

    4. Click on “Export”

    5. Make sure “Tab Delimited” is selected

    6. Additionally, click on “Return Field Names in First Record”

    7. Click “Next”

    8. Right click on the “export.txt” link and select “Save Link as”

    9. Save the file using the following file naming standard (at end of this process, please remember to save a copy of this and any subsequent variations in Box-->Metadata-->Collections-->*collection name*):  CollectionName_CDM_Metadata_YYYY-MM-DD.txt (use the date of exporting)  For example:

      1. AlfredGEricksonPhotographCollection_CDM_Metadata_2015-06-04.txt

    10. Open up Excel

    11. Click on File->Open and navigate to your .txt file

    12. Go through the steps presented for opening up a text file in Excel, clicking “next” all the way through until you get the final screen and then clicking on “Finish”. 

    13. Re-save the opened .txt file as an .xslx using the same file name as listed above.

  2. Edit the spreadsheet to include only the fields needed for the EAD guide.  To do so, eliminate all columns EXCEPT the following fields:

    1. Title

    2. Format

    3. Original Date

    4. Call Number

    5. ARK URL

    6. Type

  3. Review the entries to make sure they are complete.  Minimum requirement is that the Title and ARK URL are present and correctly recorded.

    1. For entries that are not finished, please send back to the metadata specialist in charge of the collection.  Batch processing should not be attempted until all consecutive metadata is completed. 

  4. Sort the entries so that they are in call number order and reflect the box structure of the physical collection.

  5. Depending on the complexity of your collection’s hierarchy, insert at minimum, four empty columns in front of the Title Column

  6. At minimum, title the new columns “Component Level,” “Component Number,” “Box,” “Folder”. 

    1. Note: If your EAD should have item level, series, or other hierarchical levels of information, you will need to insert additional columns and label them appropriately.

    2. If you have access to the Oxygen file, you can see the original hierarchy.

  7. Separate the call number information into series, box, folder, and/or item depending on collection hierarchy.  To do this you need to:

    1. Insert several columns next to the “Call Number” column

    2. Use the following formulas to separate out the box, folder, item, etc. numbers.  Please note that you will need to adjust the text in red to reflect the changes need to map from the correct cells in your spreadsheet.  

      1. =RIGHT(B4, LEN(B4)-6) - this deletes the beginning characters.

      2. =LEFT(A1, LEN(A1)-5)  - this deletes the ending characters

    3. Copy the separated out information into the appropriate column (Box, Folder, Item, etc.)

  8. Once this is finished, delete the Call Number column and any “workspace” columns you used to separate out the data

  9. After the last column, add a new column with the header : Resource Label

  10. Under Resource Label, fill in the value “Click to access” for each record in your spreadsheet

  11. Fill in the Component Numbers & Levels columns to reflect the hierarchy they should display in.  Note: you may need to view the original EAD XML file to view the hierarchy or consult with Andrea Payant or Liz Woolcott for questions.

    1. Insert rows to act as place holders for the Series, Box, or Folder information.  Include the descriptive titles for these levels in the title column, as well as the component numbers and level designations

    2. Component Level terms must be one of the following:

      1. file

      2. item

      3. otherlevel

      4. series

      5. sub-series

  12. Re-save the file under a new name using the following file naming standard in the respective collection folder in Box-->Metadata-->Collections-->*collectionname*):  CollectionName_EADready_YYYY-MM-DD.xslx (use the date of exporting) 

    1. For example:AlfredGEricksonPhotographCollection_EADready_2015-06-04.txt

 

Procedure 2:  MAIL MERGE

Mail merge is used to transfer the data entered in the Excel spreadsheet to a Word document that is pre-loaded with the XML tags for EAD.   Mail merge matches the information in each column to assigned fields in the EAD element tags.   Once the mail merge is complete, the inventory of the collection will appear in the XML format and can be copied directly into the EAD guide. Be sure to verify that your Excel column headings match the mappings listed below.

Mail Merge [for PC]

  1. Open a Word document>>Copy and Paste the Container List Template (see example below)

  2. Select Mailings Tab   

  3. Start Mail Merge>>Normal Word Document

  4. Select Recipients>>Use Existing List

  5. Select data source window

  6. Navigate to container list Excel document which contains your inventory

  7. Select Sheet 1 if not already highlighted

  8. Select Insert Merge Field

  9. Insert each EAD column heading until all columns are inserted [Note: Merge fields/column headings are in red]  Below is an example:

    1. <c0«Component_Number» level="«Component_Level»">

      <did>

      <container type="box">«Box»</container>

      <container type="folder">«Folder»</container>

      <unitid>«Item»</unitid>

      <unittitle encodinganalog="title">«Alternate_Title»</unittitle>

      <daogrp>

          <resource xlink:label="start">«Alternate_Title» [Click to access]</resource>

          <daoloc xlink:label= "Type" xlink:href="«Ark_URL»" xlink:title="digital image of «Title»" xlink:role="«Format»"/>

          <arc xlink:from="start" xlink:to= "Type" xlink:show="new" xlink:actuate="onRequest"/>

          </daogrp>

          <unitdate encodinganalog= "date" normal= "Normal_Beginning_Date/Normal_End_Date" era= "ce" certainty= "approximate" calendar= "gregorian">«Original_Date»</unitdate> </did>

      <scopecontent><p>«Scope_Content»</p></scopecontent>

          </c0«Component_Number»>

  10. Finish Mail Merge and Edit Merged Document

    1. In Mailings Tab menu select Finish & Merge>>Edit Individual Documents>>All

  11. Edit Merged Document

    1. elect Find/Replace

    2. Enter ^b in Find and ^l^l in Replace All

  12. Using Find and Replace delete all empty tags

  13. Select All and Copy and Paste into the <dsc> portion of the Finding Aid.

 

MAIL MERGE [for Mac]

  1. Open a Word document>>Copy and Paste the Container List Template (see example below)

  2. Tools>>Mail Merge Manager                   

  3. Create New>>Catalog

  4. Get List>>Open source (choose the excel spreadsheet which contains your inventory)

  5. Drag Placeholders Into Document

    1. Click on and drag each field/column heading to the corresponding placeholder in the container list template (see example below - headings are in red)

    2. <c0«Component_Number» level="«Component_Level»">

      <did>

      <container type="box">«Box»</container>

      <container type="folder">«Folder»</container>

      <unitid>«Item»</unitid>

      <unittitle encodinganalog="title">«Alternate_Title»</unittitle>

      <daogrp>

          <resource xlink:label="start">«Alternate_Title» [Click to access]</resource>

          <daoloc xlink:label= "Type" xlink:href="«Ark_URL»" xlink:title="digital image of «Title»" xlink:role="«Format»"/>

          <arc xlink:from="start" xlink:to= "Type" xlink:show="new" xlink:actuate="onRequest"/>

          </daogrp>

          <unitdate encodinganalog= "date" normal= "Normal_Beginning_Date"/"Normal_End_Date" era= " ce " certainty= "approximate" calendar= "gregorian">«Original_Date»</unitdate> </did>

      <scopecontent><p>«Scope_Content»</p></scopecontent>

          </c0«Component_Number»>

  6. Complete Merge

  7. Edit Merged Document

    1. Select Find/Replace

    2. Enter ^b in Find and ^l^l in Replace All

  8. Using Find and Replace delete all empty tags

  9. Select All and Copy and Paste into the <dsc> portion of the Finding Aid.

           

Procedure 3: Upload Finding Aid

Once the container list is pasted back into the <dsc> section of the Oxygen file and all corrections have been completed to make the file valid, upload the file onto Archives West.

 

This process will need to be done by Paul Daybell, Sara Skindelien, or someone in SCA with a login for Archives West (formerly NWDA).

 

Check the EAD guide on the Archives West guide to make sure it is formatted correctly and that the links work properly