Archives West EAD File Naming

Owned by paul.daybell
Last updated: Apr 28, 2022
1 min read

When saving XML files for uploading to Archives West follow this file naming protocol with NO SPACES

  • Manuscript: UUS_mss666.xml

  • Photograph: UUS_p0666.xml

  • Folk collection: UUS_folkcoll666.xml

  • Gov Docs: UUS_gov666.xml

  • USU Eastern Collections: UUS_usuemss001.xml

  • University Archives: UUS_6_6_6.xml (see explanation below for issues regarding duplicate file names)

 

The University Archives present a problem regarding the Archives West standard and record group numbers. All punctuation has to be represented in Archives West by underscores, for example, 5.1/2:36 would translate into a file name of 5_1_2_36.xml. However, this causes a problem when different collections have the same numbers but different punctuation, for example, 5.1/2-36 would translate into the same file name as 5.1/2:36. Because we are unable to go back and change the file names for all the existing EAD guides, we will change the file naming structure for all new guides moving forward. This will be accomplished by substituting letters in place of punctuation. The following punctuation will be as follows:

  • . = p

  • / = s

  • - = d

  • : = c

Example:

The file name for collection 5.1/2:36 would previously been structures as 5_1_2_36.xml The new file name for collection 5.1/2-36 would be structured like this, 5p1s2c36.xml.