Hello, Collective Wisdom!
I'm puzzling over the best way to do the following. We have a collection
consisting of letters, documents, manuscripts, etc. Out of this collection
(approx. 14 boxes), there are a few hardcover books and some 200 case
studies (small stapled booklets, ranging from 15 to 100 pages) that were
published individually, with individual titles and authors, between 1950 and
1990. Almost all of these have been catalogued at some point by other
institutions, and we plan to catalog ours, with individual records, so
they'll show up in an OPAC search. We also have a box of 10 rolls of
microfiche, for which we have a detailed (and lengthy) list of contents.
The question is, how to best integrate this information with the EAD finding
aid for the collection as a whole? We want people who look at the overall
collection to know we have these case studies and books. But is listing all
200+ individually in the EAD finding aid the right way to go? Or is it
better to simply have one item in the EAD finding aid that says, "Case
studies (200), see..." See what? a txt file listing all the case studies?
the OPAC? if the OPAC should we tell them what to search for so they find
the records?
Ditto with the microfiche. Do I transplant the entire contents listing
(long) into the EAD finding aid in toto? Or do we have a one-liner that
says, "Microfiche (10 rolls), see..." Again, see what? A separate paper
listing? A .txt file? If a separate electronic file, shall we link it?
I'm sure that there are any number of ways to go about this. My first
inclination is to provide the listing of cataloged material, and the listing
of microfiche contents, as .txt files, and include a link to them in the EAD
finding aid. This would keep the EAD finding aid to a manageable size while
still ensuring that the full listing is available to anyone whose interested
in seeing it. Any thoughts on what would make the most sense as well as be
most useful to our end users are welcome!!
Thanks
Michele Rothenberger
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