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We are using the Archon software which creates a web portal into what we call the Special Collections Catalog.   By entering the collection information and finding aid, the software produces an EAD as well as an OCLC record/worksheet.   We send the EAD to the Florida Center for Library Automation which adds it to the Archives Florida section of PALMM, thus all contributing archives/libraries have a combined portal for EADS.   We send the OCLC worksheet to our cataloging folks in the library who then input this into OCLC so our collection (collection level cataloging) shows up in the library OPAC as well as OCLC and WorldCat.

 

Archon does request a collection title and the collections are alphabetical.  We’ve had to make some creative changes in titles.    For example, “The Pensacola Yacht Club Records”  looked great on the boxes and inventories but it would be under “T” if we didn’t change it to “Pensacola Yacht Club Records.”   Collections that say “John Smith Papers” have been changed, for online use to “Smith, John, Papers”

for a title, but in the finding aid would say “John Smith Papers, 1819-1920, consist of the ….”

It has taken us forty years, but yes, we’ve reached the point where we do have some twins, as I call them, that would be “Smith Family Papers” or “Jones Family Papers”…more than one collection with a similar title, so for titling online, they are changed to Smith Family Papers of Pensacola, or something like

Smith (John) Family Papers….so the alphabetical titling does not end up as two identical titles.

 

If we are getting University records from an office, and perhaps there are two collections, they can be separated in the titling by time periods “UWF Student Affairs Division Records, 1967-1984” and “UWF Student Activities Division Records, 1981-2006” that kind of thing.   If there are individual item records sometimes where a collection was one item, e.g.   “Galvez, Benardo de, Letter 1781”  and you have other similar items, then the title might include the date.    We are making the collections accessible and not spending great amounts of time reprocessing or combining collections where we can.

 

We are having, however, to sometimes create finding aids when one was too vague or not done.

 

Dean

 

 

Dean DeBolt

University Librarian, Special Collections

John C. Pace Library, University of West Florida

11000 University Parkway

Pensacola, FL  32514-5750

850-474-2213

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From: Encoded Archival Description List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Heather Rolen
Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2008 11:05 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: browsing Finding Aids online

 

I would be interested to hear how institutions present an online interface to enable users to browse their Finding Aids- specifically I would like to hear from institutions that have automated the process from an underlying database, and are doing so either on –the-fly, or through scheduled batch processes.

 

One problem we anticipate is alphabetic zing the collection title without complex processing.  We expect there are other issues with automating this process.  

 

All feedback is appreciated – or feel free to contact off –list.

 

Thank you,

Heather Rolen

Yeshiva University Libraries

500 West 185th St

New York, NY 10033

212-960-5400 ext 6172