GLOSSARY OF ARCHIVESSPACE TERMS
Accession: A transaction by which a repository acquires custody of materials
deemed to have archival value. The accession may result from a transfer of records
from another office in the repository’s institution, from a purchase, or from a gift. In
such cases the material becomes the property of the repository or its parent
institution, unless the material has been placed in the repository on deposit. An
accession may represent a new resource or an accrual to a resource already in the
custody of the repository.
Accession Record: Stores information about the receipt of materials. An accession
record may be for a single item or an aggregation of materials.
Agent Record: Agent Records contain information about persons, families,
corporate entities, or software that have a specified relationship to archival materials
(e.g., subject, creator, rights owner, source, etc.). Agent Records are also used to
manage relationships among names.
Archival Object: 1.) New Accession, Resource, and Digital Object records are known
collectively as archival objects. Resource and Digital Object records both allow for
multi-level description or the presence of component records within the archival
object. 2.) When adding a new component description, ArchivesSpace supplies the
default title of Archival Object until the record has been successfully saved.
Background Job: A module in ArchivesSpace that can be used to do global changes
(Batch Find and Replace), Import Data and Print To PDF.
Classification Record: Used to create or edit a hierarchy of record groups, subgroups
or fonds, at as few or as many levels as required by a repository. Use of
Classification Records is optional.
Complex digital object: Includes two or more content files (and their format variants
or derivatives) and corresponding metadata. The content files are related as parts of
a whole and are sequenced either physically, such as pages, or logically, such as
entries in a diary. For example, a complex digital object could consist of a multi-page
diary scanned as TIFF images, from which are generated display images (JPEGs and
GIFs), plus a transcription of the diary and the metadata for each file.
Component Record: Serves to describe the logical or physical parts of a multi-level
resource or digital object that makes up an aggregation of archival materials. Values
contain class, files, item, series, subseries, etc.
Container: The means by which material enclosures are physically controlled.
Container types include box, disc, file, etc.
Content file: A file that is either born digitally or produced using various kinds of
capture application software. Audio, image, text, and video are the basic kinds of
content files. Versions of a content file may be dispersed across several file formats.
For example, an image may be scanned into a TIFF file, and then JPEG and GIF files
may be created from the TIFF file to increase delivery speeds and protect property
rights.
Controlled Value Lists: Used to populate dropdown fields in accession, resource,
digital object, subject, agent, and other records throughout ArchivesSpace. These
lists are provided to ensure data consistency and expedite recording of data values.
The controlled value lists also enables users to set a default value for a field so that a
data entry user doesn’t have to enter information in that particular field, unless the
default value is not appropriate in a given record.
Digital Object Record: Digital object records are for both born-digital and digitized
materials. Digital objects can be linked to existing resource records in ArchivesSpace
using the Instances feature. The Digital Object Record includes the metadata record,
content file(s), and a link or digital wrapper. Digital objects may be simple or
complex.
Digital wrapper: An encoding specification for binding digital content files and their
metadata together and for specifying the logical or physical relationship of the
content files. ArchivesSpace can export digital object records in a METS wrapper
which is the current national standard for wrapping digital library materials.
Event Record: An event record describes an action involving a selected object in the
archival repository and an agent. Events represent a specific action that one or more
agents undertook in relation to one or more archival objects at a specific date and
time (or in a range of dates and times). Information in event records are used to
create reports in ArchivesSpace, e.g., cataloging complete.
Export: A process to output records from ArchivesSpace for use in other software
applications.
Field: A specific individual data element in the record. For example, title or extent.
Finding aid: A description of an archival resource in the custody of an archive,
museum, library, or historical society. The description serves as an access tool for
researchers. A finding aid typically includes information about the physical and
intellectual content of the resource, as well as contextual information about the
individual or organization that created it. The finding aid may provide a hierarchical
description of a resource, including its intellectual organization and, at varying levels
of analysis, descriptions of the component parts (series, folders, items) comprising
the collection. Sometimes referred to as an inventory or register. In ArchivesSpace,
the majority of this information is found in the Resource Record.
Global preferences: Settings which allow users to control certain aspects of how
ArchivesSpace displays information across all repositories in ArchivesSpace. These
settings can be overridden by a users individual preferences for a repository made in
My Repository Settings.
Hierarchy: The intellectual organization of an archival resource, proceeding from
larger aggregations through varying levels of aggregate components, down to
individual items. Hierarchical organization is represented in a finding aid through
multi-level description. In ArchivesSpace, the hierarchy is visually displayed in the
upper portion of resource and digital object records using indentations to indicate
the various levels.
Home: The first screen a user see after logging in to ArchivesSpace. Users can
return to this screen from any location by clicking on the home icon.
Identifier: A required identification number assigned to Accession, Resource and
Digital Object records that uniquely identifies the object within the repository.
Import: A background job that can be used to add new accession, resource, subject,
agent and digital object records in a variety of formats to ArchivesSpace.
Instance: An instance refers to a sub-record within Accession and Resource records
that links the intellectual description to information about the physical or digital
instantiations of material, e.g., the physical container.
Instantiations: Following the instantiation principle, that argues in order for a
property to exist, it must be represented by a concrete object. In the case of
recording an “instance” in ArchivesSpace, the representation is a physical container
or location, or a digital object PURL/URL, that represents the realization of an
archival entity in digital or physical form.
Location Records: Location records identify and describe the shelving locations
(shelves, drawers, file cases, bins, walls, etc.) where archival materials are
permanently stored. They also enable the tracking of archival materials to a
temporary location where they may be in use, e.g., reading room.
Metadata: Metadata is represented in the form of a structured data record.
Metadata can range from descriptive information to support discovery of the
resource, to rights information or technical details about the digital files that make
up the object. It can also include structural metadata that defines the logical or
physical relationship(s) of the content files comprising a complex digital object.
Preferences: Settings which allow users to control certain aspects of how
ArchivesSpace displays information within a specific repository.
Public Interface: The ArchivesSpace public interface allows users to browse, search,
and display descriptive records within an institution’s ArchivesSpace installation.
Authenticated staff may connect to the staff interface from the public interface
through “edit” links to view non-public information that is not displayed in the public
interface.
Rapid Data Entry (RDE): A tool in ArchivesSpace that supports repeated entry for a
series of Resource components at the same level that have very similar data, e.g.,
level of description, instance type, container type, container identifier, etc.
Reports: A module in ArchivesSpace that can be used to retrieve information about
the records in the repository, e.g., unprocessed accessions.
Repository Record: A record in ArchivesSpace which is used to demar cate the data
of one repository from that of another repository. This record stores information,
such as contact information and agency codes, which can be exported in certain
metadata products.
Resource Record: Resource records are where a user records the bulk of
information about the intellectual and physical characteristics of archival materials,
as well as information about creators and topics. Within a given resource record,
users can add a range of descriptive elements, as well as notes, rights statements,
and linked repository records. Resource records can accommodate single items or
aggregations of any complexity — including single-level and multilevel collection
descriptions.
Simple Digital Object: A simple digital object is one in which the intellectual content
of the object is contained in one digital content file (and its variants). A digital image
of the Golden Gate Bridge is a simple digital object. So, too, is a PDF file comprising
Melville’s Moby Dick.
Staff Interface: Accessible only to authenticated staff, the ArchivesSpace staff
interface is where staff create, edit, and manage records and other administrative
data within an institution’s ArchivesSpace installation. Staff can connect from the
staff interface to the public staff interface through links in order to view the public
version of ArchivesSpace descriptive records.
Spawn: To generate a new record using an existing one. When users spawn an
accession record, information in the accession record is transferred to a new
resource record. ArchivesSpace automatically links the two records, and transfers
specific information from the accession record to the resource record.
Subject Record: Subject Records contain information about terms describing the
principal themes, topical contents, and format characteristics of materials described
in ArchivesSpace. Information about the proper names of persons, corporate entities
or families that function as subjects of materials is recorded in Agent Records.
Suppressed Records: Suppressed records are retained within the application but are
hidden to most users and unavailable within the application. Suppressed records
exist to allow the database to maintain referential integrity when materials or
records are transferred, merged, or deaccessioned. Event history for suppressed
records is retained.
User-Defined fields: User-defined fields are "semantically neutral" data fields
available in ArchivesSpace for recording additional information about materials not
supported in other sections of the accession, resource, or digital object record
User Record: User Records are used to record information that ArchivesSpace
system administrators use to manage and control access to an ArchivesSpace
installation’s staff interface. They establish the identities, credentials, and
permissions of staff who may browse, view, create, edit, and delete records in
ArchivesSpace.
Archon:
 Agent records are referred to as subject, creator, rights owner, or source
records.
 Record groups imported from Archon will appear under the Classifications
heading in ArchivesSpace.
 Content files were directly uploaded in the Digital Library Manager in Archon.
ArchivesSpahttp://eit.ces.ncsu.edu/constant-contacts-archive-feature/ce
requires that they be linked via a URI.