Finding aid aggregation
Overview of Aggregation Process
EAD files for all partners will be hosted as part of the Mountain West Digital Library (MWDL) system. All EAD files will be discoverable in the MWDL central index. The workflow for this process is illustrated in the diagram to the left and discussed below. All LSTA partners will follow the workflow on the right of the following diagram, while NEH-grant-funded partners in the Western Waters Digital Library will follow the workflow on the left.
For more information about the process described below, please contact Sandra McIntyre (mailto:sandra.mcintyre@utah.edu), Nathan Pugh (mailto:nathan.pugh@utah.edu), or Debbie Rakhsha (mailto:debbie.rakhsha@utah.edu) at the University of Utah Marriott Library. Information is available for the development team on a password-protected workspace within the Marriott Library's Sharepoint site.
Uploading EAD Files to CONTENTdm Hub
EAD files will be uploaded to a CONTENTdm digital collections management system server. This involves two steps: (1) extracting the values in certain EAD elements and mapping them to CONTENTdm fields within a tab-delimited text file; and (2) using CONTENTdm's Acquisition Station to upload the EAD file and metadata to the Mountain West Digital Library hub server. Both steps can be done on multiple EAD files at a time for batch processing.
An extraction script has been created to automate the first step. The EAD elements chosen for extraction and the Dublin Core fields they map to are given in the EAD-CONTENTdm-Dublin Core Elements Assignments (Mapping Table).
Display of Individual EAD Files in CONTENTdm
The display of EAD files will be within CONTENTdm's item viewer. As with all CONTENTdm collections, the CONTENTdm item viewer displays a header and footer of the partner's choice, typically with the partner's logo and other branding related to the EAD collection.
We have modified the CONTENTdm item viewer to bypass the usual display of metadata and instead to go directly to the display of the EAD file itself. The display is done using an XSL transform (XSLT), which uses an XSL stylesheet (template) to transform the XML in the EAD file into XHTML for viewing in a browser. For the purposes of the initial demonstrations, we used one of the stylesheet combinations given by the EAD 2002 Cookbook site. For production, Nate has created a new stylesheet for the specific needs of the partners in this project. The stylesheet transforms each of the elements, required and optional, in the Best Practices Guidelines for this project. Dan Davis is convening a subcommittee of the partners to make suggestions about the details of this stylesheet.
Searching and Browsing
Institutional Search and Browse: Each CONTENTdm-based partner will be able to use standard CONTENTdm features to search and browse its own EAD files. In addition, partners may create special search and browse pages using CONTENTdm's Custom Query functions.
Central Search and Browse: The metadata from all uploaded EAD files will be harvested periodically and aggregated into the Mountain West Digital Library at http://mwdl.org. Search and browse pages within MWDL's interface will allow users to discover finding aids from all partners, or from any selected subset of the partners. Sandra McIntyre and Nathan Pugh will be creating a search interface mockup for consideration by the LSTA partners.