Printing Finding Aid PDF

Generating a PDF of a finding aid is a relatively straightforward process:

• First, identify the collection to be printed to PDF and take note of its title and/or unique identifier (public link). 

• Navigate to the New Background Job — Print To PDF (public link) page. This can be done from the Export drop-down menu of any resource record (as demonstrated in this example (public link) or from the Create drop-down menu in the ArchivesSpace header (public link).

• Type either the name of the collection (if unique) OR the collection identifier into the "Resource to Print" search bar (leave the Unpublished checkbox unchecked). 

• Click "Queue Job". The time needed to generate will vary, but larger finding aids will take longer before a PDF is created.

• After a brief while, and assuming the job was a success, the log screen will print that the job was a success and ask the processor to refresh the page (public link).

• Once the "Refresh Page" button has been clicked, the processor will then be able to click the "Download PDF" button to download a PDF copy of the page (public link).

An attempt to print a finding aid as a PDF will occasionally fail, as demonstrated in this example (public link). These cases are often minor errors (e.g., typographical errors, incomplete tags, etc.) that render the EAD invalid.

Rather than manually review the finding aid in ArchivesSpace for errors, it is often easier to review the EAD itself to identify the issue (this is because ArchivesSpace does not easily identify the issue in the staff interface). To do this:

• Review the log screen to learn more about the issue(s). In the issue from above, a brief review of the log reveals the issue has to do with a problematic <title> tag (public link).

• Navigate to the affected resource record.

• Once at the resource record, navigate to the top of the resource record header and select the Download EAD menu (public link). Leave the default settings as is.

• Open Oxygen XML Editor and load the exported EAD file.

• Select the "Validate" button, which should reveal the problematic issue(s).

• Return to the finding aid, locate the record(s) with the issue(s), and remedy them. In the example from above, the archival object has a <title> tag without a closing tag AND lacks an href attribute value (public link). Removing the <title> tag will fix this issue.

• Finally, try to reprint the PDF finding aid. 

Once the finding aid has been printed off, the processor will need to highlight any additions made to the finding aid over the course of the processing project. The processor should also highlight any unusual decisions made during processing that affect the original description (e.g., enhancing original series titles with new text to accommodate newly processed material). 

If any significant content has been removed (i.e., more than a remedy to typographical errors), an explanation should be added, in the form of a comment, stating why this was done. Processors will not remove prior authorized terms or change original description unless that content is factually incorrect or considered to be harmful (public link). This logic is based on the understanding that published description provides a mechanism by which researchers can review archival material and that changing this description makes the process of retrieving the same content in the future more challenging.