Agents & Subjects in ArchivesSpace

Note: This page reflects local practices at Pacific University regarding Agents & Subjects.
For detailed directions on how to enter Agents & Subjects in ArchivesSpace, see the Orbis Cascade Alliance ArchivesSpace Manual.

About Choosing Agent & Subject Terms for a Collection

Subject and Agent terms use standarized, authoritative forms of names and subjects in order to help pull together multiple records that are about the same thing. They help users find materials that are about a person or topic that they are researching, or represent an example of a medium or genre. Rules of thumb for adding subjects in ArchivesSpace:

• Accession records do not merit the time investment for adding these terms. In general, only add Agents who are Donors; other terms are not necessary at this stage.

• Resource records often have between 3-8 subject terms, which typically include:

  • The main topic(s) of the collection. What is the main research topic that the collection could inform, if any?

  • The main geographical focus of the collection, if applicable

  • Significant media genres/types present in the collection, if any, such as Diaries, Video Recordings, Engravings, Sculpture

  • For records that will be exported to the ArchivesWest finding aid portal, at least one ArchivesWest/NWDA browsing term must be included

• We typically only add Agent/Subject terms to top-level Resource records, not to "Child" records within the hierarchy of a Resource record.

Creating Agents (i.e. Authors, Donors, University Departments, etc.)

ArchivesSpace uses the "Agent" element to track information about people, families and corporate entities. An "Agent" record can be linked to various records in a variety of ways using the "Roles" function. For example:

Victor Atiyeh is the Creator, Subject and Donor of the Victor Atiyeh Papers

Agent Type=Person; Role=Creator

Agent Type=Person; Role=Subject

Agent Type=Person; Role=Source + Relator=Donor

To Create a new Agent while you're working on an Accession or Resource Record:

1. Go to the "Agents" section of your Accession or Resource record. Mouse over the down arrow and select "Create."

2. Select the type of Agent: Person, Family, Corporate Entity or Software.

3. You will be taken to a new dialogue pane. In this pane, you will record whether you are creating the Agent based only on information that we have locally, or if you are using a standard name authority file. Check the appropriate name authority file when creating new agents so that we can be sure to have the most correct and authoritative forms of names in our records! Check for names in these locations:

   • Library of Congress Name Authority File ( = "NACO" ) - contains the names of authors and political figures

   • Union List of Artist Names (= "ULAN") contains artists' names

Name Forms Section: Sources

4. After checking to see if someone has already created an authorized form of the name, fill out the fields about how you derived the name:

   • Authority ID: If you found the name in NACO or ULAN, include the identification number for the name record here

   • Source: The default selection is Local Sources: indicates that you did NOT find the name in NACO or ULAN. Change the selection to NACO or ULAN if appropriate.

   • Rules: Select which standard was used to create the name. If you created the name yourself, normally you will select DACS. If you found the name in NACO or ULAN, select AACR as the rules. (We don't actually know what rules were used in that case, but AACR is the most likely choice.)

Example for an Agent created based on local sources of information:

Name Forms Section: Name Terms

1. 1. Fill out the fields about the name itself. Note that the specific fields present will depend on whether you are describing a single person, family, corporate entity, etc.

*Important*:

1. 1. 1. • If using the NACO or ULAN forms of the name, ONLY fill out the fields that exist in the authorized name form, even if you know more details that could be added.

         • If creating a name from scratch, follow DACS Section 2.6 (most common) or CCO Section 2 rules (uncommon; use with input from the Archivist for art/artifacts)

   2. Name Order: "Indirect" is the default, which indicates the typical American order for sorting names in a list: FamilyName, Firstname. You will usually leave the default as-is. "Direct" indicates that the name should not be inverted. This usually comes up only when dealing with non-Western names.

   3. Prefix and Title: Leave blank normally. These fields are used ONLY when you are required to include a title or honorific such as Sir, Dr., etc. (Under DACS name creation rules this is normally not included; do not use for regular names like Ms. Jane Smith.)

   4. Primary Part of Name [or Family Name]: Normally this contains the Family Name (e.g. Smith).

   5. Rest of Name: Normally this contains the First or Given name (e.g. Jane)

   6. Suffix: Usually this is blank. When used, it is most often to record the suffix Jr. or Sr.

   7. Fuller Form: Usually this is blank. When used, it contains a fuller version of the person's name, such as "Edward Estlin" for E. E. Cummings. When the name is displayed to patrons, this part of the name will appear in parentheses, e.g.: Cummings, E. E. (Edward Estlin), 1894-1962.

   8. Number: Leave blank. Very rarely used in cases such as King Henry VIII

   9. Dates: Include birth and/or death dates when you are creating a name based on local sources and the dates are available. Most common form is YYYY-YYYY or YYYY- . Consult DACS for other forms.

   10. Qualifier: Normally leave blank, except when you need to distinguish between corporate entities with generic or confusing names by adding a short explanatory definition. Qualifiers are displayed in parentheses. For example: Theta Nu Alpha (Pacific University sorority)

   11. Sort Name: Leave checked normally. If you want to edit the display version of the name by hand, you can uncheck this.

Contact Details

• 1. This optional section is where you can record information about how to contact the person, family, etc. in your record. Normally we only complete this for donors.

Notes

• 1. This optional section can be used to record any other important information, such as "Do not contact without permission from Advancement," etc.

  2. Other sections: At Pacific, we commonly do not use these sections.

  3. Related Agents

  4. External Documents

  5. Dates of Existence

Save.

Note: ArchivesSpace includes a way to make multiple versions of names. The "Authoritative" name is the one that should match sources such as NACO. The "Display" name function allows you (in theory) to create an alternative version of the same name for display within your own specific context. At this time, Pacific is not using the Display name function; we have not tested it for use in exported records to other programs.

Creating Subjects

ArchivesSpace uses the "Subjects" element to track topical, geographical and genre terms that can be associated with other records. Note that while a person, family or corporate entity can also have a role = subject, subject elements should be topical, geographical or genre-related. Names and corporate entities should be entered as "Agents."

To Create a new Subject while you're working on an Accession or Resource Record:

Go to the "Subjects" section of your Accession or Resource record. Mouse over the down arrow and select "Create."

• 1. A new dialogue pane will open. Before filling it out, you will need to find an appropriate subject term in one of the standard Thesauri. The following are recommended:

     • • Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT): Contains genre terms for types of artwork, artifacts and media, e.g. "oil paintings" or "digital images"

       • Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): Contains topical terms and some geographical terms. These can be subdivided (check a bibliographic database like WorldCat for examples), e.g. "Oregon-- History".

       • Avoid using "Local Sources." The major exception is when you need to refer to something with a proper name that has not yet been documented elsewhere, e.g. "Barbershop Ballad Contest (Forest Grove, Or.)". Creation of completely new subject terms should be done sparingly and should follow standard rules.

  2. Fill out the "Basic Information" Section

     • Authority ID = Optional; enter the unique identifier for the term from the thesaurus you used

     • Source = Select the source of the term, such as AAT or LCSH

     • Scope Note = Normally leave blank. If needed, you can explain any important details about a new subject heading you have constructed from local sources here.

  3. Fill out the Terms and Subdivisions Section

     • For terms that have no subdivisions, e.g. "Oil paintings", fill out this section once.

     • For terms that have subdivisions, e.g. "Oregon-- History", fill out the first term, then use the "Add Term/Subdivision" button to add the second and third terms. ASpace will add the hyphens for you; do not type them in.

     • Term = The term exactly as it appears in your source. Exception: capitalize the first letter of a term from AAT, e.g. "Diaries", not "diaries".

       • Type = The type of term. (This is required in order to migrate records into MARC format seamlessly.) Most common choices:

       • Topical (default) = the 'aboutness' of the item. For example, a pioneer's diary could have the topic: "Frontier and pioneer life"

       • Genre/Form = the medium or type of the item. For example, "Diaries" or "Ink washes" or "Vellum (paper)"

       • Geographic = the geographical subject of the item. For example, "Oregon"

  4. Save.