Resources for Members

ARVAS finding aids are created using Encoded Archival Description or EAD. We are currently using Version 2002. There are multiple ways to create an EAD finding aid.

• You can create one manually.
•  You can use the clip library, maintained by ARVAS in GitHub and NoteTab text editor.
  • A series of screencasts are available to assist in learning how to use the clip library.
  • Written documentation for the clip library: Encoding Procedures using NoteTab
• You can use the DACS-compliant form (you fill in the mandatory and any optional fields you choose, and we will return an XML file to you).
• ArchivesSpace users can have their finding aids automatically harvested. Contact Kira Dietz if you want to get set up!

1. Go to the Administrative site and click on "Admin Upload."
   • It will prompt you to enter your institution's username and password
2. Click on “choose file”
3. Locate the file (you can only upload one file at a time!)
4. Click “upload”
   • The default schema type that is listed. You should not change the schema type unless you are working with EAD3.
5. The system will attempt to validate your file.
   • If you get a green box with a link to your finding aid, you’re all set!
   • If you get a yellow box with a message and a link to your finding aid, there are things you may want to change in your code, but the file is considered valid.
   • If you get a red box, there will be an error message (or messages) and no link. If you can’t figure out how to fix the file or don’t understand the message, please copy the message or take a screenshot and contact the chair of the Technology Team, Kira Dietz. Or you can post your question to the VIVA SC list (vivasc-l@lists.vcu.edu) or to the ARVAS Slack Channel.

If your finding aids are harvested from ArchivesSpace then they will be added automatically.

• You can override a file in the database by uploading a new version with the same identifier (MARC code + number, exs. viblbv01986 or vi00399)
• Updated files can immediately be accessed using the link directly, but this system re-indexes at night, so any new changes will not be found in a database search until the following day.
• If your finding aids are harvested from ArchivesSpace changes will appear the following day after the system re-indexes.

• At this time, you cannot delete a file yourself. If you need something permanently removed, please provide the identifier(s) for anything you need to be deleted to Kira Dietz. She can remove them.
• Updated files will disappear from the database when they are removed, but the system reindexes at night so that they may appear in search results for up to 24 hours.

Log in to the administrative site and click on "published directory" on the ribbon menu.

Files are also available on the GitHub site:

• Enter this address https://github.com/VAheritage/allEADs/tree/svn/[your org name], for example for the Library of Virginia enter: https://github.com/VAheritage/allEADs/tree/svn/lva
• To view an individual guide, add the file name to the end of the url: e.g. https://github.com/VAheritage/allEADs/blob/svn/lva/vi01114.xml

ARVAS has a dashboard feature that displays:

• Number of unique visitors
• Number of returning visitors
• Time spent on site
• Most common referrers
• Most popular finding aids

The statistics are shown by day, month, year, or a specific date range. View the dashboard for your organization by logging into the administrative site and click "dashboard" on the ribbon menu.

Please note that the dashboard can be slow to update when you change the parameters. Contact Kira Dietz if you have any questions or issues.

Finding aids created using the clip library have a logo and address files containing an institution's information. Rather than adding that information every time a finding aid is created, the information is stored, and a URL points to the information. To change that information, contact  Mike Durbin

If similar information is in your Institutional Profile, please contact arvasarchives@gmail.com so that the Outreach Team can update your information.

• Administrative site - use this site to:
  • Upload, download, and validate an EAD file to ARVAS (password required)
  • Access the statistics dashboard
  • Access the public directory
• ARVAS best practice guidelines
• DACS-compliant form for EAD creation
  • • This form can be used to input basic information about a collection to receive an EAD file for upload to ARVAS. Contact Kira Dietz if you have questions or issues.
•  Github
  • Link to the directory for all published EADs on ARVAS
  • Link to the clip library, scheme, and old documentation