Describing web archives

Describing web archives has more specific steps than general description. You will need to describe the web archives both in ArchivesSpace and in Archive-It (the main tool we use to capture websites). The steps below in each section follow the guidance in the DDC Web Archiving Metadata Application Profile and the relevant sections of the processing manual.

Archive-It

In Archive-It, you can download a spreadsheet of the metadata for all of the seeds for a collection. This is how we will generally edit metadata rather than going through the web interface.

1. Open the spreadsheet

2. If this is just after downloading, remove any seeds that have already been described fully, leaving the headers and the row with only urls (the digital archivist will do this before handing it off if being described by someone else).

3. Enter in information in at least the required fields as described in the DDC Web Archiving Metadata Application Profile. The headers in the spreadsheet should remain as what was downloaded. If you need an additional field (for those repeatable). Insert a column and copy the necessary header.

4. The digital archivist will supply the Identifier_CollectionID field and the Appraisal_Information field.

5. Examples of description can be found here and here as well as the standard rights statements for both MC and AC collections (see the Identifier_CollectionID field).

6. Once complete, save the document, making sure it remains as an open document spreadsheet (ods) file.

7. The digital archivist will use the file and upload it to Archive-It.

ArchivesSpace

Once the description is complete in Archive-It, we also need to add this description in ArchivesSpace at the File/Folder level.

1. Go to the collection in ArchivesSpace that the seed belongs in.

2. Find the appropriate place in the finding aid for the website to be described (i.e. is there a series it fits into?).

3. Add an archival object.

4. Put the title field from Archive-It into the title field.

5. Select “Level of Description” as File.

6. Select the Publish checkbox.

7. Add language(s) as to match those used in Archive-It.

8. Date:

   1. Expression: [First crawl date] - Ongoing (only first crawl date if the Appraisal Note says it was a one-time crawl)

   2. Begin: [First crawl date].

   3. End: leave blank (unless crawl is no longer active).
      

   4. Type: Inclusive Dates (Single if the Appraisal Note says it was a one-time crawl).

   5. Label: Creation.

9. Extent:
   

   1. Number: 1

   2. Container summary: (1 archived website)

   3. Portion: (Whole)

   4. Type: item(s)
      

      Note

      Information about WARC files and storage size will be listed as an additional extent as part of the transfer and Archivematica workflow. (link)
      

10. Agent Links 

    1. You must have at least 2 agents, a creator/contributor and a source.

    2. These fields match what was entered into Archive-It. Add an agent with “Role” of Creator and find the matching agent by searching or browsing. If the agent does not exist, create one (some guidance on creating agents is provided in the accessioning documentation). Add as many as needed whether for creator or contributor.

    3. Add an agent with “Role” of Source and “Relator” of Collector. Find and select the agent, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Libraries. Department of Distinctive Collections (in the unlikely event of a different source, find or create the appropriate agent.)

11. Notes

    1. Add a Scope and Contents Note

       1. Click both publish boxes.

       2. Enter the Description text from Archive-It in the Text field.
          

    2. Add an Appraisal note

       1. Click both publish boxes.

       2. Enter the Description text from Archive-It in the Text field.
          

12. Instances

    1. In the instance section, click add digital object

    2. Using the down arrow in the blank text box, choose create, this will open a new window to create a digital object.

    1. Title: use the same title you used in the archival object and on Archive-It

    2. Identifier: use the url for the website that was captured, for instance: https://open-access.mit.edu/

    3. Select publish

    4. Choose add file version

    5. File URI: enter the url to the list of wayback machine captures for that url, for instance: https://wayback.archive-it.org/7963/*/https://open-access.mit.edu/

    6. Select publish.

    7. XLink Actuate Attribute: onRequest

    8. XLink Show Attribute: new

    9. Add a Date following the same guidance as above.

    10. Add an agent field for the creator(s) using the same guidance from the archival object. The source field can be omitted here.

    11. Click Save.

        Note

        Once the WARC files for this seed have been downloaded, an additional instance will be added as the accessioning and Archivematica workflow. (link)
        

13. Click Save Archival Object.