Hi folks, Someone at another library reached out for advice about "sharing" top containers across different resource records. I have a feeling that this may be a common question, so I thought I would share my response.
MC Thanks for reaching out -- I know that ArchivesSpace adoption can be complicated! Yes, one of the explicit requirements of the container management model was to allow for shared containers. More information about that work is here: https://guides.library.yale.edu/archivesspace/ASpaceCo ntainerManagement. Here's how I think about it, which is helpful to me. Each top container has its own record in the database, and can be linked to any resource, accession, or archival object in your repository. In the same way that your resource records can share subject headings, they can also share top containers -- and in the same way that if you create a subject heading once, you don't have to create it again, the same thing is true for when you tell ArchivesSpace about a particular box on your shelf. So let's say that you have decided that you're going to put all panoramic photos, regardless of collection, in the same oversize box. The first time you have a panoramic photo in a finding aid, you would create a top container to assign it to. You can give it a container indicator (like "1" or "Oversize 1" or whatever you want), a container profile (information about the dimensions of the box itself, if you want) and a barcode. I am a big fan of barcodes, because they help give every container a truly unique indicator that you can then search by and retrieve. I've created an example here: http://sandbox.archivesspace.org/resources/1# tree::archival_object_11 . The credentials for the sandbox are admin/admin. Now, you're working on a finding aid for another collection and you come across another panoramic photograph and it lives in the same box as the one you encountered before. This time, you create the archival object, and when it's time to add a top container you go to "browse" instead of "create". This gives you a search box. If your box has a barcode, you can just wand that in and it's the easiest thing in the world. Otherwise, you will have to do a search for other resource records that point to the shared box so that you can find it and link to it. I've created an example of the same top container in a second collection here: http://sandbox.archivesspace.org/resources/2#tree::archival_object_12 Here, you can see the ways that ArchivesSpace tells you that these two objects are in the same top container: http://sandbox.archivesspace.org/top_ containers/7 And I think that's it! -- Maureen Callahan Sophia Smith Collection Archivist Smith College Special Collections Northampton, Massachusetts 01063 T. 413 585 2981 C. 215.863.1860 [email protected] Pronouns: she/her/hers Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SophiaSmithCollection/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smithlibraries/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/archivalagents *Please note*. Smith College Special Collections is now housed at Young Library <https://www.smith.edu/libraries/about/new-neilson/wheres-my-library>. Learn more about renovations to Neilson Library here <https://www.smith.edu/libraries/about/new-neilson>.
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