Hi, When I worked at the American Antiquarian Society, I used a convention like this:
BibID-Box#-Folder#_sequential#.tif .. if there aren't any boxes, go straight to folder. 101234-b03-f33_0035.tif When creating a naming convention, you obviously need to take into account everything that is and could be. For instance how many total boxes for a family papers could exist? I tend to think 99 would do it, but maybe this isn't that case. LOC may have more. Jonathan On Mar 20, 2013, at 6:19 PM, Cathy Herr <cherr at glenbow.org> wrote: > Posted on behalf of one of our Archivists ... > > When we plan to digitize unnumbered items in an archival file, we first > number the entire contents of the file. We then add the item number to the > end of the call number which we use for identification purposes. For example, > in the call number M-1234-5-6, M-1234 represents the manuscript portion of > the Smith family fonds; 5 represents the 5th folder in the Smith papers, and > 6 represents the 6th page within the 5th folder. Boring perhaps, but the call > number will always lead us back to the exact document from which the digital > file was made. > > We do not try to describe the actual item in the file title, as this > information can be found in the finding aid. > > Susan Kooyman > Archivist > Glenbow Museum > > 130 - 9 Avenue SE, Calgary, AB. T2G 0P3 > P: 403.268.4227 > F: 403.262.6569 > E: skooyman at glenbow.org > > -----Original Message----- > From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu] On Behalf Of > lauren boegen > Sent: March-20-13 3:05 PM > To: mcn-l at mcn.edu > Subject: [MCN-L] File naming conventions for digitized archives > > Hi everyone, > > I'm wondering if anyone would be able and willing to share their experiences > with file naming when digitizing an archive. We are struggling to find an > efficient yet informative/functional way to assign file names to items in the > collection that aren't individually identified at the item level. For > example, we have several letters from John Doe to Jane Doe grouped in a > folder and IDed as such in the finding aid, but we don't identify each > individual letter by an accession number. > > The archive in question contains the business and family papers of an > American astronomer and telescope maker and include mostly letters, invoices, > and business materials related to telescope delivery. The best we've been > able to come up with is a file name combining some sort of descriptor about > what the image actually is (ie. > letter_fromjohndoe_tojanedoe) and location (Clark_Series1_Box6_Folder2), but > this seems unwieldy. I know someone out there's got to have figured out a > better way, and any insight would be appreciated. Thanks! > > Lauren > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > Lauren Boegen > Digital Collections Manager > Webster Institute for the History of Astronomy The Adler Planetarium and > Astronomy Museum > phone: 312.542.2618 > lboegen at adlerplanetarium.org > _______________________________________________ > You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer > Network (http://www.mcn.edu) > > To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu > > To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: > http://mcn.edu/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l > > The MCN-L archives can be found at: > http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/ >
