ArchivesSpace (or ASpace for short) is a server whose main purpose is to host a software program also named… ArchivesSpace. The program is “an open source archives information management application for managing and providing web access to archives, manuscripts and digital objects”. The server also hosts a few auxiliary programs who take the output from ArchivesSpace and convert it into various other formats, which are then made available via an Apache webserver on the same machine.
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Finding aids are stored as Word documents at
Shared/P/Othmer Library/Archives/Collections Inventories/Archival Finding Aids and Box Lists
.Kent, Birch and Patrick B. enter the data in them, one by one, into ArchivesSpace. They finding aids are revised in the process.
Once they are in ArchivesSpace:
They are automatically exported by https://chemheritage.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/HDCSD/pages/2151514113/export+archivesspace+xml to EAD files at http://ead.sciencehistory.org/
They are also converted to HTML. Examples: Wotiz; Simon; Fenn; Carbogel; Brody. There is currently no Web page that lists these HTML files, so you have to know the URL beforehand or be directed to them from e.g. Google or the OPAC.
Kent also exports them to a PDF, which he then sends to Caroline. These are entered into the OPAC. (see e.g. https://othmerlib.sciencehistory.org/articles/1065801.15134/1.PDF )
Note: the PDF has to be manually updated in the OPAC every time the metadata in ArchivesSpace changes.
In certain cases the OPAC record also points at the HTML file at https://archives.sciencehistory.org/ .
Certain works in the Digital Collections also point to these HTML files. Example: https://digital.sciencehistory.org/works/81jkowj.
Finally, the exported EAD files are also ingested by University of Penn Libraries Special Collections and the Center for the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine (CHSTM).
Penn, in turn, processes these EAD files on a nightly basis and adds them to the Philadelphia Area Archives Research Portal (PAARP), a service funded by PACSCL.
Likewise, CHSTM ingests these EADs and makes them searchable at its search portal.
Note that external links to our HTML finding aids are rare and can be disregarded. There should be no need to provide redirects to these URLS when we eliminate them.
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The current production version of Aspace is 3.0.1
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Terminal access: ssh -i /path/to/production/pem_file.pem ubuntu@50.16.132.240
The ubuntu
user owns all the admin scripts.
The relevant Ansible role is: /roles/archivesspace/
in the ansible-inventory
codebase.
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