ArchivesZ Data Challenges: Princeton University

I received a zip file of 1,771 EAD encoded finding aids from the kind EAD enthusiasts at the Seely G. Mudd Manuscript Library. These finding aids came from five divisions within Princeton’s Library:

• University Archives
  
• Public Policy Papers
• Manuscript Division
  
• Latin American Ephemera Collection
• Engineering Library
  

So onward to the data issues and what they mean for my ever growing ‘script fix to-do list’.

Repository Names

As we saw with the Oregon State University finding aids, the finding aids from Princeton University had a wide range of different values for repository names. In the list below we spot some issues. Some end in periods, some do not. One has extra space (probably a carriage return) in the middle. One does not include Princeton in the repository name. Once we have many repositories’ finding aids in ArchivesZ, a repository name of ‘Engineering Library’ does not tell the user enough about where those collections can be found.

Here is the list of repository titles my script extracted:

• Princeton University Library. Department of Rare Books and Special Collections.
• Engineering Library
• Princeton University Library
• Princeton University Library. Department of Rare                    Books and Special Collections.
• Princeton University Library.

My script can handle the extra period and the extra spaces, but the non-specific name would need to ultimately be fixed on the source side.

Collection Size

The current script assumes that there is only one extent value specified to express the size of the collection. Princeton’s finding aids showed me examples of multiple extent values. For example, the Christina Georgina Rossetti Collection has both a collection level size of 0.4 linear feet (1 archival box) as well as a 2nd extent specification corresponding to a specific folder with the value of (1 poem, 3 drawings, 1 photo, 1 incomplete article). The script must be modified to only consider the collection level size.

Complicated Titles

The current script logic apparently does not handle what I would call ‘complicated collection titles’. For example, I ended up with “Edward Livingston Papers, ” as the title for a collection with a full title of Edward Livingston Papers, 1683-1877 (bulk 1764-1836). This is the way that this title is encoded:
<unittitle encodinganalog="245$a" label="Title and dates: ">Edward Livingston Papers, <unitdate encodinganalog="245$f" normal="1683/1877" type="inclusive">1683-1877</unitdate> (bulk <unitdate encodinganalog="245$g" normal="1764/1836" type="bulk">1764-1836</unitdate>)</unittitle>