Linking to descriptions

General information

  • All descriptions that have the requisite <eadid> information included (country code, repository code and local reference) have persistent identifiers. You can use the persistent identifier to provide a link to the description, to bookmark it and to reference it.

  • You must have the full <eadid> in the header, as this provides (i) the unique identifier for the description (ii) the countrycode attribute (GB) and (iii) the unique repository identifier (the Archon Code).

  • If you are using the Archives Hub EAD Editor, the persistent ID will be created automatically when you enter the required information.

  • These URL's are effectively permanent only if the value of the <eadid> does not change. Please let us know if you require the <eadid> content to be changed, but this should only be done if absolutey necessary.

  • In order for the <eadid> to act as the persistent identifier, we make some alterations to references:

    Characters Examples Converted to Notes
    case sensitivity GB101Stoner and GB101StoneR gb101stoner Avoid using case to distinguish references
    back slash & forward slash GB 206 ms/670 or GB 206 ms\670 gb206ms-670 Avoid using slashes and hyphens to distinguish references
    single quote marks GB 206 ms'670' gb206ms670 Avoid using quote marks to distinguish references

  • Please check the table above - ensure your references are unique once they are converted to Archives Hub URIs.

  • In addition to linking from external systems, these IDs may be used in conjunction with the guidelines on linking between files on the spoke/Hub.

Linking to descriptions on the Archives Hub

All persistent URLs start with the following:

http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/

Add the parameters to signify that you are linking to a description using the full <eadid> value. E.g. for reference GB 029 MS 207:

http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb029ms207

  • Remove spaces from the reference
  • Put the reference into lower-case
  • Slashes in references will be converted to hyphens for the <eadid>. This will not affect the display of the reference

This will link to the online version of the description.

To view/link to descriptions in EAD or Dublin Core, see linking to descriptions in other formats.

Linking to lower-level descriptions

  • Lower levels, or components, are assigned persistent identifiers in a similar way to collections.
  • We use the <eadid> to identify the collection and add the <unitid> for the lower-level entry to identify the individual component.
  • A component's identifier is the content of the eadid tag, followed by a hyphen, then the unitid of the component.
  • As with the collection level, the persistent ids have the spaces removes, slashes replaced with dashes, and are all lower-case characters.

How to link to lower-level descriptions

All URLs start with the following, which is the persistent URL for the collection-level description (see above):

http://www.archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gbXXXreference

Add a hyphen, then provide the <unitid> value of the component.

E.g. for reference GB 106 2SBA with a component level reference of GB 106 2SBA/1

http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb1062sba-gb1062sba-1

E.g. for reference GB 1953 TW/1

http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb1953tw-gb1953tw-1

E.g. for reference IWSA/1

http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb133iwsa-iwsa-1

Please note: this process is dependent upon the markup used by the individual contributor. There are cases where the countrycode and repositorycode have not been included in the <unitid> and therefore need to be excluded from the URI. Please email us if you have any problems creating links.

Linking to descriptions in other formats

As well as linking to the online Archives Hub version of a description, you can view and link to descriptions in EAD and in Dublin Core. You just need to add the appropriate instruction to the URI:

Standard EAD

add .xml

http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/[persistent ID].xml

Hub EAD

add .xml?schema=ead-hub

http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/[persistent ID].xml?schema=ead-hub

Dublin Core

.add .xml?schema=dc

 

http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/[persistent ID].xml?schema=dc

The Hub-specific EAD includes the Hub markup that may be seen as non-standard EAD, such as <emph> encoding on the index terms. Please use this format if you are downloading the description to upload to the EAD Editor.

Please note that Dublin Core records will be limited to the DC fields, and might not incorporate all of the information available in the online or EAD versions.

 

Linking to descriptions on a Spoke

On the Hub Spokes, we cannot implement the same URIs that we provide for the central Hub.

All persistent URLs start with the following (in this example the base URL 'MySpoke' is used, so replace this with your own):

http://www.myspoke.ac.uk/ead/search/?operation=

Add the parameters for a full description, using the full <eadid> value, e.g. for reference GB 206 MS 670:

http://www.myspoke.ac.uk/ead/search/?operation=full&amp;recid=gb206ms670

  • The content of the eadid tag should have spaces removed, and be in lower case.

Link to summary records by simply replacing 'full' with 'summary':

http://www.myspoke.ac.uk/ead/search/?operation=summary&amp;recid=gb206ms670

Examples using the John Rylands Spoke (archives.li.man.ac.uk):

http://archives.li.man.ac.uk/ead/search/?operation=full&amp;recid=gb133wsm
http://archives.li.man.ac.uk/ead/search?operation=full&recid=gb133wsm-wsm-3

Linking to lower-level descriptions on the Spokes

All URLs start with the following (in this example the base URL MySpoke is used, so replace this with your own):

http://www.myspoke.ac.uk/ead/search/?operation=

Add the parameters to signify that you are linking to a component-level description using the <eadid> value of the collection-level, then a hyphen, then the <unitid> value of the component.

E.g. for reference GB 206 MS670-680 with a component level reference of MS 675

http://www.myspoke.ac.uk/ead/search/?operation=full&amp;recid=gb206ms670-680-ms675