Launch Sequence

Owned by Molly Bragg
Last updated: Oct 07, 2021 by Noah Huffman (Unlicensed)


Got a digital collection that is good to go?  Follow this sequence to make it publicly accessible. 

  1. One final check:  Are you really ready to go?  One last sanity check will help avoid launching a collection that is not ready

    1. Make sure the items in the collection are "published" (in the DDR sense).  When items are published you can view them and their metadata when logged into DDR. 
    2. Check images / A/V items - are they rendering?
    3. Check metadata - is it there? is it what you expected?
    4. is there a rights statement? 
    5. If there is a collection champion; if so have they previewed the collection? 
    6. If any of the above are either not working or haven't been done, contact Molly or Maggie to help troubleshoot.

  2. Apply "Research Help Contact"

    1. In DDR admin, go to the collection and click the "Admin metadata" tab
    2. Click edit, then scroll to research help contact and select the appropriate research center or library (if the collection is not part of a research center) from the drop down menu. 
    3. Click "update collection"

  3. EAD ID or Aleph ID

    1. If the collection in question has a finding aid, make sure there is an EAD ID assigned on the collection level admin metadata tab.
    2. For DDR items related to finding aid components, you must provide the EAD ID value of the related finding aid (and the finding aid component's ref_id (Aspace ID) to enable the "view in context" link in DDR
    3. if the collection has a catalog record, make sure there is an Aleph ID assigned on the collection level admin metadata tab
    4. To enable the "view in catalog" link for DDR items, also apply the Aleph ID in the item metadata

  4. DAO stuff in DDR Admin (noah)

    1. If you wish to include links to DDR items from a collection's finding aid, verify that DDR items have the related ArchivesSpace IDs (ref_id field in ASpace) assigned that refer to the archival components of which the digitized item is a part
    2. If necessary, batch update DDR items with ASpace IDs (and EADIDs if necessary - see above)

  5. Collection Roles - Adjust collection roles using either of the following: 

    1. Make the collection publicly accessible
      1. In DDR admin click the roles tab on the collection level record
      2. Click "modify" 
      3. Click "grant role"
      4. Add "public" as the user
      5. Select "downloader" at the "policy" level
      6. Click "save changes"
      7. Test to make sure the collection really is publicly accessible
    2. Make the collection "metadata only" so only metadata is public accessible
      1. In DDR admin click the roles tab on the collection level record
      2. Click "modify" 
      3. Click "grant role"
      4. Add "public" as the user
      5. Select "metadataviewer" at the "policy" level
      6. Click "save changes"
      7. Test to make sure only metadata is accessible to the public (not digital objects)

  6. DAO stuff in ArchivesSpace (noah)

    1. If DDR items have ArchivesSpace IDs assigned (see step 4), you may run the "Create Digital Objects in ArchivesSpace" service from the DDR collection object (Actions tab)
    2. Check debug mode to do a dry run of the service, confirming that there are matching ArchivesSpace components, but without actually creating new digital objects in ArchivesSpace
    3. If debug mode runs successfully (the log file email attachment spreadsheet notes Success for each row), then run the service with debug mode unchecked
    4. Examine log file for any issues
    5. If Digital Objects already exist in ArchivesSpace for some items in a DDR collection, the "Create Digital Objects in ArchivesSpace" service should skip those items (although the log file might indicate an error, which is fine.)
    1. If a DDR collection represents all or a significant portion of an archival collection, add an 856 link to the collection's MARC record in OCLC and Aleph using the Collection's permalink as the URL (e.g.: https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4bk1b40b)
      1. Example: 856 41 $$y3In Duke Digital Collections $$u https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4bk1b40b
    2. If a DDR collection only contains a small portion of materials digitized from the archival collection, do not add 856 links to the collection's MARC record (assuming that links are provided in the finding aid)
    3. For published/print materials (non-archival), add the 856 link to the Aleph record only (NOT to the OCLC master record).


Congratulations - you did it!