You can attach supplemental PDF files to your EAD collection guides, in cases where you have longer collection inventories and other descriptive information that is not encoded in EAD. It's easy!

For an example of what this looks like, check out the "Additional Collection Guides" links at: http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt9s2042mx/admin/#otherfindaid

The steps include:

Step 1: Prepare Supplemental PDF Files

Any full-text within your PDFs will be searchable within the OAC—meaning they will appear in OAC search results when users hit on any words within. 

Not sure if your PDF has full-text? Open it in a PDF reader. If you can copy and paste text to another document, or conduct a search using CTRL + F, it should be searchable in the OAC.

In order to ensure users have some context for the PDF, we suggest adding some preliminary information on the first page of the PDF. For example:

  • Collection title associated with the inventory/box list/container list/etc.
  • Collection number
  • Name of your repository
  • Contact information for your repository, for reference questions

Save the PDF file, and note the exact filename (e.g., "ms104.pdf") -- you will need this for the next step.

Compatibility with assistive technologies

When preparing supplemental PDF files, please ensure that they are web-accessible. PDFs posted to OAC must be accessible to people who use screen readers because of reduced or no vision.

The following software-specific guides will help you to create PDFs that work better assistive technology:

Serving readers with slow internet connections

The file size and structure of your PDF document also impact accessibility. Large file sizes, for instance, making it more challenging for readers with slow internet connections to access your content.

The following resources can help you to drastically reduce file size and slash the amount of time it takes for a PDF to load or download:

You can test how quickly your PDFs render using the developer tools in your browser to simulate a slow connection.

Step 2: Prepare or Update the EAD File

Update the EAD finding aid (that is associated with the PDF files) to include the outbound links to the PDF files. There are several options for doing so, depending on the tool you are using to prepare your EAD files.

Option A: General template

The following EAD encoding "template" can be used to build the link from the EAD file to supplemental PDFs, using the <otherfindaid> tag (within the top-level <archdesc> section) and a nested <extref> tag. Within the <extref> HREF attribute: add a forward slash, followed by the exact name of the PDF file with the .pdf extension (e.g., replace "filename.pdf" with "ms104.pdf"). Note the specific use of the <extref> ROLE attribute, which must be set to "http://oac.cdlib.org/arcrole/supplemental". Within the <extref> tag itself, provide a descriptive title for the supplemental PDF file (e.g., "Business correspondence inventory").

You may format the text in this section either as a sentence or as a list; see examples below.

Format as a sentence:

[Note: Please do not insert <list> items within <p> (paragraph) tags; nesting items within <p> paragraph will result in OAC display errors.]

<otherfindaid>
<head>Additional collection guides</head>
<p>
<extref href="filename.pdf" role="http://oac.cdlib.org/arcrole/supplemental">Descriptive title for the PDF file</extref>
</p>
</otherfindaid>

Format as a list:

<otherfindaid>
<head>Additional collection guides</head>
<list>
<item>
<extref href="filename.pdf" role="http://oac.cdlib.org/arcrole/supplemental">Descriptive title for the PDF file</extref>
</item>

[Note: For any additional PDFs, use additional <item> tags, with nested <extref> tags within.]

</list>
</otherfindaid>

Option B: Schema-based finding aids

For schema-based finding aids, Xlink-specific attribute values need to be pre-pended with "xlink" to reference the Xlink namespace:

<extref xlink:href="filename.pdf" xlink:role="http://oac.cdlib.org/arcrole/supplemental">Descriptive title for PDF file</extref>

Option C: RecordEXPRESS finding aids

If using RecordEXPRESS to create your finding aids, follow the user guide for attaching supplemental PDFs.

Option D: ArchivesSpace finding aids

For ArchivesSpace finding aids, you can snip these into your Notes fields (at the collection or any component level).

To add the finding aid at the collection level: 1) Open your ASpace resource record, and go into "Edit" mode; 2) Go to your "Notes" section, and add a note, following these instructions:

  • Note type: "Other finding aids"
  • Persistent ID: (leave blank)
  • Label: Additional collection guides
  • Type: (leave as is)
  • Content:
All items from this series are available in this <extref xlink:href="filename.pdf" xlink:role="http://oac.cdlib.org/arcrole/supplemental">Descriptive title for PDF file</extref> document.

To add the finding aid at another component level (or in another note type): choose any "note type" as desired.

Note: We no longer recommend including list items in ArchivesSpace notes fields as the EAD export wraps <p> (paragraph) tags around the body of the text inserted; this results in display errors in OAC (e.g., section heading label will not display). However, if you do choose to utilize the list formatting, please open up the XML file to remove the wrapping <p> tags from the section, as shown in the example below:

<p>
<list>
<item>
<extref xlink:href="filename.pdf" xlink:role="http://oac.cdlib.org/arcrole/supplemental">Descriptive title for the PDF file</extref>
</item>


[Note: For any additional PDFs, use additional <item> tags, with nested <extref> tags within.]

</list>
</p>

Option E: Archivists' Toolkit finding aids

For Archivists' Toolkit finding aids, use"ns2":

<extref ns2:href="/filename.pdf" ns2:role="http://oac.cdlib.org/arcrole/supplemental">Descriptive title for PDF file</extref>

Step 3: Submit the EAD and Supplemental PDF Files (upload to the OAC server)

  1. Upload the EAD file and follow the steps to publish the EAD file (that is associated with the PDF files), following these instructions.
    • Note: You will need to do this before uploading the PDF files, because this action will create a new, specific directory for the supplemental PDF file upload.
  2. Upload the PDF files from your workstation to your PDF Production Directory on our server (here are instructionsto create a connection to our server to upload files).
    • The PDF files should be uploaded to the specific directory named after the EAD file, with which the PDF file(s) should be associated.
    • Do not upload non-PDF file formats into the directory, or alter the directory (e.g., change the directory name, add subdirectories).
  3. Re-publish the EAD file (that is associated with the PDF files), again following these instructions.

Note on Published Supplemental PDF Files

The finding aid as well as the supplemental PDF file(s) will be available the next day, typically by the next morning. Note that larger supplemental PDF files (~100+ pages) may take longer to process, and may take through the next afternoon for all pages to generate.