Editing suppressed records
McLaughlin, Brianna Jean
Hi everyone,
A collection manager at my institution asked why suppressed archival objects cannot be edited/updated, and I don’t think I know the answer! I am assuming it is intentional considering you consistently cannot edit suppressed archival objects across the board (via the resource module, bulk update spreadsheet, etc.). Could someone explain the reason to me? There is probably something obvious that I’m not considering. Still, I can’t think of a reason why a user with admin permissions should have to unsuppress an archival object to edit it. The temporary visibility isn’t ideal for those of us who don’t use the ArchivesSpace PUI.
Thanks!
Bri McLaughlin, she/her/hers
Digital Collections Librarian
Indiana University
Please note that my e-mail address has changed from brij...@indiana.edu to brij...@iu.edu
Valerie Addonizio
I interpret suppression as the most extreme tool for locking down very sensitive information, like PII, personnel records, disciplinary records, student information, etc. Some content may be so sensitive that not even other staff should be able to modify/see them, and this allows you to control such extreme records under these circumstances.
If the records you’re dealing with don’t rise to such extreme measures, then maybe they don’t need to be suppressed at all, maybe only unpublished?
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McLaughlin, Brianna Jean
Hi Valerie,
We use Arclight for our PUI, so only the collection level Publish? checkboxes are considered. Unfortunately unpublishing archival objects isn’t possible for us. I wish it was!
Thanks,
Bri McLaughlin, she/her/hers
Digital Collections Librarian
Indiana University
Please note that my e-mail address has changed from brij...@indiana.edu to brij...@iu.edu
From: Valerie Addonizio <vaddo...@atlas-sys.com>
Sent: Monday, September 29, 2025 2:23 PM
To: McLaughlin, Brianna Jean <brij...@iu.edu>; ArchivesSpace Users Group <Archivesspac...@lyrasislists.org>
Subject: [External] RE: Editing suppressed records
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Mary Mellon
Hi Bri,
At Duke we also use suppression for less sensitive circumstances like missing items, where surfacing the record in our PUI could be confusing for staff and researchers; highly sensitive data is not permitted in our ASpace instance. Simply leaving something "unpublished" isn't an option for us, either- due to the opposite risk of forgetting to check the "publish" box for every single series or file, "publish all" is part of our workflow for posting to our ArcLight PUI. I could see being able to edit suppressed records being useful as a separate user permission e.g. to update a repository note with the item's status.
Best,
Mary
Mary Mellon (she/her)
Metadata Archivist
Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Duke University