Generate Finding aids without images

[ism...@gmail.com]

Hello, another question about finding aids. When I generate the PDF it includes, in addition to all the descriptions of the fund, also the JPGs of the images. Finally it generates a PDF with more than 1000 pages of which the majority are JPGs that do not have useful information. Could this level be eliminated from the report? Greetings.

[Dan Gillean]

Hi Isabel, 

There should be no actual images included in the Finding aid. If you are talking about metadata about your file or item-level records (to which images are attached), then you might want to try the Inventory Summary option when generating finding aids. 

AtoM has two modes for generating finding aids. The Full details includes all available metadata fields for every level of description. In the Inventory Summary mode, lower-level records such as files and items are displayed in a simple table like format, showing only reference code, title, any conditions of access and (depending on your settings) physical storage information. A comparison: 

See: https://www.accesstomemory.org/docs/latest/user-manual/reports-printing/print-finding-aid/#finding-aid-layout

If you don't want physical storage information to be included in the finding aid, you need to: 

• Mark physical storage as hidden in Admin > Visible elements. Docs here.
• Set "Generate Finding Aid as public user" to Yes in Admin > Settings > Finding aid and save. Docs here. 

See also: https://www.accesstomemory.org/docs/latest/user-manual/reports-printing/print-finding-aid/#i-don-t-want-to-display-physical-storage-information-in-my-finding-aid

Note this will not retroactively affect existing finding aids, so you would need to regenerate those. 

If you are seeing images displayed in your finding aids, it may be that someone has customized your finding aid XSLT locally - I would talk to any developers or system administrators in charge of managing your AtoM installation about this. 

Cheers, 

Dan Gillean, MAS, MLIS
AtoM Program Manager
Artefactual Systems, Inc.
604-527-2056

@accesstomemory

he / him

On Fri, Aug 20, 2021 at 4:51 AM ism...@gmail.com <ism...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello, another question about finding aids. When I generate the PDF it includes, in addition to all the descriptions of the fund, also the JPGs of the images. Finally it generates a PDF with more than 1000 pages of which the majority are JPGs that do not have useful information. Could this level be eliminated from the report? Greetings.

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[Dan Gillean]

Finally, one more option: 

If you want to customize the finding aid, you could: 

• Set finding aids to generate as RTF instead of PDF (by changing the finding aid generation settings)
• Delete the current PDF finding aid and generate a new one
• Download the RTF finding aid and open it in a document application like MS Word or LibreOffice Writer
• Edit as desired, then save it as a PDF
• Delete the RTF finding aid on your description, and upload your customized version

This would be labor intensive for a large number of fonds, but it's one way you can completely customize the layout of individual finding aids! 

Cheers, 

Dan Gillean, MAS, MLIS
AtoM Program Manager
Artefactual Systems, Inc.
604-527-2056

@accesstomemory

he / him

[Portales Municipales]

Hi Dan, okay, I have tried what you suggested and re-generated the report and it remains the same. I am attaching it for you to see.

The problem is that the last level of a fund is usually the single pages of books, files ... that do not have information other than the name of the file and the one that they inherit from their father and fill the PDF.

It would have been better to upload these pages as PDFs but we were afraid they were too heavy. I will move the option to correct the reports and upload them. Thanks for everything and best regards.

[Dan Gillean]

Interesting - thank you for sharing the finding aid, I understand better what you mean. 

You're right that there are currently no perfect solutions for this particular use case. However, some additional suggestions that might help you create usable workarounds: 

First, it appears that these JPGs do not have a level of description assigned - I think this is why using the Inventory Summary finding aid option is not affecting the layout. If you add a level of description such as file or item, then use the inventory summary mode, the length of your finding aid will be greatly reduced. You can also experiment with using a sub-item level like "Part" (since these are not really individual items). I am not sure without testing whether or not custom levels like Part will display in the table-based inventory format, but it's worth checking - it appears that custom levels might, based on this line of code: 

• https://github.com/artefactual/atom/blob/HEAD/lib/task/pdf/ead-pdf-inventory-summary.xsl#L1411
  

I believe this would also be the place where you can experiment with customizing the PDF XSLT if needed. 

You could also use PDFs for your derivatives, but create 2 or 3 (part I, part II, part III) as needed so that the whole PDF isn't too "heavy" for users to be able to load via the browser. Again, giving these different parts levels of description should help you make a top-level finding aid that is well organized. 

And finally, yes, customizing the PDF finding aid and then uploading your customized version is also an option. 

Let us know how you proceed, and how it goes! 

Regards, 

Dan Gillean, MAS, MLIS
AtoM Program Manager
Artefactual Systems, Inc.
604-527-2056

@accesstomemory

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[ism...@gmail.com]

Hi Dan, thanks for the answer, you have given me a new hope :D

I have tested in a development AtoM assigning some images the description level "item". I have generated the PDF and it effectively shows me a table with the names of the images instead of all the information (I attach the result).

The problem is that we already use the item and file levels for other cases. We must use a different one. That is why I have tried with the 'part' level by adding the exception to the XSL line of code:

  <xsl:if test="child::*[@level][1][@level='item' or @level='file' or @level='part' @level='otherlevel']">

But it only adds the word "Part" next to the image name (PDF attachment).

I have tried to create a new level of description and also add it to the <c: if> with the same result.

Why is the item level not showing in the PDF? Is there anything else to change? Greetings.

[Dan Gillean]

Hi Isabel,

I don't have much experience with editing XSLTs, but I think that the criteria for the Part statement isn't quite correct. 

When you create a "Part" level of description, the level output looks like this in the resulting EAD XML:

• <c otherlevel="part" level="otherlevel">

So, there are two criteria, and also the @level attribute is not the one that says "part" - it's the @otherlevel attribute. 

I would suggest that you try something like the following for your declaration:

• <xsl:if test="child::*[@level][1][@level='item' or @level='file' or (@otherlevel='part' and @level='otherlevel')]">
  

I haven't tested this so I'm not sure the syntax is correct, but I think we need to group the two criteria together with an "and". Let me know how it goes!

Cheers, 

Dan Gillean, MAS, MLIS
AtoM Program Manager
Artefactual Systems, Inc.
604-527-2056

@accesstomemory

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[ism...@gmail.com]

Hi Dan, I have tried the <c: if> line that you have passed me and I have changed the description level of the images 1.jpg, 2.jpg and 3.jpg to "Part". The rest have the "Item" level.

The result is the same, the "Part" shows them with more extensive information while the "Items" appear in a single line occupying less space.

I am attaching the document. I do not know what the problem might be. Greetings.

[Dan Gillean]

Hi Isabel, 

Sorry for the silly question, but in the example you sent, are you certain that those images had the "Part" level assigned to them? I don't see any level of description listed in those sections. 

If that's not it, then... I'm not sure! As I mentioned I am very inexperienced with modifying XSLT files, and our developer with the most experience working in them is currently away on vacation. I can ask once he is back, but in the meantime if you keep experimenting and get it working, let us know how you did it!

Cheers, 

Dan Gillean, MAS, MLIS
AtoM Program Manager
Artefactual Systems, Inc.
604-527-2056

@accesstomemory

he / him

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[ism...@gmail.com]

Hi Dan, effectively in the previous example, I have assigned the description level "Part" in the first 3 images, and they are shown as you can see, with all their information except the description level that does not show it.
I have tried to do the same on the production (this time I have changed all the images associated with Registros de actas del Concejo -1519/1538) server with the same result. I attach the generated PDF and the images come out from page 7.
I will continue testing that line to see, and I will comment on any progress. If you have any more ideas, please share them. Thanks and best regards.