In the Inventory of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Digital Projects there are 4 categories to browse projects under. These categories will also be important when classification tables are discussed (see below, beginning with Step 3):
All of the above listed pages are displayed on the web using PHP files that are linked directly to the Microsoft Access database. Microsoft Access is the primary database software that the library uses for the digtal projects inventory. Once the project is described and classified in the different tables in Microsoft Access, the updated information appears automatically on the web and it's accessible through the inventory browse and search page.
Once you find a project that meets an Inventory criterion, fill out the web submission form for that project. For a simple example of how to do this, click here. For more detailed guidance, see our general instructions. Once the form is filled out, validated, and submitted, the information will appear automatically in the Microsoft Access database, in the table called dbo_projects. Every project in this table has a unique ID number that the system assigns automatically. This number cannot be changed. The rest of the information for each project can be edited directly in Microsoft Access. (We do have a web editing form, but it requires some interface development before it is fully functional.)
Tip: In order to open any of the existing tables in Microsoft Access, open the program and click on Inventory database.mdb file that appears at the top right part of the screen.
Note: The Microsoft Access database is accessible only for the inventory staff of the Slavic and East European library at the University of Illinois.
Step 1: Learn how to make a submitted inventory record accessible through the web
Once a project has been submitted, via the web submission form, it needs to be approved, or it will not appear on any of the project browsing pages. To approve a submitted project record:
- In Microsoft Access go to the dbo_projects table, scroll the table to the right and go to the "Approved" field.
- There, change the n (which is the default for web submitted projects) to y.
- Now the record is approved and it will appear in the web as an inventory record.
After that, even the slightest change in the information for some project in Microsoft Access will be reflected in the on-line inventory record. (NOTE: If, for some reason, you submit a new project to the Inventory by entering information about it directly in Microsoft Access, you will need to input y in the "Approved" field while you're in Microsoft Access--otherwise, again, the project won't show up in the project browsing pages.)
Step 2: Learn how the projects are classified in the Microsoft Access database
Open the table dbo_ProjectClassification and print off a copy of it. The information in this table is going to be used for the further classification of each of the new entered projects. There are three columns in the table. The left one consists of a digit. For further convenience, this digit will be called classification id or simply id. The classification id should not be confused with the project ID. The middle column of the dbo_ProjectClassification table organizes the digits from the left side into 4 different levels.
- each id from 2 to 28 corresponds to a letter from the alphabet. This information is used to organize the projects alphabetically;
- each id from 29 to 34 corresponds to a type of digital process that has been used for each digital project: OCR, scanning, encoding, etc.;
- each id from 35 to 37 corresponds to one of the three categories: access, preservation or scholarly analysis;
- each id from 38 to 63 also corresponds to a letter from the alphabet. This information is used to organize the creators of the projects alphabetically by name.
Step 3: Learn how to fill out the dbo_ProjectMapping table
Open the dbo_ProjectMapping table in Microsoft Access. Through this table the inventory records from the database are exported to the inventory browse pages. It consists of two columns as well. The left one corresponds to each project's ID as it is listed in the dbo_projects table. The right column is a classification id that has been taken from the dbo_ProjectClassification table.
Classify the new project alphabetically by Name
- Go back to the dbo_projects table and check the ID of the new project that you have just entered. Copy this ID in the LEFT column of the dbo_ProjectMapping table.
- Take your printed copy of the dbo_ProjectClassification table and check what is the classification id that corresponds to the first letter of the name of the new project. Enter this id in the RIGHT column of the dbo_ProjectMapping table.
Example: if the name of the project is "Slavic medieval studies," the id that corresponds to letter S in the dbo_ProjectClassification table is 20. This is the classification id for the name of the project. Let's presume that the project ID for "Slavic medieval studies" is 467. Here is how the information should be entered in the dbo_ProjectMapping table:
When this step is completed, the new project will show up automatically in the Name of project inventory browsing page
Classify the project by the type of Digital Processing
- Go to the dbo_projects table, scroll to the right and go to the Digital process field. Then take the copy of the dbo_ProjectClassification table and check what is the id that corresponds to the type of digital process that is listed in the dbo_projects table.
Example: Let's presume that the digital processing of the project "Slavic medieval studies," with ID 467, includes scanning, OCR and encoding. The id for scanning in the dbo_ProjectClassification table is 29, for OCR is 30 and for encoding is 32. Here is how the dbo_ProjectMapping table has to be filled out:
Once the table has been filled out, the project will appear in the inventory browsing page under Digital processes
Classify the project by Goal
- Here we use the terms access, preservation and scholarly analysis. The type of Goal is listed in the dbo_projects table for every project. This information also has to be incorporated in the dbo_ProjectMapping table.
Example: The Goal of the project "Slavic medieval studies," with ID 467, is Access and Preservation. More than one type of Goal can be listed, there are cases when all three types are used. The id for access in the dbo_ProjectClassification table is 35, and for preservation is 36. Here is how this information must appear in the dbo_ProjectMapping table:
When this step is completed, the project will be listed in the Goal inventory browsing page.
Classify the project by the name of its Creator
Note: this information is not always provided by the web-site of the project. When there is no creator listed, this step is usually skipped.
Example: Let's assume that the name of the creator of the project "Slavic medieval studies", with ID 467, is Alexei Dmitriev. His last name starts with D, and the id for this letter in the dbo_ProjectClassification table is 41. The dbo_ProjectMapping table should be filled out as follows:
If the name of the creator is an institution or university, like, for instance,
University of Southern California, only the first letter has to be taken into consideration. In this case U corresponds to id 58 in the dbo_ProjectClassification table. Here is how the dbo_ProjectMapping table would look like:
Once this final step is completed, the project can be browsed by Creator.
When all those steps in filling out the dbo_ProjectMapping table are completed, the next step is to classify the collections that each new project might have.
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