The Inventory of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Digital Projects uses 5 categories to classify each collection. Each category has few primary and various secondary levels of description:
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 authomatically on the web and it's accessible through the inventory browse and search page.
How are the collections organized on the web?
Example: Language is one of the main categories used to classify and browse collections. If you open the link provided above, you will see 6 primary levels:
- Baltic Languages
- Finno-Ugric languages
- Germanic languages
- Romance languages
- Slavic Languages
- Other language groups.
Each one of those primary levels migh have secondary levels. In the case of Baltic Languages, you will see 2 secondary levels:
- Latvian (6)
- Lithuanian (4).
The digit after the secondary levels shows the number of inventory records available for each of them. When another record is entered and classified in Microsoft Access, this digit will update authomatically.
How to enter a new digital collection in the inventory?
Step 1: Learn to use the web submission form for new collection entries
Fill out the web submission form for collections. For detailed instructions how to do that, click here. Once the form is filled out and sent, the information will appear authomatically in the Microsoft Access database in the table called dbo_Collections. Each collection in this table has a unique ID number that the system assigns authomatically. This number cannot be changed. The rest of the information for each project can be manually edited directly in Microsoft Access.
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 Eastern European library at the University of Illinois.
Step 2: Learn how to make the new inventory record for new collection accessible through the web
The procedure is similar to the one that has been already described for the project entries. Once you have all the information the new collection it the dbo_Collections table, scroll the table to the right and go to the "Approved" field. Change the n that has appeared there authomatically to y. Now the collection 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 collection in Microsoft Access will be reflected in the on-line inventory record.
Step 3: Learn how the collections are classified in the Microsoft Access database
Open the table dbo_Classification and print off a copy of it. The information in this table is going to be used for further classification of each of the new entered projects. In fact, this is the most complicated table that the inventory uses. Here are some instructions how to read and use the information in it.
There are three columns in the table:
| id | name | parent id |
| This classification id for collections, like the one for projects, is a unique number that is going to be used to fill out the dbo_ClassMapping table which is exporting the information from the database to the web. | This field defines all the primary and secondary levels of the 5 main categories that the inventory uses to classify collections: Subject, Chronological focus, Geographical focus, Language, Original format. For example, the Subject category has 10 primary levels: Arts, Bibliographical sources, Cartography, Encyclopedias and dictionaries, History, Linguistics, Literature, Periodicals, Photographs, Religion and Culture. Under each of those primary levels, there are several secondary levels (please, refer to the links provided at the top of this page). | The parent id is a digit that organizes the primary and secondary levels of classification from the middle column of this table. For example, all the primary levels of Subject have parent id=0. The primary levels of Chronological focus have parent id=1000. Geographical focus uses parent id=2000 for its primary levels of classification. Primary levels in Language have parent id=3000. In the case of Original format the parent id=4000 for all the primary levels. The secondary levels are organized using the classification id of their primary level. For example: one of the primary levels of Subject is Linguistics with classification id=31. Lingusitics has several secondary levels: Croatian language/classification id=32, Encyclopedias/classification id=33, Idioms/classification id=34, Slavic studies/classification id=161, Russian language/classification id=171, etc. All those secondary levels have parent id=31, which coincides with the classification id=31 for Linguistics. The parent id of each secondary level is the same as the classification id of its primary level. |
How to create a new primary/secondary level in the dbo_Classification table?
If none of the existing primary or secondary levels in the dbo_Classification table can be used to describe a new collection, you can create a new level by refering to the LC Headinds.
- Create a new primary level
Open the dbo_Classification table and enter the name of the new level at the end of the table. If it's a primary level, assign a parent id. For example, you can use parent id=4000 for any new primary level that deals with the category Original format or parent id=0 for a new primary level which belongs to the category Subject.
- Create a new secondary level
Open the dbo_Classification table and enter the name of the new secondary level at the end of the table. Find the classification id of the primary level that this new entry should belong to. Assign this digit as a parent id of the new secondary level.
When those alterations in the dbo_Classification table have been made, the new primary/secondary levels will appear on the web under the category that they have been assigned to.
Step 5: Learn how to fill out the dbo_ClassMapping table
This table is exporting all the information for each collection in Microsoft Access to the browsing web-page of the inventory. Open the dbo_Collections table. See what is the description that has been entered for the new collection in each one of the following fields: Subject, Chronological focus, Geografical focus, Language, Original format.
Classifying by Subject
- In the Subject field there should be two levels of description: primary and secondary. The names of the existing primary and secondary levels can be taken directly from the browsing web-page.
Example: Let's presume that the primary level in the Subject field is Encyclopedias and dictionaries and its secondary level is Ukrainian literature.
| Subject |
| Encyclopedias and dictionaries/Ukrainian literature |
In the dbo_Classification Encyclopedias and dictionaries appears under classification id 14 in the left column. This digit corresponds to the parent id for the secondary level, Ukrainian literature, which classification id is 22. In the dbo_ClassMapping table you should enter the ID of the collection (taken from the dbo_Collections table) and the classification id only for the SECONDARY LEVEL. So, if we have a collection with ID 898 and the id for its secondary level - Ukrainian literature - in category Subject is 22, here is how the dbo_ClassMapping table should look like:
| Collection_ID | Class_id |
| 898 | 22 |
Classifying by Chronological focus
- This category is a little more complicated compared to the other 4. For example if the chronolocical focus of the new collection is 1958, its primary level will be 20th century which, in our database should be entered as 1900H. The secondary level deals with the specific decade, in this case 1950s. In Microsoft Access this decade should appear as 1950D. As a result we will have the primary and the secondary level
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