English subtitles for clip: File:Wikisalon Wikidata Adding Finding Aids.webm

1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,032
Hello and welcome to the Philadelphia WikiSalon. In this video, we will be discussing

2
00:00:06,032 --> 00:00:12,274
how to add archival finding aids to entries in Wikidata. Please note that this video

3
00:00:12,274 --> 00:00:18,276
is updated with current information as of September 2024.

4
00:00:18,277 --> 00:00:24,254
What is an archival finding aid? Well, a finding aid or collection guide is a document

5
00:00:24,255 --> 00:00:30,570
that describes a collection of varied materials that is housed in an archive. These

6
00:00:30,570 --> 00:00:36,576
are excellent resources, because oftentimes, these type of documents contain information

7
00:00:36,576 --> 00:00:42,848
about people, corporations, or other entities, identified within the archival collection,

8
00:00:42,849 --> 00:00:48,813
and often contain biographical information, the dates of an incorporation or business,

9
00:00:48,814 --> 00:00:54,924
and information about related people, companies, places, or topics that can

10
00:00:54,924 --> 00:01:01,255
be useful for your research. Here is an example of a finding aid or a collection

11
00:01:01,256 --> 00:01:07,530
guide. From the New York Public Library archives and manuscripts to vision, here is the finding aid

12
00:01:07,531 --> 00:01:14,487
where the Barbara Gittings and Kay Tobin Lahusen Gay History Papers and Photographs Collection.

13
00:01:14,487 --> 00:01:20,644
The key information that is enclosed within a finding aid is, first and foremost,

14
00:01:20,644 --> 00:01:27,091
the title of the document, the permanent URL at which the finding

15
00:01:27,092 --> 00:01:33,887
aid resides online, This will be important for any linking that you do in Wikidata or Wikipedia.

16
00:01:33,888 --> 00:01:40,448
There is often a collection overview which contains generally a short synopsis of the subject,

17
00:01:40,448 --> 00:01:46,829
along with the contents and the dates of the materials included within the archival collection.

18
00:01:46,830 --> 00:01:53,806
The archivists oftentimes include background information or biographical information

19
00:01:53,806 --> 00:01:56,866
about the subject of the archival collection. 

20
00:01:56,867 --> 00:01:59,927
And this is very interesting and useful because it

21
00:01:59,927 --> 00:02:06,118
can be used for inline citations in Wikipedia articles or as references within Wikidata.

22
00:02:06,119 --> 00:02:12,365
entries.  Finally, often there is a list of key terms or related

23
00:02:12,366 --> 00:02:19,080
terms. Subjects connecting people, places, and entities found within the archival collection.

24
00:02:19,081 --> 00:02:25,878
And this can be used to do further research about other people, places, and things, and also to consider

25
00:02:25,879 --> 00:02:29,035
for related Wikidata entries or Wikipedia

26
00:02:29,035 --> 00:02:32,191
articles. In Wikidata, there

27
00:02:32,192 --> 00:02:38,397
is a property archives at number p485. Finding aids can be added to this property within

28
00:02:38,398 --> 00:02:44,684
Wikidata entries. This will help researchers to locate those archival materials. So using

29
00:02:44,684 --> 00:02:50,752
as our example, Barbara Gittings, and the finding aid that you already saw. If you wish to add the

30
00:02:50,753 --> 00:02:56,855
archives at property in the statements section of the page, go to the end of the statements

31
00:02:56,855 --> 00:03:03,215
and click on the plus sign next to add statement. Then choose the property archives at.

32
00:03:03,215 --> 00:03:09,456
Start typing in the name of the archival repository into the value box and select that value if it's found.

33
00:03:09,457 --> 00:03:15,921
Now if the name of the repository is not found, you could stop and create a new Wikidata

34
00:03:15,921 --> 00:03:22,124
entry for that repository yourself, or if you need some assistance, feel free to report it

35
00:03:22,125 --> 00:03:29,102
to the Philadelphia Wiki salon for volunteers to create it for you. And you can use the link that is provided here.

36
00:03:29,103 --> 00:03:35,692
When you're done, click on publish, to publish that value. There are some recommended

37
00:03:35,692 --> 00:03:41,763
qualifiers for the property archives at. In order to add some important supplemental information

38
00:03:41,764 --> 00:03:47,869
for this finding aid, click the plus sign next to  add qualifier. First, we will

39
00:03:47,870 --> 00:03:54,345
add the title. Choose the property title. Copy and paste the title of the finding aid from its

40
00:03:54,345 --> 00:04:00,483
webpage into the title value box. When prompted, select the required language,

41
00:04:00,484 --> 00:04:06,631
the language of the finding aid, in this example, English. Next, click the plus sign again

42
00:04:06,632 --> 00:04:12,669
to add the qualifier described at URL. Choose the property

43
00:04:12,669 --> 00:04:18,709
described at URL. Now, copy and paste the  permanent URL of the finding

44
00:04:18,710 --> 00:04:24,884
aid into the described at URL value box. You can save your edit. There are

45
00:04:24,884 --> 00:04:31,384
some optional qualifiers also for archives at. Again, to add this optional supplemental

46
00:04:31,385 --> 00:04:38,173
information for a finding aid, you would click on the plus sign next to add qualifier. First,

47
00:04:38,173 --> 00:04:44,809
If there is an inventory number or unique identifier for the archival collection itself,

48
00:04:44,809 --> 00:04:51,496
you can copy that from the finding aid into the value box. Next, collection:

49
00:04:51,496 --> 00:04:57,541
Choose the property collection and add it. If the archives are part of a larger known collection,

50
00:04:57,541 --> 00:05:03,703
or division, and if you know this, enter the collection name into the collection value

51
00:05:03,703 --> 00:05:10,611
box. Again, the collection must already be a named entity in Wikidata. In this example,

52
00:05:10,611 --> 00:05:17,086
it's the Manuscripts and Archives Division of the New York Public Library. Finally, together

53
00:05:17,086 --> 00:05:23,361
with, if the archival collection is shared by more than one person, you can add those additional

54
00:05:23,362 --> 00:05:29,550
entries using the together with qualifier. Again, the other person must be a named

55
00:05:29,550 --> 00:05:35,573
entity in Wikidata already. In this example, we can add together with

56
00:05:35,573 --> 00:05:42,221
Kay Lahusen because both Kay Lahusen and Barbara Gittings are part of the archival

57
00:05:42,222 --> 00:05:48,424
collection. So to put it all together, here is our example of a finding aid

58
00:05:48,424 --> 00:05:54,983
displayed in Wikidata. We've returned to Barbara Gittings, an American librarian and LGBT

59
00:05:54,983 --> 00:06:01,147
rights activist.  Barbara Gittings has the archives at property listing

60
00:06:01,148 --> 00:06:07,200
the repository as the New York Public Library Main Branch. The collection, as the Manuscripts

61
00:06:07,201 --> 00:06:13,277
And Arrchives Division, the title of the collection is the Barbara Gittings and K.ay Tobin Lahusen Gay History

62
00:06:13,277 --> 00:06:19,645
Papers and Photographs. There is a listed inventory number. We have the described at URL,

63
00:06:19,646 --> 00:06:25,708
which is the permanent URL for the finding aid. And the property, together with, is included to

64
00:06:25,708 --> 00:06:31,820
connect Barbara Gittings with her partner, Kay Lahusen.  The archives at

65
00:06:31,821 --> 00:06:37,997
property, just like other properties in Wikidata, accepts references. You can add

66
00:06:37,998 --> 00:06:44,046
a reference for the archives and finding aid by clicking the plus sign next to add reference

67
00:06:44,046 --> 00:06:50,156
under archives at. Choose the property reference URL. If there is an independent URL

68
00:06:50,157 --> 00:06:56,269
that mentions these archival holdings, use that one. But if not, you can use the same value

69
00:06:56,269 --> 00:07:02,360
used for the described at URL. In this example, we are using the same URL

70
00:07:02,360 --> 00:07:08,678
as the described at URL. Next, click the plus sign next to add to add additional

71
00:07:08,678 --> 00:07:14,775
information. Choose the property, title. Type, or copy and paste the title of the archival

72
00:07:14,775 --> 00:07:21,663
collection from the top of the finding aid page into the title value box. And again, when prompted,

73
00:07:21,664 --> 00:07:28,390
select the required language, in this case, English. You can also have independent

74
00:07:28,390 --> 00:07:34,488
references for archives. So, for example, if you know that an archival collection exists from

75
00:07:34,488 --> 00:07:40,947
some sort of press release, article,  or other source of information, but there may not be a finding

76
00:07:40,947 --> 00:07:47,050
aid available. For example, unprocessed archival collections. You can still indicate the

77
00:07:47,051 --> 00:07:53,053
location of the archive using the archives at property. For example, if you have a

78
00:07:53,053 --> 00:07:59,410
notice or press release about archives that have been gifted to a repository: For Robert

79
00:07:59,411 --> 00:08:05,581
"Bootsie" Barnes, his archives were gifted to the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection of

80
00:08:05,581 --> 00:08:11,755
Temple University Libraries. And this was  listed in the Library's newsletter,

81
00:08:11,756 --> 00:08:18,127
Speaking Volumes, in the Spring/Summer 2022 edition. So in Robert

82
00:08:18,127 --> 00:08:24,263
Barnes's Wikidata entry, we can add the archives at property, listing

83
00:08:24,264 --> 00:08:30,392
the repository as the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection, and use the reference

84
00:08:30,392 --> 00:08:37,231
URL of the newsletter. So why is the archives at Wikidata property useful?

85
00:08:37,232 --> 00:08:44,351
Well, that property can be used in queries to find additional information about archives.

86
00:08:44,351 --> 00:08:50,494
In this example, you can use the Wikidata Query Service to search for the property

87
00:08:50,494 --> 00:08:56,919
archives at P485, that matches a particular repository. For example,

88
00:08:56,919 --> 00:09:03,678
You might be interested in finding out how many finding aids are listed in Wikidata for a particular archive.

89
00:09:03,679 --> 00:09:10,784
In this example, we have the Science History Institute, and when we run the query from the  Wikidata query service,

90
00:09:10,785 --> 00:09:17,008
it gives us a number of results, and we can look into those to check and see those values

91
00:09:17,009 --> 00:09:23,753
and look to see if there might be more entities that could use those values.

92
00:09:23,753 --> 00:09:29,845
Likewise, if you're using a third-party tool such as inteGraality, that can

93
00:09:29,845 --> 00:09:35,901
also look at and interrogate the archives at property. So in this example,

94
00:09:35,902 --> 00:09:43,029
we're using the inteGraality tool to research the WikiProject Women in Religion.

95
00:09:43,029 --> 00:09:49,317
And this tool runs a set of queries and collates and groups the data. While this

96
00:09:49,317 --> 00:09:55,429
query is looking particularly at the top groupings of occupations of the

97
00:09:55,430 --> 00:10:01,615
entities within the project, as you see: writer, academic, university teacher and theologian:

98
00:10:01,615 --> 00:10:07,768
It also is breaking down the data to display the top properties

99
00:10:07,769 --> 00:10:14,151
of each grouping to show how many have specific properties filled in,

100
00:10:14,151 --> 00:10:20,851
such as sex or gender, death and birth information, educated at, images,

101
00:10:20,852 --> 00:10:27,157
common categories, and the like. When you construct your inteGraality query, you can add other

102
00:10:27,157 --> 00:10:33,619
properties that you're interested in. For example, archives at P485. And

103
00:10:33,620 --> 00:10:40,039
here we see that there is a breakdown of percentages of writer's, academics, teachers,

104
00:10:40,039 --> 00:10:46,283
theologians, that do have the archives at property filled in. This is useful

105
00:10:46,283 --> 00:10:52,484
if you're working on a specific WikiProject. And you'd like to perhaps do an edit-a-thon or some

106
00:10:52,484 --> 00:10:58,575
future planning about editing Wikidata to make those entries more robust and

107
00:10:58,576 --> 00:11:04,655
more complete. If you would like to find finding aids to use them

108
00:11:04,656 --> 00:11:10,853
in your research or to add to Wikipedia or Wikidata, you can add the words "finding aid"

109
00:11:10,853 --> 00:11:17,105
or "collection guide" to your search string on the internet. You can search for "papers", "collection",

110
00:11:17,106 --> 00:11:23,570
or "digital collection" along with the topic. If you're already researching in archival collections,

111
00:11:23,570 --> 00:11:30,086
you can click on hotlinks or buttons to archival collections, finding aids or collection

112
00:11:30,087 --> 00:11:37,122
guides from within a digital collection. So in this example from Temple University Libraries,

113
00:11:37,122 --> 00:11:43,239
there is a photograph from within their digital collections. Inside the metadata provided

114
00:11:43,240 --> 00:11:49,775
with this historical photograph,  there is a link provided to the finding aid or collection guide,

115
00:11:49,775 --> 00:11:56,154
along with its permanent URL. For more information, if you'd like to learn more about

116
00:11:56,155 --> 00:12:02,374
finding aids, here is the link to the Wikipedia article about finding aids. To learn more about best

117
00:12:02,375 --> 00:12:09,612
practices for archival collections inside Wikidata, here is a link to WikiProject Heritage Collections.

118
00:12:09,612 --> 00:12:16,580
The Philadelphia WikiSalon has some tutorials about how to use the Wikidata Query Service,

119
00:12:16,580 --> 00:12:23,092
including SPARQL.  If you're interested in the third party tool that we demonstrated, inteGraality,

120
00:12:23,092 --> 00:12:29,133
here is a link to its documentation page.  And as always, we welcome you to join us at

121
00:12:29,134 --> 00:12:35,179
the monthly Philadelphia WikiSalon. Here is our link to our Wikipedia Meetup Philadelphia

122
00:12:35,179 --> 00:12:41,832
page. Within it, you can find links to all of our demonstrations and tutorials as

123
00:12:41,832 --> 00:12:47,880
well as our past agendas and our upcoming schedule. We meet on the second

124
00:12:47,881 --> 00:12:54,090
Saturday of the month from 12 to 2 p.m. Eastern time. Thank you for watching

125
00:12:54,090 --> 00:12:55,799
and we hope to see you soon.