Index of data sources

Called Item requests in Model Application 5.0 to 5.2; renamed Access request items in the Standard Model (6.0)

One of three data sources that support Reading Room functionality. Users supports user registration; User Categories is for registration of user categories; Access request items handles reserving, lending and returning of items to your institution's Reading Room.

Details about using these data sources can be found in the Axiell Collections Model Application 5.1 Release Notes.

An Acquisitions and acquisition proposals record holds details about an acquisition event (a bequest for instance), which may involve many items, each one of which can be documented in an Acquisition items record:

• We document and manage the overall status and details of the acquisition event in an Acquisitions and acquisition proposals record.
• We document and manage the status and details of an individual item in an Acquisition items record.

Details about how to document acquisition items can be found here.

An overview of Items data sources can be found here.

Used to document auctions through which collection items are acquired; can be linked to records in the Library catalogue, and on the Acquisition panel in the Object, Moving image, and Archives catalogues .

In conjunction with Collections audit items, used to perform locations checks / audits of one or more objects.

Details about performing a locations check with the Collections audit and Collections audit items data sources can be found here.

Used to document and manage formal assessments of collection items, the scope of which might be a few items to the entire collection. A collections review is undertaken to acquire a deeper understanding of the collection, including the condition, provenance, and significance of items. This data source implements the Spectrum 5.0 Collections review procedure.

Details

A collections review can:

• help an institution understand whether the collection continues to align with its mission, goals and values (perhaps examining descriptions for outdated or offensive language, or reviewing the provenance of items to ensure they were not looted, for example), and to help plan future acquisitions and deaccessions;
• be used to identify underexposed items, enabling an institution to make more of their collection accessible through exhibitions, research, and educational programs;
• provide insights into the items or areas of the collection that are most interesting to patrons;
• can improve resource management from conservation efforts to storage solutions by identifying the most valuable or at-risk items, for instance;
• and so on.

The Spectrum 5.0 Collections review procedure describes a collections review as managing and documenting any formal assessment of collections that follows a stated methodology.

Reviews are often the first stage of rationalising collections, which can lead to the deaccessioning and disposal of objects. Deaccessions and disposals records, which document the deaccession and disposal of objects in your collection, include a Deaccession reason field (on the Justifications panel), one option of which is collection review.

Other reasons to review collections include: understanding the significance of your holdings; identifying opportunities to develop underused collections; getting new insights into what your users find interesting about your objects; and planning future research, use and collections care. According to Spectrum 5.0:

... Typically, you assess objects against a number of criteria (e.g. significance) and score each object against an agreed scale (e.g. locally significant, nationally significant, internationally significant; or 1, 2, 3).

Changes introduced with the Standard Model: locations checking

The Standard Model improves Collections review with the addition of several useful panels, including Digital references, Free fields and Status history, and an improved PIDs and other identifiers panel; however the most significant change is that locations checking, which is a function of Collections review, is now managed far better with the new Collections audit and Collections audit items data sources. Details here.

Contains records of currencies used throughout Axiell Collections, including current exchange rates.

Called Events in Model Application 5.0 to 5.2; renamed Film lifecycle events in the Standard Model (6.0)

Contains records of life cycle events that can be linked to a Moving image catalogue record, such as a première, censorship, or the receipt of an award.

Contains records of exhibitions held by the organization, or featuring material from the organization’s collection.

Used to document individual items associated with an exhibition.

Details about how to document exhibitions, venues and exhibition items can be found here.

An overview of Items data sources can be found here.

In Model Application 5.2 and earlier this data source is called Events; it was renamed Film lifecycle events with the release of the Standard Model (6.0) and introduction of a very different Events data source (described here).

Contains records of life cycle events that can be linked to a Moving image catalogue record, such as a première, censorship, or the receipt of an award.

Details coming soon.

Used to document details about your institution’s insurance and indemnity policies, and to document and manage any related activities (actions).

As well as recording information about the provider, policy, and coverage amount, an Insurance and Indemnity record lists all covered objects, with a link to a Valuation record that assesses an object's value, and it identifies locations and shipments that are covered by the policy. On the Actions panel, a basic workflow tool for managing tasks related to the current record, it is possible to document and manage any related activities (actions), such as scheduling meetings. Digital copies of documentation can be made available on the Digital References panel.

Details about how to document an institution’s insurance and indemnity policies can be found here.

Introduced with the Standard Model, Items data sources are used to document and track collection items involved in day to day activities like loans and exhibitions. In prior Model Applications, when a collection item is on loan its Catalogue record (with details about the item) links directly to a Loans record (with details about the loan); what is lacking is somewhere to record details about the item in the loan, to track the status of each item as it navigates the loan workflow, or to plan actions that impact an item's involvement in the loan. The same is true of items involved in acquisitions, exhibitions and collections audits. Items data sources fill this gap by providing a place to manage and document each item individually as it participates in activities like loans and exhibitions. They include Acquisition items, Exhibition items, Loan items and Collections audit items.

Each of these data sources is listed in this table separately.

An overview of Items data sources can be found here.

Used to document and manage the status and details of an individual item participating in a loan.

Details about how to document loan items can be found here.

An overview of Items data sources can be found here.

One of two data sources, Serial subscriptions and Manual Purge of serial issues designed for management of serials. Together they are used to register and manage subscriptions to serial publications.

Details about using these data sources can be found in the Axiell Collections Model Application 5.1 Release Notes.

Previously called Multimedia documentation; renamed Media in the Standard Model (6.0)

Contains records of image, video, and audio files, including digital metadata, that can be linked to other records in Axiell Collections through image fields like media.reference (FN).

Contains a request to move a single collection item or container. These requests are gathered into a mission (in the Missions data source) and accessed with Axiell Move. Only available as part of an Axiell Move Premium system.

Previously called Multimedia documentation; renamed Media in the Standard Model (6.0)

Contains records of image, video, and audio files, including digital metadata, that can be linked to other records in Axiell Collections through image fields like media.reference (FN).

An Authority data source Authority data sources are used for vocabulary control and they manage the many names and terms referenced by records in almost every other data source. The purpose of a controlled vocabulary is to ensure consistent use of names and terms throughout your records and this is achieved by specifying that a name or term is preferred; then when a non-preferred version of a name or term is selected in a Linked field drop list, it is automatically replaced with the preferred name or term. and source of information about people and organizations involved with your collection in some way. As well as serving as an authoritative list of names for many fields throughout Axiell Collections, it is possible to record extensive biographical, contact, relationship, and other information about people and institutions interacting with your collection.

Persons and institutions is a core data source in Axiell Collections, and it is one that is upgraded almost any time a new Model Application is released.

Changes introduced with the Standard Model

The Standard Model introduced new fields and panels to Persons and institutions, expanding and enhancing data management of individuals and organizations interacting with your collection.

Notable new and changed panels and fields:

Identification panel

Field group	Field	Details
Authorised form of name	Record type / record_type (oG)	Chief amongst the new fields is the Record type (record_type (oG)) drop list on the Identification panel: While Record type is not mandatory, it is a useful conditional field: selecting a value in the drop list will tailor which fields are available, and potentially auto-populate fields. Enter a name in the mandatory Name field, and select an option from the Record type drop list. Here we enter a name in the Name field (Surname, Forename or Forename Surname) and select Individual from the Record type drop list: Tip: In earlier Model Applications it is generally best practice to enter names as Surname, Forename, but that is no longer required with the Standard Model as a name entered as Forename Surname will be parsed and sorted by surname automatically. A number of things happen: Name sort is auto-filled with the contents of Name, capitalized; if Record type = Individual, the name is formatted as <surname>, <forename>. A Person’s name elements group of fields is added below the Authorised form of name group of fields, with Surname and Forename(s) auto-filled. Note: If, for some reason, the value in Name is not automatically split into its Surname and Forename elements, click the Generate name checkbox.
	Name role / name.type (do)	Many more roles have been added to the Name role (name.type (do)) drop list. Name role is an enumerative Read-only drop lists; their values are added and translated by Application Administrators in the Collections administration tool, Axiell Designer: users can select a value in an enumerative field, but cannot add or translate a value. list of domains A subset of records in an Authority data source, grouping similar sorts of records. When a search or Linked field is associated with a domain, only records in that domain are available to that field. For example, records for authors can be assigned to the AUTHOR domain (using the Name Type / name.type (do) field). When linking a record for a book to a record for its author, the Author Linked field will point to the AUTHOR domain, a subset of records in Persons and institutions exclusively for authors. In the Thseaurus, a record is assigned to a domain using the Term Type / term.type (do) field.. A person or institution can have one or more roles in their interaction or involvement with your collection (which is why the field is repeatable A field that is repeatable can have multiple occurrences. A book, for instance, can have more than one author, therefore the Author field can be repeated multiple times to accommodate the need for additional instances of a field (use the Occurrences options in the Record details View toolbar to add occurrences of a field.); a person can be a creator, publisher, borrower, etc. or might only be identified as having a role of person. Roles are important in Catalogue fields that link to the Persons and institutionsAuthority data source; many Linked fields A type of field used to link one record to another. A Linked field is a drop list of values (records that the field can link to). When a link is made, the field stores a reference to the linked record (a linkref). are configured to link to a specific domain so that only appropriate records can be linked to (the Creator field in a Object catalogue is configured to link to people with the creator role, for example).
Name variations		Managing variations in names has been improved. Previously, the Use (use (us)) and Used for (used_for (uf)) fields under Other forms of name on the Identification panel were used to record non-preferred / alternative versions of a name: Each Use or Used for value is a Persons and institutions record in its own right, which can lead to a proliferation of records. Now, a more intuitive and efficient Name variations group of fields is provided: As before, Name (name (BA)) is the authorized form of the name, but now any variations are registered in the repeatable A field that is repeatable can have multiple occurrences. A book, for instance, can have more than one author, therefore the Author field can be repeated multiple times to accommodate the need for additional instances of a field (use the Occurrences options in the Record details View toolbar to add occurrences of a field.Name variations field group, notably Name variation (name_variation.name (vn); unlike before, these name variations are not recorded in separate records. How does this affect searching and linking? The Name variation (name_variation.name (vn)) field is indexed alongside Name (name (BA)) so that a search for a name variation will always locate the authorized name: if you enter a name variation in a search field in Persons and institutions itself or a field linked to Persons and institutions, the record with the authorized name will be located. For example, this Standard search in Persons and institutions will return the record for British Broadcasting Corporation: When linking to a record, a name variation entered into a Linked field A type of field used to link one record to another. A Linked field is a drop list of values (records that the field can link to). When a link is made, the field stores a reference to the linked record (a linkref). will pull back the authorized name. Here we see the Persons and institutions for Jan Vermeer, with multiple name variations: When linking to this record in the Catalogue and entering one of the name variations, the record for the authorized name is located: and when selected, automatically replaces the name variation:

Contacts panel

Contacts is a new panel used for linking to other records in Persons and institutions where Name role (name.type (do)) = contact. It contains two groups of repeatable A field that is repeatable can have multiple occurrences. A book, for instance, can have more than one author, therefore the Author field can be repeated multiple times to accommodate the need for additional instances of a field (use the Occurrences options in the Record details View toolbar to add occurrences of a field. fields, Contacts and Contact for:

We use this panel to identify one or more contacts for an institution, or perhaps for another person.

Obviously, a person can be a contact for an institution, and a person can be a contact for another person, but an institution could also be a contact for a person, or another institution for that matter. To simplify the following description, we assume that a person is the point of contact for an institution.

In the Persons and institutions record for an institution, we link to the record for someone who is a point of contact using the Name (contact (Cn)) field in the Contacts table; this will copy over details from that person's record (name, address, phone number, email address, etc.). Here we see the Persons and institutions record for Axiell with a contact added to the Contacts panel:

Field	Details
Name / contact (Cn)	A Linked field A type of field used to link one record to another. A Linked field is a drop list of values (records that the field can link to). When a link is made, the field stores a reference to the linked record (a linkref). to Persons and institutions. Start typing the name of the person and select it from the drop list, or click the Link icon to display the Find data for the field box; search for the relevant person or create a record in Persons and institutions and link to it (if authorized to do so). Details about working with the Find data for the field box can be found here. In Display mode A record is either in Display mode (we view its details) or Edit mode (we add or edit its details). A record enters Edit mode as soon as we create a new record, copy a record in Record details View or edit an existing record., click the link to display the contact's Persons and institutions record.
Contact Type / contact.type (ct)	A Linked field A type of field used to link one record to another. A Linked field is a drop list of values (records that the field can link to). When a link is made, the field stores a reference to the linked record (a linkref). to the Thesaurus. Identify what type of contact the party is (e.g. staff member, family member, volunteer, etc.). Start typing a contact type and select it from the drop list, or click the Link icon to display the Find data for the field box; search for the relevant term or create a record in the Thesaurus and link to it (if authorized to do so).
Surname, Forename(s), Prefix(es) to surname, Title and Salutation	Values in these fields are retrieved from the target record A link is made from one record (the primary) to another (the target). dynamically each time the current record is opened.
All other details	Other details, including telephone numbers and email address, are retrieved from the target record A link is made from one record (the primary) to another (the target). when it is added to the Name (contact (Cn)) field; but subsequently these details are NOT updated dynamically if they change in the target record. These fields are editable; if they change in the target record, be sure to update them here.

In the target (linked) record, the Contact for group of fields is automatically updated with details of the party they represent:

Associations panel

Associations is used to provide contextual information about the current person or institution record in the form of metadata keyword associations. Subject, Keyword and Place link to terms in the Thesaurus, and Events links to the new Events data source, which holds details about historical events, as well as events organized by or specific to your institution:

Additional panels

Amongst other panels added to a Persons and institutions record in Record details View, you will find Actions, Digital references, and Free fields.

Personally Identifiable Information (PII)

Persons and institutions records may contain Personally Identifiable Information (PII), including birth and death details, ethnicity, gender, nationality, occupation, address details, email addresses, contacts, etc. Under the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) guidelines for information privacy in the EU, this data can be regarded as sensitive information; accordingly, access to fields that may contain such data is now protected by access rights by default.

The Standard Model introduces a user management model out-of-the-box with a base set of predefined roles and permissions governing access to advanced and administrator functionality, as well as access to fields containing sensitive data and Personally Identifiable Information (PII), such as personal address fields and email fields.

Full details about the permissions model introduced with the Standard Model can be found here. In brief, two roles have been introduced to control read and read-write fields identified as PII:

• PII writer / pii_writer
• PII writer / pii_writer

When the Standard Model is installed, staff are assigned a role that matches their access level, ensuring that only people with clearance are able to view and / or edit sensitive personal information.

Details about Authority data sources here.

If your organization uses Axiell Collections for records management as well as archiving, this data source can contain information about classes of records, including the length of time to hold them and what should happen at the end of this period. Records managed with retention schemes can be documented in the Archive catalogue by setting a Management status of semi-current record.

More details

The Retention schemes data source holds records of retention schemes: generic categories of types of item (meeting minutes, financial statements, publicity materials, legal documents, etc.) with information about how long this category should be retained and what should happen with it at the end of the retention period (archived, destroyed, reviewed and possibly kept as semi-current for longer).

Contains records of the titles of book series; for use specifically in the Library catalogue.

Contains records of variables used by the AI entity extraction function, a description of what the variable is for, and a list of values. Available when the optional Axiell Intelligence (AI) add-on is implemented in Axiell Collections.

Details here.

An Authority data source Authority data sources are used for vocabulary control and they manage the many names and terms referenced by records in almost every other data source. The purpose of a controlled vocabulary is to ensure consistent use of names and terms throughout your records and this is achieved by specifying that a name or term is preferred; then when a non-preferred version of a name or term is selected in a Linked field drop list, it is automatically replaced with the preferred name or term. of important terms referenced by many fields throughout Axiell Collections. Terms can be organized hierarchically and contain source information.

Details about Authority data sources here.

Contains a record for custom templates uploaded through the Output formats box.

Details

Note: The Uploaded templates data source is available in systems using Model Application 5.2; with some configuration, it can also be available in systems using older Model Applications.

The Output formats box lists one or more output formats, each designed (by Axiell or your Application Administrator) for a specific printing / reporting purpose. Output formats use Microsoft Word templates, Excel templates2 Collections version 1.16 onwards. or XSLT style sheets to specify what fields (data) are included in the printed output, as well as to lay out and style the data.

Custom Word and Excel templates can be uploaded to Axiell Collections with the Output formats box. In systems using a Model Application prior to version 5.2 a custom template typically has to be uploaded every time it is needed.

Custom templates can be saved to the server in older Model Applications

Even if your system's Model Application is older than version 5.2, it is possible for Application Administrators to configure Collections to save custom templates automatically when they are uploaded through the Output formats box. This will create a record for the template in the Uploaded templates data source and make the template available to authorized users in the Output formats box.

Note: Application Administrators will find details about how to configure Collections to save custom templates uploaded through the Output formats box under Storing uploaded custom templates in the Implementation guide.

If your system has been set up to save custom templates automatically when they are uploaded through the Output formats box, the following information is also relevant in your system, with some noted exceptions.

With Model Application 5.2 a template uploaded through the Output formats box is automatically listed in the box and a record is created in the Uploaded templates data source. Here authorized users can manage the list of templates in the Output formats box, change the name of templates (by default an uploaded template is listed using its file name and a prefix of Uploaded), determine access to templates, and hide templates:

By default, users only have access to their own uploaded templates, templates they have been granted access to by other users, and the records for those templates in the Uploaded templates data source. Users with the $ADMIN role have access to all templates and records in the Uploaded templates data source.

Note: It is only possible to edit records in the Uploaded templates data source, not to create them.

An uploaded template record contains seven fields, three of which can be edited:

Fields	Details
Stored template ID	Depending on your system's configuration the uploaded template will be saved with a unique ID or its original file name in the storage location specified by your Application Administrator. Note: If your system's Model Application is older than version 5.2, an uploaded template is saved with a unique ID. Details In system's with Model Application 5.2 and later the UseOriginalMediaFileName setting in the Collections settings.xml file determines whether the uploaded template file keeps its original file name or gets a new GUID as its name. Note: Do not change this setting unless you understand the wider implications of changing it: it will impact other users in the application. When UseOriginalMediaFileName = false: an uploaded template file is given a GUID file name. If you upload a new version of a template with the same name (when developing and testing it, for example) Collections will automatically create a new Uploaded templates record and assign a unique GUID. When you are done, clean up any redundant records and template files in the Uploaded templates data source. true: an uploaded template file keeps its original name. If you upload a version of a template with the same name as an existing template file, you will be warned that the media file already exists. Either rename the file or delete the existing Uploaded templates record and the associated template file. When deleting an Uploaded templates record you will receive a message asking if you want to delete the associated template file: You have about 10 seconds to click No, otherwise the file is deleted by default. Information for Application Administrators Template files can only be deleted during record deletion if a full path to the Axiell \worddoc\uploadedtemplates\ sub folder has been set up in line 1 of the reports.txt file. This file is found in the \texts sub folder of your Axiell system. Collections needs this information to know from which folder the files must be deleted. See the comments section in reports.txt for more information about this setting.
Original file name	The original file name of the uploaded template.
Visible template name	The title under which the template is listed in the Output formats box. The original file name will be stored in this field when the template is uploaded, but it can be modified as required. Note: Can only be entered in a single language.
Data source ID	A template is only available in the data source The management of a collection can involve a vast amount of information about objects / items / books, people and organizations, events, administration and more. This information is stored as records in data sources. Each data source stores a specific type of information: details about collection items, people, events, loans, and so on. in which it was uploaded. The name of that data source will be converted to a unique ID and saved in this field.
User role	The user / role who uploaded the template will automatically get Full access rights: This user / role will have Full access rights to this record (do not change it to Write, Read or None). The template will be visible to this user in the Output formats box of the relevant data source. If the Default access rights in Collections have been set to None, other users will not have access to this record in the Uploaded templates data source and will not see the associated output format in the Output formats box. Extra occurrences of this field group can be added to specify access rights for other users / roles: Read, Write or Full will display the template in the Output formats box. Read will not allow other users to edit this record.
Access rights
Category	This field currently has no function but may be used in future.

If your system's Model Application is older than version 5.2:

• If a record is deleted from the Uploaded templates data source, its associated template will no longer be listed in the Output formats box, but the template file itself will remain in the storage location specified by your Application Administrator.
• Each time you upload a template with the same file name as an earlier uploaded template, a new record will be created in the Uploaded templates data source and the template file will be stored under a unique name in the designated storage location. It will not overwrite the previously uploaded template with the same original file name.

Read-only information available to Administrators. Holds details of bulk operations performed by users and the login of users. Bulk operations include importing, exporting, printing, running tasks and find-and-replace procedures. Authorized users can access the logged information to identify who performed a bulk operation and when; and when users logged in.

Details about using this data source can be found in the Axiell Collections Model Application 5.1 Release Notes.

One of three data sources that support Reading Room functionality. Users supports user registration; User Categories is for registration of user categories; Item Requests handles the different stages of reserving, lending and returning items to your institution's Reading Room.

Details about using these data sources can be found in the Axiell Collections Model Application 5.1 Release Notes.