About Archives @ UMW

Organization of the Repository

Archives @ UMW is a repository of items presented in a digital format. The repository runs on VITAL, a software program from VTLS. Archives @ UMW is currently maintained by UMW Libraries, but began as the Centennial Digital Archive (CeDAr) Project, a collaboration between faculty, staff, and students at the University of Mary Washington to preserve UMW’s history.

Archives @ UMW is organized into communities and collections. Users can search and browse the entire repository or search and browse within specific communities or collections. At present, there are two available collections: the Centennial Image Collection (CEDAR Collection) and the James L. Farmer Collection. To search or browse an individual collection, you can select the collection title from the top menu bar and use the search and browse features available for that collection. You can also click on "Advanced Search" next to the Search Box in the left-hand menu and limit your searches to a particular collection.

Metadata/Item Information

The followings types or fields of information are associated with each item and/or image in the repository:
• Creator (author of an item or photographer of an image)
• Title
• Date (date of creation of the original physical item)
• Description (a brief description of the content of an item)
• Subject (terms used to describe the content of an item)
• Person (person or persons depicted or described in an item)
• Event (UMW events depicted or described in an item)
• Campus Place/Building (buildings and locations on the UMW campuses depicted or described in an item)
• Location (current location of the original physical item)
• Identifier (each item in the repository is given a unique identifier and URL)
• Collection
• Format (format of the digital item, ex. TIFF, JPEG, PDF)
• Rights (copyright information about the use of the digital item or image)

Each item in the Centennial Image Collection also includes the following additional fields of information:
• Physical Description (of the original physical image)
• Source (of the original physical image if previously published)

Information about each item in the repository is stored and presented in an Item Record. Item Records also present and provide access to the available formats of an item. Each item in the repository has its own Item Record.

Browsing Archives @ UMW

Browsing allows you to view an alphabetical listing of all of the entries into the Item Records for the field of information you selected to browse. You can browse the entire repository by Communities & Collections, by Title, by Creator, By Subject or By Date by selecting the appropriate link listed beneath the "Browse" heading on the left-hand menu. You can also browse within a particular collection by selecting the collection title from the top menu bar and using the browse features that open for that collection.

To browse highlighted images from the entire repository, click on the "Most Accessed Images", "Most Accessed Items", "Most Accessed Authors" and "Recent Additions" links from beneath the "Highlights" heading on the left-hand menu. By clicking on the "Author Highlights" link from beneath the "Highlights" heading on the left-hand menu and selecting an author/creator from the resulting list, you can access the items in the repository from that author/creator, as well as view further information about that author/creator.

Searching Archives @ UMW

Basic Search

You can search the entire repository by entering search terms, phrases, dates and date ranges into the Search Box in the left-hand menu. Terms, phrases, dates and date ranges you enter into the Search Bar will be searched for within all of the fields of information associated with each item or image, except for the Rights information.

You can also perform a Basic Search of items within a particular collection by selecting the collection title from the top menu bar and entering your search terms into the Search Box for that collection.

Advanced Search

The Advanced Search allows you to specify within which fields of information associated with each item you would like to search. The Advanced Search is accessible by clicking on "Advanced Search" next to the Search Box in the left-hand menu.

To perform an Advanced Search, enter each search term or phase into the search boxes. For each search box used, select the fields of information you would like to search within from the adjacent drop-down menu.

You can combine terms/phrases entered into multiple search boxes, using the Boolean Operators AND, OR, and NOT, by selecting the appropriate operator from the drop-down menu. Selecting the AND operator will find only those Item Records that include all of the terms/phrases entered in the search boxes. Selecting the OR operator will find Item Records that include any of the terms/phrases entered in the search boxes. Selecting the NOT operator will exclude the terms/phrases entered into the adjacent search box.

The Advanced Search also allows you to limit the results of a search using various filters. You can limit results by Date by entering a date range into the boxes reading "Return Results Between". You can also limit results to a particular community or collection within Archives @ UMW by selecting the community or collection from the drop-down menu next to "Collection."

Search Tips for Archives @ UMW

• If you type more than one search term in a single search box, Archives @ UMW assumes there is an AND between the terms and will find only Item Records that include all of the terms.
• To search for a phrase, enclose the phrase in quotation marks (ex. “Lee Hall”).
• Search for variant terms using wildcards. A question mark (?) represents a single wildcard character (ex. use wom?n to search for both woman and women), and an asterisk (*) represents one or more wildcard characters (ex. use dorm* to search for dorm, dorms, dormitory and dormitories).

Search Tips for the Centennial Image Collection

Each item in the Centennial Image Collection includes the following additional fields of information:
• Physical Description (of the original physical image)
• Source (of the original physical image if previously published)

These fields will automatically be searched when using the Search Box in the left-hand menu and or when performing an Advanced Search with "Keyword" selected from the drop-down menus.

You can also browse the Centennial Image Collection by Campus Place/Building, Person and Event. Access these browse features by clicking on "Centennial Image Collection" from the top menu bar and clicking on the "Browse by Building", "Browse by Person", and "Browse by Event" links.

Archives @ UMW allows you to search for images from the Centennial Image Collection by decade. To search for images from a particular decade, enter the decade into the Basic Search Box in the form of "YYYY-00", with YYYY representing the first year of the decade. For example, to search for images from the 1980s, enter 1980-00 in the Basic Search Box. You may also enter date ranges into the Basic Search Box as YYYY-YYYY (ex. 1962-1965).

Navigating Browse and Search Results

Browsing results are presented as an alphabetical listing of all of the entries for the field of information you selected to browse. You can "jump" within this alphabetical listing by clicking on the number or letter links listed next to "Jump to" at the top of the results listing. You can also "jump" to a particular result within the listing by entering the first few letters of that result into the search box next to "... or enter the first few letters: " at the top of the results listing and clicking on the "Submit Query" button.

Navigate to the next page of browse results using the "View Next Set" link that appears immediately above and below a browse listing. Use your browser's Back button to go back to a previous page.

By clicking on a particular entry from a browse list, you will be taken to either an individual Item Record, when only one Item Record includes that entry, or to a results listing, when multiple Item records include that entry.

Listings of Item Records resulting from searches or browsing can be presented as an alphabetical list by title, creator and date or by icons. By clicking on the "Title", "Creator" or "Date" headings within the List View, you can sort the results list alphabetically by that heading. To switch to the Icon View, which shows a thumbnail image of each item and the item's Title, click on the "Icon View" link that appears above and to the right of the results list. The Icon View allows you to sort results by Title in ascending or descending alphabetical order by clicking on "Ascending" or "Descending" next to "Sort by Title". To switch back to the List View, click on the "List View" link that appears above and to the right of the results.

Navigate between pages of results using the "First", "Previous", "Next", "Last" and page number links that appear immediately above and below a results view.

From within both the List View and the Icon View, you can further limit the results of a search or browse by selecting a Creator, Subject, or Format Type from the lists that appear below a results view. When you click on a link from these lists, only the items from the results list with that selected limiter will appear in the results view. Additionally, when you click on a link from these lists, your selected limiter is added below the Search Box in the left-hand menu. To remove items from this results view with a particular limiter, click on the red X appearing next to that limiter as listed below the Search Box.

To access any Item Record from a results view, click on the item's Title or thumbnail image.

Working with Items in Archives @ UMW

Item Records
Each item in the repository has it's own Item Record. To access an item's record from within search results or browse listings, click on the item's Title or thumbnail image. Item Records present and provide access to the various available digital formats of the item as well as to the fields of information or metadata associated with that item. Item Records also include statistics on the number of visitors and the number of "hits" or visits to that Item Record and the number of downloads of the available formats of an item. A "Save/E-mail Citation" feature is available at the bottom of each Item Record.

Downloading Items/Item Formats

Most items in Archives @ UMW will be available for download in a variety of formats. Images in the repository are presented on their Item Record as a small format JPEG file and are available for download as both a large format JPEG and a TIFF file (JPEGs offer a smaller file size for some lose of image quality, while TIFF files sizes are very large as they offer no loss in image quality). The small format JPEG may be of reduced dimensions from the original physical image, while the large format JPEG preserves the dimensions of the original physical image.

Item Records list the available formats of the item, with file sizes, near the bottom of the Record under the heading "Other formats available". Clicking on "View/Open" next to a listed format will provide you with the options of "Open in a Browser" or "Download". "Open in a Browser" should open the file in another Browser window or tab. "Download" will allow you to save the file to your PC or other directory.

Rights/Using Items in the Collection

The items available through Archives@ UMW are not in the public domain and copyright is held by the University of Mary Washington, unless otherwise noted on the Item Record. As such, there are restrictions on your use of the items in the repository. Please view our copyright policy for more information. For inquiries on obtaining permission to use University-copyrighted items from the repository, please contact UMW's Office of University Publications at 540-654-1055. To obtain permission to use items from the repository that are not copyrighted by the University, please contact the copyright holder directly.

Save/Email Citations

You can email or export citations for items in the repository by using the "Save/E-mail Citation" feature available at the bottom of each Item Record. This feature is also available within a Quick Collection. Citations can be emailed or exported/downloaded in Plain Text, HTML and EndNote formats. Citations will consist of an item's Title and Identifier, which will be a link to the Item Record on Archives @ UMW.

Quick Collection

Archives @ UMW allows users to "mark" items from results lists and add those to a Quick Collection. Citations for items in a Quick Collection can be emailed or exported in Plain Text, HTML and EndNote formats. To add items to your Quick Collection, click the green 'plus' icon beside items listed in a results view. To access your Quick Collection, click on the "Show Quick Collection" link from beneath the "Repository" heading on the left-hand menu. Once in your Quick Collection, you can remove items by clicking on the cart icon next to an item Title.

Questions about Archives @ UMW?

For information about the collections and items found in the collections, please contact:
Carolyn Parsons
Special Collections Librarian, Simpson Library
cparsons@umw.edu
540-654-1752

For inquiries on obtaining permission to use University-owned items:
Office of University Publications
540-654-1055

For technical inquiries about Archives @ UMW, please contact:
Tom McNulty
Assistant Systems Librarian, Simpson Library
tmcnulty@umw.edu
540-654-1756

For questions about the Centennial Digital Archive (CeDAr) project:
Jerry Slezak
Assistant Director of Teaching and Learning Technologies and CeDAr Project Manager
jslezak@umw.edu
540-654-2118