AAD Terminology
Abolish Date: The date on which an
organization was terminated, disbanded, inactivated, or superseded. The
date may be qualified by a "ca." to indicate if the date is approximate
or a "?" if an uncertainty exists regarding the date.
Access Restrictions: Information
about restrictions that may affect your access to the archival materials.
Access to all or part of the archival materials may be restricted based
on national security considerations, donor restrictions, court orders,
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) exemptions, or other statutory or regulatory
provisions.
Agency Note: Information provided by
the creator to describe the contents of a column.
Agency Note: Comments or notes that the creating
organization provided to describe the contents of a column or data element within a file.
Archival
Description: See description.
Archival Materials: Records,
personal papers, and artifacts in any form or media created, received,
or accumulated by a person or organization in the course of the conduct
of affairs, and preserved because of their continuing value.
ca.: An abbreviation for the term "circa." Used
if a date is approximate.
Circa: Abbreviated as "ca." Used if a date
is approximate.
Coded Value: A code composed of a combination
of numbers and/or letters that represents a meaning within a particular
column. For example, the coded values for the column "Sex of Person" might
be "M" and "F" representing "Male" and "Female." The list of all codes
and their meanings is contained in a Code List.
Code List: A list of all coded values
for a particular column and the meanings they represent. A code list can
be associated with multiple columns in a single data file or multiple data
files.
Collection: 1) Archival materials, regardless
of form or media, organically created and/or accumulated and used by a
particular person, family, or non-Governmental organization in the conduct
of personal or organizational activity. 2) An artificial accumulation of
archival materials brought together on the basis of some characteristic
(such as means of acquisition, creator, subject, language, media, form,
name of collector) without regard to the provenance of the archival materials.
Collection Identifier: A
unique identifier assigned to a collection of archival materials.
Column: The same piece of information in
the same position for every record within a data file. Used interchangeably
with "data element" and "data field."
Column Name: The term or abbreviated
name the creator gave to a column. Where this name is a word that
the AAD operating system reserves for special operations, NARA has added
additional characters. For example, the column name DATE has been changed
to DATE_1.
Column Title: The full name or description
given by the creator to a column. Occasionally, the column name and the
column title are the same.
Contributors: Names of organizations
or people, other than the archival creator, who are responsible for the
intellectual, technical, artistic, or financial production of the archival
materials, such as contractor, distributor, programmer, or originator.
Coverage Dates: The date range for
the subject(s) contained in the archival materials. For example, a series
created in the 1970s about the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor would have Coverage
Dates of 1941 and Inclusive Dates of 1970-1979. The date may be qualified
by a "ca." to indicate if the date is approximate or a "?" if an uncertainty
exists regarding the date. Further explanation of the dates may appear
in Date Note.
Creator: The name of the person or organization
responsible for the creation, accumulation, or maintenance of a series
of archival materials when it was in working (primary) use. For organizations,
the Establish Date and Abolish Date (if applicable) will appear. For people,
the Birth Date and Death Date (if applicable) will appear. People and organizations
that contributed to the authorship of the series or its smaller parts,
such as individual documents or reports, or called Contributors. Creators
can be either Most Recent or Predecessor creators.
Custodial History Note:
A description of the ownership history of the archival materials from the
time of their creation to the time of their accessioning by NARA. This
information may be particularly important for donated materials or for
Federal records that come to NARA outside the regular government records
transfer process. It can provide information on changes of ownership or
breaks in the government chain-of-custody that is significant for the authenticity,
integrity, and interpretation of the archival materials.
Delimited By: This phrase appears
only in the search operators, "ANY WORDS" and "ALL WORDS." This defines
how to separate multiple selection criteria within the single search box.
Data Files: 1) A structured collection
of data that is stored together and treated as a unit by a computer. 2)
Related data (numeric, textual, or graphic information) and fields that
are organized in a strictly prescribed form and format. Examples of data
files include databases, spreadsheets, and email. Data files are not the
same as textual documents recorded on electronic media.
Data Field: See column.
Data Element: See column.
Data Layout: A description of the way
the data is structured in the data file. The data layout is composed of
a list of all the column names, column titles, data types, start and stop
positions, code lists, and field specific notes.
Data Table: The organization of information
into a group that is presented in rows and columns. Each row represents
a person, place or thing described by the table. The columns are the fields
or elements of information that describe each row. The data layout lists
the characteristics that govern the creation and representation of the
logical data records in the data table.
Data Type: Character or numeric specific
formats and values allowed within each specific column. Data types in AAD
are VARCHAR2, zoned, date, and numeric.
Date Note: Provides more information
about one or more of the dates in the description. This note might explain
date spans for which there are a lot of archival materials (sometimes called
"bulk dates") or point out gaps, or it might explain why there are multiple
dates in the description.
Description:1) The process of analyzing,
organizing, and recording information that serves to identify, manage,
locate, and explain the holdings of archives and manuscript repositories
and the contexts and record systems from which those holdings were selected;
2) the written representation or products of the above process. Archival
materials are described hierarchically using different levels of description.
The archival principles of provenance and original order call for the description
of series of archival materials before describing at the file unit or item
level. Descriptions of series provide a unified overview of the archival
materials to help you understand the context of the individual file units
and items within a given series of archival materials.
Documentation Package: A
NARA-created compilation of text-based materials needed to understand a
series or file unit. May include materials produced by the creator and
NARA, such as a listing of the contents, data layouts, manuals, user notes,
and publications. For AAD, some documentation packages and parts of documentation
packages have been digitally scanned made available as PDF files.
Electronic Record: A record that is created,
transmitted, received, or stored in digital format. See Record.
End Position: The position within
a record that indicates where the contents of a specific column end.
Establish Date: The date on which
an organization was established. The date may be qualified by a "ca."
to indicate if the date is approximate or a "?" if an uncertainty exists
regarding the date.
Extent: The measurement or amount of the
archival materials themselves -- the number of data files and the linear
measurement and page count of the creator's documentation - - that make
up the particular copy of the materials.
File Unit: An organized unit of archival
materials grouped together either for current use or in the process of
archival arrangement. A file unit is the intellectual grouping of the archival
materials, which may or may not equal the physical grouping. For the electronic
records in AAD, a file unit is synonymous with a data file.
Finding Aid(s): Tools that help you
find information in archival materials. There are many different types
of finding aids including published or unpublished inventories, container
and folder lists, card catalogs, calendars, indexes, registers, databases,
documentation packages, or institutional guides. Finding aids can be formal
publications or accessioned archival materials. The most common type of
finding aid in AAD is the Documentation Package.
Function and Use: A description
of the activities that resulted in the creation of the archival materials.
This information explains why the archival materials were created.
General Note: Significant information
not captured in any other field.
Index Terms: Uniform terms used to
describe the topics, people, organizations, and geographic areas that are
the subject of or contributed in some way to the archival materials.
Inclusive Dates: The date range
during which the record group, collection, or series was created, maintained,
or accumulated by its creator. The date may be qualified by a "ca." to
indicate if the date is approximate or a "?" if an uncertainty exists regarding
the date. Further explanation of the dates may appear in Date Note.
Item: The smallest intellectually indivisible
archival unit (e.g. a letter, memorandum, report, leaflet, logical data
record or photograph).
Level of Description: Materials
are described according to their position within the archival hierarchy.
The materials are first described as groups, and depending on available
resources and access needs, also described down to the item. The two highest
levels are record group and collection. Record groups and collections contain
series. Series contain file units and/or items, and file units contain
items. AAD includes series and file unit descriptions. AAD does not contain
item level descriptions.
Logical Data Record: A set
of data processed as a unit by a computer system or application independently
of its physical environment. Examples include a word processing document,
a spreadsheet, an email message, each row in each table of a relational
database, and each record in an independent logical data file.
Most Recent: Indicates that the creator
is the one last responsible for the archival materials' creation, accumulation,
or maintenance. If the creator were the one first or previously responsible
for the creation, accumulation, or maintenance of the archival materials,
this type would be Predecessor.
NARA Note: Information provided by NARA
to assist you in understanding the contents of a column.
Notes: For columns in AAD there are two types
of notes: Agency Note and NARA Note.
Numbering Note: The explanation
of an agency or NARA-assigned numbering scheme. May also include instructions
for how you should cite a specific sequence, format, or content of the
numbering scheme when requesting the archival materials.
OCR Quality: An assessment of the accuracy
of the translation provided by the Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
application from a scanned image of a documentation package section into
a text file. The assessments are: Good, Fair, and Poor.
Operator: Provides a user with a means
to control and refine the query of a column or columns or data element
or data elements in records within a data table. These operators are equals,
contains, greater than, and between.
Optical Quality: An assessment
of how easy it is to read a section of scanned documentation. The assessments
are: Good, Fair, and Poor.
Other Title: Additional or variant
titles by which the archival materials are known.
Parent Column: A column that has
a second column whose meaning is contingent upon it. You must select a
value in this parent data column first in order to find a value or values
for the secondary (or child) column.
Predecessor: 1) In the description
of archival materials, indicates that the creator is the one first or previously
responsible for the archival materials' creation, accumulation, or maintenance.
If the creator was the one last responsible for the creation, accumulation,
or maintenance of the archival materials, this type would be Most Recent;
2) In the organization description, the name of the organization that previously
had the mission or program areas of a successor organization.
Record: All books, papers, maps, photographs,
machine-readable materials, or other documentary materials, regardless
of physical form or characteristics, made or received by an agency of the
United States Government under Federal law or in connection with the transaction
of public business and preserved or appropriate for preservation by that
agency or its legitimate successor as evidence of the organization, functions,
policies, decisions, procedures, operations, or other activities of the
Government or because of the informational value of data in them. See also
Logical Data Record.
Record Group: A grouping created by
NARA that comprises the records of a large organization, such as a Government
bureau or independent agency.
Record Group Number: A unique
number assigned to each record group.
Reference Unit: The Reference Unit
for all archival materials in AAD is NWME Electronic and Special Media
Records Services Division, National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi
Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001 (phone) 301-837-0470 (fax) 301-837-3681
(e-mail) cer@nara.gov
RG: See Record Group.
Sample Values: A display of the distinct
values from the first 50 records in a column that you can use to see examples
of the data in the column.
Scope and Content Note:
A narrative description summarizing what the archival materials are (their
scope) and what kinds of information they contain (their content).
Search Criteria: A combination
of the search
operator(s) and value(s) that you selected
prior to running an AAD search. The search criteria statement is displayed
at the top of the Search Results Pages to remind you of your search criteria.
Search Operators: Search operators
are used to define searches of a column in a data table.
The search operators available differ depending on the data type of the column being searched. Some examples of search
operators include CONTAINS ALL VALUES, CONTAINS ANY VALUE, CONTAINS PHRASE, EQUALS, and
BETWEEN. You can use either a % or a * for a wildcard with some of the AAD search
operators. A complete list, along with definitions and examples, is available in AAD
Help.
Series: File units or items arranged in
accordance with a filing system or maintained as a unit because they are from
the same accumulation or filing process, the same function, or the same
activity; have a particular form; or because of some other relationship
arising out of their creation, receipt, or use.
Start Position: The position within
a record that indicates where the contents of a specific column begin.
Subjects: Uniform searchable terms used
to describe the topics, people, organizations, and geographic areas represented
in the archival materials.
Table: See Data Table.
Title: The name assigned to the archival
materials. At the record group, collection, and series level, NARA almost
always creates the title. At the file unit level, the creator usually supplies
the title. NARA-assigned titles may be indicated by brackets, or may appear
in the Other Title field.
Topics: Uniform searchable terms used to
describe the subjects represented in the archival materials.
Type of Archival Materials:
The general form of the archival materials. Currently this may be Architectural
and Engineering Drawings, Artifacts, Data Files, Maps and Charts, Moving
Images, Photographs and Other Graphic Materials, Sound Recordings, or Textual
Records.
Values: The content of a column in a specific
record within a data file. Its meaning may be apparent, or it may be coded,
e.g. M = male and F = female in a column identifying Gender.
VARCHAR2: An abbreviation for data that
may include alphabetic, numeric, or a combination of these two types of
characters. VARCHAR2 stands for VARiable CHARaracter.
Variant Control Number:
A number or identifier assigned to the archival materials either by the
creator or by NARA. Each variant control number will be identified by type
and may have a note providing more information.
Zoned: This is a data type. The AAD system
uses zoned as the data type in every instance in which column or data element
used the signed numeric convention, a method of indicating positive and
negative numbers that was a standard in the 1950s through the 1970s. A
script is used to translate the signed value into its intended numeric
format.
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