Entity types

Entity types

Main Page > User manual > UM-1 System overview > UM-1.3 Entity types

An entity is an object about which an information system collects data. ICA-AtoM's architecture include a number of entity types, but from the user's point of view there are four main types with which they will interact:

• Archival descriptions

• Authority records (actors)

• Archival institutions

• Terms

Core entities and their relationships

Archival descriptions

• Provide contextual information about archival materials.

• Are aranged into hierarchical levels (fonds, series, files, items).

• Include data elements based on the ICA's General International Standard Archival Description (ISAD-G).

Authority records (actors)

• Provide descriptions of the actors (corporate bodies, persons and families) that interact with archival materials as creators, custodians, subject access points, etc.

• Include data elements based on the ICA's International Standard Archival Authority Records (Corporate bodies, Persons, Families) (ISAAR(CPF)).

• Are linked to archival descriptions in ICA-AtoM by events delimited by start / end dates. Through events, 1 actor can have 0, 1 or many relationships to 0, 1 or many archival units; and 1 archival unit can have 0, 1 or many relationships to 0, 1 or many actors. Event relationships link ISAAR authority files (descriptions of actors) and ISAD records (descriptions of archival materials).

Archival institutions

• Provide descriptions of repositories that preserve and provide access to archival materials.

• Include data elements based on the ICA's International Standard for Describing Institutions with Archival Holdings (ISDIAH).

• Are actors that hold archival materials. Like all actors, an archival institution has its own ISAAR authority record. But its characteristics as a repository (e.g. its opening hours, research services, contact information) are described separately in an ISDIAH institution record. The ISDIAH elements that are inherited from its ISAAR authority record are: Authorized form of name, Other forms of name, Parallel forms of name, History, Mandates/Sources of Authority, and Administrative structure.

Terms

• Provide controlled vocabularies used throughout the system (e.g. as access points or in drop-down value lists).

• Are organized into separate taxonomies.

• Include minimal data elements; a future iteration of ICA-AtoM will extend one such taxonomy ("Function description") to include the elements found in the ICA's International Standard For Describing Functions (ISDF).