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Agent Records can be created for individual people, corporate entities, including the offices of administrators, or software. For example, there could be a person Agent Record for “Bourg, Chris,” but the Agent Record for “Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Libraries. Office of the Director” is a corporate entity.
Person
For individuals that have gone by multiple names (e.g. married names, pen names, fuller versions), include variant forms. Do not enter “deadnames” without consent of the person being described.
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- Basic Information: Check the box for "Publish"
- Dates of Existence: Complete if known; skip if unknown. See Dates Section for further instructions.
- Authority ID: For established entities, this should be the VIAF ID (http://viaf.org/). Leave blank if it's a local entity.
- Source (required): If the entity is established, select “Virtual International Authority File (VIAF).” If the entity is not established, select “Local sources.”
- Rules (required): If the entity is established, select “Resource Description and Access.” If the entity is not established, select “Describing Archives: A Content Standard.”
- Primary Part of Name (required): The foremost part of an entity’s name. For MIT administrative offices, academic programs, and research labs and centers, the primary part of name is “Massachusetts Institute of Technology.”
- Subordinate Name 1 (required): A hierarchical unit within the corporate entity named in the Primary Part of Name field, e.g. School of Engineering
- Subordinate Name 2: A hierarchical unit within the corporate entity named in the Subordinate Name 1 field, e.g. Biological Engineering Department
- For established entities, these formatting rules override the established formatting in VIAF. For example, the MIT Sloan School of Management should be formatted as shown in the ArchivesSpace screenshot below, even though this differs from the established version in VIAF. However, the VIAF ID should still be included as the Authority ID for established entities, unless the VIAF formatting is so different from DDC’s standard formatting that it’s uncertain if they represent the same entity.
Software
- Authority ID (optional): For established entities, this should be the VIAF permalink. Leave blank if it’s a local entity. (Software is unlikely to be in VIAF).
- Source (required): If the entity is established, select “Virtual International Authority File (VIAF).” If the entity is not established, select “Local sources.”
- Rules (required): If the entity is established, select “Resource Description and Access.” If the entity is not established, select “Describing Archives: A Content Standard.”
- Software Name (required): The name the software is generally known by, such as Archivematica
- Version (required if available): Version number of the software if you can find it, for instance 1.10
- External Documents (optional): Click add external document and provide a link to the source code if available, Title: Source Code, Location: link to source code
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