FL-Islandora Guide: Collections

To create a new collection you must be logged into a FL-Islandora site through an authorized account with appropriate credentials.

To create a top-level collection, click the "Manage" tab on the home page list of collections.  Otherwise, navigate to the collection which will be the parent of your new collection and click the "Manage" tab. 

Within the Manange tab, Click “+ Add an object to this collection”. Be sure to select the Collection content model. You will get a form with prompts for information about the collection:

• Collection Label: Supply the name of the collection as it should appear on the site.
• Collection PID: Supply a reasonably mnemonic PID for the collection. Be sure to use the correct namespace prefix for your site. This namespace is part of the site URL (ie. https://[namespace].digital.flvc.org). (Do not use the “islandora” namespace.) By policy, the name part of the pid for a collection object must begin with an alphabetic character (“inst:football55” is a valid collection name; “inst:55” is not) and must be alphanumeric (alpha characters and numbers only). The PID is case-sensitive. NOTE: do not accept the default collection pid that Islandora creates when the Collection PID field is left blank: that creates a numeric PID that will be easy to confuse with the numeric PIDs created for content objects.  You may never change the PID of a collection.
• Inherit collection policy checkbox: This portion of the setup defines the Content Models of objects allowed within the collection you are creating. If checked, the new collection will allow the same content models as the parent collection. (Note that in the FL-Islandora implementation this means that it will allow only collection objects. Check “Inherit collection policy” if you will be creating subcollections in the current collection.) If you uncheck this box, you will get a list of all available content models, and you can check off the ones you want to allow in the new collection. Uncheck this box if you are creating the lowest level collection that will contain digital objects.  NOTE: by policy, a collection object can only hold sub-collections or content objects, not both. In other words, only the lowest level collections may hold content objects.
• Inherit XACML policy from: This is a pull-down menu that allows you to set the Object Viewing policy (XACML Restrictions) on your new collection based on the policy in its parent collection. For example: if you are creating a new collection that should not be visible to the public and the immediate parent collection has restrictions on object viewing by selecting the parent collection from the "Inherit XACML policy from" pull down your new collection will have the same restrictions as its parent.  NOTE: If your new collection is created under a collection with an Object Viewing Policy, accepting the "None" default for "Inherit XACML policy from" will likely result in a collection and child objects that are retrievable by the public. (The "None" option means: do not create an Object Viewing / XACML policy on this collection object, regardless of the parent collection's policy.)

Note that in the list of available content models, there are some you should not check.

Next, you will be taken to the Form selection screen. Choose the Form you would like to use to create the MODS datastream for the collection.

The name of your collection will be derived from Title. You can change this later by editing a collection's MODS datastream with this same form. At this time no other fields are required and no other metadata about the collection will publicly display.

Once you've provided your collection with a Title, select Submit to complete ingesting the collection object.

Label/Title

The collection label/title displays to the public and may be modified after the collection is created. For example, let's say you have a collection called “North Carolina Maps” and you decide to expand the scope to maps of all southern states. You could change the label from “North Carolina Maps” to “Maps of the South”.

To correct or change a collection label/title, navigate to the collection you want to rename. Click the "Manage" tab then select “Datastreams”. Locate the MODS datastream from the table on this tab. Click the 'edit' link from the operations column in the MODS row and select the form you wish to use to edit the MODS. Once you are in the form simply change the 'Title' field and Submit the form to change the collection name. NOTE: You may also change the label of the collection from the Properties tab but this is not advisable as it will be overwritten by any updates to the MODS datastream.

Thumbnail

By default, Islandora will provide a folder icon as the thumbnail for new collections. You can provide a more attractive thumbnail by deleting the default thumbnail and providing a new one.

Collection thumbnails should be PNG, JPEG or GIF images of 200 x 200 pixels.

Navigate to the default thumbnail for your new collection, and click the "Manage" tab. Click “Datastreams”. You will be presented with a list of datastreams belonging to your new collection.

Next to the "TN" "Thumbnail" datastream, click "replace".​

Upload your new thumbnail, and click "Add Contents".

This will update the icon that people see and click on to get into the collection when browsing the site.

Banner

Recommended dimensions for a collection banner are 1040 x 80.

Go to the collection. Click "Manage" then "Datastreams". Click “+ Add a datastream” to get the form for adding a datastream (see section on “Change the Collection Thumbnail” above).

Datastream ID: type “BANNER” (all caps)

Datastream Label: type “Collection banner”.

Upload document: Find the image you want to use for the collection and upload it.

Click “Add Datastream”.

Description

Go to the collection. Click "Manage" then Datastreams. Click “+ Add a datastream” to get the form for adding a datastream (see section on “Change the Collection Thumbnail” above).

Datastream ID: type “DESC-TEXT” (all caps)

Datastream Label: type “Description”.

Upload document: Find the text file that describes the collection and upload it.  Text describing the collection must been in a file with filetype extension “.txt”. HTML tags can be embedded, including links.

Click “Add Datastream”.

Note that if the collection has a description, the “Search this collection” box will display to the right of the description. Collections without a DESC-TEXT datastream will not show the “Search this collection” box.

<div class="modal-inner">

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<related-links title="OPTIONAL RELATED LINKS MENU HEADER">
 <internal-link title="INTERNAL LINK LABEL GOES HERE">/islandora/object/namespace:pid</internal-link>
 <external-link title="EXTERNAL LINK LABEL GOES HERE">https://www.external-link-example.com</external-link>
 <page title="1st MODAL PAGE LABEL GOES HERE">PAGE_STREAM_1</page>
 <page title="2nd MODAL PAGE LABEL GOES HERE">PAGE_STREAM_2</page>
</related-links>

 <external-link title="EXTERNAL LINK LABEL GOES HERE">https://www.external-link-example.com</external-link>

 <internal-link title="INTERNAL LINK LABEL GOES HERE">/islandora/object/namespace:pid</internal-link>

  <page title="PAGE LABEL GOES HERE">PAGE_STREAM_#</page>

If you want to add or modify the content models you are able to use within a collection, it will be necessary to make changes to the "Collection Policy". From the collection, select the Manage tab and navigate to the Collections tab. Select 'Manage collection policy' from the menu now on the left (it should be the first option). You should see a list of all available content models. To enable one for your collection, simply select the checkbox next to the appropriate Content Model. You may select as many as you would like but please familiarize yourself with the Content Models before use.

When enabling content models for usage inside of your collection, be sure that the namespace selected next to the content model name always matches your institutional namespace, ie "fsu" should have "fsu" as the namespace.

Prompt

A feature to change the label of content models presented upon ingest of an object was introduced in Islandora 7.x-1-6. This option is available under Manage Collection Policy. This new label will be presented to a user as a choice when selecting a content model for a new object within that collection in place of the default content model label. It does not change the functionality of the relabeled content model. If the prompt feature is used and the label of a content model is changed, it will only affect the collection policy of THAT collection. The collections parent and sibling collections will not have the new label. However, if a subcollection is created with the collection with a modified prompt and the Collection Policy is inherited, that subcollection will have also have the labels of its parent.

Pictured above: Manage Collection Policy tab with new ‘Prompt’ field.

Below: Content Models and their associated ‘Prompt’.

Below: The name of Islandora Large Image Content Model is changed to “Real Big Photos!”

Below: Creating a new object within this collection will now provide “Real Big Photos!” as a choice of content model for islandora:sp_large_image_cmodel in place of “Islandora Large Image Content Model”.

The Prompt feature is not likely to be useful for seasoned Islandora users. It may be useful for new users or student assistants working as Submitters who may not need to familiarize themselves with the concept of Content Models.