Summary of core fields for personal name, family, and corporate body entities
DACS guidelines for levels of description were used throughout to help inform our decisions.
Minimum Required Fields
- Entity Type: Choose one of three values: Person, Corporation or Family
- Rationale: This speaks to the nature of the record and programatically determines which additional fields are displayed for the user to fill out.
- Name Entry: Use RDA rules for formulating the name.
- Rationale: Even if only part of the name is known or used a name identity is necessary.
- Related Resource OR Citation: Minimum one archival resource.
- Rationale: One of the system’s main functions is to connect users with research information and materials.
- Rationale: The record/user needs at least one substantiation of the described entity both to trust and value the record.
Optimal Fields
All minimum-level fields plus the following (if applicable):
- History:
- Exist Dates: Use DACS rules for determining the dates.
- BiogHist: Include one Citation for the BiogHist text.
- Place: Minimum one location.
- Demographics:
- Occupation(s): SNAC interface allows browsing of occupations at this time.
- Relations:
- Resource Relation: Minimum one resource relation link (either an archival collection or a related bibliographical resource)
- CPF Relation: Minimum one internal CPF relation link
- Corporate Description (for Corporate Bodies):
- Function(s)
Rationale: Including these fields provides additional information about an entity and helps to differentiate it.
