Documentation

Below are documents created by the Arca Office, specifically in support of Arca sites. Most of the information therein may also be applied to other Islandora sites.

See also: our Frequently Asked Questions page.

For general or basic Islandora tasks and functions, see the Islandora documentation wiki. For guides produced by other Islandora users, see the External Documentation page.

  • How to set up batch ingests, structure ingest packages, and when/how to do it yourself vs. sending to the Arca Office.

  • Detailed instructions for using Islandora Multi-Importer to batch ingest objects using a CSV of metadata and a ZIP of object files.

  • Are you digitising a new collection for your Arca repository? Find out how to create a spreadsheet of your metadata for easy batch ingesting into your Arca repository via the Move to Islandora Kit. 

  • What are compound objects, how to create them, configuring the Solution Pack, and how to make sure their metadata displays correctly.

  • Basic configuration, including:

    • Theme and logo settings
    • Site name and contact info setup
    • XACML access restrictions
    • OAI-PMH feed
    • Analytics
    • Site users, roles, and permissions
  • Instructions for configuring the way that search results, facets, object records and browse pages display in your Arca repository. Includes instructions for customising your Browse Collection list display using the Collection Items Details View.

  • The content models available in Arca, and recommendations for how to use them.
  • How to modify Solr search results, including sort, defined query fields, and filtering.

  • A miscellany of suggested customizations, including:

    • Custom styling with CSS Injector
    • Displaying citation counts and Altmetrics
    • Sorting options
    • Small modules such as maps, downloadable large images, etc.

    Frequently updated as new ideas and modules come out.

  • Guidelines to help those ingesting. Covers all the commonly-used content models, with guidelines for individual fields found on their ingest forms, and controlled vocabulary suggestions.
  • How to use Islandora WestVault to preserve your repository objects.

  • Monthly maintenance tasks to make sure your repository is uncluttered and your storage is not being wasted.

  • How to select the metadata fields that will be shown when viewing an object.

  • How to move an object from one collection to another, and sharing objects between multiple collections.

  • Guidelines for what kinds of digital content belongs in the repository, vs. what should be hosted as simple Drupal content on your Islandora site.

  • Suggested approaches for enabling self-submission in your repository.

  • Detailed instructions on implementing Traditional Knowledge Labels for Administrators.

  • Detailed instructions on implementing Traditional Knowledge Labels in Islandora.

  • The CT Digital Archive created this guide to demonstrate how Drupal taxonomies can be used to create autocomplete controlled vocabularies in Islandora ingest forms.

  • A list of useful Solr fields for displaying search results, faceting, sorting, etc. Lists the fields that should be used for certain types of metadata, and fields that should be avoided.

  • You can use a local virtual machine to test changes and add test content without affecting your live Arca repository. This is highly recommended.