Manuscript Level:  Code

Definition:  Multipurpose means for pulling into a group a number of manuscripts.

Comment:  The main purpose of this field is to allow institutions to build URL patterns for their images, when part of the way that institution designates its manuscripts is by group. For example, an institution may assign file names to images of this sort: "bible_MS01_image01" and "bible_MS52_image01"; or "fragment_MS02_image01" and "fragment_MS51_image01." When the holding institution retains its own image file names as part of the images' URLs, the DS-Access tool for building URL patterns needs a mechanism for incorporating the group name. Thus, in the forms for adding and editing manuscripts, the necessary field is Code; that same information is used in the URL pattern building tool as Manuscript Segment.

If an institution doesn't need this field to build its image URLs, the field can handily be used as a temporary grouping device for any sort of collection management: mss that should go to Conservation? mss that will be pulled for an upcoming exhibition? mss requested by a professor for his class visit to Special Collections? What makes the Code field handy for such ad hoc purposes is the Report that the database can generate of the manuscripts bearing the chosen Code. (See, in the top title bar, the drop-down menu for Reports and Data.)

Example:

• bibles
• frag
• exh
• nelsonClass

Properties:  Data type: Text. Field size: 50.

Required?:  No.