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Forms-Assisted Header Creation

Electronic Text Center
Alderman Library
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, VA 22904
434.924.3230

I. Getting to the Forms-Assisted Header Creation Web Page

Begin by firing up a Web browser and going to the following URL:

http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/cgi-local/mu/mu2.pl

After entering the user ID and password for the page you will arrive at the Forms-Assisted Header Creation Web Page:



At this point you can do two things:

  1. Select the first choice if you wish to create a new header for a text;
  2. Select the second choice if you wish to continue work on a existing header.

II. Create a New Header

To create a new header, begin by entering the name you wish to assign the header in the "Header Name" box. Follow the standard Etext Center algorithm, i.e., AutTitl (first three letters of the author's name followed by the first four letters of the work's title) when creating header names. Don't add any extensions as the application keeps track of each header and adds an ".xml" or ".sgml" extension when you've finished with the header (explained below). Then click the "Create New Header" button. This will take you to the main Header Creation page.

Main Header Creation Page

Each field in the Etext header that takes a variable has a corresponding fill-in box on the Header Creation Page. To create a new header just type required information into the pertinent boxes.

The Etext header is broken into five distinct sections:

  1. fileDesc: This contains information about the file containing the electronic text;
  2. sourceDesc: This contains information about the physical text from which the etext was derived;
  3. encodingDesc: This contains information about editorial matters;
  4. profileDesc: This contains information about non-bibliographic aspects of the text such as genre and image information;
  5. revisionDesc: This contains information about any revisions to the text you made, including XML/SGML encoding, pagination, addition of header, etc.

Note that some boxes have small "addblock" buttons () underneath them. If you need to add another box or set of boxes to the header (for example to add more notes or the revision description group), click on this button.

1. fileDesc

The first section is the fileDesc containing information about the file containing the etext, beginning with the text's title, then author and/or editor (last name first; maximum of three names). If the text has no author or editor eliminated, delete the text "primary author/editor first..." from that field. If other fields (for compilers, translators, commentators, or illustrators) need to be added, click "addblock2" for each and add the information as necessary.


In the next field, fill in the name of the creator of the etext. If the text has accompanying digital images, click "addblock3" to add in that field, select "Creation of digital images" for Role, and fill in the image creator's name. Finally, for "Conversion to TEI.2-conformant markup," add in your name before "University of Virginia Library Electronic Text Center":


Next:

  • Fill in the collection and Text ID information, notes on availability, and add the Text ID to the URL field.
  • If the etext is part of a specific Etext Center collection (i.e. Salem Witchtrials, Civil War Collection, etc.), list that information in the "Series Statement" field.
  • If illustrations have been included from the original source, leave that text in the "Note" field; otherwise delete that text and leave the field blank.

2. sourceDesc

The next section of the Etext header contains information about the physical source of the etext file. Begin by entering data on the work's title. If the work is an article in a collection or journal of a different name, add the title of that volume and indicate what kind of volume it is after the "level=" attribute:

  • monographic title;
  • journal title;
  • unpublished material, including theses of dissertations.
  • analytic title

Then add the author's and/or editor's name (first name first). If it is necessary to add in a compiler, translator, commentator or illustrator, choose the appropriate role from the drop-down menu and add the person's name. (If the book has both a translator and an illustrator, for example, you may add in a second field by clicking "addblock6.")


Finally:

  • Fill-in any edition information (e.g., First edition), and for "extent," the physical dimensions of the volume in pages, cm. x cm., etc.. (This information should usually come directly from the "Description" field in the VIRGO record for the print text.)
  • The publisher's name, place and date of publication should also be copied directly from the VIRGO record for the item, if possible.
  • For the Text ID, list the library and call number of the print source.
  • If the text is part of a print series, the name and any notes on that series is entered under "Series Statement."
  • If the text is an article within a journal, in the note field go the volume and page numbers from that journal

3. encodingDesc

The third section of the Etext header holds information regarding the preparation and encoding of the etext. You may alter the existing data in the windows as needed or add a new one.

  • A note field reading "All unambiguous end-of-line hyphens have been removed, and the trailing part of a word has been joined to the preceding line" has been added to the header. If you have not removed end-of-line hyphens from your text (to preserve page layout, for example), remove this statement from the header.

4. profileDesc

The fourth section of the Etext header contains six boxes of non-bibliographic data on the file to edit:

  1. Enter the date of the first known publication of the print text.
  2. Enter the language(s) in the text, as well as their three-character ISO language code (see ISO 639 Language Codes). Note: If you have more than one language in your text, you must declare them all here: click on the addblock9 box and type in the language name and ID in the new box.
  3. Choose fiction or non-fiction.
  4. Choose poetry, prose or drama.
  5. Delete either "masculine" or "feminine" in the next "Term" field to leave the gender of the author remaining.
  6. If the text belongs in a specific collection (African American, Native American, American Civil War, Thomas Jefferson, Mark Twain, Women Writers, Young Readers, Literature in Translation, Special Collections, etc.), leave the appropriate one(s) listed and delete the others.

5. revisionDesc

The final section of the Etext header is where you list any and all changes you've made to the etext, including TEI XML encoding, addition of header, textual corrections, addition of image files, etc. File in the windows with the date you made the changes, your name, and what you changed:


Filter Completed File

Once you finish the header, find and click the "Save and Quit" button at the bottom of the browser window. When you save and quit, you are returned to the catalogue of current headers. Find the entry for the header for your text and click on "teifilter." This will convert the header into final XML format and store it in /lv22/Headers/Headers2Cataloging.

In order to concatenate the header onto your XML file, you can either cut & paste the header from the "teifilter" webpage into your XML document, or you can go to /lv22/Headers/Headers2Cataloging and copy the header into your working directory, then concatenate the header + document together to create a new complete file. Note: Header files are saved as filename.xml. When you copy a header into your working directory, make sure that you will not be overwriting your XML-encoded text file if it has the same name.

To concatenate two documents, type:

cat headername.xml filename.xml > newfile.xml

at the UNIX prompt.



III. Edit an Existing Header

When selected, this link takes you to a table of headers-in-progress:



From here, locate the header you wish to edit and click the "edit" option. This will recall the header into the main header creation page described above, from where you can continue editing or changing the file. The "xml" or "sgml" extension attached to the header files is a function of the header-creation program and identifies the file as created by the application. While you're working on the file it is stored in a quasi-XML or -SGML form that the header creation application uses.

Once you've completed work on the header, come to this page and click the "teifilter" option. While you work on the file it is stored in in a quasi-XML or -SGML form that the header creation application uses. When you teifilter the file it is converted from the application's quasi-XML/SGML into straight XML/SGML and is placed in /lv22/Headers/Headers2Cataloging with an ".xml" or ".sgml" extension for final disposition.