Accessing the AMS

Staff at organizations that have contributed to the American Archive of Public Broadcasting (AAPB) may continue to access and manage records and digitized media through the Archival Management System (AMS).

Logging into the AMS

Open a browser window and navigate to ams.americanarchive.org. Enter your credentials and click the Sign In button. If you do not know your login credentials, email the AAPB Project Manager at [email protected].

The Records Page

Once logged in, click on the Records button at the top right of the screen. This page will display all of your organization’s records. When you first load the Records page, notice that the default view is the Assets screen, highlighted in blue on the top left. You also can search instantiation records by clicking on the Instantiation tab, next to the highlighted Asset tab. Instantiation records provide you with detailed information about the physical items or digital files that correspond to the assets.

Filtering and Searching Records

If you would like to narrow your records to a specific group or to an individual record, you can do so using the filter tools in the menu on the left. Here is a list of the filters and details on how to use them:

Reformatted: To access only the records in the collection that have been digitized (or, for born digital assets, transcoded to a preservation file format for inclusion in the AAPB collection), check the Reformatted box. If the box is unchecked, all the collection records, both reformatted and not yet reformatted, will be listed.

Keyword Search (all): This filter allows users to view records containing only the keywords you select. To search records in which keywords occur in any fields, enter your keyword(s) into the search box.

Keyword Search (refined): To search for records containing keywords in a specific field, click on the Limit Search to Field button, and choose the field you would like to search in the drop-down menu.

Date: To access records having a specific date or date range, click on the box below Date and a drop-down menu will appear. You can create a customized date range by using the bottom three options (All dates before, All dates after, and Date range). If you click on any of the last three options, a calendar will appear. This calendar will help you create a custom date range with specific beginning and end points.

To filter records using a specific type of date field (e.g., broadcast date), click the Date Type button and select the field to which you would like the search limited.

Nomination Status: During the American Archive Content Inventory Project (AACIP), stations assigned a nomination status to their assets, prioritizing them for digitization. To access records categorized by a certain nomination status, select the appropriate option from the drop-down menu.

Media Type: To access records of a particular media type, select the appropriate option from the drop-down menu. Options include categories such as Moving Image, Sound, and Dataset.

Physical Format: To filter records by physical format, select the appropriate option from the drop-down menu. Options include 1/4 audio tape, Betacam SP, and DVD.

Digital Format: To filter records by digital format, select the appropriate option from the drop-down menu. Options include MPEG-4, .jpg, and AIFF.

Generations: To filter records by generation, select the appropriate option from the drop-down menu. Options include Master, Dub, Air Check, among others.

Viewing Individual Records

There are several ways to view individual records. The default view is the Asset Information View, highlighted in blue in the menu on the left of the screen. The view provides some of the basic record information, such as Asset Type, Title(s), Creator, Audience Level, Audience Rating, Local Identifier, and American Archive GUID.

You may also view one of the instantiations of the record. You can navigate between the Asset Information and the individual instantiation by clicking on each in the menu on the left.

In most cases, the first instantiation describes the physical item that you originally inventoried. If you described multiple instantiations in your original inventory, each will be listed. If your organization participated in the digitization project, additional instantiations should appear for each digital file created. For Moving Image assets, there are three additional instantiations: the preservation file, the production file, and the proxy file. For Sound assets, there are two additional instantiations: the preservation file and the proxy file.

Information provided in the Instantiation views includes Instantiation Identifiers, Dates, Media Type, Physical or Digital Format, Generations, Location, Duration, and Language.

Adding New Users and Admins From Your Organization

If you would like to add a station admin or user to be able to access your station's records in the AMS, please the AAPB Project Manager at [email protected].