1. Best Practices for Creating Finding
Aids
So you’ve processed the collection, now
what??
By jennifer whitlock, archivist, Indianapolis Museum of Art,
for Society of Indiana Archivists Workshop Fall 2011
2. What is a Finding Aid?
A description of an
archival collection
usually containing the
history of the creator as
well as an inventory of
the contents.
created in various
electronic and print
formats, including word
processor document,
spreadsheet, database,
paper list, index cards,
etc.
3. Sterling Library, Yale University
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SML-Card-
Catalog.jpg
County of San Diego Public Records
http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/cob/bosa/navrecords3.html
Old School “Finding
Aids”
Oregon State Archives
http://arcweb.sos.state.or.us/tour/reffindingnew.htm
l
4. Paper Finding Aid
Bentley Historical Library, University of
Michigan
http://bentley.umich.edu/exhibits/bhl75/collections.php
6. Hierarchy or “nesting”
levels of description
Broader to more specific
Top level description will be inherited by subsequent levels
Collectio
n
Series
Sub-
series
folder
item
http://gabbafriends.com/yo-gabba-nesting-dolls
7. How do you make it useful to
your patrons?
Top level (usually collection or record group level)
minimum:
Unique ID code
Repository info
Title
Date
Extent – linear feet, cubic feet, number of boxes
Name of creator
Scope and Content
Access Conditions or restrictions
Language of the Material
Next level (series or record series) includes all of the
above unless it is the same or if it needs more specific
information
8. How do you make it useful to your patrons?
Multilevel Optimum:
All of the previous Plus:
Administrative/Biographical History
Scope and Content (including full detailed
description)
Access points
Can add any additional elements that might be
useful…
9. How do you make it useful to your patrons?
Every
collection is
different - not
all elements
will be used
for every
collection
Tailor
description to
suit the size,
importance,
and
10. Links to example finding aids
Guggenheim http://www.guggenheim.org/new-
york/collections/library-and-archives/archive-
collections
Archives of American Art
http://www.aaa.si.edu/collectionsonline/
Greene & Greene Virtual Archives
http://www.usc.edu/dept/architecture/greeneandgr
eene/
http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt5p30
075x
11. Playing well with others
Standards for content
General International Standard Archival Description
ISAD(G) http://www.icacds.org.uk/eng/ISAD(G).pdf
Describing Archives: A Content Standard DA:CS [based
on ISAD(G)]
http://www.archivists.org/governance/standards/dacs.asp
Rules for Archival Description RAD [Canadian]
http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/archdesrules.html
12. …Playing well with others…
Describing Archives: A Content Standard DA:CS
Scope and Content
Historical/Biographical
Access Points
13. ...Playing well with others…
Access Points
Controlled Vocabularies and Specialized Thesaurus
International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate
Bodies, Persons and Families (ISAAR(CPF))
http://www.icacds.org.uk/eng/isaar2ndedn-e_3_1.pdf
LC Subject headings (LCSH)
http://www.loc.gov/cds/products/product.php?productID=159
LC Authority Headings http://authorities.loc.gov/cgi-
bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&PAGE=First
LC Thesaurus for Graphic Materials I: Subject terms (TGM I)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/tgm1/
14. …Playing well with others…
Access Points
Controlled Vocabularies and Specialized Thesaurus
Getty Vocabularies
http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/index.html
Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT)
Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN)
Getty Union List of Artist Names (ULAN)
Thesaurus for Use in College and University Archives
http://www2.archivists.org/thesaurus
15. …Playing well with others…
Standards for format
The standard machine-readable format for
manuscript collection finding aids, widely used in
the United States, England, Canada, and
Australia, is
http://www.loc.gov/ead/
MARC MAchine-Readable Cataloging
usually Collection level record
searchable with library materials
16. …Playing well with others…
Software:
XML editing programs:
Examples: Xmetal, NoteTab (w/EAD Cookbook), Oxygen,
etc.
Even MS Word tries to use XML
Apply XSLT (stylesheets) for display
Convert to HTML for web display
Disadvantages:
Does not support other archival functions:
reference, accessions, locations, etc.
Not as user friendly as archives specific software
No display features
No digital image metadata or support
17. …Playing well with others…
•Not only for finding
aids, supports many
archival management Open Source Archives Management
Tools
functions
•one searchable database
•Can export EAD (and
MARC) and collaborate
•User friendly interface
•Designed for archivists by
archivists
•Community input
BUT…
Free as in kittens not as in
beer
18. …Playing well with others…
Consortia or portals:
Arizona Archives online: http://www.azarchivesonline.org/xtf/search
Online Archives of California: http://www.oac.cdlib.org/
Northwest Digital Archives: http://nwda.wsulibs.wsu.edu/
Rocky Mountain Online Archive: http://rmoa.unm.edu/
Texas Archival Resources Online: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/
Ohio Link Finding Aid Repository: http://ead.ohiolink.edu/xtf-ead/
North Carolina Exploring Cultural Heritage Online: http://www.ncecho.org/
Archives Florida: http://palmm2.fcla.edu/afl/
19. …Playing well with others…
Consortia or portals:
We need a EAD finding aid portal for Indiana!
Who’s in?
Indiana Memory, Indiana Digital Library
http://www.in.gov/memories/
20. Future of the Finding Aid
What’s next?
Visualization, Timelines, graphs, mapping
Augmented reality
Interactive, custom display based on user needs
Tagging, researcher comments, user created
description
Cool like the commercial website
Visual rather than purely textual
Open the door to whole new audiences….