This document provides an overview of Encoded Archival Description (EAD), which is an XML standard for encoding archival finding aids. It discusses the basics of EAD, including what EAD is, its relationship to DACS and MARC standards, and common tags used in EAD finding aids such as <eadheader>, <archdesc>, and <dsc>. It also covers how to create an EAD finding aid using various tools and how to transform and display EAD records through XSLT stylesheets and other methods. The future of EAD is also briefly discussed, including the ongoing revision process.
4. I. Basics
What is EAD?
XML standard for encoding finding aids
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5. I. Basics - What is EAD?
XML standard for encoding finding aids
XML (eXtensible Markup Language):
a set of rules for structuring data via markup
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6. I. Basics - What is EAD?
XML standard for encoding finding aids
Elements and attributes defined by a
Document Type Definition (DTD) or a
Schema
<bioghist> <bionote>
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7. I. Basics - What is EAD?
XML standard for encoding finding aids
Defined set of containers for descriptive data
EAD : DACS = MARC : AACR2
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8. I. Basics - What is EAD?
XML standard for encoding finding aids
A description of records that gives the
repository physical and intellectual control over
the materials and that assists users to gain
access to and understand the materials (SAA)
Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)
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9. I. Basics
What is EAD?
XML standard for encoding finding aids
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10. I. Basics
What is EAD?
EAD encoding is not a substitute for
sound archival description!
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11. I. Basics
A Brief Aside: DACS
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
“rules to ensure the creation of
consistent, appropriate, and self-
explanatory descriptions of archival
material.”
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12. I. Basics
A Brief Aside: DACS
“DACS defines twenty-five elements that
are useful in creating systems for
describing archival materials.”
“Not all of the DACS elements are
required in every archival description.”
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13. I. Basics
A Brief Aside: DACS
3.1 Scope and Content Element
“This element provides information
about the nature of the materials and
activities reflected in the unit being
described to enable users to judge its
potential relevance. …”
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14. I. Basics
A Brief Aside: DACS
DACS revision underway
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16. II. Finding Aid
EAD Finding Aid Structure
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE ead SYSTEM "ead.dtd">
or
<ead xsi:schemaLocation="urn:isbn:1-931666-22-9
http://www.loc.gov/ead/ead.xsd">
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17. II. Finding Aid
EAD Finding Aid Structure
<ead>
<eadheader>Information about repository and
finding aid</eadheader>
<archdesc>Description of archival
materials</archdesc>
</ead>
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18. II. Finding Aid
Common Tags <eadheader>
• Finding aid author
<filedesc><titlestmt>
<author>Processed by Stanislav Pejša.</author>
</titlestmt></filedesc>
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19. II. Finding Aid
Common Tags <archdesc>
• Minimum required description – “high-level did”
<did>
<origination>Mueller, Justin J.</origination>
<unittitle>Justin J. Mueller Collection</unittitle>
<unitdate>undated, 1890-2005</unitdate>
<abstract>[short descriptive text]</abstract>
[…]
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20. II. Finding Aid
Common Tags <archdesc>
• Minimum required description – “high-level did”
<did>
[…]
<langmaterial>In German and English</langmaterial>
<physdesc>1 linear foot</physdesc>
<unitid>AR 10254</unitid>
<repository>Leo Baeck Institute</repository>
<physloc>V 11/2</physloc>
</did>
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21. II. Finding Aid
Common Tags <archdesc>
• Biographical information
<bioghist><p>Joseph Roth was one of the most prominent
Austrian writers of the first half of the 20th
century.</p></bioghist>
• Controlled vocabulary
<geogname encodinganalog="651$a" source="lcsh"
authfilenumber="n 79040121">Austria</geogname>
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22. II. Finding Aid
Common Tags <archdesc>
• Description of Subordinate Components
<dsc>
<c01 level="series">
<c02>Folder 1
<c03>Item 1</c03>
<c03>Item 2</c03>
</c02>
<c02>Folder 2</c02>
</c01>
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23. II. Finding Aid
Common Tags <archdesc>
• Description of Subordinate Components
A Component <c> provides information about the content,
context, and extent of a subordinate body of materials.
Each <c> element identifies an intellectually logical section
of the described materials. The physical filing
separations between components do not always
coincide with the intellectual separations.
From EAD Tag library <http://www.loc.gov/ead/tglib/elements/c.html>
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24. II. Finding Aid
Common Tags <archdesc>
• Description of Subordinate Components
<dsc>
<c01 level="series">
<did>
<unittitle id="serII">Series II: Publications</unittitle>
<unitdate normal="1985/1996">1985-1996</unitdate>
</did>
<c02>Subordinate intellectual parts, e.g. folders</c02>
</c01>
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25. II. Finding Aid
Common Tags <archdesc>
• Description of Subordinate Components
<c02>
<did>
<container type="box">2</container>
<container type="folder">1</container>
<unittitle>Articles</unittitle>
<unitdate>1985-1994</unitdate>
</did>
</c02>
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26. II. Finding Aid
Common Tags <archdesc>
• Description of Subordinate Components
<c02>
<did>
<container type="box">OS 145</container>
<container type="folder">1</container>
<unittitle>Newspaper foldout</unittitle>
<unitdate>1996</unitdate>
</did>
</c02>
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27. II. Finding Aid
Common Tags – Human Readable?
<dimensions>
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28. II. Finding Aid
Common Tags – Human Readable?
<dimensions>
A subelement of <physdesc> for information
about the size of the materials being
described; usually includes numerical data.
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30. II. Finding Aid
Common Tags – Human Readable?
<famname>
The proper noun designation for a group of
persons closely related by blood or persons
who form a household. Includes single
families and family groups, e.g., Patience
Parker Family and Parker Family. 30
48. III. Implementation: Using EAD
Other Uses
• Integration with other standards (e.g. EAC-CPF)
• Open Archives Initiative – Protocol for Metadata
Harvesting (OAI-PMH)
• EAD consortia
• Metadata for digitized collections
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50. III. Implementation: Using EAD
The Future of EAD
(pre) Alpha release of EAD revision, August 2012
• Simplify links
• Reduce mixed content
• Add, deprecate, and delete elements
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51. III. Implementation: Using EAD
The Future of EAD
• Revision is schema-based -- goodbye, DTD
• LC stylesheet: dtd2schema.xsl
• “Attribute validation errors indicate that the
attribute value does not conform to the ruling
ISO standard”
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52. III. Implementation: Using EAD
The Future of EAD
• Beta release of schema, documentation, and
migration tools, January 15, 2013
• New version of EAD released with tag library and
migration tools, July 1, 2013
slideshare.net/mikerush/ead-revision-progress-report-20120808
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59. Resources
Tinker!
• Download the free trial of oXygen XML editor,
the schema, an EAD finding aid, and a stylesheet.
• Try some basic actions: add a folder, change a
controlled vocabulary term, remove a series.
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/carowallis1/2314716161/sizes/m/in/photostream/Will be available on slideshare – many links on images and in text in the later portion of the presentation
Familiar with html? Similar (tags aka mark-up), but data structure, not displayXML (eXtensible Markup Language): set of rules for structuring data via markup
DTD and schema define the buckets; the list of tags in the tag library (we’ll see later) is defined here. Move to schema is coming; more flexible; not something you need to know right awayhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/linneberg/4481309196/sizes/m/in/photostream/
Encoding standards are rules for defining buckets; content standards are rules for the information insidehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/linneberg/4481309196/sizes/m/in/photostream/Xml, EAD, MARC are ways to structure your data, they are not the same as the descriptive data such as the finding aid, the catalog record, etc.
7 principles; rules for minimum information; names and dates. Revision (tip – free way to get text!), and link.
7 principles; rules for minimum information; names and dates. Revision (tip – free way to get text!), and link.
7 principles; rules for minimum information; names and dates. Revision (tip – free way to get text!), and link.
An EAD-encoded finding aid is split into info about institution/FA (metametadata) and info about materials (the finding aid)
id.loc.gov<p> to structure text
Looking at the real thing
Extremely unlikely you will be asked to type it all out by hand. Temples, programs, guidance.
Software is free (like kittens, not like beer) Designed by archivists: interface is intuitive Manages most common archival processes Designed for metadata standardsOutput – html, eadBuilt on a database (MySQL)
“ICA-AtoM is web-based archival description software that is based on International Council on Archives ('ICA') standards. 'AtoM' is an acronymn for 'Access to Memory'.”
Basic, powerful XML editor. You can safely ignore about 95% of the buttons and drop-downs, but will do things like suggest valid tags and attributes, close tags, and validate as you go. This is what we use.
Software is free (like kittens, not like beer) Designed by archivists: interface is intuitive Manages most common archival processes Designed for metadata standardsOutput – html, eadBuilt on a database (MySQL)
XSLT (Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations) is a declarative, XML-based language used for the transformation of XML documents. Here, the EAD tag processinfo is converted into HTML.
XSLT (Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations) is a declarative, XML-based language used for the transformation of XML documents. Here, the EAD tag processinfo is converted into HTML.
Results returned a correct level of hierarchy, linking back to full finding aid.