1. Queens College GSLIS
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2. Outline
I. The Basics
II. Finding Aid
Quiz and Break
III. Implementation
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3. Relax!
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4. I. The Basics
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5. I. Basics
What is EAD?
XML standard for encoding finding aids
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6. 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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7. I. Basics - What is EAD?
XML standard for encoding finding aids
Tag:
<unitdate era=“ce”>2013</unitdate>
Attribute:
<unitdate era=“ce”>2013</unitdate>
Element:
<unitdate era=“ce”>2013</unitdate>
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8. 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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9. I. Basics - What is EAD?
XML standard for encoding finding aids
<ead>
<eadheader>
<titleproper>Guide to the
Papers of Joseph Roth
</titleproper>
</eadheader>
</ead>
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10. I. Basics - What is EAD?
XML standard for encoding finding aids
Defined set of containers for descriptive data
EAD : DACS = MARC : AACR2/RDA
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11. 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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12. I. Basics
What is EAD?
XML standard for encoding finding aids
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13. I. Basics
What is EAD?
EAD encoding is not a substitute for
sound archival description!
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14. 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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15. I. Basics - A Brief Aside: DACS
“DACS defines twenty-five elements that
are useful in creating systems for
describing archival materials.”
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16. I. Basics - A Brief Aside: DACS
Seven Element Types
• Identity
• Content and Structure
• Conditions of Access and Use
• Acquisition and Appraisal
• Related Materials
• Notes
• Description Control
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17. I. Basics - A Brief Aside: DACS
“Not all of the DACS elements are
required in every archival description.”
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18. I. Basics - A Brief Aside: DACS
Statement of Principles
Principle 7: Archival descriptions may be
presented at varying levels of detail to
produce a variety of outputs.
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19. I. Basics - A Brief Aside: DACS
Principle 7
• 7.1: Levels of description correspond to
levels of arrangement.
• 7.2: Relationships between levels of
description must be clearly indicated.
• 7.3: Information provided at each level
of description must be appropriate to
that level.
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20. I. Basics - A Brief Aside: DACS
DACS revision underway
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21. I. Basics
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22. II. Finding Aid
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23. 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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24. 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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25. II. Finding Aid
Common Tags <eadheader>
• EAD Identifier
<eadid mainagencycode="NyNyCJH" countrycode="us"
encodinganalog="856$u" publicid="-//us::nnlbi//TEXT
us::nnlbi::JustinMueller.xml//EN">JustinMueller.xml
</eadid>
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26. II. Finding Aid
Common Tags <eadheader>
• Finding aid author
<titlestmt>
<author>Processed by Stanislav Pejša.</author>
</titlestmt>
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27. II. Finding Aid
Common Tags <archdesc>
• Minimum required description – “high-level did”
<did>
<origination>Mueller, Justin J.</origination>
<unittitle>Justin J. Mueller Collection</unittitle>
<unitdate>undated, 1890-2005</unitdate>
<abstract>[short descriptive text]</abstract>
[…]
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28. II. Finding Aid
Common Tags <archdesc>
• Minimum required description – “high-level did”
<did>
[…]
<langmaterial>In German and English</langmaterial>
<physdesc>1 linear foot</physdesc>
<unitid>AR 10254</unitid>
<repository>Leo Baeck Institute</repository>
<physloc>V 11/2</physloc>
</did>
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29. II. Finding Aid
Common Tags <archdesc>
• Biographical information
<bioghist><p>Joseph Roth was one of the most prominent
Austrian writers of the first half of the 20th
century.</p></bioghist>
• Controlled vocabulary
<geogname encodinganalog="651$a" source="lcsh"
authfilenumber="n79040121">Austria</geogname>
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30. 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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31. 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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32. 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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33. 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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34. 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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35. II. Finding Aid
Common Tags – Human Readable?
<dimensions>
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36. 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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37. II. Finding Aid
Common Tags – Human Readable?
<famname>
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38. 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. 38

39. II. Finding Aid
Common Tags – Human Readable?
<revisiondesc>
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40. II. Finding Aid
Common Tags – Human Readable?
<revisiondesc>
An optional subelement of the <eadheader>
for information about changes or
alterations that have been made to the
encoded finding aid.
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41. II. Finding Aid
EAD Finding Aid
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42. II. Finding Aid
Quiz
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43. III. Implementation
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44. III. Implementation:
Creating EAD
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45. III. Implementation: Creating EAD
Archivists’ Toolkit Archon
ArchivesSpace
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46. III. Implementation: Creating EAD
ICA-AtoM
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47. III. Implementation: Creating EAD
oXygen
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48. III. Implementation: Creating EAD
NoteTab Dreamweaver
EADitor Note Pad
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49. III. Implementation: Creating EAD
PASCL spreadsheet
“the spreadsheet from heaven”
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50. III. Implementation: Creating EAD
My Workflow
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51. III. Implementation:
Using EAD
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52. III. Implementation: Using EAD
Now What?
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53. III. Implementation: Using EAD
XSLT
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54. III. Implementation: Using EAD
XSLT
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55. III. Implementation: Using EAD
EAD to HTML
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56. III. Implementation: Using EAD
EAD to HTML with DC
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57. III. Implementation: Using EAD
EAD to PDF
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58. III. Implementation: Using EAD
EAD to MARC
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59. 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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60. III. Implementation: Using EAD
Other Uses
• Flexible search and display
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61. III. Implementation: Using EAD
Resources
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62. III. Implementation: Using EAD
EAD Tag Library
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63. III. Implementation: Using EAD
SAA Standards Portal
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64. III. Implementation: Using EAD
SAA EAD Roundtable
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65. III. Implementation: Using EAD
EAD Tools
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66. III. Implementation: Using EAD
Tinker!
• Learn more about XML and XSLT
• 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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67. III. Implementation: Using EAD
The Future of EAD
Alpha release of EAD revision, February 2013
• Reduce semantic overload
• Simplify and standardize links
• Reduce mixed content
• Add, deprecate, and delete elements
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68. 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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69. III. Implementation: Using EAD
The Future of EAD
• Beta release of schema, documentation, and
migration tools, July 1, 2013
• New version of EAD released with tag library and
migration tools, Winter 2014
slideshare.net/mikerush/ead-revision-progress-report-20120808
4/01/2013 email from Mike Rush to EAD listserv
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70. III. Implementation: Using EAD
The Future of EAD
“In an ideal world, EAD and EAC-CPF would be
opaque to all but a few expert users, created when
needed as secondary outputs from efficient and
adaptable software tools with archivist-optimized
interfaces.”
Thirty Years On: SAA and Descriptive Standards
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71. III. Implementation: Using EAD
The Future of EAD
“This next wave [of archival standards] is going to
push beyond online versions of print-based
document genres and embrace the Web as the
native format for description—dynamic, diverse,
and discoverable description.”
Thirty Years On: SAA and Descriptive Standards
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72. III. Implementation: Using EAD
Relax!
http://www.slideshare.net/archivistkevin
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