An Introduction to Encoded Archival Description Anna Sexton

An Introduction to Encoded Archival Description Anna Sexton 8 March 2002 Copyright UCL 2002

Introduction to the project n Main aim of the project is to: u develop a generic tool-set that will allow archivists to provide their users with a unified Internet-based interface for finding items within archival collections and for searching and manipulating electronic representations of those items Copyright UCL 2002

Outline of talk n In this talk I intend to provide: u An introduction to archives and the work of the archivist u An introduction to archival description u An introduction to EAD with overview of EAD’s structure and demonstration of EAD encoding in XMeta. L u A discussion of how EAD is going to be used within our project Copyright, UCL 2002

Introduction to archives and the work of the archivist Copyright, UCL 2002

What are archives? n Archives are collections or groups of ‘records’ that are kept because they have ‘long-term value’ Copyright, UCL 2002

What are records? n Records are created in the course of an activity that may be undertaken by an organization or an individual, and they form evidence of the activities that give rise to them Copyright, UCL 2002

What do archivists do? n Archivists are concerned with providing the means through which individuals can access archives Copyright, UCL 2002

Introduction to archival description Copyright, UCL 2002

What is archival description? n Archival description is the process of capturing, collating, analyzing and organizing any information that serves to identify, manage, locate and interpret the holdings of an archival institution and explain the contexts and record systems from which these holdings were selected (Definition from the Society of American Archivists) Copyright, UCL 2002

Access tools n Archivists call their access tools ‘finding aids’ Copyright, UCL 2002

Developing standards in archival description u In 1993 the International Council on Archives produced an International Standard for Archival Description [ISAD(G)] Copyright, UCL 2002

Aims of ISAD(G) : u To define and control the structure of archive finding aids u To define and control the content of archive finding aids Copyright, UCL 2002

ISAD(G): Defining and controlling structure in finding aids u ISAD(G) specifies that: F Archival finding aids are hierarchical and multi-level in their structure F Levels of description within finding aids should move from a general description of the archive as a whole at the highest level to a specific description of each individual ‘record’ or ‘item’ at the lowest level of description Copyright, UCL 2002

Levels of description within ISAD(G) Fonds level Series level File level Item level Description of the whole archive Descriptions of component parts within the archive HIGHEST LEVEL Descriptions of smaller component parts within the archive Descriptions of each individual record within the archive Copyright, UCL 2002 LOWEST LEVEL

Levels of description within ISAD(G) FONDS LEVEL SERIES LEVEL FILE LEVEL ITEM LEVEL SERIES FILE SERIES FILE ITEM Copyright, UCL 2002

ISAD(G): Defining and controlling content in finding aids u ISAD(G) names 26 different ‘elements’ that archivists can use within their finding aids to record descriptive information (set out on separate handout) u These elements are for use at any level of description (see example on separate handout) Copyright, UCL 2002

Further issues for consideration in archival description u Following the growth in use of Information Technology, archivists had to consider introducing methods for producing electronic versions of finding aids u There was a need for somebody to develop a non-proprietary encoding standard for producing machine readable finding aids which would also facilitate distribution of these finding aids via the internet Copyright, UCL 2002

Introduction to EAD Copyright, UCL 2002

The criteria on which EAD was developed: u EAD should have the ability to: F Present extensive and interrelated descriptive information found in archival finding aids F Preserve the hierarchical relationships existing between levels of description F Move within a hierarchical information structure F Support element specific-data entry Copyright, UCL 2002

Related principles in ISAD(G) and EAD u Archive finding aids are hierarchical in their structures with multiple levels of description that combine to describe the archive in a whole to part relationship u Specified elements can be used to hold data about the archive which can be combined at any level in order to provide the description of the archive Copyright, UCL 2002

SGML : the encoding technique upon which EAD is based u SGML: F Enables full structural and content encoding F Is hierarchical in its approach to data structure F Can be used with DTDs F Is a standard (ISO 8879) F Is open F Attributes can be associated with particular elements to make them more specific Copyright, UCL 2002

EAD and the TEI DTD u The TEI DTD was unsuitable for encoding archive finding aids because: F TEI was designed to encode literary and other texts as objects of study F Archive finding aids are tools that describe objects of study but they are not objects of study in themselves Copyright, UCL 2002

The EAD DTD was developed through a series of pilots: u October 1995: early implementers version of the EAD DTD u February 1996: Alpha version of EAD DTD u November 1996: Beta version of EAD DTD u September 1998: Version 1. 0 of EAD DTD Copyright, UCL 2002

Tools needed for EAD encoding: EAD DTD (available for download from official EAD Web-site: http: //lcweb. loc. gov. ead) u Text editor u EAD Application Guidelines u EAD Tag library u Copyright, UCL 2002

Overview of the EAD structure Copyright, UCL 2002

Overview of EAD structure: <ead> <eadheader> <frontmatter> <archdesc> <did> <bioghist> <scopecontent> <organization> <arrangement> <admininfo> <controlaccess> <note> <odd> <add> <dao> and <daogrp> <dsc> <c> or <c 01> <did> and so forth……. . . <c> or <c 02> <did> and so forth……. …………………. Copyright UCL 2002

Child elements in <eadheader>: <eadheader> <eadid>(required) <filedesc>(required) <titlestmt>(required) <titleproper>(optional) <subtitle>(optional) <author> (optional) <sponsor> (optional) <editionstmt> (optional) <publicationstmt> (optional) <seriesstmt> (optional) <notestmt> (optional) <profiledesc>(optional) <creation> (optional) <langusage> (optional) <revisiondesc>(optional) Copyright UCL 2002

Child elements in <did>: <did> <container> <origination> <physdec> <physloc> <repository> <unitdate> <unitid> <unittitle> Copyright UCL 2002

Simple finding aid structure: where unnumbered <c> elements are used Fonds level Description of whole archive <ARCHDESC> <DSC> Series level Description of component part of archive <C> Copyright UCL 2002

Complex finding aid structure: where numbered <c> elements are used to form hierarchies Whole archive <ARCHDESC> Fonds level <DSC> Series level File level Item level Component part of archive <C 01> Smaller component part <C 02> Individual record <C 03> Smaller component part <C 02> Copyright UCL 2002 Smaller component part <CO 2>

Child elements within <p> <abbr> <address> <bibref> <blockquote> <chronlist> <corpname> <date> <emph> <expan> <exptr> <extref> <famname> <function> <genreform> <geogname> <lb> <linkgrp> <list> <name> <note> <num> <occupation> <origination> <persname> <ptr> <ref> <repository> <subject> <table> <unitdate> <unittitle> Copyright UCL 2002

Example of how <p> child elements can be used <bioghist> <persname>Eric Blair</persname> was born in <geogname>Motihari</geogname><geogname>Bengal</g eogname><geogname> India</geogname> on <date>25 June 1903</date>. He was educated at <corpname>Eton</corpname> from <date>Sep 1917 -Jun 1921</date> …………. </p> </bioghist> Copyright, UCL 2002

Example of the use of attributes on elements <bioghist><p> <persname normal=“Blair, Eric”>Eric Blair</persname> was born in <geogname>Motihari</geogname><geogname>Bengal</g eogname><geogname> India</geogname> on <date normal=“ 19030625”>25 June 1903</date>. He was educated at <corpname>Eton</corpname> from <date normal=“ 191709 -192106”>Sep 1917 -Jun 1921</date> …………. </p></bioghist> Copyright, UCL 2002

EAD in the context of our project Copyright, UCL 2002

How EAD will be used in our project We will be developing a set of tools that will provide a generalised environment for linking EAD encoded finding aids to TEI encoded transcripts (and digitised images) of actual archive records. This is pioneering because EAD and TEI are usually used independently of each other and no generalised environment exists for linking them Copyright, UCL 2002