EAD: An Introduction and Primer Christopher J. Prom, Ph.D. Assistant University Archivist University of Illinois Archives July 7, 2003

Structure of this talk

Structure of this talk

Archival Description and EAD Markup for archival description (finding aids), not for texts themselves Archival description—ISAD(G) ( –Provides description of materials in the collection –Also provides evidence of actions by individual or organization which created or gathered the collection (provenance) –Arrangement is based on original order and use –Proceeds from general (collection level) to specific (series, folder, item level) –Multilevel in nature, information inherited from one level to next –Many possible relationships, structures –Can describe one document or millions These factors make it well suited for sgml/xml Ideally used as a complement to MARC record describing collection

EAD Structure—General SGML and xml versions of DTD (v. 2002) XSD schema current under development General points about structure: –many elements optional –most repeatable at any level, nesting can vary –Normalization not common for most finding aids –Is it data or document centric???? Many “artifacts” of document-centric markup, can complicate display, especially in federated systems –EAD is a data structure standard, NOT a content standard RLG guidelines (

High Level Elements (information about EAD File) – unique id – – – – (deprecated element, repeats info for display) (information about materials being described) –level attribute required (typically set to collection)

Common Top-Level Elements (descriptive id) Other elements include,,,,,,,,,,,, Linking elements: based on XLink spec, suite of linking elements includes,, All of above elements are repeatable for components of the collection, at any level in the (description of subordinate components)

(description of subordinate components) Series of nested components (i.e. [unnumbered],, etc. [numbered]) represent intellectual structure of materials being described elements (within each level) represent physical arrangement Maximum depth of 12 levels All elements available in archdesc top level also available in any component (typically not used) Use highly recommended. Linking to digital surrogates via, Sample finding aid –xml: –html:

Authoring EAD Current options –Text editors (cheap, no built in validation, transformation or unicode support) Notetab WordProcessors –XML editors (graphical view, built in validation, transformation, unicode support, FOP; tend to be buggy) XML Spy oXygen XMetal (not recommended) –EAD Cookbook highly recommended, templates for Notetab, oXygen Future? –Archivist’s Toolkit (UCSD, NYU project)

How UI Archives uses EAD For selected collections only Text input in WordPerfect Markup in Notetab Pro with scripts EAD files harvested by RLG OAI provider site on top of collection database In future, will create and top of out of database, then do directly in xml editor

NoteTab Clips (Macros)

Clip Language: Easy to program (really!) CLIP language Clip Language

Entering a Link

Displaying EAD Most common to transform to HTML –Static via xsl stylesheet on command line, upload files to server –Client-side via link to css or xsl, example: –Server side transform engine (saxon, msxml, xalan, etc) via servlets Dynamic (searchable) –dlxs findaid class

Samples Static: Client side: PDF: DLXS implementations: – – Other implementations –Cheshire:

EAD Issues Workflow Different ways that options are is applied can cause interoperability problems Display issues Not searchable at most institutions Need for a schema to more closely integrate with other applications (METS, OAI)

EAD Resources Daniel Pitti, Wendy Duff, eds. Encoded Archival Description on the Internet