Encoded archival description on the Internet (2002)
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- Abstract
- Encoded Archival Description and the Internet introduces a variety of perspectives that will assist you in deciding whether EAD is an appropriate tool in a given context and, if it is, provides the knowledge you need to begin planning, organizing, and implementing projects and programs in your library.
- Content
- Auch ersch in: Journal of internet cataloging, Vol. 4, No. 3/4, 2001.
- Footnote
- Rez. in: JASIST 54(2003) no.9, S.909-910 (D.A. Stirling): "Archival description enjoys a long history of use. As most readers know, archives differ from libraries relative to the nature of materials held in those respective repositories. Methods of archival description of hardcopy documents are well established; however, encoded archival description (EAD) an the Internet is relatively new, with the first version released in 1998 by the Society of American Archivists and the Library of Congress Network Development & MARC Standards Office. This book provides an accounting of EAD an the Internet in an anthology format, presenting ten essays by single and multiple authors. As descrbbnd by the two editors, "the papers in this volume are intended to provide an introduction to archival description and EAD. . and its impact and potential impact an users and reference Services" (p. 4). The first two essays provide a detailed introduction to EAD an the Internet. The first essay, "Archival Description: Content and Context in Search of Structure," reviews the basic concepts of EAD and is relatively basic, including standard definitions of related archival principles. The second essay, "The Development and Structure of the Encoded Archival Description Document Type Definition," continues the introductory thread and expands the introduction to focus an the function and Structure of traditional paper-based archival finding aids and their application to the electronic archival environment. The third essay, "Stargazing: Locating EAD in the Descriptive Firmament," delves into the technical Structure of EAD, focusing an it as a communication tool and data structure standard. The author also writes about an EAD compatriot, the International Council an Archives' adoption in 1993 of the Ad Hoc Commission an Descriptive Standards. The fourth essay, "Archival Cataloging and the Internet: The Implications and Impact of EAD," is the first introduction in the anthology to the use of EAD and the Internet. Although EAD is thought by some to negate the need for MARC, the author speaks to the efficacy of EAD in the hyperlinked world of the Internet. Of particular interest is that the EAD environment enables contextualized search capabilities.
Essays live through nine present case studies of the use of EAD in specific organizations and projects. Those organizations include the Online Archive of California, the American Heritage Virtual Archive Project, the Research Libraries Group, Public Records Office of the UK, and its use in museums. Success seems to be the general conclusion of each of these case studies. Milestones reached included the creation of broad-based integrated access to archival finding aids, increased access to digital content for users, and redefining the definition and purpose of finding aids. Concerns about the future are also a theme in the case studies. Continuing challenges include improving access to primary sources, creating seamless technology, and assuring communication between competing cultural institutions for political dollars. Previous essays in this anthology discuss introductory concepts of EAD and its use in several institutional and government settings. However, the way in which EAD is transforming archival reference services is examined in the tenth essay, "Encoded Finding Aids as a Transforming Technology in Archival Reference Service." The author focuses an barriers such as technology, communications, and concerns but also discusses its potential to transform reference Services, including the standardization of finding aid information, increased search functions across finding aids, integration of finding aids with catalogs, and the human interface (self sufficiency, staff productivity, and need for education). The last essay in this anthology, "Popularizing the Finding Aid: Exploiting EAD to Enhance Online Discovery and Retrieval in Archival Information Systems by Diverse User Groups," describes the development of the traditional finding aid and how that process of development can be manipulated in light of EAD's advancing initiative. More importantly, the author presents ten strategies that may enhance browsing and retrieval in an EAD-based archival information system. In promoting EAD, the author notes that the "true potential of EAD does not lie in replicating the physical and intellectual form of the finding aid for online distribution. Rather, EAD allows archivists to contemplate how therr encoded finding aids might collectively populate a metadata infrastructure for more broadly conceived archival information systems" (p. 200). The ten strategies promoted include footnote chasing, function and repository scanning; subject, name, data, geographic, physical form or genre, top-down, and bottom-up searching. This anthology provides an excellent picture of the current state of encoded archival description an the Internet. The essays are well written and concise. The clear message is that EAD is working but that there is much work to be done to assure that archival information is easily located, available, and well described."
