AnIntroductiontoEncodedArchivalDescription.pptVIP

Copyright UCL 2002 Copyright UCL 2002 An Introduction to Encoded Archival Description Anna Sexton 8 March 2002 Introduction to the project Main aim of the project is to: 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 Outline of talk In this talk I intend to provide: An introduction to archives and the work of the archivist An introduction to archival description An introduction to EAD with overview of EAD’s structure and demonstration of EAD encoding in XMetaL A discussion of how EAD is going to be used within our project Introduction to archives and the work of the archivist What are archives? Archives are collections or groups of ‘records’ that are kept because they have ‘long-term value’ What are records? 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 What do archivists do? Archivists are concerned with providing the means through which individuals can access archives Introduction to archival description What is archival description? 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) Access tools Archivists call their access tools ‘finding aids’ Developing standards in archival description In 1993 the International Council on Archives produced an International Standard for Archival Description [ISAD(G)] Aims of ISAD(G) : To define and control the structure of archive finding aids To define and control the content of archive finding aids ISAD(G): Defining and controllin