Workbook on Digital Private Papers > Arranging and cataloguing digital and hybrid archives > Standards for archival description
Standards for archival description
EAD
EAD is a widely adopted standard for encoding archival finding aids and is used by both the Bodleian and Rylands libraries to catalogue their archival holdings. It provides a means for archivists to structure finding aids using technology that is independent of proprietary hardware and software platforms and which can be delivered via the Internet. The structure of EAD is modelled upon ISAD(G). It therefore reflects the hierarchical, multi-level nature of archives and archival descriptions.
EAD was originally devised between 1993 and 1995 at the University of California, Berkeley, but is now maintained by the US Library of Congress in partnership with the Society of American Archivists. EAD was initially based on the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML), but with the subsequent development of Extensible Markup Language (XML) it has been made fully XML compliant. It is widely used both in the United States and in the United Kingdom.
The EAD standard is represented as an XML document type definition (DTD) or XML Schema. It can be obtained free of charge from the EAD official website, which also provides background information on EAD, an overview of its structure and guidelines for its implementation.
Overview of stucture
EAD contains three high-level elements: <eadheader>, <frontmatter> and <archdesc>. The <eadheader> is a wrapper element which contains information about the finding aid itself, not about the archival materials described in it. <frontmatter> is used to present a title page and prefatory text. The actual archival description is contained in <archdesc> which is thus the heart of EAD. All the descriptive elements are nested within <archdesc>. There are thirteen primary descriptive elements; further subordinate elements are nested within most of them.
The Descriptive Identification <did> element serves as a wrapper for the essential information needed by researchers to determine whether the materials described are relevant to their line of enquiry. It contains the basic building blocks for any level of description, from fonds-level down to item and piece: title, reference code, date of creation, name of creator, physical extent and (recommended at fonds-level only) an abstract of contents. Following the <did> are elements which contain more detailed information on the archive materials. EAD does not prescribe the order in which these elements should appear, but it is common practice to follow the order of ISAD(G) areas and elements.
Example EAD files
The Manchester Men’s League for Women’s Suffrage Archive, John Rylands University Library of Manchester - mml.sgm.
A legacy finding aid converted using the RLG-Apex service: Papers of Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, 1924-57, Department of Special Collections and Western Manuscripts, Bodleian Library - attlee.xml.
Archives Hub collection level description for the Papers of Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, 1924-57 - attlee.txt.
