Doing EAD Locally

Section 1. Establishing Your EAD Goals

See sections below:

• 1.1. Standards
• 1.2. Tools
• 1.3. Finding Aid Format
• 1.4. Finding Aid Condition
• 1.5. Staff Resources
• 1.6. Quantity and Timeframe
• 1.7. Outsourcing
• 1.8. Training
• 1.9. Funding
• 1.10. Lessons Learned from Past Encoding Projects

See also:

• 2. Setting Up an EAD "Shop"
• 3. Encoding Strategies and Tools

As you make plans to begin EAD encoding, you should identify the goals of your project. In many cases, a repository's goals with respect to EAD encoding can be summarized in the following objectives:

• To convert legacy finding aids to EAD
• To encode new finding aids in EAD
• To establish the use of EAD encoding strategies, tools, and a workflow system.
• To share finding aids in a central or integrated online repository such as the OAC, and promote online access to collections via a single portal.

Establishing the tools, strategies, and workflow that are best suited for the conditions of your repository should create a self-sufficient, sustainable EAD implementation system. Of course, this workflow may include outsourcing for some or even all of your conversion and encoding tasks.

In order to meet your EAD goals, you will need to examine your current finding aids and your proposed plan to encode them. The following considerations should assist you both in evaluating your repository's ability to encode and in anticipating the amount of work necessary to create an effective encoding system.

For additional discussions concerning administrative and programmatic issues involved in doing EAD locally, see also the EAD Application Guidelines (EAD AG), and Michael Fox's "Implementing Encoded Archival Description: An Overview of Administrative and Technical Considerations" in Encoded Archival Description: Context, Theory, and Case Studies (Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 1998), 330-343.

1.1. Standards

In order to evaluate the best EAD encoding approach that matches your repository's needs and goals, you should become familiar with the EAD encoding standard and best practice guidelines you need to follow. Your finding aids must meet the required standards for EAD encoding as specified in the EAD AG and EAD Tag Library (EAD TL) in order to be valid EAD files.

They should also comply with best practice guidelines established by both your own repository and those of the consortia in which you participate, such as the OAC Best Practice Guidelines for Encoded Archival Description (OAC BPG EAD).

The OAC BPG EAD is a focused set of EAD application guidelines. Finding aids comprise a significant portion of the OAC. For the OAC to function efficiently and intelligibly for end users, contributing members should strive to produce finding aids with standardized information. At minimum, all finding aids contributed to the OAC should contain all OAC BPG EAD-required elements for the "OAC Basic" encoding scheme level (see Section 3.1 of this document for more information).

See the Selected Resources: General EAD Resources and Archival Description pages for additional information about the EAD encoding standard and appropriate data content and value standards to implement when preparing an EAD finding aid.

1.2. Tools

Your repository must also decide which tools to use in order to produce EAD finding aids that meet the information needs of your users. Tools include commercial software, hardware, and OAC-developed applications. Some tools will allow you to generate both EAD and print finding aids; others do not have this functionality.

Chapter 2 describes various tools and strategies for using them in combination in more detail. See also the EAD Toolkit for OAC-developed tools and freeware for EAD encoding.

1.3. Finding Aid Format

In what formats are the finding aids you wish to encode in EAD? Legacy finding aids may be found in non electronic format (typescript, handwritten, or catalog cards) or they may already be in electronic format (word processed documents or database records).

If your finding aids are already in electronic format, you should consider:

• What software was used to create the finding aids? Common programs include MS Word, Corel WordPerfect, and certain database software.
• Is that software the same as or compatible with your current or preferred software?
• If not, consider what it will take to convert finding aids from a non-preferred software to your current, preferred software. For instance, dBASE is easily imported into and converted to MS Access.
• Will that same software accommodate both your encoding and your other finding aid creation needs? Or will you need to consider different software for each task?

1.4. Finding Aid Condition

If you are encoding legacy finding aids, you will also need to assess their physical and structural condition:

• Will it be necessary to restructure the finding aids, or even reprocess the collection materials themselves, in order to conform to EAD encoding standards and the OAC BPG EAD?
• Is the structure of the container lists complicated? Is it consistent? If not, how much time will need to be spent in "translating" these finding aids into the format necessary for EAD encoding? Will this translation be a simple process, or will it require extensive analysis and data conversion?
• If they are handwritten or typed, are they legible? If not, they may require some editing before they can be encoded.
• Do your finding aids contain handwritten annotations? If so, will your staff encoders or conversion service be able to handle those (i.e., can they read them, and do they know how they should be encoded?)

If you are creating new finding aids, you might consider the following:

• To what degree do your current descriptive practices compatible with the OAC BPG EAD? Although the best practice guidelines primarily mandate for encoding, creating OAC BPG EAD-compliant finding aids will be much easier and efficient if your pre-EAD encoded descriptions (whether in word processed format, in a database, etc.) are consistently structured, ordered, and prepared in such a way that EAD tags can be easily "wrapped" around those descriptions. This also includes ensuring that all OAC BPG EAD-required descriptive elements are present in your finding aid. An understanding of the best practice guidelines will help you determine whether or not it will be necessary to restructure or amplify description, or even reprocess parts of the collection.
• If your descriptive practices are not compatible with the OAC BPG EAD, are you willing to modify descriptions to facilitate EAD encoding that is compliant with those best practice guidelines? By doing this, you will lessen the burden of maintaining different versions of your finding aid (i.e., one prepared to local conventions, the other prepared to best practice guideline conventions).

1.5. Staff Resources

While some encoding strategies and tools may be easier to implement within the context of your institution, all of them will will require some degree of staffing, training, and procedural documentation in order to be used effectively.

• Do you currently have staff with EAD skills?
• Do you have staff who will be able to devote time to learning and implementing EAD encoding? How much time and training are you willing to devote?
• If you decide to outsource your encoding, what financial resources do you have to cover these costs? Keep in mind that outsourcing still requires staff time and a knowledge of EAD in order to do in-house quality control and possible editing, and to upload, publish, and manage your EAD files.

1.6. Quantity and Timeframe

• How many new finding aids do you produce on a regular basis?
• How many finding aids for conversion do you have (considering how they are formatted and their current condition)?
• What is your timeframe for the conversion process, or what is your "turnaround" time? This consideration is even more important for grant-funded projects. In this case, you may find it helpful to divide your project into measurably objectives and expected deadlines.
• Do you anticipate additions to your finding aids? Are some of your finding aids "in process"?
  • If so, do you wish to make the finding aid and the materials available in stages, presenting what you currently have processed and add on to this finding aid as the processing and availability of the materials progresses?
  • How will you handle the mechanics of encoding the additions?

1.7. Outsourcing

If you choose to outsource rather than convert your finding aids internally, you must consider how you will:

• Provide OAC BPG EAD-compliant specifications to the vendor, clearly indicating how to encode your finding aid.
• Quality control check the encoded finding aid once it is delivered back to you.
• Utilize the electronic finding aids to create the various end products you desire. (i.e., a print version for your reference desk, an EAD file for the OAC, an EAD file rendered into html for web display locally).
• Handle revisions to your finding aids. Do you anticipate additions to your finding aids? If so, how will you handle the mechanics of encoding the additions?

You may save money, time and labor by sorting out the finding aids that should be sent out to a conversion service versus those that are better done in house, where rekeying and encoding can be supervised by an archivist or manuscripts librarian experienced in processing.

In other words, if rekeyed material is going to require much fixing, you may wish to "triage" your legacy finding aids and work with them in a variety of ways:

• If certain finding aids are complex, inconsistent in format, or heavily annotated, you may be better off encoding in-house. In cases such as these, if you have made an investment in training library assistants or students, to some degree, in archival description and finding aid structure and standards, your investment will result in well-defined, well-structured finding aids.
• For longer print finding aids containing very consistent formatting, rather than rekeying and encoding them in the "conventional" way, it may be faster to create straight electronic text files that are delimited in some way (i.e., tab- or text-delimited, so that they can be imported into a database table and then automatically encoded via a database report). You will then have an electronic file -- although not necessarily an EAD file -- which can be manipulated.

1.8. Training

Whether you choose to do your encoding in-house or through a vendor, a workshop or class which provides a basic overview of the encoding process and some hands-on experience will give you an idea of what you should expect to invest in terms of staff time, hardware, and software. See the Selected Resources: Courses and Training page for links to EAD training opportunities.

Additionally, SAA's EAD AG and EAD TL are essential reference sources (see Selected Online Resources: General EAD Resources for more information). These books are sold through the SAA Website and are also available online.

1.9. Funding

Whether you choose to do your encoding in-house or outsource, you may require some external funding in order to establish your EAD system and create new finding aids or convert legacy finding aids or backlog. The Society of American Archivists' EAD Help Pages: Training and Funding Webpage at the has information about grant-funding agencies, such as NEH, IMLS, Mellon, and others.

1.10. Lessons Learned from Past Encoding Projects

Past experience has taught us these two lessons:

• Providing your support staff with some training in archival description and theory is a worthwhile investment.
• Taking the time to carefully markup a legacy finding aid that is being encoded by a conversion service will save hours and hours of having to re-do incorrect or "bad" encoding, especially when you are dealing with a very long container list. If you receive a poorly encoded product from a conversion service, it may well be due to the nature of the legacy finding aid and lack of explanatory instructions.