We've assembled some resources to help you with building and managing EAD finding aids, and lay the foundation for contributing content. We hope these also provide some additional guidance on the standards and systems supporting our services.

Strategies for creating EAD collection guides

Resources to help understand and select from various software, tools, and services to create EAD collection guides:

EAD standard and recommendations

Archival Collection Management and EAD Authoring Tools

  • ArchivesSpace: An open-source archival data management system developed by the ArchivesSpace development team. The software can generate EAD collection guides and METS digital objects that can be published by us. See our user guide for details.
  • RecordEXPRESS: Use this simple utility to easily create collection guides (collection-level records), which can be published right to the OAC with a click of a button. In addition, you have the option to link one or more searchable PDF documents to the collection guide. This may be handy in cases where you have detailed listings or inventories of materials in the collection, which you'd like to have reflected in the OAC. The open-source code base is also available on GitHub, for use by other implementers. Development of RecordEXPRESS was supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) as part of its Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives Program.
  • OAC EAD Web Templates: These online forms were developed by the CDL for generating collection- through series-/subseries-level collection guides that are compliant with OAC specifications. Encoders simply enter collection data into the webform fields, or cut and paste from an existing document into the form. The form is then converted to a text file and saved as a XML EAD file. EAD files should be validated using a separate application, such as voroEAD.
  • EAS Validator: The EAS Validator is a free online validation tool maintained by the Technical Subcommittee on Encoded Archival Standards (TS-EAS). The validator works with EAD Version 2002, EAD3, and EAC-CPF (versions 1, 1.1, and draft 2).

For additional recommended open-source tools and resources, see the SAA Encoded Archival Standards Section's summary list.

EAD Workshops