1. New England Archivists
Spring 2013 Meeting
Friday, March 22, 2013

2. Background on Samuel Johnson and his circle

4. Background on Archival Standards and EAC-CPF

5. ISAD (G)
ISAAR
(CPF)
ISDF
ISDIAH
EAD
EACCPF
[EAC-F]
[EAG]

6. EAD
MARC
MODS
EAC-CPF
MARC
Authorities
MADS

7. <eac-cpf>
• <control>
• <cpfDescription>
<identity>
<description>
<relations>

8.  Purpose: Establish
name authority for the
CPF entity being described.
 <entityType>
 One
or more <nameEntry> or
<nameEntryParallel>

10.  Purpose: Provide
structured or narrative
description of the CPF entity being
described.

11.  Structured
fields
• <existDates>
• <function>
• <languageUsed>
• <legalStatus>
• <mandate>
• <occupation>
• <place>
• <localDescription>

13.  Narrative
fields
• <biogHist>
• <generalContext>
• <structureOrGenealogy>

15.  Purpose: Establish
relationships between
the CPF entity being described and other
CPF entities, resources, or functions
 <cpfRelation>
 <resourceRelation>
 <functionRelation>

18.  Social
Networks and Archival Context
(SNAC)
 Princeton University Library Finding Aids
 Duke University, Doris Duke Profile
 Tufts University Digital Collections and
Archives, TAPER
 Brown University, The Gordon Hall and
Grace Hoag Collection of Dissenting and
Extremist Printed Propaganda

20.  Harvard
Library Lab
• Innovation and research
• Financial support
• Technical support
 Beinecke-Houghton
collaboration
 Why we picked Johnson

21.  Learn
Find
about EAC-CPF
out what a “rich” EAC-CPF
record might be
Explore “sharing” pieces of archival
description

23.  All
hands best practices meeting with
Kathy Wisser (TS-EAC chair, Simmons
faculty)
 Three
additional meetings for project
planning and review
 Hired
two 3-month, full-time interns
• Brooke McManus (Houghton)
• Mary Yearl (Beinecke)

24.  78
researched and hand-coded EAC-CPF
records
 Best
practices documentation
• Encoding best practices expressed as a
Schematron schema

25. SIDEBAR
XML Schema ... expresses constraints on the
structure and content of valid EAC-CPF documents
(above and beyond the basic constraints imposed
by XML itself)
XML Schematron schema ... expresses additional
constraints beyond those of the schema, allowing
for “local practice” validation rules

26.  78
researched and hand-coded EAC-CPF
records
 Best
practices documentation
• Encoding best practices expressed as a
Schematron schema
• Descriptive best practices documented in a (now
public) wiki
 Local
SNAC software installation

29.  Hard
to manage this relational work in a
document-based environment
 Hard to know when and where to stop
 Handcrafting: worth the time and effort?
 The promise of Linked Open Data
 Need for shared vocabulary to express
relationships

30.  Need
for tools
 Collaboration was easier than expected
(except for distance and communication)
 Lack of tradition in this descriptive
practice made it easier
 Compatible institutions, collections, and
goals made it easy

31.  Kings
are both persons and corporate
bodies
 A cat is a person

34.  How
will EAD and EAC-CPF interact?
 How will EAC-CPF be maintained and
shared?
 What will happen at the national level?
• National Archival Authorities Cooperative

36.  Local
• Yale: Plans to implement EAC-CPF as part of finding
aid database redesign
• Harvard: Discussing potential implementation
 Shared
• Develop RDF vocabulary for relations
• Exploring and supporting tool development
 ArchivesSpace , xEAC
 International
• Conceptual model for archival description
• EAC-Functions
• Encoded Archival Guide

37. Susan Pyzynski
pyzynski@fas.harvard.edu
Melanie Wisner
mmwisner@fas.harvard.edu
Ellen Doon
ellen.doon@yale.edu
Mike Rush
michael.rush@yale.edu / @mike_rush