The document provides an introduction to archival data exchange formats, particularly focusing on Encoded Archival Description (EAD) and Encoded Archival Context - Corporate bodies, Persons, and Families (EAC-CPF). It details the development history, governance, design goals, applications, challenges, and structure of these standards. The document also discusses related standards and future developments in archival description practices.

1. Formats for Exchanging Archival
Data
An Introduction to EAD, EAC-
CPF, and Archival Metadata
Standards
VII International Seminar of
Archives from Iberian Tradition

2. Michael Rush
Accessioning Archivist / EAD
Coordinator,
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript
Library, Yale University
Co-Chair, Technical Subcommittee
2 for Encoded Archival Description,

3. Assumptions and Definitions
3

4. Assumptions
 Familiarity with some ICA standards - ISAD (G),
ISAAR (CPF), ISDF, or ISDIAH
 Awareness of EAD, but little of no experience with
it
 Little or no experience with XML
4

5. Definitions
 EAD: Encoded Archival Description
 EAC-CPF: Encoded Archival Context – Corporate
bodies, Persons, and Families
 XML: Extensible Markup Language
5

6. Development History
6

7. EAD Development History
 Berkeley Finding Aid Project (1993-1995)
 EAD Alpha (1996)
 EAD Beta (1996)
 EAD 1.0 (1998)
 EAD 2002 (2002)
 EAD 2002 Schema (2007)
 EAD 2013?
7

8. EAC-CPF Development History
 Meeting at Yale University (1998)
 Meeting at University of Toronto (2001)
 EAC Beta (2004)
 EAC-CPF (2010)
8

9. Governance and Maintenance
9

10. Governance and Maintenance
 EAD
 EAD Working Group (1995-2010)
 Technical Subcommittee for EAD (2010- )
 EAC-CPF
 Ad hoc working group (2001-2004)
 EAC Working Group (2007-2011)
 Technical Subcommittee for EAC-CPF (2011- )
 Schema Development Team (2010- )
10

11. Design Goals and Applications
11

12. EAD Design Goals
 Represent hierarchical structure of finding aids
 SGML, then XML
 Flexibility, to encourage adoption.
 Compatibility with ISAD (G)
12

13. EAD Applications
 Delivery
 Standardization
 Sharing
 Transmission/Communication
 Repurposing
13

14. Example EAD Implementations
 Yale Finding Aid Database
 Online Archive of California (OAC)
 Northwest Digital Archive (NWDA)
 Archives Portal Europe (APEnet)
14

15. EAC-CPF Design Goals
 Close compatibility with ISAAR (CPF)
 A change from EAC Beta to current schema
 XML
 Philosophical neutrality
 Relatively simple and straightforward
 Extensible design
 Adaptability to relational database structures
15

16. EAC-CPF Applications
 Identity/Authority
 Description
 Relationships
 Aggregation
 Transmission/Communication
16

17. Oral history
interview with
Terry Sanford
UNC SOHP
Terry
Terry Sanford
Terry Sanford
papers, 1946- Sanford records and
papers, 1945-
1993
1998
UNC (#3531) (EAC- Duke University
CPF)
Terry Sanford’s
Governor’s
papers, 1959-
1965
NC State
Archives

18. Example EAC-CPF
Implementation
 The Social Networks and Archival Context Project
(SNAC)
18

19. Challenges
19

20. Challenges
 Data migration and/or creation
 Establishing encoding best
practices
 Delivery
 Indexing and search
 Display
 Data maintenance
 Sharing
20

21. Data migration/creation
 Methods
 Hand encoding
 Templates
 Scripting
 Outsourcing
 Export from databases (Archivists’ Toolkit, Archon,
ICA AtoM)
 Costs
 Staff time
 Staff training
 Consultant or outsourcing fees
21
 Software

22. Encoding Best Practices
 Local
 Yale EAD Encoding Best Practice
Guidelines [EAD]
 Consortial
 Northwest Digital Archives Best
Practice Guidelines [EAD]
 RLG Best Practice Guidelines for
Encoded Archival Description [EAD]
22

23. Delivery
 Indexing and search
 No single solution
 Popular tools include :
 XTF (eXtensible Text Framework)
 Fedora Commons Repository Software
 Display
 Transformation via XSLT (Exstensible
Stylesheet Language – Transformations)
 XML --> HTML
 XML --> PDF
23

24. XML
HTML
XSLT
CSS
24

25. Data Maintenance
 File management
 Version control
 Link maintenance
25

26. Sharing
 Consortia
 Bulk Aggregators
 ArchiveGrid
 Topical Aggregators
 U.S. National Library of Medicine,
History of Medicine Finding Aids
Consortium
26

27. Related Standards
27

28. Related Description Standards
 ICA standards:
 ISAD(G): General International Standard Archival
Description - Second edition
 ISAAR(CPF): International Standard Archival
Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons
and Families, 2nd Edition
 ISDF: International Standard for Describing
Functions
 ISDIAH: International Standard for Describing
Institutions with Archival Holdings
 National Description Standards
 DACS: Describing Archives: A Content Standard
28 (USA)

29. EAD Data Structure
29

30. EAD: Basic Structure
<ead>*
<eadheader>*
<archdesc>*
<dsc>
30

31. EAD Header
<eadheader>*
<eadid>*
<filedesc>*
<profiledesc>
<revisiondesc>
31

32. File Description
<filedesc>*
<titlestmt>*
<titleproper>*
<author>
<publicationstmt>
<publisher>
32

33. Profile Description
<profiledesc>
<creation> - Creation
<langusage> - Language
Usage
<descrules> - Descriptive
Rules
33

34. Revision Description
<revisiondesc>
<change> - Change
<date> - Date
<item> - Item
34

35. EAD: Basic Structure
<ead>*
<eadheader>*
<archdesc>*
<dsc>
35

36. Hierarchical Encoding
 <archdesc>
 Top level of description.
 <dsc>
 Optional child of <archdesc>
 Consists of nested components
36

37. Components
 <c> - Component
(Unnumbered)
 Or
 <c01> - Component (First
Level)
<c02> - Component (Second
Level)
37 Through <c12> - Component

38. Levels of Description
 @level
[ISAD(G) 3.1.4]  subseries
 collection  file
 fonds  item
 class  Otherlevel
 recordgrp
 series  <archdesc
 subfonds level=“fonds”>
 subgrp  <c level=“series”>
38

39. Descriptive Elements
 Valid as at all levels of description
 <did> is required at each level of
description.
39

40. Descriptive Identification
 <did>*
 Always the first child of
<archdesc> and the component
elements.
 Wrapper element containing
elements with basic identifying
information.
 Must have one child element.
40

41. <did> Children
 <unitid> - Unit Identification
[ISAD(G) 3.1.1]
 <unittitle> - Unit Title
[ISAD(G) 3.1.2]
41

42. <did> Children (continued)
 <unitdate> - Unit Date
[ISAD(G) 3.1.3]
 <physdesc> - Physical
Description
[ISAD(G) 3.1.5]
42

43. <did> Children (continued)
<origination> - Origination
[ISAD(G) 3.2.1]
<langmaterial> - Language
of the Material [ISAD(G)
3.4.3]
43

44. <did> Children (continued)
 <note> - Note [ISAD(G) 3.6.1]
 <abstract> - Abstract
 <physloc> - Physical Location
 <materialspec> - Material
Specific Details
 <repository> - Repository
44

45. <did> Children (continued)
<did>
<container> - Container
<dao> - Digital Archival
Object
<daogroup> - Digital
Archival Object Group
45

46. <did> Siblings
 <bioghist> - Biography or History
[ISAD(G) 3.2.2]
 <custodhist> - Custodial History
[ISAD(G) 3.2.3]
 <acqinfo> - Acquisition Information
[ISAD(G) 3.2.3]
46

47. <did> Siblings
 <scopecontent> - Scope and
Content
[ISAD(G) 3.3.1]
 <accruals> - Accruals
[ISAD(G) 3.3.2]
 <appraisal> - Appraisal
[ISAD(G) 3.3.3]
 <arrangement> - Arrangement
47 [ISAD(G) 3.3.4]

48. <did> Siblings (continued)
 <accessrestrict> - Conditions
Governing Access [ISAD(G) 3.4.1]
 <userestrict> - Conditions
Governing Use
[ISAD(G) 3.4.2]
 <phystech> - Physical
Characteristics and Technical
Requirements [ISAD(G) 3.4.4]
48  <otherfindaid> - Other Finding Aid

49. <did> Siblings (continued)
 <originalsloc> - Location of
Originals
 [ISAD(G) 3.5.1]
 <altformavail> - Alternative Form
Available
[ISAD(G) 3.5.2]
 <relatedmaterial> - Related
Material
49 [ISAD(G) 3.5.3]

50. <did> Siblings (continued)
 <bibliography> - Bibliography
[ISAD(G) 3.5.4]
 <note> - Note
[ISAD(G) 3.6.1]
 <odd> - Other Descriptive Data
[ISAD(G) 3.6.1]
 <processinfo> - Processing
Information
50 [ISAD(G) 3.7.1]

51. <did> Siblings (continued)
 <prefercite> - Preferred Citation
 <controlaccess> - Control Access
 <fileplan> - File Plan
 <index> - Index
51

52. EAC-CPF Data Structure
52

53. EAC-CPF Concepts
SINGLE IDENTITY: one person (or corporate body or family) with a single identity
represented in one EAC-CPF instance. (Most common.)
MULTIPLE IDENTITY-MANY IN ONE: two or more identities (including official identities)
with each represented by distinct descriptions within one EAC-CPF instance. Can be
programmatically converted into Multiple Identity-One in Many. (Less common though
not
rare.)
MULTIPLE IDENTITY-ONE IN MANY: two or more identities (including official identities)
each represented in two or more interrelated EAC-CPF instances. Can be
programmatically
converted into Multiple Identity-Many in One. (Less common though not rare.)
ALTERNATIVE SET: derived EAC-CPF instance that is based on and incorporates two
or more
alternative EAC-CPF instances for the same entity. To be used by a consortia or a
utility
providing union access to authority records maintained in two or more systems by
two or more agencies. Alternative EAC-CPF instances may be in different languages
or in the same
53 language.

54. Basic structure
 <eac-cpf>*
<control>*
<cpfDescription>
<identity>
<description>
<relations>
54

55. Basic Structure
<control>: identity, creation, maintenance, status,
rules and authorities, and sources used to
generate the EAC-CPF instance.
<cpfDescription>: description of the EAC-CPF
entity
 <identity>: names
 <description>: formal and informal descriptive elements
 <relations>: relationships to other entities, resources
and function descriptions
55

56. Philosophical neutrality (1)
<eac-cpf>
<control></control>
<cpfDescription>
<identity></identity>
<description></description>
<relations>
<cpfRelation></cpfRelation>
<cpfRelation></cpfRelation>
</relations>
</cpfDescription>
</eac-cpf>
56

57. Philosophical neutrality (2)
<eac-cpf>
<control></control>
<multipleIdentities>
<cpfDescription></cpfDescription>
<cpfDescription></cpfDescription>
<cpfDescription></cpfDescription>
</multipleIdentities>
</eac-cpf>
57

58. <control>
 <recordId>*
 <maintenanceAgency>*
 <maintenanceStatus>*
 <maintenanceHistory>*
 <publicationStatus>
 <languageDeclaration>*
 <sources>*
 <conventionDeclaration>
 <otherRecordId>
 <localControl>
 <localTypeDeclaration>
58

59. <cpfDescription>/<identity>
 <entityType>*
 <nameEntry>**
 <nameEntryParallel>**
 <entityId>
 <descriptiveNote>
59

60. Basic Name Models
<nameEntry>
<part></part>
<useDates></useDates>
</nameEntry>
<nameEntryParallel>
<nameEntry></nameEntry>
<nameEntry></nameEntry>
</nameEntryParallel>
60

61. <cpfDescription>/<description>
 <existDates>
 <function>
 <generalContext>
 <legalStatus>
 <languageUsed>
 <mandate>
 <occupation>
 <place>
 <biogHist>
 <structureOrGenealogy>
 <localDescription>
61

62. <cpfDescription>/<relations>
 <cpfRelation>
 <functionRelation>
 <resourceRelation>
◦ @*RelationType
◦ <relationEntry>
◦ <objectBinWrap>
◦ <objectXMLWrap>
◦ <date>, <dateRange>, <dateSet>
◦ <place>
◦ <descriptiveNote>
62

63. <cpfRelation>: relation types
 @cpfRelationType
 identity
 hierarchical
 hierarchical-parent
 hierarchical-child
 temporal
 temporal-earlier
 temporal-later
 family
 associative
63

64. <resourceRelation>: relation
types
 @resourceRelationType
 creatorOf
 subjectOf
 other
64

65. <functionRelation>: relation types
 @functionRelationType
 controls
 owns
 performs
65

66. Future Development
66

67. EAD Revision Timeline
 Comment period complete (October 2010 –
February 2011)
 EAD Revision Forum (SAA Annual Meeting,
August 2011)
 TS-EAD Working Meeting (March 2012)
 Release draft schema (Fall 2012)
 Second comment period (Winter 2013)
 Finalize schema and documentation (Spring
2013)
 Release revised schema (August 2013)
67

68. EAD Revision Goals
 Clarify relationship with EAC-CPF
 Improve interoperability with databases
 Reconsider finding aids as documents or data
 Simplification
 To eliminate unnecessary complexity
 To make implementation easier
 Improve usability
 Enable profiles (schema subsets)
 Data-friendly
 Implementation-friendly (may or may not be the
same as data-friendly)
68

69. Future EAC Development
 EAC-CPF Implementation
 Review by 2016
 Companion EAC standards?
 EAC-Functions (EAC-F)?
 EAC-Institutions with Archival
Holdings (EAC-IAH)?
69

70. EAC-
CPF
EAC-
EAD EAD IAH
EAC-
F
70

71. EAD
EAC-
CPF
EAC- EAC-
F CPF
71

72. EAC-
F
EAC-
F
EAC-
EAD
CPF
72

73. Questions?
michael.rush@yale.edu
http://twitter.com/mike_rush
73