ead and beyond: the representation of archival descriptive results and archival content-management...
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EAD and beyond: The Representation of Archival
Descriptive Results and Archival Content-Management
Dr. Nils Bruebach, Marburg Archives School
A necessary preface:Description in German Archives: A
survey• Parallel national standards (1950-1970) developed both in
the former GDR and West-Germany• „“Rules for Arrangement and Description published 1964
for mandatory use in all archives of the former East-Germany
• Context-standard with strong content-related elements• Five descriptive levels: Archives, fonds, structure, file,
item with assigned descriptive elements and implementation-rules
• Very thorough - created as an instrument for untrained and trained archivists
This presentation:
• The development of archival description and standardization
• EAD: Its benefits and deficits
• Existing solutions and futue tasks
…Description in German Archives:
• The mangerial benefits of descriptive standards as:– Cooperative work– Coherence of results– Planning– Controlled workflow– Transparency– Improved access ..... played a central role
• Both: Bottom-up approach• Ammended by material-oriented and fonds-type
oriented standards
…Description in German Archives
• Descriptive practice:• Both standards became extensively adopted both in
East and West -> any standard proofs ist value by its usability
• Implementation tools were developed improvements of the original texts
• They became used as teaching-tools• They were fully implemented when IT-Technology
became used for archival description• ISAD/ISAAR - compliance
…Description in German Archives
• Database-systems in Archives• Designed on purpose from the beginning since the
1980ties• Based on the existing standards• Two approaches: centralized systems using
mainframe-computers and PC-based systems• The finding-aid and the repository-guide as
traditional results of archival description and access remained
The current situation: Database-Systems
• Examples for their impact...• The State-Archives in Hesse (3):...1 Mio descriptive
units on file level since 1987• The State-Archives in Baden-Wuerttemberg (5)...
1,2 Mio descriptive units since 1995 using MIDOSA-Online
• The State-Archives in Lower-Saxony (6):...more than 1,3 Mio descriptive units
• ... All done using the existing standards • ... And: thousands of older analogue finding-aids
Descriptive results
• Inventory/finding-aid („Findbuch“)
• Repository guide (Bestaendeuebersicht)
• .....as a system and linked together
Contact with EAD
• Research Project with the aim to develop online finding-aids conducted by Archives School in 1996/97
• Aim: Put the archives on the web
• Assessment of EAD
• Solution: HTML-Representation of descriptive results created, maintained and stored in a rational databank
• Destinction between input-module, storage module, out and representation module
• Software-Tool MIDOSA-Online
Positive Sides of EAD
• Flexibility
• Hierarchical structure
• Capacities as an interchange-format
• It is highly accepted and broadly used
But... Problems with EAD
• SGML-based when assessed firstly• Describing meant tagging • language• Library tradition vs. authonomous archival
tradition of description• Tags in DTD• Structure physical vs. Logical• Set of elements and attributes vs. Elements in
national and international standards
Solutions
• XML/XSL – based
• German DTD‘s for inventory and repository-guide
• Adoption of given EAD-Structure and tailoring to our approach
• EAD as an interchange-format for representation of descriptive results
frontmatter
Single fonds
The DTD for repository guide:
Unit of description
The DTD for finding aids:
Solutions
• Ammending of MIDOSA-ONLINE to XML/XSL
• Automatic conversion to EAD (no technical knowledge required) vie the „Control-center“
• Offering both solutions for finding-aids and repository guides
The Midosa-Control-Center with its options for conversion
Modes of Conver-sion
Arrangement header representing the structure
the reference number 502
Title on file-level with supplementary sublevel
A MIDOSA created conversion to an EAD-finding Aid:
Ongoing initiatives and future tasks
• Development of combined management- and presentation systems, e.g. VERA
• Archival internet portals – not only descriptive information but institutional; in addition cooperative portals together with libraries and museums (->BAM)
• System of hierarchy of function oriented access-points• Presentation of digitized/digital records• Retro-conversion of analogue finding-aids: not via
„offshore-re-keying“ but using intelligent software-tools• Archival content-management systems
Example: V.E.R.A.
V.E.R.A. Verwaltungs-, Erschließungs- und Recherchesystem für Archive
• The Concept http:/www.archive.nrw.de/dok/vera
• Participants
• - Ministerium für Städtebau und Wohnen, Kultur und Sport- Hauptstaatsarchiv Düsseldorf - Staatsarchiv Münster (Coordination)- Staatsarchiv Detmold- Personenstandsarchiv Brühl- Landesamt für Datenverarbeitung (Technical Support)Realisition: Startext GmbH, Bonn (u.a. HiDA, Midosa-Online)
E.R.A.•Anforderungen an eine archivische
Fachanwendung
C: Frank M. Bischoff,
Description, Representation
Access and retrieval
Archives Management
Repository management
Functional interface
E.R.A.• Exchange-formats supported by VERA:
• CSV
• SGML
• XML
• EAD
• Representation-formats of decriptive results
• RTF
• HTML
Retro-conversion of analogue Finding-aids
• Development of „intelligent“ computerized tool of type-written and word-processed finding-aids
• Based on a partially automized lay-out-analysis• Generating a XML/XSL based structured file,
ready to become imported into online-finding-aids or archival data bases
• Funded by the German scientific national fund.
Workfow: (Cf. M. Meusch, INSAR)
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Archival Content-managment-Systems: Components
Multi-level descriptions
Users
applications
Portal
Archival Content-managment-Systems: Benefits
• Not focussed on the „production-side“ only• Capable of combined management of multi-
dimensional archival information form different sources and different media
• „on-the-fly“-approach• Not: See what you get (Search-engine-
attitude) but: Get what you see• Combination of different research-strategies