ead and beyond: the representation of archival descriptive results and archival content-management...

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)

------------------------------------

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

Thanks for your audience

– bruebach@mailer.uni-marburg.de -