Lisa Jeskins and Bethan RuddockArchives Hub

MimasThurs 10th March

February 2010archiveshub.ac.uk

By the end of today’s session we will have given you an introduction to:

• The Archives Hub• XML• EAD• EAD Editor

JISC-funded service based at Mimas, The

University of Manchester

In service since 2000

Approx 25,000 collection descriptions

180 repositories

Management and service team at Manchester

Development team at Liverpool

Archives Hub Workshop 2010

Higher/Further Education

Consortium contributions

Institutions with a research agenda

Others on a case-by-case basis

We encourage institutions to contact us

John Rylands Library, Manchester

EAD is XML for archives

We have EAD2002 (DTD)

Cheshire search engine searches and

retrieves EAD descriptions

EAD is ISAD(G) compliant

It is XML, which is an international standard

It is a great format to store finding-aids, as it is sustainable and futureproof (? Hopefully)

It is a simple and effective way of structuring content and providing meaning

Machines can manipulate the content in all sorts of ways

UKAD: part of the UK Archives Discovery Network

Genesis: exploratory project to share data

AIM25: collaboration to improve interoperability

TNA: plans to create links from the NRA

Copac: have links from the Hub to Copac records

CALM/Adlib

Effective cross-searching requires:

◦Interoperability

which requires

◦Common standards

XML = Extensible Markup Language

XML is a system for creating languages: ◦ Or a meta-language

Use XML to design your own markup language, consisting of meaningful tags that describe the data they contain

Create a language for describing…anything

the ability to exchange/share data

provides advantages of cross-searching, so user can easily search across and retrieve resources from a variety of different systems

allows users to move beyond individual websites for individual resources

integrates information resources presented in different formats

XML facilitates interoperability

XML does not do anything itself. It is pure information wrapped in XML tags

You must use other means to send, receive or display the data

XML XML technologies

is used by to createDetailed description to view in a browser

Summary entry to view in a browser

PDF for print

XML is not about content, though there might be certain restrictions on content

XML is essentially about structure

Creating a consistent structure via XML tagging enables content to be easily identified (by machines) and used in different ways

<title> Alice in Wonderland </title>

*XML allows you to define your tags*

<book>Alice in Wonderland</book>

<filmtitle>Alice in Wonderland</filmtitle>

<tag> content </tag>

Title Alice in Wonderland

Author Lewis Carroll

Extent 1 volume

Format hardback

<books><title>Alice in Wonderland</title><author>Lewis Carroll</author><extent>1 volume</extent><format>hardback</location></books>

Valid XML provides consistency and facilitates the exchange of data

Valid XML is important for displaying, processing and exchanging XML in a wider environment

a root element is required<catalog> …..all your tags and content…</catalog>

closing tags are required

case matters

elements must be properly nested

<physdesc><extent>10 boxes</extent></physdesc>

<physdesc><extent>10 boxes</physdesc></extent>

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kylemacdonald/3199283481/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/iguanajo/297386921/

Look at the album information on your sheet of paper In pairs, create xml tags for the information that you

see

e.g.◦ <title></title>, <albumtitle></albumtitle>◦ <artist></artist>, <singer></singer>, <band></band>

10 mins to create tags 5 mins to feedback

archiveshub.ac.uk

<catalog><cd><title>Lungs</title><artist>Florence and the Machine</artist><genre>indie</genre><year>2009</year></cd>

<cd><title>Slash</title><artist>Slash</artist><genre>rock</genre><year>2010</year></cd>

</catalog>

A Document Type Definition or Schema defines the building blocks of an XML document

It specifies elements and attributes and defines how they can be used

People can agree to use a common DTD/Schema for interchanging data

XML file DTD or Schema Valid XML

Blue Elephant Papers

……………………

…………

Blue Elephant Papers

Browse List

International standard, supported by the W3C Open, licence free and platform neutral Human and machine readable Hierarchical structure (good for archive descriptions) Can be used for data exchange

◦ XML is the main basis for defining data exchange languages ◦ Meaningful tags facilitate extraction – data can be manipulated as

required Government mandates XML for data exchange (e-GIF) XML has been widely adopted commercially as well as in the public

sector

EAD = Encoded Archival Description

EAD is XML for finding aids

A data structure standard – not a content standard

EAD Working Group (EADWG)

Allows finding aids to be indexed, searched, retrieved and navigated

Compatible with ISAD(G)

Flexible enough to deal with all types of finding aids◦ single or multi-level, long or short, lists or calendars etc.

Can create new finding aids as well as converting old ones to standardised form

Can share data between systems

<ead>

<eadheader></eadheader>

<archdesc><did></did>

</archdesc>

</ead>

<ead> EAD root element<eadheader> EAD file information wrapper

</eadheader>

<archdesc> Finding aid wrapper

<did></did> Core collection information wrapper

</archdesc></ead>

<archdesc>

<eadheader>

<did>

sub-fonds descriptions

<archdesc level="fonds"> <did> <unitid>GB 0001 Foster</unitid> <unittitle>Papers of Dr Foster</unittitle> <unitdate normal = "1820-1833">1820-1833</unitdate> <repository>University of Gloucestershire</repository> <physdesc> <extent>1 box</extent> <physfacet>Four folders of letters, 230 folios</physfacet> </physdesc> <langmaterial><language langcode=“eng”>English<language> </langmaterial> <origination>Dr Foster</origination> </did>

EAD version 1 DTD

EAD 2002 DTD

EAD 2002 Schema

Available from http://www.loc.gov/ead/

Human-readable version: EAD Tag Library (Society of American Archivists)

Library of Congress Official EAD site: http://www.loc.gov/ead/

Tag Library: http://www.loc.gov/ead/tglib/index.html

EAD Roundtable Help Pages: http://www.archivists.org/saagroups/ead/

XML is an international standard for sharing information

EAD is the XML language for archival finding aids

EAD is not a content standard

EAD will become increasingly important