Encoded Archival Description on the Internet

Archivists and librarians: here is the perfect introduction to archival description and its latest technological applications! Encoded Archival Description on the Internet introduces a variety of perspectives that will assist you in deciding whether EAD is an appropriate tool in a given context and, if it is, provides the knowledge you need to begin planning, organizing, and implementing projects and programs in your library. This informative book:

• shows how archival description differs from bibliographic description
• presents EAD as a standard and shows its relation to the MARC format and other standards
• discusses implementation issues
• examines museum use of EAD
• gives you an overview of the history of the development of EAD
• explores the reference implications of EAD
• discusses implications for nontraditional users
• examines the concept of union-universal access to archivesEAD version 1.0 was formally released by the Society of American Archivists and the Library of Congress Network Development and MARC Standards Office in autumn 1998. Since then, a great number of institutions have invested significant time and money to prepare for implementation of EAD programs. The most compelling reason for EAD’s success is that, in the words of Editors Pitti and Duff, “Archivists recognize in EAD their shared principles and practice, and have embraced EAD not as a full realization of all of their expectations, but as common ground upon which they can negotiate and realize the future of one of the profession’s central responsibilities.”Encoded Archival Description on the Internet shows how EAD will not only benefit the public, but also librarians and archivists. It describes how information professionals will now be able to easily share information about complementary records and collections and to “virtually” integrate collections related by provenance but dispersed administratively or by geographic distance.

Wendy Duff, Daniel V Pitti