Collection description in the Archives Hub

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Collection Description in the
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Archival perspective

• Collection description has always been central to
  archival theory
• Fonds
• Technically fonds and collection are not the
  same thing

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Definition of a Fonds

• the whole of the documents, regardless of form
  or medium, automatically and organically created
  and/or accumulated and used by a particular
  individual, family or corporate body in the
  course of that creator's activities or
  functions.
• Rules for Archival Description
• Bureau of Canadian Archivists, 1990

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Definition of a Collection

• A unit of material that is artificially created
  or brought together on the basis of some common
  characteristic, such as subject, language, etc.
• Fonds and collections are actually dealt with in
  the same ways by archivists.

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Archives Hub

• JISC-funded service
• Provides access to descriptions of archives held
  in university and college libraries across the UK
• Capable of holding entire catalogues

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Typical archive
Bloggs and Sons
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Typical archive
Bloggs and Sons
Minute Books
Accounts
Correspondence
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Typical archive
Bloggs and Sons
Minute Books
Accounts
Correspondence
Ledgers
Cash Books
Day Books
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Typical archive
Fonds level description
Bloggs and Sons
Minute Books
Accounts
Correspondence
Ledgers
Cash Books
Day Books
?
?
?
?
Item level description
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Current situation

• 10 of Archives Hub descriptions are multi-level
• JISCs priority is comprehensiveness of coverage
  throughout the sector the detail can come later

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Archives Hub approach

• Standards-based
• Data structure is ISAD(G)
• Data format is EAD

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EAD
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EAD

• Elegant Acronym Deficiency?
• Extremely Addled Data?
• Engendering Archivists Despair?

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Encoded Archival Description

• is a set of rules for designating the
  intellectual and physical parts of archival
  finding aids so that the information contained
  therein may be searched, retrieved, displayed,
  and exchanged in a predictable platform-independen
  t manner.
• EAD Tag Library Version 1.0

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Basic EAD file structure

• EAD header lteadheadergt
• (Information about the files creation etc.)
• Front matter ltfrontmattergt
• (Optional can generate a title page)
• Archival description ltarchdescgt
• (The finding aid itself)

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ltarchdescgt

• Comprises
• an overview of the whole finding aid, with
  certain key elements contained in the ltdidgt
  (Descriptive Identification) wrapper
• descriptions of the component parts (if listed),
  contained in the ltdscgt (Description of
  Subordinate Components) wrapper

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Hub EAD beetle
ltarchdescgt
ltdidgt
lteadheadergt
sub-fonds descriptions
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Advantages of EAD (1)

• Compliant with ISAD(G)
• Designed to handle complex finding aids
• Enables the exchange of data between repositories

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Advantages of EAD (2)

• Files produced in the EAD format are portable
  not dependent on any one program or system
• Text editors are cheap compared with proprietary
  systems
• Emerging as an international standard

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Data Submission

• Repositories can generate their own EAD
• or they can use the template on the Archives
  Hubs website.
• Contributors follow fairly detailed guidelines,
  also available on the website

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Data storage

• At present, all descriptions (over 4,000 files)
  are stored centrally at Manchester Computing
• Each repositorys SGML files are stored in
  separate sub-directories on the server
• In future, the plan is to enable repositories to
  host and edit their own data

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Searching the data

• Once mounted on the server, the files are indexed
  using Cheshire II retrieval software
• The descriptions may then be searched in a
  variety of ways
• Currently around 200 searches a day

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And finally

• reinforced concrete
• physical vapour deposition
• evening standard headlines 4th july 1964
• archivesofelectoralregistersforwillesdenlondon
• pineapple butt rot

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Contact details

• Email
• amanda.hill_at_man.ac.uk
• archiveshub_at_mimas.ac.uk
• Tel
• 0161 275 6055 (direct line)
• www
• http//www.archiveshub.ac.uk