EAD Application Guidelines for Version 1.0


Appendix D: Implementation Checklist


Most repositories will face a multistep process when implementing EAD:

Each step presents its own challenges, and, as explained more fully in chapter 2, chapter 4, and chapter 5, a broad range of options is available. The following checklist will assist you in thinking about the framework in which EAD can function in your repository.(129)

1. Evaluate the role that finding aids play in your current access or reference services environment.

a. How are your finding aids currently used?

b. What is the current state of your finding aids?

c. Does your repository currently create MARC records, and, if so, what is the relationship of those records to your finding aids?

2. How will you handle the conversion of existing finding aids?

a. How will you prioritize conversion of existing finding aids?

b. Which method(s) will you use for conversion?

3. By which method(s) do you hope to provide user access to your finding aids?

a. By links from a Web-based online catalog
b. By searching on the Internet via a Web crawler such as Alta Vista or Yahoo!
c. By going directly to your institution's Web site and browsing the finding aids
d. By using a search engine at your Web site

4. Determine what resources you will need in order to be able to create EAD-encoded finding aids and publish them on the Web.

a. What staffing will you need?

b. What training for that staff will be needed?

c. What technical support will you need? If not available within your repository, is there another unit within the larger institution that can lend expertise, or can you join a consortium that is already using SGML/XML applications? Is there a possibility of joint systems development or of sharing resources and expertise?

d. What documentation will you need to acquire, and how many copies?

e. What local conventions will you need to develop?

f. What software might you need to create and publish new encoded finding aids? (No one site will need all of these.)

g. What hardware will you need to create and publish your finding aids?

h. How will you handle quality control?

i. How will encoded finding aids be maintained and updated?

j. How will you handle server maintenance and troubleshooting?

5. Analyze the costs associated with each of the processes above.

a. Which costs can be covered under your existing budgetary structure?
b. Which costs represent new areas of expenditure? Which are one-time costs, and which will be ongoing?
c. Which costs are likely to diminish over time, and which will increase?
d. Which costs might be covered by external funding, such as from grants?
e. Are there any hidden costs that need to be examined further?
f. Are there likely to be any cost savings in other areas as a result of EAD implementation?


Footnotes

  1. This checklist is based on an earlier version prepared by Helena Zinkham for use at the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, May 1996.

Table of Contents
Home Page Preface Acknowledgments How to Use
This Manual
Setting EAD
in Context
Administrative
Considerations
Creating Finding
Aids in EAD
Authoring EAD
Documents
Publishing EAD
Documents
SGML and XML
Concepts
EAD Linking
Elements
Appendices


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Copyright Society of American Archivists, 1999.
All Rights Reserved.


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