Related Resources

EAD Best Practices at the Library of Congress
Archival Finding Aids

3.2 Title Page and Prefatory Matter

Tag:

<frontmatter>

Description:

The <frontmatter> element is a wrapper for publication-type structures, <titlepage> and <div>. The <titlepage> element groups bibliographic details about the encoded finding aid in an order and format optimized for display. The <div> element is a generic textual element that can be used to encode a forward, acknowledgements, introduction, or other prefatory material which does not pertain to the content of the specific finding aid or collection.

LC Practice discourages use of <titlepage> in favor of generating title page displays from the EAD header. A <div> may be used for common generic information, but such data which may pertain to repository policies, access, and reproduction is usually available on the division's Web site and may be linked to from the appropriate part of the finding aid instead.

See Also:

Section 3.1, EAD Header Go to Section

Subelements:

<titlepage>
<div>

Tagging Example 1:

Generic introduction to finding aids and contact information using external entity

<frontmatter>
    <div>
       <head>Introduction</head>
       <p>A finding aid or register is a descriptive access tool
       prepared to assist researchers in locating materials relevant to
       their research; it usually contains far more detail about a
       collection than can be captured in a catalog record. The finding
       aid often provides information about a collection's provenance
       and the conditions under which it may be accessed or copied;
       biographical or organizational histories related to the
       collection; a note describing the scope and content of the
       collection; and progressively detailed descriptions of the parts
       or components of the collection together with the corresponding
       call numbers, container numbers, or other means for researchers
       to identify and request the physical entities of interest to
       them.  Detailed inquiries must be satisfied through a
       researcher's examination of the collection itself. </p>
&contactinfo;
</div>
</frontmatter>

Note: the full text of "contactinfo.sgm," commented out here, is stored externally to the finding aid

Display Of Tagging Example 1:

Generic introduction and contact information using external entity

                             Introduction

   A finding aid or register is a descriptive access tool prepared to
   assist researchers in locating materials relevant to their
   research; it usually contains far more detail about a collection
   than can be captured in a catalog record. The finding aid often
   provides information about a collection's provenance and the
   conditions under which it may be accessed or copied; biographical
   or organizational histories related to the collection; a note
   describing the scope and content of the collection; and
   progressively detailed descriptions of the parts or components of
   the collection together with the corresponding call numbers,
   container numbers, or other means for researchers to identify and
   request the physical entities of interest to them.  Detailed
   inquiries must be satisfied through a researcher's examination of
   the collection itself.

   Contact Information
   Manuscript Division
   Library of Congress
   101 Independence Ave., SE
   Washington, D.C. 20540-4680
   Phone: 202 707-5383
   Fax: 202 707-6336

Tagging Example 2:

Contact information within <div> (no entity used)

<div>
    <list type="simple">
       <item>
          <emph render="bold">Contact Information</emph>
       </item>
       <item>Manuscript Division</item>
       <item>Library of Congress</item>
       <item>101 Independence Ave., SE</item>
       <item>Washington, D.C. 20540-4680</item>
       <item>Phone: 202 707-5383</item>
       <item>Fax: 202 707-6336</item>
    </list>
</div>

Display Of Tagging Example 2:

Contact information within <div> (no entity used)

 Contact Information
  Manuscript Division
  Library of Congress
  101 Independence Ave., SE
  Washington, D.C. 20540-4680
  Phone: 202 707-5383
  Fax: 202 707-6336

Comments:

Title page displays at the Library of Congress are generated from the <eadheader>. XSL stylesheets permit the elements to display in different order or in an abbreviated fashion, and allow data such as the finding aid URL to be inserted without being encoded in the finding aid.
The use of <div> as generic text, illustrated above, is not recommended for online finding aids. If such data must be included, care should be taken to distinguish generic introductory text from that belonging in more specific elements such as <userestrict> or <prefercite>.
A special situation may exist for brief contact information that would be helpful in a copy of the finding aid printed from the Web. On the other hand, this additional information is repetitive from finding aid to finding aid, and occupies screen real estate which may be at a premium when frames are used for display.
If contact information is desired in the <frontmatter><div>, it may be generated by means of an external entity, as illustrated in Example 1, or keyed directly into the <div>, as in Example 2. External entities are a more efficient way of storing the information, so that it need only be updated in one location. However, use of external entities is problematic in XML. In any case, however, entities should be resolved before finding aids are exported to an outside system.

Repeatable: no
Order: following <eadheader> and before <archdesc>
Revision Date: 05/01/08

Related Resources

EAD Best Practices at the Library of CongressArchival Finding Aids

3.2 Title Page and Prefatory Matter

EAD Best Practices at the Library of Congress
Archival Finding Aids