EAD Application Guidelines for Version 1.0
Appendix D: Implementation Checklist
Most repositories will face a multistep process when implementing EAD:
- Converting old finding aids
- Creating new finding aids
- Publishing finding aids on the Web
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?
- Who uses them?
- What is the range of circumstances under which they are used?
- Which of these circumstances reflects the highest level(s) of use?
- What kind of data is most often sought in your finding aids?
- Which kinds of queries can be answered effectively using your finding aids, and which cannot?
- Would online finding aids maintain the current level of effectiveness and also possibly address some of the areas in which finding aids are not so effective?
- Would online finding aids create new audiences for your materials?
- b. What is the current state of your finding aids?
- In what physical format are your finding aids?
- How complete are they? How much confidence do you have in the accuracy of the information they contain?
- How consistent are the structural components of your finding aids and the data they contain? How clearly are the components labeled?
- What guidelines have you followed for the construction of your finding aids?
- How many finding aids do you have that you would immediately or eventually wish to convert to EAD? How many pages of text do they represent?
- At what rate are you currently producing new 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?
- Your most prominent collections
- Your most heavily used collections (alternately, your least used collections)
- Finding aids that are "easiest" to convert (that require the least massaging)
- Finding aids that might be used more effectively if available online
- Collections that are split between multiple repositories for which a "virtual finding aid" might be created
- Collections relating to digital materials that are available online
- b. Which method(s) will you use for conversion?
- Convert in-house
- Outsource to a vendor
- Participate in a cooperative project that provides a conversion service
- 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?
- EAD DTD files or recompiled versions of the DTD for specific software applications (.rls file for Author/Editor, .lgc file for WordPerfect)
- EAD Tag Library
- EAD Application Guidelines
- Encoding guidelines for consortial activity
- e. What local conventions will you need to develop?
- Standard format that all your finding aids will follow
- Standard ways of entering data into specific elements
- Stylesheets to control display of your finding aids
- Authoritative forms for search terms not covered by standard authority sources
- f. What software might you need to create and publish new encoded finding aids? (No one site will need all of these.)
- SGML/XML authoring package
- Word processing software with SGML/XML capabilities or add-on conversion programs
- Database
- SGML to HTML converter or HTML authoring tool
- Conversion tools such as perl scripts, macros
- SGML/XML parser
- SGML/XML browser
- Stylesheet authoring software
- Search engine
- g. What hardware will you need to create and publish your finding aids?
- Computer workstation
- Local network connection
- Internet connection
- Backup mechanism
- Server
- Printer
- 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
- 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.
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