In response to Kelcy Shepherd's complaint about lack of response from the
large institutions, and in addition to what Jackie Dooley said, here at the
New York Public Library, the people responsible for setting up the
consortium arrangements were generally not the people who were doing the
encoding (the latter of which tend to be subscribed to this e-mail list).
The people who set up arrangements tend to be administrative types.  They
set up joint projects between institutions, fill out budget projections,
apply for grants, spend lots of times in meetings, etc.  I can not imagine
that they would spend time learning EAD, since that represents a tiny
portion of their activities and responsibilities.  Hence they would not be
subscribed to this list.

If I were you, I would first identify who has participated in cooperative
projects.  Perhaps RLG's page has some examples.  Then I would look at the
title pages of finding aids to see who was the <SPONSOR>, and then try to
learn what was the mission of the institution and the sponsor.  Then I
would try to contact some of the people involved to find out more about
what they did and how that might be applicable in your situation.

Even in big institutions such as mine, the learning process of EAD can be
frustrating.  But once you establish a workflow that actually works, the
results will be gratifying.

Bob Kosovsky, Librarian
Music Division -- The New York Public Library
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My opinions do not necessarily represent those of my institutions.