At the Bodleian Library, Dept of Western Manuscripts, we use numbered series, subseries etc as can be seen
at:
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/online/online.htm
However, the cataloguer does not enter the numbers or letters, this is done automatically by an XSLT
stylesheet. This way, if the structure of the catalogue changes for whatever reason, a simple re-running of
the stylesheet will make all the required adjustments.
---LwM---
> Hello All,
>
> As we continue to work on implementing EAD (we are currently in the process of assessing whether to adopt the encoding protocol of the EAD Cookbook) we've come across a problem and I'm hoping that some of you kind and knowledgeable people can give us some advice.
>
> In our repository we commonly assign numbers to our series and subseries. We find that this enables us to reflect the hierarchical arrangement of the materials we are describing and to express the intellectual structure of our finding aids. Indeed, with large and complex collections which may have two or more series containing subseries of similar materials, it's a very useful way of clarifying which records belong to which series. Below is an example of how we've been encoding our series/subseries titles:
>
> <c01><unittitle>Series 1: Correspondence, <unitdate>1913-1978</unitdate></unittitle>
>
> <c02>><unittitle>1.1: New York Office Correspondence, <unitdate>1917-1930</unitdate></unittitle></c02>
>
> <c02>><unittitle>1.2: Paris Office Correspondence, <unitdate>1913-1922</unitdate></unittitle></c02>
>
> </c01>
>
> Although we believe the practice of numbering series/subseries is fairly common practice in archives, we've been unable to find many examples of EAD-encoded finding aids on the web that show these numbers in their unittitles. Is it considered bad practice to include an assigned series/subseries number in the <unittitle>? I understand that, strictly speaking, "Series 1" is not, for example, part of the unittitle for records labeled "Correspondence," but since a series title is essentially a term created by the archivist anyway, how big of a tagging sin is it to add a numerical value to that term? Can anyone foresee any problems with us continuing to encode our series/subseries titles in this way, particulary in regard to sharing our finding aids down the road?
>
> Thanks for any input you can give us,
>
> Stephanie
>
>
> Stephanie Ashley
> Project Archivist
> Archives of American Art
> Smithsonian Institution
> 202-275-1672
> [log in to unmask]
-------------------------------------
Lawrence Mielniczuk
Systems and Electronic Resources Service
Room 314
Bodleian Library
Oxford OX1 3BG
Tel: (01865) 277 114
Mobile: 0781 647 9176
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