John,
I was off the list for a while and missed your offer of the database. Would
you send me a copy?
Thanks,
Ann
-----Original Message-----
From: John Rees [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, September 13, 2002 7:46 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Creating new finding aids in EAD
A few months ago I sent out to anyone interested a copy of the database
I use at NLM. It has been improved since then. I had problems with the
report function that created the box list bogging down on big files and
leaving out random portions of code (a pain to find the errors, I can
tell you!) My erstwhile programmer, for free, found another way to
export the box list. I have now generated two 400 pp. finding aids,
error free, in about 1 second.
There still seems to be a great need for simple markup tools, but now,
happily, folks are talking about creating new finding aids instead of
retrospective conversion. I love my dbase for this purpose, although it
is also simple to import a spreadsheet or tab delimited text (I did this
for the two 400 pagers). The dbase does everything from start to finish
except handle big blocks of text such as scope notes and biog histories.
The tool does include "placeholder for scope content" constant text for
easy backend editing.
Like Jared, I still use Notetab for special needs collections, as the
dbase is formatted for general box/folder lists.
I know it's getting close to the deadline, but I've been looking for
anyone interested to take part in a "Demystifyig EAD" session for next
year's SAA or the regional meetings. I still think it is important to
learn learn the depths of EAD, but also think there is still great
trepidation on the part of some to invest in EAD because they are afraid
of the supposed costs and technical skill involved (an undercurrent in
this thread). I think this mind-set is incredibly short-sighted and
misplaced; we should try to educate and offer some solutions.
Please contact me if you are interested in the session and I'll offer
more details off list.
John
John P. Rees
Associate Curator, Modern Manuscripts
History of Medicine Division
National Library of Medicine
8600 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, MD. 20894
(301) 496-8953 Office
(301) 402-7034 Fax
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>>> [log in to unmask] 09/12/02 05:22PM >>>
If I remember right, John Rees at the National Library of Medicine has
also
used Access to encode box/folder inventories.
Here at UC Davis we have been experimenting with using Web Input
templates
and a MySQL database to create EAD. We are still in the process of
working
out some of the bugs in our scripts, but its seems to be spitting out
decently formed and valid XML. We still use a modified version of
Chris
Prom's Notetab Cookbook for some cleaning up and to add encoding to
collections that contain special needs (such as chronologies).
Jared Campbell
Electronic Resource Librarian
Shields Library
University of California, Davis
100 Northwest Quad
Davis, CA 95616
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