<dao> is not a valid EAD element within <p> and since it is not a PCDATA
element so you can't use it to create a textual link as you describe
below.  The subelement <daodesc> is not meant to be used in this fashion
either.  I brought this up several months ago (the fact that you can't
link to a DAO within elements like <scopecontent><p> like you can with
<extref><extptr>.  But the fact that you are linking to a DAO is only
important for portability.  You could use any linking element as long
as you could flag it somehow so that you could get that information out
later should you need to do so.  If it were me, and I wanted to do what
you describe, I would just use <extref> instead and then use the term
"dao" in the "role" attribute of <extref>:

[[If you were actually embedding DAO images within the text, I would
suggest something else.  See our Henry M. Jackson finding aid as an
example:

http://www.lib.washington.edu/specialcoll/findaids/docs/papersrecords/JacksonHenry3560.xml
]]

<scopecontent><p><extref href="..." show="new" actuate="onreqest"
role="dao">Coloring books</extref>, <extref href="..." show="new"
actuate="onrequest" role="dao">puzzles</extref>, ... </p>
</scopecontent>

Other than this, there is no easy way (IMO) to do this within elements
like <biohist> and <scopecontent>.

P.S. Don't forget to use the "behavior" attributes "show" and "actuate"
when using linking elements.

Mark

On Mon, 14 Feb 2005, Amy McCrory wrote:

> I'm processing a collection that contains many examples of various types of
> merchandise.  We're going to create digital images of representative
> objects, rather than show every item.  My question has to do with how we're
> going to link to these image files.
>
> In the past, I have always linked to a <dao> from a component-level record
> describing one named thing.  But in this collection, for certain groups of
> materials, I prefer to write collective descriptions, such as:
>
> [lots of tags omitted]
>
> <unittitle>Walt Scott merchandise</unittitle>
> <unitdate>1954-1964</unitdate>
> <scopecontent><p>Coloring books, puzzles, squeeze toys, party
> decorations.</p></scopecontent>
>
> --and put the links into the <scopecontent> text:
> <scopecontent><p><dao href="-------">Coloring books, </dao><dao
> href="--------">puzzles, </dao><dao href="--------">squeeze toys, </dao>,
> <dao href="--------">party decorations.</dao></p></scopecontent>
>
> Does anyone see a potential problem in doing this, rather than creating a
> separate <c> record for each type of item?  It's nice to have a <unittitle>
> that matches the title or caption in your image file metadata, but is it
> necessary?  Any comments--or even better, experience with this--would be
> most welcome.
>
> With thanks,
>
> Amy McCrory
> Archivist, Cartoon Research Library
> 023L Wexner Center
> The Ohio State University
> Columbus, OH
> (614) 292-0538
>