Greetings,
I've been doing Xml consulting for years now and data conversion experts can
range from $50 per hour for brute force hand editing with little xml
training to $100/hr for data conversion experts and also $160/hr for high
end database and ETL (extract, transform, load) experts.
I am an old archivist by training and was an early taker of Daniel Pitti's
summer EAD class (1997). I have recently been working with other Xml
vocabularies in my consulting business, but I still love archives work. I'd
welcome the chance to work with some archive folks again and get back to
some EAD work.
Cheers,
Paul Kiel
=====================================================
W. Paul Kiel
xmlHelpline.com Consulting
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Your helpline for Xml solutions.
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-----Original Message-----
From: Encoded Archival Description List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Elizabeth Perkes
Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2008 5:32 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: EAD consultants/contractors
Some of the price will depend upon the skill set needed, which is directly
proportional to how your finding aids have been written. For instance, I
converted all of our legacy finding aids to EAD myself back in 2000 using
the existing tools I had available to me at the time, including an HTML
editor and WordPerfect. It took me three months to do about 600 finding
aids, including huge container lists. All of this was done just as an
archivist on staff, at whatever salary I was making at the time (you can
pro-rate that to your own staff's average salary). The only EAD training I
had at the time was an SAA class that showed the basic how-tos. I had to
come up with a style sheet on my own.
Now that we've moved all our finding aids and container lists into a
database, using the EAD Schema, we've had to find a way to get the date
information into actual date fields so that it will appear normalized on
output. Since the container lists used dates in every conceivable pattern
possible, there was no way I could create a script to pull all of that out
and get it imported to date fields correctly. We sourced that part out. A
database consultant spent two weeks in my office a month ago at $135 an hour
and got it all done. Here's a sample of the type of date patterns found in
the <unittitle> field that he had to contend with:
Scrapbook, 1916-1934
1933; A, Jan-Feb
Vol. A: Oct. 7, 1910 - Oct. 7, 1913; Vol. B: Aug. 4, 1914 - Apr. 3, 1923
Extraditions of Fugitives to Utah; Oct. 1954 - June 1958
1852 Claims
State Applications; 1934-1939; Industrial Commission
Civil Conservation Corps; 1937, Sep-Dec
H 1905
1955 [1956]; Agriculture, Drought Disaster
1949-1956; Criminal Identification and Investigation
1916; "P" General Correspondence; Jan. 7-Apr. 25, 1916
1913-1914, Nos.12 to 14
3035-3095, Jan. 5, 1869 - May 24, 1869
1860 Bonds, Certificates, Oaths--Territorial Offices
Jan 22 1857
28; May 11 1872
1328; Jan Jul 79
1968, Feb 28-29
1977, 42nd session, vol. I, p. 71-end
Proposed projects; Provo River Project; 1940
Minutes; 1924, Apr-1926, Sep; Minutes; 1926, Nov-1929, Jul
Griffenhagen and Associates, Jul-Oct 1939
1960, Dec 6-Jun 14, 1961; Book 73
1919 - 1921 (not a date, a case file range)
1799-1840, 1914-1915 (first two numbers are case files, last two are dates)
Maine; 1977-1978, 1980, 1982-1983
1994-2041 [Vol. 3, 1920-1921]
August 5, 1891-June 3, 1893 [Volume E]
1988, Jun-1989, Nov
[1890, Apr 21]-1891, Apr 15 (Book H)
1940: Salt Lake, November 1-15
Amazingly, he was able to distinguish between case file numbers and years,
plus find all the "from" and "to" days, months, and years, even if they
presented themselves as a scrambled string. Now that he's done all the hard
scripting work, if other institutions need to utilize it, that could
probably be arranged. He doesn't know EAD, however. I just took the data he
gave back to me and ran with it.
Elizabeth Perkes
Utah State Archives
>>> Ryan Lee <[log in to unmask]> 6/17/08 2:03 PM >>>
Please excuse cross-postings.
Hi all,
Previously on the EAD listserv, I submitted a query to those who were using,
or had used, consultants or contractors to encode their finding aids in EAD,
and if so, how much did it cost. I got limited feedback, so I want to send
out a related e-mail to those on the EAD and Archives listservs to see if I
can get more response. And, please do not confuse this with a job
announcement. It is merely for informational purposes from which we are
hoping to get some feedback, and to clarify the intent of my previous
e-mail.
In my institution, we are looking to possibly hire someone temporarily as an
EAD consultant. We are looking for someone to come in and analyze where we
stand as far as archival description and whether our finding aids or
registers comply with EAD standards. This person would also need to be able
to analyze our current (very basic) use of EAD, and determine how it needs
to be altered to not only meet the basic EAD standards, but also comply with
local or regional best practices. The greatest task for this person would
be to implement these new standards through training of staff and
volunteers, many of whom have little technical expertise, especially in XML.
We would need someone who could adapt these standards at a very basic level,
using whatever tools out there.
We are looking less for a vendor service to send our finding aids to, and
more for a temporary contractural service with someone with a great deal of
experience in implementing EAD.
My question is NOT who of you out there could do this. My question is: Does
anyone out there have experience hiring or working with someone in a similar
situation? If so, how much did they charge for such a service (ideally an
hourly rate)? Or, on a general note, can someone suggest where to go to
find information on rates to charge for a temporary consultant doing any
number of things in an archival setting?
We are just trying to get a ballpark figure to work into our budget, and I
am needing this information by the end of the week. So, if anyone out there
can provide me with any information, it would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Ryan K. Lee
Metadata Specialist
LDS Church History Dept.
50 E. North Temple Rm. 289E
Salt Lake City, UT 84150-3420
(801) 240-2173
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