Message cross-posted to [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], and
[log in to unmask]  Please excuse duplication.


Thanks to a generous grant to the Society of American Archivists from the
Delmas Foundation, the EAD Working Group will meet in Washington October
31-November 2 to consider the suggestions for changes to the document type
definition that were made on the official EAD listserv ([log in to unmask]) during
June, July, and August.  Now that the dates of the Working Group meeting
have been set, we would welcome any lingering suggestions and comments
through October 17.

*****To ensure that they are considered by the Working Group, please post
all suggestions for changes to the DTD to the EAD listserv***** (to
subscribe, send the following message to [log in to unmask]:  sub ead your
name).  The Working Group will not be held responsible for suggestions for
changes to the DTD (e.g., additional elements and/or attributes) made
outside the EAD listserv, although several of us are closely monitoring
discussions relating to other aspects of EAD on other lists.  I will post
to the EAD list, before the Working Group meets, a summary of the
suggestions that will be considered.

In addition to modifications to the DTD, the Working Group will discuss the
EAD documentation, XML compliance, relationship to MARC, and other issues
that will make EAD more useful and more accessible to archivists and to our
patrons.  After the Working Group meeting, EAD will graduate from beta test
mode to full release with a new version of the DTD, which we hope will be
available before the end of the calendar year.

The EAD Working Group is:  Randy Barry (LC Network Development Office),
Jackie Dooley (UC Irvine), Ricky Erway (RLG), Michael Fox (Minnesota
Historical Society), Anne Gilliland-Swetland (UCLA), Steve Hensen (Duke
University), Eric Miller (OCLC), Chris Petter (University of Victoria, BC),
Daniel Pitti (University of Virginia), Janice Ruth (LC Manuscripts
Division), Rob Spindler (Arizona State University), Meg Sweet (Public
Records Office, London), Rich Szary (Yale University), Sharon Thibodeau
(NARA), Helena Zinkham (LC Prints and Photographs Division), and myself.

Kris Kiesling
Chair, SAA Committee on Archival Information Exchange
Chair, CAIE EAD Working Group
Head, Department of Manuscripts and Archives
Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX  78713-7219
voice:  512-471-9113
fax:  512.471.9646
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