Michael Fox
Head of Processing
Minnesota Historical Society
345 Kellogg Blvd West
St. Paul MN 55102-1906
phone: 651-296-1014
fax: 651-296-9961 [log in to unmask]
**NOTE NEW AREA CODE EFFECTIVE JULY 12, 1998**
> ----------
> From: Alan Crookham[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Friday, March 05, 1999 7:51 AM
> To: Multiple recipients of list EAD
> Subject: Apex conversion/eadgrp tag
>
> Dear colleagues
>
> Two questions.
>
> 1. We have recently received three files converted into EAD by a
> conversion company and are now looking at how best to adapt their
> tagging to our own in house procedures. Currently we use the following
> tags
> to describe the unit of production:
>
> <C03 LEVEL="FILE">
> <DID>
> <UNITID COUNTRYCODE="GBR" REPOSITORYCODE="0152">
> [FILE REFERENCE]</UNITID>
> <UNITDATE>[FILE DATES]</UNITDATE>
> <UNITTITLE>[FILE TITLE AND DESCRIPTION]</UNITTITLE>
> </DID>
> </C03>
> </C02></C01>
>
> We use <unittitle> both for the title and a brief description of its
> contents. The conversion has used <scopecontent> which we feel
> is more appropriate at a higher level. Does anyone have any thoughts
> about this? We have toyed with the idea of using <unittitle> and
> <abstract> instead of <unittitle> alone.
>
I would urge the use of <abstract>. It seems conceptually difficult
for me to explain how something might have two titles. Explanations of the
contents seem to fit well within the notion of an abstract or, if fuller in
their detail, a scope and content note.
> Regarding the conversion we will need to change some tags and
> were wondering if anyone has any experience of writing macros for
> doing this and would be prepared to share those experiences with us.
> This is mainly concerned with the fact that we use three levels
> and the conversion has only included two. We would need to convert all
> the <c02>s to <c03>s and many of the <c01>s should be <c02>s.
>
We find it quite easy to import the document into a word processor and do
global replacements, e.g. change all <c02> to <c03> and then all </c02> to
</c03>. Someone will no doubt author a more elegant perl or even
wordprocessing macro. But this works. Start at the lowest level and work
up of course.
We have had conversations with APEX about this topic and have decided to
mark the c01 elements for them in advance as a way of reducing this problem.
It's a simple step.
> 2. One of the files converted is that of the British Trades Union
> Congress. This is a large and complicated catalogue and we don't want
> it all on one file. We were thinking about using the <eadgrp> tag but
> noticed that the Tag Library expressly states that <eadgrp> is not
> intended for a single collection with many accessions in one
> repository. Does anyone know why this is? Should we therefore create
> several <ead> files and then link them together? We haven't used
> <eadgrp> at all and would like any advice on it that people are willing to
> offer.
>
One possible model for the situation where a single finding aid for a large
fond is to be divided into several separate finding aids for its subfond.
1. Use the <note> element in the top level <did> of of each subfond to
embed both text that explains the relationship of the subfond to its parent
fond and a link to the finding aid for the fond, using an <extptr> or
<extref>.
e.g
<archdesc>
<did>.....
<note>
<p>Forms part of the records of the British Trades Union Congress.
<extref entityref="BTUC">A guide to the entire records of the Congress is
available.</extref>
</p>
</note>
</did>
This seems appropriate in the top level <did> and consistent with the
concept of the <did> as the fundamental cluster of data about a group of
archival materials, at any level of description. What could be more
fundamental than pointing to the body of records of which it is a part?
2. In the parent fond, list and link to the subfonds using the same
technique within the <organization> element.
> Many thanks
>
> Alan.
>
> Alan Crookham
> Assistant Archivist
> Modern Records Centre
> University of Warwick
> Coventry
> UK - CV4 7AL
> Tel. 01203 524493
> e-mail : [log in to unmask]
>
