David,

It is quite a simple software matter to have a program
that take an EAD file (SGML), strips the tagging and
generates a plain text file.

Typically, these programs are customized per application
as decisions have to be made about word wrapping, inclusion
of attribute values and so on.

We have done this sort of thing before and the cost would
be nominal. If you are interested, please let me know.

Also, we work a lot with data capture vendors and would
welcome the opportunity to give you a comparison price
for the data capture work. We guarantee accuracy levels
of at least 99.998%.

regards,
Sean Mc Grath
www.digitome.com

At 10:38 21/04/99 -0400, you wrote:
>Colleagues--
>
>I need your advice on a problem I have encountered with our project to
>convert and encode our finding aids.
>
>None of our 3,000+ finding aids are available in electronic form. I have
>received a grant which I hope can kill several birds with one stone. My
>goals for the project are: 1) convert the finding aids into electronic
>form, 2) acquire an electronic text version (ASCII or something else
>that I can manipulate in a word processing software (MS WORD) and an
>HTML writer/editor (Netscape Composer)), and 3) acquire an EAD-encoded
>version.
>
>We have hired Apex (as we are an RLG member) to convert and encode the
>finding aids. We plan to send the EAD versions to Archival Resources.
>Because I want more flexibility for future uses of the finidng aids
>(whatever they later may be given advances in technology), I would like
>to maintain locally a text version (which for now could be manipulated
>using MS WORD). Because Archival Resources is available only
>fee-for-service, and I don't have the technical support necessary to
>maintain SGML documents, I am also planning on maintaining at our WEB
>site an HTML encoded version meeting our specifications for structure,
>etc.
>
>Here is the problem. Apex has provided me with a first batch of one
>hundred EAD encoded finding aids. I had hoped to be able to use the
>encoded versions in other ways by stripping them of the coding BUT alas,
>with most grand ideas, I have been unsuccessful! Of course, for more
>money (which I'd like to spend on other issues), I am sure Apex would be
>happy to resolve this matter for me. Before pursuing this option with
>the remaining 2,900 finding aids, however, I wanted to know if  there
>was a  "de-babble-izer" that I could purchase to magically remove the
>encoding.
>
>I am happy to pay the vendor for the deliverables I need but I wanted to
>check with you all first! I look forward to hearing from you.
>
>David
>++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
>David de Lorenzo                       201 West Monument Street
>Library Director                       Baltimore, MD 21201-4674
>Maryland Historical Society            (410) 685-3750 Ext. 309
>Library of Maryland History            FAX: (410) 385-2105
>                        http://www.mdhs.org
>
>
<Sean URI="http://www.digitome.com/sean.htm">