Print

Print


I am putting a finding aid into Access and would really like to be able
to create and EAD instance.  IT would streamline things considerably.
However, I am far from being a programmer and I am still a neophyte when
it comes to EAD.  Would a newby like me be able to use the tool without
crashing the network? :-)

Thanks.


Barbara Austen
Project Archivist
Connecticut State Archives
231 Capitol Ave.
Hartford CT 06106
(860) 757-6509
[log in to unmask]

>>> [log in to unmask] 04/11/02 10:50AM >>>
As much as I love NoteTab, I've been searching for a way to speed up
the
box/folder list process, as well as provide an interface that removes
the need for an in-depth knowledge of EAD for data entry.

Here at NLM we've developed an Access2000 tool that speeds up data
entry and spits out an EAD instance via the Report function. We took
much of the high level encoding operation from Alvin Pollock's tool.
Where we diverged was using Perl to do the box/folder markup. Here we
used some Visual Basic so both high-level and container-level
description could be performed in a single tool. We do not have Perl
expertise at our beck and call within our operational division, so
institutional culture also played a role.

I still use my batch files in NoteTab to parse and convert to XML and
HTML, however. The tool is very basic at this point and is not
designed
to incorporate image groups or the vast array of optional EAD elements
(I still plan on using NoteTab for fine tuning when necessary). On the
other hand, the tool accommodates 95% of our needs. It even handles a
600+ box collection quite easily, that we imported from Excel.

So, if anyone would care to test drive this thing and give me
feedback,
I'd be happy to share. I will prob. have to e-mail it, since we don't
have anonymous FTP access here that I'm aware of. Right now the tool
is
4 KB and you'll probably need an intermediate understanding of Access
if
you really want to play with it.







John P. Rees
Associate Curator, Modern Manuscripts
History of Medicine Division
National Library of Medicine
8600 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, MD.   20894
(301) 496-8953 Office
(301) 402-7034 Fax
[log in to unmask]