Ryan,
Geoff Brown and I published an article last year in Partnership: The
Canadian Journal of Library and Information Practice and Research on
this topic
(
http://gir.uoguelph.ca/index.php/perj/issue/view/36). At Dalhousie we
generally use XMetal for our editing, and I have set up several Access
databases to spit out tagged file lists that I then copy into the editing
program and clean up a bit. That part isn't described in the article, but
what we do give is a description of how we create MARC records from
EAD.
For those interested here's the abstract:
Dalhousie University Archives and Special Collections (DUASC) has been
producing Encoded Archival Description (EAD) finding aids to describe its
archival collections since 2003. The EAD descriptions started as a way to
convert the collection of print and electronic (MS Word and WordPerfect)
finding aids into a stable, software neutral format. As the collection of
finding aids grew it became apparent that we needed a way to search these
documents beyond what was possible via a basic browse on the DUASC
website. As a result, we embarked on a systematic crosswalk of the EAD
finding aids into MARC format for inclusion in the Novanet library
catalogue. This has facilitated searching and discovery of the materials
by a much broader audience of Dalhousie University Library users as well
as users from all of the other Novanet member libraries in Nova Scotia
and the general public. This article describes the primary motivation for
the project and the technical aspects of converting the EAD finding aids
into MARC format for inclusion in the Novanet catalogue.
All the best,
Kathryn
_______________________________
Dr. Kathryn Harvey
Archives Specialist
Dalhousie University Archives
and Special Collections
Killam Memorial Library
6225 University Avenue
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Canada B3H 4H8
Phone: (902) 494-6490
Fax: (902) 494-2062
Email: [log in to unmask]
http://www.library.dal.ca/DUASC/
