Print

Print


Some time ago I promised to post to this list the directions for
altering  the ead.dtd file so that it would conform to the XML standard.
The following text comes from the forthcoming (late Summer)
<shamelessPlug>EAD Application Guidelines</shamelessPlug>

There is also information on how the prolog to an EAD instance should
look in XML, which is slightly different from the SGML requirements.

Michael

"If the DTD is to be used with XML applications such as validating
processors, one change must first be made to the "ead.dtd" file.  There
is a section towards the end of the file headed "SGML EADNOTAT AND
EADCHARS INCLUSION/EXCLUSION."   At the end of this section, there is an
entity reference that reads "<!ENTITY % sgml   'INCLUDE'  >".  To
"switch off" SGML compatibility and "switch on" XML compatibility,
change 'INCLUDE' to 'IGNORE'.

When you make this change, observe that the explanatory note in this
section of the DTD file points out that "for XML, the eadnotat.ent file
should be invoked in the declaration subset of [the] individual
instance."  This means that the file "eadnotat.ent" must be explicitly
declared as an entity in each EAD instance.  For XML instances, the
prolog of each EAD-encoded finding aid should therefore read:

                <!DOCTYPE ead PUBLIC "-//Society of American
Archivists//DTD ead.dtd (Encoded Archival Description (EAD))//EN"
"ead.dtd"
                [
                <!ENTITY % eadnotat PUBLIC "-//Society of American
Archivists//DTD eadnotat.ent (EAD Notation Declarations)//EN"
"eadnotat.ent">
                %eadnotat;
                ]>

Note that the Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI), in this case simple
file names that point to the files ead.dtd and eadnotat.ent, must point
to the physical location of these two files.  Their content may
therefore vary from the above examples according to local file storage
practices."

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**