Encoded Archival Description (EAD)
Advantages
- Can be used for many different levels of description
because it accommodates complex hierarchical information, from
collection-level through item-level
- Allows more complete description than a MARC record
- Available via the web, not through proprietary
bibliographic utilities
- Images can be presented in-line, in the context
of the full finding aid
- EAD union databases are being developed, making
finding aids more accessible (See Online Archive of California, American Heritage Virtual Archive Project)
Disadvantages
- Standard web browsers can't read SGML, so full
capabilities are not yet realized
- Many of the current interfaces are not intuitive
to the average web user, who may not understand how finding aids
work
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of Contents
Created and Maintained By:
Kelcy Shepherd
Originally presented at a workshop sponsored by:
Conservation Center for
Art and Historic Artifacts
and the National
Park Service
Site Hosted By:
Environmental
Design Archives
University of California,
Berkeley
