Online Finding Aids/EAD

[Christina Zamon]

This is more of a quick survey but I'm curious to know how many lone arrangers out there actually have online finding aids encoded in EAD? There are two here and I plan to do more but I know that in my last lone arrangers job that it was really difficult to get things off the ground. It was hard enough to get finding aids done let alone get them online and encoded!

[Abby]

EAD? Finding Aids? The best I got is a spreadsheet with a rough idea of where things are now and where they should go. Think thrown to the wind organized into general piles.

[Kelli]

I plan to. There are finding aids at my place from before I got here that are on the web but they are neither DACS or EAD. I am hoping to use something like Archvist's Toolkit or Archon to get these moving quickly.

[Jordon]

Kelli, Not only will AT and Archon help you create EAD finding aids, they are excellent archives management tools for the lone arranger. I recommend AT, though I don't have lots of experience with it. Best to evaluate both.

[Meghan Jensen]

Right now, I'm writing finding aids in Word with the intent of getting them up online as HTML. I'm not opposed to doing EAD encoding, but my problem is what to do with them after that. How do you take advantage of the searchability features so touted by EAD advocates if you don't have an OPAC or a similar search engine?

[Jordon]

Meghan, the short answer is, you can't.

However, think about writing a grant to get $1,000 bucks or so for some IT dude to build you a searchable database of your finding aids. Or pay off a grad student in library science. EAD finding aids will facilitate this sort of project.

Also, not sure where you are, but what if the state you lived in said, "Hey, let's build a state-wide union catalog of finding aids, with EAD as the common language." Without EAD, you wouldn't be able to play. That's the beauty of a commonly-accepted standard--you can think Big.

You are in the ideal situation--it's harder to convert HMTL->EAD than to create EAD finding aids from scratch. So don't feel rushed to go the HTML route!

Also, can't be repeated enough--look at Archivists Toolkit and Archon. They were created for people like us.

[Meghan Jensen]

Thanks for your thoughts, Jordon. I'm in the netherlands of Oklahoma, miles and miles away from a major academic library (or graduate students). In addition to our one-person museum & archives (which is really about 2% museum & 98% archives), we have a one-person IT department, which means anything I do, I do pretty much by myself--and I'm not all that techie. I thought about Archon and AT and even downloaded the Sandbox, but I was scared off by the requirement of the mySQL database--something I don't know about and don't understand. Either a statewide or regional union catalog of finding aids would be my dream. I'd love to work with a consortium, but to my knowledge, there isn't such a project that covers my area.

Right now I'm running PastPerfect. I'm not exactly happy with it, but I'm making it work as best I can. I can input almost all information you would find in a finding aid into the pre-defined fields, but it's difficult to display clearly and search fully. The software was bought before I was hired, so it's pretty much what I'm stuck with, at least for a little while. I noticed a while back that NHPRC states EAD as a requirement for their archives processing grants, so I think that might be my "in" for arguing a different approach.

[Jordon]

Meghan, if you decide you really want to try out AT but aren't sure how to install it, contact me off-list (go to my website and get my email) and we can set up a time where you can call me and I can try to walk you through the installation. No guarantees, but I have had success installing it on my own computer, so it's worth a shot.

[Tamara Gaydos]

At the Peabody Essex Museum/Phillips Library all of our finding aids are on paper in binders. Most of them were done on typewriters and there is no Word Processing document to match. We are trying to decide how best to get these online without spending a small fortune. One idea is to scan some of them as PDF files and post them on our website. It's a temporary measure and would not be searchable. I would be most interested in hearing from others about successful (or not) conversion projects.

[Gina Rappaport]

Tamara:
I don't know if you have students or volunteers, but when I was a graduate student "re-engineering" finding aids - making legacy finding aids DACS compliant and electronic - was a very useful learning tool. Perhaps you could find some history/archives or library students who need a practicum or directed fieldwork experience to update your finding aids.

[Jordon]

I second Gina. I think PDFs are the least desirable route. They would not be searchable, that's a lot of staff hours to scan, and am I the only person who gets a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach when I unwittingly click on those slow-to-load, clunk PDF files?

You're better off keeping it old school until you decide where you want to go. One temporary measure would be to create online catalog records and just say, "Finding Aid upon request" or something. Just my 2 cents.

[Abby]

Most scanners come with software to OCR scanned images (in short, takes a scanned image with text and turns it into a digital text document--I alway forget what the OCR stands for). It's not perfect, you have to edit a bit, but I think it's worth the time. It's an easy thing for a good student to do.

The software that came with my Epson(?) scanner is called ABBy Reader or something like that. A lot of people don't realize what the software is, so they never install it or they never use it.

[Jordon]

Good point about ABBy, Abby. :) Reputable digitization shops use this software.