Project details
Project Name: LEADERS (Linking EAD to Electronically Retrievable
Sources)
Project Funder: Arts and Humanities
Research Board (AHRB)
Project start date: October 2001
Project end date: March 2004
The project team consists of:
- Susan Hockey (Project Director)
- Chris Turner (Project Manager)
- Anna Sexton (Project Archivist)
- Geoffrey Yeo (Project Consultant)
and at BookMARC:
- Joaquim Carvalho (Project Manager)
- José Miguel Vieira (Lead Developer)
- António Lope (Product Manager)
The team reports to a Management Committee, whose members are:
- Sheila Anderson (Director, Arts and Humanities Data Service)
- Paul Ayris (Director of Library Services, University College
London)
- Professor Mark Greengrass (Executive Director, Humanities Research Institute, University of Sheffield)
- Elizabeth Hallam-Smith (Director, Public Services, National Archives)
- Chris Kitching (Secretary, Historical Manuscripts Commission)
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The need for LEADERS
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) is a well-established standard for encoding archive finding aids.
Encoded Archival Context (EAC) is a new standard for recording and exchanging
information about creators of archive materials in the form of authority records
with an emphasis on the provision of biographical or administrative histories for the persons
or organisations concerned. EAD and EAC can bring
many benefits to custodians and users of archives because:
- they provide a means for archivists to structure finding
aids and authority records using technology that is independent of proprietary hardware
and software platforms
- they enable Internet delivery of these structured finding
aids and authority records
As standards for encoding, EAD and EAC support the effective structuring
and delivery of information about archives to users.
However, as stand-alone tools, they cannot give users access to the
actual content of archival material.
Therefore, there is real potential for the development of a resource
that enables the integration of EAD and EAC with other tools that do
allow for remote use of the contents of archival collections.
The Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) enables
electronic texts of all kinds to be searched and presented to users
in a variety of different ways. When EAD, EAC and TEI are brought together
alongside digitised images of archival material the potential benefits
for users are vast. Within a single environment the user can:
- find items in archival collections
- learn about their contexts
- view representations of the items themselves
- read, study, analyze and manipulate their content
At present EAD and EAC are often used
independently of TEI and no generalised environment exists
for linking the three encoding schemes. Where links do occur in online archival finding
aids, they normally point to digitised images of transcriptions
without provision for any analysis or manipulation of the source.
Some prototypes for using EAD alongside other SGML/XML-based systems
have been developed in the USA, notably by the:
However, the main focus of these projects has been the provision
of access to specific materials, rather than on the development
of a toolset for use in connection with a wide range of archives.
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Aims
The LEADERS project aims to develop a generic computer-based toolset
that will enable the creation of an online environment which integrates
EAD encoded finding aids and EAC authority records with TEI encoded transcripts and digitised
images of archival material and is flexible enough to handle a wide
variety of archives. In doing so, LEADERS will directly contribute
to the enhanced provision of remote user access to archives.
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Objectives
The project objectives are to:
- Analyse user needs in relation to online access to archives
and identify key functions which users apply to archival material
- Design and implement a user-friendly toolkit and demonstrator
application where finding aids, authority records, transcripts
and images are brought together
- Facilitate ways in which archivists and users can use standard
encoding systems for Internet access to archives
- Provide recommendations for the use of TEI with archival material
- Provide recommendations for integration between EAD, EAC and
TEI in an XML-based Web environment
- Provide documentation for archivists and users
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Research Questions
1. How can the output of our research take account of user needs?
Developing a typology of archive users and identifying user needs
and behaviour in relation to online access to archives is a vital
component of our research. We are developing a categorisation model
which takes account of previous work on user needs, both in the
UK and internationally, but seeks to analyse the user marketplace
more fully than any previously published study.
It is hoped that this model will provide a basis for selecting
a sample of users who can be asked to supply more detailed information
about their needs when using online archival finding aids and representations
of original paper records, as well as feedback on the progress of
our work. By seeking feedback from a representative cross-section
of users we hope to find a basis for matching the design of an interface,
where EAD is linked with other electronically retrievable sources,
to the needs of its potential users.
2. How can TEI be used effectively for the textual representation
of archival documents?
We are considering the issues that arise from seeking to use the
TEI to cover the content and structure of a range of commonly-occurring
archival documents. These might include personal diaries, letters
and notebooks, as well as administrative or operational records
created by government agencies, universities, businesses or other
corporate bodies.
We are researching into the internal structures of archival documents,
the variations in structure that are found between document types
and between historical periods of document creation, the presence
or absence of formal rules or models for document structure and
the range of relationships between one document and another within
archival collections.
3. How can EAD, EAC and TEI be integrated?
The integration of EAD, EAC and TEI raises questions about:
- the nature of appropriate linkages between them
- the role of the TEI Header when used in conjunction with the
more extensive metadata framework provided by EAD.
These issues are central to our effective design of a suitable
environment for linked finding aids, transcripts and digital images
of archival material.
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Deliverables
LEADERS intends to deliver:
- A methodology for linking finding aids and authority records to transcriptions and
images
- A toolkit for implementers to use to build their own applications
following the LEADERS methodology
- A model internet-based system (demonstrator application) where
finding aids are linked to transcriptions and images
- Documentation for the entire set of methodologies and tools
- Training materials for archivists and users
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This page was last modified on 26 November 2003 by
Anna Sexton
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