Canadian <Metadata> Forum

Rules for Archival Description (RAD)
and Encoded Archival Description (EAD)

Wendy Duff
Faculty of Information Studies
University of Toronto

Available also in [PDF 248 KB]

Outline

• Nature of archival material
• Principles of archival description
• Nature of archival description
• Types of finding aids
• Content standards
• Structure standards
• Cross-domain metadata

Nature of Archival Material

• Evidence of actions and events
• By-products of business and personal activities
• Unconscious creation, accumulated and/or use
• Aggregates of interrelated material

Purpose of Archival Description

• Provide access to archival materials, by:
  • Communicating information about the whole of the archival material through a description whose content is retrievable. At a minimum, access by provenance must be provided if known. …;
  • Integrating access to description of archival material with access to description of other cultural resources.
• Enable Users to understand archival materials, by:
  • Documenting and communicating:
• the creation and/or accumulation and use of records ..;
• the relationship of records;
• the scope and content;
• information about the documentary structure(s) of the record;
  • Describing from the general to the specific.
• Preserve the authenticity of archival materials, by:
  • Documenting and communicating information related to … custody;
• their creation and/or accumulation and use of records in the conduct of activities.
  • Providing descriptions that reflects arrangement;

Nature of Archival Description

• Archival creator focused
• Aggregates
• Multi-level
• Contextual
  • who, what, when, where, why and how

Types of Finding Aids

• Inventories that describe the fonds and its parts
• Catalogue records for fonds, or series and sometimes even items
• Thematic guides
• Calendars
• File and item lists

Content Standards

• Canada
  • Rules for Archival Description (RAD)
• Internationally:
  • International Standard of Archival Description (ISAD)
  • International Standard of Archival Authority Record (ISAAR)
• Canada/US - CUSTARD?

RAD

• Describe from the general to the specific. First level of description is the fonds. Does not provide rules for collections
• Uses AACR2 structure and almost all rules in chapters 22, 23, and 24 but not chapter 21.
• Rules for describing all types of material including multiple media fonds, at fonds, series, files and item levels. Item level rules based on AACR2

Structure Standard

• MARC - used by American archives and some university archives in Canada
• Encoded Archival Description (EAD)
• Encoded Archival Context (EAC)

EAC and EAD

• EAD
  • For encoding multilevel finding aids
  • XML based
  • Developed in U.S. but now international
  • SAA standard but maintained by Library of Congress
• EAC
  • For encoding personal and agency histories
  • Consistent with EAD
  • Developed by small international group of interested people. Not sanctioned by larger organization and progress slow

Cross Domain Metadata

• IFLA bibliographic model focuses on manifestations and items
• Archival models focused on context. Describe across domains and time
• Museum curators, focus on objects or events?

SPIRT Metadata Scheme

Bibliographic model

Archival Metadata Model

Archival Metadata Model - Example

Working Together

• Different world views
  • " categories are historically situated artifacts, and like all artifacts, are learned as part of membership in a community of practice." Geoffrey C. Bowker, and Susan Leigh Star,
• Describing different types of material but also describe similar material. E.g., all professions work with maps
• Material used for different purposes
  • "Every model represents a view of reality to suit a particular purpose." Rust and Bide

But ...

• Users do not differentiate between our professions. They want access to material regardless of institutional type
• To meet our user needs, we must collaborate and develope compatible metadata systems!