EAD Workshop Registration
"Using EAD (Encoded Archival Description)" is a day-long workshop offering a basic introduction to finding aid markup using XML (eXtensible Markup Language) and the EAD document type definition. This is a free workshop available to members of the Harvard community. Pre-registration is required.
This Workshop is usually offered in the Fall and Spring of each academic year. All Workshops are held in the room 310 classroom (formerly known as ELF2) of Lamont Library (3rd floor).
If you have questions about registration for this workshop, please contact the OIS Training Registrar.
Instructors: Susan von Salis (Curator of Archives, Harvard University Art Museums) and Kim Brookes (EAD Training Consultant).
Preworkshop Readings: Pre-workshop readings are available on the web at: http://home.comcast.net/~kbrookes/eadworkshop.html
Workshop description: workshop includes introductory information on SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language), XML (eXtensible Markup Language) and EAD (Encoded Archival Description), the specific document type definition (DTD) designed for finding aids. In addition, it describes the tools necessary to complete an EAD project (software for markup, searching and display tools, etc.). To illustrate the potential of EAD, there are demonstrations of some sites on the World Wide Web (including Harvard) that have mounted encoded finding aids.
Most of the workshop is spent learning how to mark up finding aids using EAD. It begins with an introduction to the tag library (the extensive list of tags allowed in EAD) and the Harvard markup guidelines, followed by time for participants to mark up a finding aid supplied by the instructors. Participants may also bring one of their own, very short, finding aids, in both paper and ASCII format. Time permitting, there may be an opportunity at the end of the workshop to mark up this finding aid with the assistance of the instructors.
The intent of this workshop is to offer a basic introduction to the EAD tag set, to allow archivists who will be doing markup the opportunity to get hands-on experience in a supportive environment, and to facilitate the sharing of experience with EAD across the Harvard archival community.
Harvard's involvement with EAD began with the Harvard/Radcliffe Digital Finding Aids Project (1995-1999), and is now manifest in Harvard's finding aid catalog, OASIS. OASIS provides Internet access to finding aids for manuscript/archival collections held at Harvard repositories. Using EAD and OASIS, archivists are able to provide unparalleled, unified access to finding aids at Harvard via complex searches, as well as significantly improved navigational capability for moving within the text of each finding aid. Consult the OASIS information section of this web site for more information about digital finding aids at Harvard.
Workshop location: Room 310 (formerly known as ELF2) is the third floor of Lamont Library -- the same floor of Lamont as the Forum Room. The entrance to this room is located off the Reading Room on this floor, on the landing of the west rear staircase.
Take an elevator or stairs to the the third floor. Look for "Room 310 -->" on the gray sign hanging along the main corridor that is closest to the west elevator. It will direct you down the aisle that leads to the Reading Room. As you approach the Reading Room, you will see another gray sign with the text "Room 310 -->" that will direct you to the double doors that lead to the stairwell in which Room 310 is located.
Since this route requires passage through a library study area, please observe Lamont Library's rules for quiet in the Reading Room.