E-Content on a ShoestringE-Content on a Shoestring:Using the EAD Cookbook and Using the EAD Cookbook and

Ebind XML in the ArchivesEbind XML in the Archives

CIL Conference: March 16, 2001

Christopher J. Prom, Assistant University Archivist

University of Illinois Archives

http://www.library.uiuc.edu/ahx/ead

XML/EAD Implementation Issues Cost Data sharing Technical requirements for digitization

– xml “foreign” to many library programmers, an emerging technology

Why Choose XML?– Simplification and cost control– Demand for best-practice system

Reston Finding Aid Project

Provide finding aid (box and folder listing) Integrate digital copies of documents to

finding aid

James B. Reston

New York Times Reporter, Chief

Correspondent, Editor, Vice President

Reputation as a journalistic insider, from the 50s to the 80s

ConfidentialMemorandum Document off-the-

record background conversations

Diaries

Moscow trip, 1943 China, interview

of premier Chou En-lai, 1971.

Interviews

Henry Kissinger Ted Kennedy Jimmy Carter

Correspondence

Some public Much internal NY

Times Copyright unclear in

many cases

Reader Mail

Illustrates the challenge posed by copyright law in constructing on-line research collections

Jack ValentiMPAA

Our Mandate

Provide as much on-line as possible at the lowest cost using archival/manuscript descriptive

standards

Project Issues (1)

Archival/policy– compliance with archival practices of

arrangement and description (context)– integrate images directly into finding aid– Not involve time-consuming cataloging or

design

Cost– Can you rely on open source software?

Project Issues (2)

Technical– Markup

• efficiency of markup

• staffing turnover and concerns

– Manuscript display. Needed system to:• handle thousands of images in varied in formats

• provide a printable image

• be easily navigable

• and quick and dirty, without depending on expensive equipment or software

Tools and Techniques (1)

Open-source is the solution EAD (Encoded Archival Description)

– Archival finding aid markup (XML)– allows nesting of “levels” in finding aid– <dao> tag

Tools and Techniques

EAD Cookbook (Michael Fox)– predefined tag library– XSLT stylesheets to generate static HTML– Stylesheets easy to modify– implementation instructions

WordPerfect’s XML editor for markup

Tools and Techniques

Image display/turner– EBind

• Berkely, http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Ebind/– Perl script generates html from SGML files– book oriented

• UI Archives modifications– optimized for Windows server– built in limitations removed– added fields for physical description and genre– enhanced user interface for integration to EAD Cookbook and

use with manuscripts

Notetab Light (Clips)

Clip Language: Easy to program (really!)

CompuPic Pro (only software purchased)

DOS batch file integrated into clip automates site update

Tools and Techniques

Workflow– 1. Scan images to uncompressed .tif– 2. Perform batch conversion routine (simple,

but needs “one click” automation)

– 3. Complete query box in Notetab– 4. Click “create worksheet” (editing rare)– 5. Click “move”

• Entering descriptive data

• Tagging automatically inserted and file saved

• worksheet created and automatically saved

Corresponds to relative path

File sequence

Structure may be edited for complex documents

• XML created automatically from worksheet

Image sequencing

Bibliographic data

• Updating the site (takes place for each document)

1. Transforms EAD to HTML

2. Creates EBind SGML file

3. Moves everything to web server in consistent directory structure

4. Archives the uncompressed .tif to disk in parallel structure

Interface: Opening Page

Navigable TOC in frame

Dublin Core in Frameset

Interface: Series Level

<c01> level linked from TOC

Interface: DAO Links

Interface: Ebind TOC

Interface: Ebind Thumbnails

Interface: Ebind Page View

Navigation bar repeated at bottom

Hi-res prints on single sheet of

paper

Costs

EAD markup, proofreading and display– Reston: $248.63 or $3.65 per printed page– Bardeen: $110 or $1.96 per printed page

Ebind– For recent student workweek

• 142 images in 9.5 hours ( includes 1 hour selecting documents):

• $118.37 or .83 cents per page scanned and added

EAD Cookbook/Ebind/Notetab: Strengths

– Open source approach helps control costs – Standards compliant, syntactically sound– Will allow for data sharing and exchange– Easy design for staff, easy workflow for

students

EAD Cookbook/Ebind/NoteTab: Weaknesses

– Low accuracy of description; does not fully comply to rules of archival description

• Journalism students, supervision difficult

– Load times. Need to rewrite stylesheets– Not currently searchable.

Resources

EAD Cookbook– http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/ead/

Ebind (Berkeley)– http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Ebind/

EBind (University of Illinois)– http://www.library.uiuc.edu/ahx/ead/tech/

Notetab Light– http://www.notetab.com