SLIS S603: Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Workshop

Instructor:
Jenn Riley
jenlrile@indiana.edu
856-5759

Office hours by appointment

Course overview

This course is intended for students and individuals interested in pursuing careers in archives and special collections, students interested in digital libraries or metadata, or for individuals looking to gain a new set of skills. Students will learn about the development of the Encode Archival Description (EAD) standard, the language powering it (XML), implementation, research, and future trends.

During class periods students will participate in individual, graded, mark-up exercises. Since we meet only six times attendance at every class session is mandatory and will be figured into the final grade. Also prior to each class students will be required to turn in brief journal entries to the instructor commenting on the week's required readings. Exceptions to the attendance policy will be made only in extreme circumstances, and only by prior arrangement with the instructor.

During the course of the workshop, students will progressively encode two finding aids for weekly assignments, one finding aid during the hands-on class sessions, and a fourth at the end of the six-week session. In addition to the main encoding assignments there will be one group presentation of about 15-20 minutes in length on an EAD consortium group assigned by the instructors. Class participation and attendance will be factored into the final grade.

Prerequisite: either S581 Archives and Records Management or S584 Manuscripts. The EAD markup language for archival finding aids draws its structure, terminology, and organizational principles directly from archival descriptive practices which are introduced in the prerequisite courses. Success in this course will depend heavily on understaning the tenets of archival description, such as provenance and original order, and the terminology used in the field. Students who have not taken one of the prerequisite courses may register only by prior permission of the instructor, and will be required to complete an extra assignment in this course.

Course readings: are generally available through IU Libraries online journal subscriptions. When this is not the case, readings are available in Oncourse. In addition, two books are on reserve for this course:

Dooley, Jackie M. ed. Encoded Archival Description: Context, Theory, and Case Studies. Chicago : Society of American Archivists, 1998. This volume is a compendium of all articles in v. 60, no. 3/4 of the American Archivist, and is an alternate method of obtaining these articles.
Society of American Archivists. Describing Archives: A Content Standard. Chicago : Society of American Archivists, 2007. EAD created during this course should use DACS as a content standard.

Late Submissions

Late assignments will not be accepted. If you foresee any problems with turning in an assignment by the due date, please contact the instructor prior to the due date to discuss options.

Assignments and grading

Attendance and participation: 5% Students will be expected to participate in class at each session by contributing to the conversation based on the weekly readings and being engaged with the lecture portion of class.

Weekly journal: 15%
Each week students will be asked to make weekly journal entries based on that week's required readings. These entries should provide an original reaction to each of the required readings. Entries do not need to be long or provide a full summary of the reading - they just need to illustrate your comprehension of the material.

Group presentation: 5%
In week 6, students will give a group presentation evaluating a consortial EAD project. The presentation should be approximately 15-20 minutes in length. The instructor will provide the websites to be evaluated.

Ongoing in-class assignment, encoding finding aid 1: 15%
During weeks 1, 2, and 3, students will complete in-class encoding exercises to learn EAD markup concepts in preparation for completing homework. In-class exercises are due by the end of the class session in which they are assigned.

Homework, encoding finding aids: 60%
During the course of the workshop, students will work progressively on encoding three complete finding aids provided by the instructor. The first two of these finding aids will be turned in periodically, to show continuous encoding progress.

Grades:

The following definitions of letter grades have been defined by student and faculty members of the Curriculum Steering Committee and have been approved by the faculty as an aid in evaluation of academic performance and to assist students by giving them an understanding of the grading standards of the School of Library and Information Science.
A	4.0	Outstanding achievement. Student performance demonstrates full command of the course materials and evinces a high level of originality and/or creativity that far surpasses course expectations.
A-	3.7	Excellent achievement. Student performance demonstrates thorough knowledge of the course materials and exceeds course expectations by completing all requirements in a superior manner.
B+	3.3	Very good work. Student performance demonstrates above-average comprehension of the course materials and exceeds course expectations on all tasks as defined in the course syllabus.
B	3.0	Student performance meets designated course expectations and demonstrates understanding of the course materials at an acceptable level.
B-	2.7	Marginal work. Student performance demonstrates incomplete understanding of course materials.
C+ C	2.3 2.0	Unsatisfactory work. Student performance demonstrates incomplete and inadequate understanding of course materials.
C- D+ D D-	1.7 1.3 1.0 0.7	Unacceptable work. Coursework performed at this level will not count toward the MLS or MIS degree. For the course to count toward the degree, the student must repeat the course with a passing grade.
F	0.0	Failing. Student may continue in program only with permission of the Dean.

Academic Honesty

This course will follow Indiana University and School of Library and Information Science policies on academic dishonesty. Students found to be engaging in plagiarism, cheating, and other types of dishonesty will receive an F for the course. For further information, please see the Code of Student Ethics.

Useful Resources

Pages to bookmark and use:

EAD Tag Library 2002
EAD Application Guidelines (For EAD 1.0*)
RLG EAD Best Practice Guidelines
RLG EAD Report Card

Course Schedule

Session 1: EAD History and Technical Introduction (May 11)

Topics covered:

Introduction to XML, DTDs, and Schemas
Introduction to EAD as a markup language
Basic structure of EAD
<archdesc> and <descgrp> in detail
Structural markup available throughout EAD

In-class exercises:

Learning to use the <oXygen /> XML editor
Become familiar with the EAD Tag Library
Finding aid 1: encode <archdesc> and <descgrp>

Assignments:

Journal entry for Week 2 required readings
Finding aid 2: encode <archdesc> and <descgrp>
Finding aid 3: encode <archdesc> and <descgrp>

Required readings for next week:

Pitti, Daniel (November 1999). "Encoded Archival Description: An Introduction and Overview." D-Lib Magazine 5(11). Available at http://www.dlib.org/dlib/november99/11pitti.html.
Ruth, Janice E. (Summer 1997). "Encoded Archival Description: A Structural Overview." American Archivist, v. 60, n. 3, pp. 310-329. IU Libraries online subscription. (Also available in Encoded Archival Description: Context, Theory, and Case Studies, pp. 47-66.)
Meissner, Dennis. (Fall 1997). "First Things First: Reengineering Finding Aids for Implementation of EAD." American Archivist, v. 60, n. 4, pp. 372-387. IU Libraries online subscription. (Also available in Encoded Archival Description: Context, Theory, and Case Studies.)
EAD Application Guidelines, Section 3.4, Understanding Multilevel Description and Section 3.5.2.4. Physical Location and Container Information. (No journal entry required)