Stirring the Alphabet Soup: Standards in Motion

1. Stirring the Alphabet Soup: Standards in Motion Mary Lacy mlac@loc.gov Manuscript Division Archives Forum May 17, 2012

2. Why Use Standards? • Improve quality and consistency of data • Enable data sharing • Can create tools for creating and using data

3. Benefits of Archival Standards By using EAD, DACS, AACR2, and MARC: • Finding aids are searchable in OCLC’s ArchiveGrid; through Google; and LC Website • Data can be viewed in multiple formats, online and print • Information about creators in EAC available through SNAC website (which Google finds) • AACR2 (and RDA) headings promote compatibility within catalogs, and searching in next-generation catalogs • DACS complies with international archival descriptive standards

4. Better Discovery = More Users • LC now has 1700 EAD finding aids online • Reading room use up for Manuscript Division, with 1500 EAD finding aids discoverable by local and remote users • Researchers better prepared before visiting • In-person visits are up: better for researchers and better for us

5. What Kind of Standards? • Standards for content of description • Standards for sharing description (encoding)

6. Standards for Description: General • AACR2 (Anglo-American Cataloging Rules) – in current use • RDA (Resource Description and Access) – coming in 2013

7. Standards for Description: Archival and Specialized • DACS (Describing Access: A Content Standard) • For modern archival collections (United States) • CCO: Cataloging Cultural Objects: A Guide to Describing Cultural Works and Their Images • used primarily in museum settings • DCRM (Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials) • Maintained by Bibliographic Standards Committee, Rare Book and Manuscript Section, ACRL/ALA • And more …

8. Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials • DCRM: Books • DCRM: Serials • DCRM: Music (draft) • DCRM: Graphics (will be second edition of Graphic Materials: Rules for Describing Original Items and Historical Collections) • DCRM: Manuscripts (will cover individual manuscripts on paper, on microfilm, or in the form of digital surrogates) • DCRM: Cartographic (will replace Cartographic Materials: A Manual of Interpretation for AACR2, Second Edition) • AMREMM (Descriptive Cataloging of Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance, and Early Modern Manuscripts)

9. Catalog Record or Finding Aid? • LC uses both for describing archival collections • Both are used in finding aid search system • DACS is content standard for both cataloging records and finding aids • AACR2 and RDA used only for bibliographic and authority records

10. Sharing Description: Standards • MARC (MAchine-Readable Cataloging) • Bibliographic records and authority records • EAD (Encoded Archival Description) • XML encoding for archival finding aids • EAC:CPF (Encoded Archival Context: Corporate, Personal, Family) • XML encoding for archival creators

11. Where Are They Going (General)? • RDA • Set to supersede AACR2 in 2013 • MARC • Not so good for RDA bibliographic and authority records (too flat to express FRBR relationships) • Bibliographic Framework Initiative: working on replacing 1960’s MARC transmission standard

12. Where Are They Going (Archival)? • EAD • New edition to be published 2013 • Core principles: interoperability, simplification, compatibility with other data standards • DACS • New edition 2013? • Eliminates sections which repeat AACR2 for headings: provide content standard for EAC • EAC:CPF • It’s new, but looking at widespread implementation within U.S. archival community

13. What’s Up, EAC? • Have a SNAC: Social Networks and Archival Context Project • First phase, 2010-2012 (NEH funding) built test database of EAC records harvested from LC Name Authority File, and EAD records from LC, Online Archive of California, Northwest Digital Archive, Virginia Heritage • Built 175,000 EAC-CPF records from 30,000 finding aids • Second phase, 2012-2014 (Mellon funding) will vastly increase scope: 13 consortia and 35 research repositories in U.S., U.K., and France

14. Why SNAC? • To demonstrate that names and descriptions can be extracted and assembled as EAC • To show what EAC can be used for: • Provide integrated access to archival resources and context for understanding the resources • Add features such as geographic coordinates, develop timelines, sequential organizational displays, and networks of relationships for research purposes

15. Relationships are complicated …

16. Archivists Assemble! • “Building a National Archival Authorities Infrastructure” meeting at NARA in May 2012 • Can U.S. archivists establish a sustainable National Archives Authorities Cooperative? • Like NACO for name authorities (national collaboration, centrally maintained) • Federal agencies, research librarians, and funding agencies to look at desirability and feasability

17. Change is Good? • Our core principles stay the same: providing access to our archival collections • Change isn’t sudden, but all our standards seem to be in flux at the same time • Not everything will change at once • We’ve done it all before; we can do it again! • We’re using these standards to make our alphabet soup spell s-u-c-c-e-s-s!

18. Want to Know More? • LC EAD finding aid staff page (will link to handouts): http://www.loc.gov/staff/rr/ead/ • SNAC Prototype: http://socialarchive.iath.virginia.edu/xtf/search • RDA at LC: http://www.loc.gov/aba/rda/ • DACS revision: http://www2.archivists.org/standards/describing-archives-a-content-standard-dacs