Hi Rachel-

If you encode your finding aids in EAD you will have much more flexibility
to do other things with them in the future, including conversion to HTML
and crosswalking to other metadata formats as needed. Highly recommended
over simply marking them up as HTML.

-Trevor Thornton


On Fri, May 10, 2013 at 4:56 PM, Rachel Shaevel <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> My apologies if my question didn't make sense.  I'm speaking as a
> cataloger, not a coder.  :)  Basically we have some of our finding aids as
> just plain old HTML pages, like this one:
> http://www.chipublib.org/cplbooksmovies/cplarchive/archivalcoll/abbott_seng1.php.
>  The choices presented by TPTB were to continue adding HTML finding aid
> pages to our web site (which will soon be run by BiblioCommons) or to mark
> them up using EAD and upload them into CONTENTdm and make them part of our
> digital collections.  I suspect the finding aids in question are those that
> exist in paper format, not those that are already on our web site.
>
> It's not really an either-or kind of thing.  I thought if the finding aids
> were marked up in EAD they would be more computer-actionable.
>
> Thanks again-
>
> Rachel Shaevel
> Electronic Resources Cataloger
> Technical Services/Catalog Department
> Chicago Public Library
> Harold Washington Library Center
> 400 S. State St.
> Chicago, IL 60605
> P: (312) 747-4660
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
> Matthew Sherman
> Sent: Friday, May 10, 2013 3:43 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] EAD vs. HTML for finding aids
>
> Rachel,
>
> EAD is just a metadata schema, which can be made to be read via html web
> pages though xslt, or some scripting that pulls out the relevant field data
> and makes it displayed nicer, usually in an HTML wrapper.  So I guess it
> would be helpful if you could elaborate on your question a bit more so we
> can give you some useful feedback.
>
> Matt Sherman
>
>
> On Fri, May 10, 2013 at 3:39 PM, Rachel Shaevel <[log in to unmask]
> >wrote:
>
> > Hello friendly Borg,
> >
> > Does anyone have anything thoughts about using EAD for finding aids vs.
> > HTML?  Or are both going the way of the dinosaurs?
> >
> > Thanks!
> > Rachel
> >
> > Rachel Shaevel
> > Electronic Resources Cataloger
> > Technical Services/Catalog Department
> > Chicago Public Library
> > Harold Washington Library Center
> > 400 S. State St.
> > Chicago, IL 60605
> > P: (312) 747-4660
> > [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> >
>



-- 
Trevor Thornton
Senior Applications Developer, NYPL Labs
The New York Public Library
phone: 212-621-0287
email: [log in to unmask]