EADiva.com is a site for people who are attempting to learn or better understand the Encoded Archival Description XML standard. This version of the site handles EAD 2002, see the main EADiva site for EAD3. I first created this site while in library school and tried to write with my classmates in mind. However, I think it will be helpful to anyone who’s trying to learn or use EAD. You need to have a basic understanding of XML, but you do not need to be an expert, or know how to read a Schema or DTD (or what a Schema or DTD are, other than that they’re the rules for how EAD is used).
I’ve created the site as a structured, linked tag library in which every EAD element is described in its own page. The element descriptions include information about what kind of information the tag may contain, where it may occur within an EAD finding aid and inside which elements, what attributes it may or must have (and definitions of those attributes on every page), which elements it may contain, and at least one example of how it can be used.
You can also read my reflection on the project’s 5-year anniversary.
This is EADiva 2002
This is the version of the site for the 2002 edition of EAD. There is no EADiva for the first edition of EAD and the version for EAD3 can be found at the main site, now that its official HTML tag library has been released.
EAD 2002’s structure can be seen on the elements page. Major structural elements are outlined at the top and nested to reflect their usage. Below them are generic elements which may be used in more places throughout the finding aid, tabular (used to create tables) elements, and linking elements. I’ve also created an alphabetically ordered list of elements.
Why Not Just Use the EAD Resources on the Library of Congress Site?
The LoC EAD Tag Library is a fantastic resource. It has some things this site does not, like information about EAD 1.0 and crosswalks to other schemas. It has other examples which you might find very helpful when trying to understand or implement an element. The main EAD page has a wealth of information about EAD, as well as copies of DTD and Schema. It has links to other EAD resources which you might find useful. This site cannot replace it and is not intending to.
However I hope to do several things here which the Library of Congress’s resources do not do:
- My url scheme is just plain easy to remember. Type in “eadiva.com/2/” and then name of an element (e.g. eadiva.com/eadheader) and voila, you’re at its tag page. Great for on-the-fly checks.
- My element pages all provide links for easy navigation to related elements.
- I describe each attribute on every element page instead of requiring you to open and scroll down one of three attributes pages.
- I do not expect you to be able to read a DTD attribute layout (i.e. “#IMPLIED, external, internal”). I try to spell things out.
- Every element page includes a link to the element’s LoC EAD tag library page at the bottom. This means you can always check my work/get an alternative perspective/see more examples.
- I’ve included relevant DACS citations.
For people who are already good at learning XML standards and/or reading DTDs, this site is probably more than you need. You still might find it useful to be able to easily find an element/click links to elements/not have to click around to check the usage of an attribute.
Why “EADiva”?
While working on a paper for MARAC about EAD and Archivist’s Toolkit, I had to construct a silly resumé website for one of my library school classes. It was late, I’d just been comparing EAD files from several repositories, and I decided to describe myself as a “Mistress of Serials and EADiva.” The next day, it kept popping into my head. Eventually, what had started as a joke turned into an idea for this site and then the site’s name. It’s not a self-description, more of a tongue-in-cheek aspiration.
