Overview of Findaid Class

Abstract

The Findaid Class consists of EAD2002-encoded Finding Aids. You can learn more about the ead2002 DTD and ead2002 in general at the Library of Congress ead2002 site .

Description

Basic Characteristics

The Finding Aids Class is in many ways similar in behavior to Text Class . Access minimally includes full text searching across collections or within a particular collection of Finding Aids, viewing Finding Aids in a variety of display formats, and creation of personal collections ("bookbag") of Finding Aids.

General Characteristics

At the University of Michigan, the Findaid Class access system is administered by the Digital Library Production Service. XML is received on a periodic basis from a variety of organizations on campus, and DLPS handles the process of putting the data online in a production-level environment.

The Finding Aids Class provides no functionality for creating and managing electronic texts in SGML.

Typical Sources of Data

The following sources of data have influenced the process defining the Findaid Class. Other sources are possible.

Typical Applications of the Class

Behaviors of the Findaid Class

Formal Data Definition

The Findaid Class relies on a single XML Document Type Definition (DTD) to deliver all collections in the class which is essentially ead2002 DTD (see the Library of Congress ead2002 site), with one extra wrapping element. The XML is then indexed with XPAT and made searchable on the Web by the Findaid Class middleware.

Representative Resource(s)

Bentley Historical Library Finding Aids

University of Michigan Special Collections Finding Aids