Following the seminar held two years ago at the National Library of France, (on the application of the EAD DTD for cultural heritage purposes in archives and in libraries), the Directorate of the Archives of France is organising a European Conference on 7-8 October 2004 on data-processing software for encoding finding aids for archives and authority data into XML (Extensible Markup Language). The last European Conference on this subject took place at the Public Record Office in Kew, in October 1999.

EAD, the first public version (1998) of which was revised in September 2002, is a document type definition founded on the same principle of multilevel description as the General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G). EAD was influenced by TEI (Text Encoding Initiative) and contains elements that are equivalent to MARC fields (an EAD inventory aid may be linked with a MARC note, and conversely, an EAD notice may be converted into MARC).

EAD is now well established in North America and in the rest of the world, and it has attained technical stability while continuing to keep abreast of technological advances. Training courses have been organised; handbooks and application guidelines have been written. Several institutions using EAD in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom have developed innovative solutions for encoding, editing and displaying their finding aids. It is now time to assess progress and to facilitate the exchange of experience.

Since 2001, another DTD, EAC (Encoded Archival Context), has been developed simultaneously. Perfectly compatible with the International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons, and Families ISAAR(CPF), and complementary to the UNIMARC/Authorities format, EAC combines bibliographic authority records and archival authority records, which give information both about the creator and the context of creation of archival material.

The Beta version of the EAC Tag Library should become available shortly. Tests have been carried out on the conversion of authority data into EAC/XML format, in particular within the LEAF project (Linking and Exploring Authority Files) : local authority data will be downloaded from the local servers of the participating organisations to a central system which links authorities belonging to the same entity automatically.

Participants will present their research results and ideas on different issues:

• What is required for EAD implementation: thoughts on standardisation, training; 
• EAD implementation: tools for creating EAD documents, interoperability, compatibility with other standards;
• Publishing EAD/XML documents: editing tools, documentary management applications with documents stored on a Web server in native XML;
• The EAC DTD and the first examples of authority records encoded into XML.

There will be translation in English and French.

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The European seminar will be held at the conference room of the Musée national des Arts et Traditions Populaires (MNATP), 6 avenue du Mahatma Gandhi, 75016 Paris, metro: Les Sablons (line 1),

08.45-18:00 Thursday, 7 October, and 09:00-17:00 Friday, 8 October 2004

Registration is free. Travel and accomodation expenses have to be taken in charge by the participants.

However, registration is mandatory because of the limited seating capacity of the conference room (300 seats).

If requests exceed room capacity, institutions that have registered several participants will be asked to cancel some registrations.

For registration, please contact by e-mail Ms Maryline Wasikowski, Directorate of Archives of France, and give family name, first name, functions, institution, all details and especially e-mail.

Ms Wasikowski will be able to deliver attendance certificates at the hall entrance to the conference room.

e-mail: maryline.wasikowski [at] culture [dot] gouv [dot] fr