EAC-CPF: Moving Forward with Authority

Location: National Archives and Records Administration (Archives I)
700 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C.  20408-0001
Date:  Monday, August 9, 2010
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Updated information for traveling to the National Archives (A1) facility:

The National Archives (A1) building is located between 9th and 7th Streets and between Constitution and Pennsylvania Avenues in Northwest, Washington D.C. Preconference participants should plan to arrive between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. Those riding Metro should use the Archives/Navy Memorial/Penn Quarter station. Once outside the station, cross the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and 7th Street, and follow 7th Street to the Constitution Avenue entrance. Enter the building at the Visitor Group/Special Event doors closest to the intersection of Constitution Avenue and 7th Street. Easily identifiable National Archives staff will be on hand to direct participants and answer questions.

With the release of the Encoded Archival Context - Corporate Bodies, Persons, and Families (EAC-CPF) schema in March of 2010, questions regarding implementation are looming large within the American archival community. The National Archives and Records Administration is hosting a preconference that will bring together stakeholders to discuss the important role that authority control plays in archival description and strategies for implementing EAC-CPF in order to continue the ongoing transformation and enhancement of archival description.

The preconference will consider U.S., European, and Australian EAC-CPF initiatives and projects, and also explore the potential for collaboration with the Virtual International Authority File and the library and museum communities. Primary objectives for the day will be to answer two key questions: Why should my archive or library implement EAC-CPF? What are practical strategies for implementing EAC-CPF? A panel discussion and break-out sessions will constitute the schedule for the day. Question about the developing schedule and program content can be addressed to Kathy Wisser at the email below.

There is no charge, and we encourage all interested information professionals and students to attend. Though there are no charges or formal registration, preconference organizers would like to have a running count of attendees. If you plan to attend EAC-CPF: Moving Forward with Authority, please email Kathy Wisser katherine.wisser@simmons.edu.

Featured speakers and panelists on the program include Daniel Pitti, University of Virginia; Anila Angjeli, Bibliothèque nationale de France; Angelika Menne-Harwitz, Bundesarchiv; Ana Cristan, Library of Congress; Patricia Harpring, The Getty.Special discussion sessions will cover: levels of implementation (global, national, regional, local), consortium building, sustainability, and learning from European and Australian models.

Announcement

The EAC-CPF Working Group (EACWG) is pleased to announce the public release of the EAC-CPF 2010 version of the schema and tag library for Encoded Archival Context-Corporate Bodies, Persons, and Families. The new standard provides an XML vocabulary to enable encoding and communicating archival authority records created according to the rules promulgated in ISAAR-CPF, and it is intended to facilitate content-rich authority records that can interoperate in a global environment.

EAC-CPF 2010 results from work over the past 30 months by a 15-member working group representing 9 countries. Their work has been supported by the Society of American Archivists, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Archivio di Stato di Bologna, the Istituto per i Beni Artistici, Culturali e Naturali della Regione Emilia-Romagna, and by generous funding from the Delmas Foundation. The Working Group benefitted from extensive input from the international archival community throughout the review process of the draft schema in late 2009.

The stable schema is available for immediate download in 3 versions: WC3 schema language, Relax NG Schema, and Relax NG Schema Compact. It is accompanied by an extensive Tag Library complete with encoding examples, which is also available for immediate download. It is expected that the online tag library will continue to evolve over time to meet the needs of the encoding community.

The three schema versions, the Tag Library, and other information resources, are available on the official EAC-CPF website: eac.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de. The standard development is jointly supported by the Society of American Archivists and the Berlin State Library. The standard will be submitted for endorsement by the Society of American Archivists Standards Committee in 2010.

Please contact Kathy Wisser (wisser@simmons.edu), Chair of the EACWG, if you have questions.