Introduction
The Special Collection Research Center's Finding Aid website
is a collaboration between Special Collections Research Center archivists, the
Bentley Historical
Library and the Digital
Library Platforms and Services (DLPS) of the University Library, University
of Michigan.
The finding aids are encoded using the EAD (Encoded
Archival Description) document type definition and stored as XML (Extensible
Markup Language) documents, but are delivered to the user as HTML documents,
converted on-the-fly from the XML, and thus can be read by standard
web browsers such as Netscape or Internet Explorer. The underlying encoding
and the HTML display allow the finding aids to be searched and delivered
in structured parts, permitting the user to "unfold" and view as much
of the finding aid as needed. It also permits several views of the finding
aid; a "keyword in context" view, an outline view and a full text view,
designed to give the user options in viewing and navigating the finding
aids.
Library Catalog and the EAD Finding Aids Database
Many of the Special Collection Research Center's archives and manuscript collections
are listed in the University of Michigan on-line catalog. Catalog records provides a short description of the collection with a limited number of subject headings. The finding aid for a collection generally
provides a more detailed narrative description and a full listing of
series and folder headings. The catalog record includes a link to the
on-line finding aid for the collection if one exists. Clicking on a
link to a finding aid from within Catalog Search will open a new browser
window to display the finding aid. To return to the catalog search results
close the browser window displaying the finding aid.
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