Wednesday, 14 November 2012
Online Handbook: Standards for Archival Description:
A Handbook describes technical standards, conventions, and guidelines used by archivists in describing holdings and repositories. They are applied in a variety of systems and products, including automated information systems, manual and automated catalogs, in-house finding aids, book and serial publications, and filing and storage systems. Detailed entries are provided for 86 standards, while another 157 are identified in summary lists. Introductions to each chapter discuss the historical development and interrelationships among standards used for particular applications. Detailed entries identify the developer(s) of the standard, describe how and why it is applied in archival practice, supply information on how to obtain copies of the standard, and provide sources for additional information or guidance on its use. When further information or the standards themselves are available online, a link is provided. Appendix A contains a list of standards developers, their addresses, links to their World Wide Web Sites when available, and the titles of the standards relevant to archival practice. Appendix B provides several tables to clarify the relationships among standards both within the U.S. and internationally.
