EAD3 Study Group Initiative

The EAD3 Study Group initiative was launched in 2014 in order to catalyze community-based evaluation and testing of the EAD3 standard. In coordination with the EAS Section, groups of archivists and other practitioners formed a series of small study groups focused on particular aspects related to implementation. The work of these groups produced several sets of reports of recommendations.

EAD3 Study Group on Conversion and Migration. "Implementing EAD3: Conversion and Migration"
This document aims to provide an overview of strategies available to migrate from EAD2002 to EAD3 and to highlight the issues most likely to complicate or completely prevent migration. This report was authored primarily by Elizabeth Dunham (Arizona State University), Christy Tomecek (Yale University), and Dave Mayo (Harvard University).  Additional planning, research, and testing was performed by Sue Luftschein (University of Southern California), Michael J. Fox, and Christine DeCatanzaro (Georgia Institute of Technology).

EAD3 Study Group on Discovery. "Implementing EAD3: Search and Exploration"
This report summarizes the results of the Study Group's work to review the impact of newly introduced EAD3 elements on user discovery tasks. For each element, the group has provided a discussion of the desired functionality and possible discovery interface implementations, as well as a series of recommendations on encoding. An analysis of the costs and benefits of using these elements is also provided to assist community members in their decisionmaking. Prepared by Sarah Buchanan (University of Texas), Michele Combs (Syracuse University), J. Gordon Daines III (Brigham Young University), Cory Nimer (Brigham Young University) Elizabeth Russey Roke (Emory University).

A recorded webinar of the group's findings and recommendations is also available.

EAD3 Study Group on Systems and Infrastructure. "Implementing EAD3: plans from software developers and archival networks/consortia"
This report summarizes the readiness of solution providers in the transition to EAD3. This includes an overview of systems, software platforms, and infrastructure that support the creation and/or publication of archival descriptions formatted using the EAD standard.  Prepared by Nicole Blechynden (Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation), Mark Custer (Yale University), and Adrian Turner (California Digital Library)