Upcoming webinar (March 9 and 10): Archival description -- preparing for a new version of EAD

As part of the major revision of the Encoded Archival Description (EAD), the Society of American Archivists' (SAA) Technical Subcommittee on Encoded Archival Standards (TS-EAS), in collaboration with the Encoded Archival Standards (EAS) Section Steering Committee, will be hosting a webinar in March to introduce the main aspects of the revision and the process to getting to a new version. We invite everyone who works with archival description in whichever format and context to join us and to be part of the conversations to shape the new version of EAD. 


As TS-EAS aims to more actively engage with the community in general and with various sections of the community in particular throughout the entire revision process, this webinar will be the first in a series of interactive events inviting the community to an open exchange about the standard, its current use and its future development. With this in mind, we would like to especially encourage the participation of:


  • Students and Young Professionals, who bring a fresh pair of eyes to the topic of archival description in general and possibly, but not necessarily, have had first encounters with EAD either as part of their education or as part of their work;

  • Educators in Archival Science and related subjects, whether that’s teaching courses in Higher Education or providing seminars etc. in other contexts with regard to introducing colleagues to the Encoded Archival Standards and other metadata formats;

  • Consultants and other freelancers working with archival institutions of all sizes and types on projects relating to archival description and/or using EAD in manual editing or as an exchange format.


Similar to previous TS-EAS webinars, there will be two sessions of 1.5 hours each to accommodate our  international user community. Both sessions will have the same content and set-up, but likely a different group of participants (depending on their time zones), which should make for a broader coverage and a bigger variety of perspectives being brought into the conversation.


Join us and your colleagues at one—or both—of the following events:


  • Session 1: Wednesday, 9 March, 11pm UTC (3pm Los Angeles, 5pm Chicago, 6pm New York, 8pm Rio de Janeiro; next day: 7am Beijing, 8am Tokyo, 10am Melbourne, 12pm Auckland)

  • Session 2: Thursday, 10 March, 9am UTC (9am London, 10am Berlin, 11am Athens 12pm Ankara, 2.30pm New Delhi, 5pm Beijing, 6pm Tokyo, 8pm Melbourne)

To register for this webinar, please use the following link: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUsf-6oqTwuGtJWuhBYUJkogIl6UNBPQdJl


The general part of both sessions will also be recorded and posted to SAA's YouTube channel.

You can also find the Encoded Archival Standards Primer on YouTube, in case you have never used EAD, need a refresher or are otherwise wondering what this is about.