Introduction
EAD Best Practices at the Library of Congress documents the practices and policies followed by the Library of Congress when creating its EAD finding aids. These guidelines draw on archival standards and procedures established by the Library and other archival institutions. Additions and changes are maintained by the Library's EAD Technical Team.
These best practices supplement the EAD 2002 Schema, the EAD DTD Version 2002, and the EAD Tag Library, published by the Society of American Archivists (SAA) and the Library of Congress (LC). They conform with the RLG Best Practice Guidelines for Encoded Archival Description [PDF / 428K] and the EAD Application Guidelines (Version 1.0).
Table of Contents
EAD Best Practices at the Library of Congress contains the following sections:
| LC Practice Name | LC Practice No |
|---|---|
| Generic Text and Formatting Elements | 2.1 |
| Linking Elements | 2.2 |
| EAD Header | 3.1 |
| Title Page and Prefatory Matter | 3.2 |
| Collection-Level Information (Archival Description) | 3.3 |
| Basic Description (The High Level <did>) | 3.3.1 |
| Controlled Vocabulary Terms | 3.3.2 |
| Administrative Information | 3.3.3 |
| Biographical Sketches and Agency Histories | 3.3.4 |
| Scope and Content Note | 3.3.5 |
| Arrangement | 3.3.6 |
| Description of Subordinate Components | 3.3.7 |
| Adjunct Descriptive Data | 3.3.8 |
| Other Descriptive Data | 3.3.9 |
Download the Adobe Acrobat Reader
to view PDF documents.
Download EAD Best Practices at the Library of Congress (full document) [PDF / 941K]
Direct any questions or requests for information to the Library of Congress EAD Technical Team at lcead@loc.gov.