Enriching the information of <reference> (formerly <bibref> / <archref>)

[BrigitteMichel]

Creator of issue

1. Brigitte Michel ([email protected])
2. Abes (Agence bibliographique de l'enseignement supérieur = Bibliographic Agency of Higher Education)
3. for WG EAD in french libraries ([email protected])

The issue relates to

• EAC-CPF schema issue
• EAC-CPF Tag Library issue
• EAD schema issue
• EAD Tag Library issue
• Schema issue
• Tag Library issue
• Suggestions for all schemas
• Suggestions for all Tag Libraries
• Other

Wanted change/feature

• Text: EAD 4.0 should allow specifying 4 different characteristics when 'citing an external resource':
  1) The nature of the document:
  In EAD 2002 or EAD3, it is possible to distinguish the archival nature (<archref>) from the published nature (<bibref>). EAD 4.0 should possibly allow the use of a richer vocabulary. See Review the availability of @localType, especially with regard to a consistent approach to elements of the same kind (e.g. all -Type and -Role elements) #140 regarding @localType.
  2) The nature of the referenced entity:
  This could be an entity defined by the IFLA-LRM model for former <bibref> (Work/Expression/Manifestation/Item) source, or RiC (Record/Record set/Record part/Instantiation). See Add a new attribute to <referringString> to specify the type of relation between the records described and the entity referred to in <referringString> #111, comment
  3) A possible international identifier specific to the cited resource, such as ISBN, ISSN, or thesis number:
  This could be an attribute like @targetId. It cannot be @valueURI because these identifiers do not currently have URIs, and most often the possible URL corresponds to a record in a specific catalog, which is a different concept (see point 4).
  4) An identifier or a link to a possible descriptive record in a specific catalog:
  This would then be the identifier of the description in a specific database (not the identifier of the documentary resource itself). @href fully serves this role.

Points 1) and 4) are currently possible in EAD 2002, while points 2) and 3) are significant gaps identified by Abes in EAD 2002.

Example to come

[kerstarno]

As a note:
<reference> is not meant to be used to refer to an entity, but simply to provide a reference to a resource outside of the EAS instance, which can be either a digital or an analogue resource. All four elements that allowed for <bibref> and <archref> in EAD3 (and in EAD 2002, leaving the use of <archref> and <bibref> as mixed content in EAD 2002 aside), i.e. <otherFindAid>, <publicationNote>, <relatedMaterial>, and <separatedMaterial> allow for <relations> in EAD 4.0.
If a resource that is referred to from an EAD instance is considered an entity and meant to be described as such, <relation> should be used instead of <reference>.

[kerstarno]

This will be discussed by TS-EAS during their meeting on 12/13 August 2024.