Looking beyond the archive: Utilizing encoded archival context in a broader societal context

Abstract

The eScholarship Research Centre (ESRC) has produced EAC-CPF XML outputs from web resources for many years. Using the Find & Connect web resource project as a case study, this article explores the uses that the ESRC has developed for EAC-CPF data, including online presentation of descriptive contextual information, as the basis of online search services, as a system-independent and preservable copy of research datasets, and as a harvestable data source for interoperability with other datasets. Also covered are expanded uses of the EAC-CPF schema for describing a wider range of contextual entities beyond corporate bodies, persons and families.