"NISTF II" and EAD: The Evolution of Archival Description

Encoded Archival Description (EAD) is part of the mainstream of archival standards development. The work of the National Information Systems Task Force in creating the MARC AMC format and the concomitant development of Archives, Personal Papers, and Manuscripts helped define the basic framework of shared archival description. The architects of EAD have built upon this architecture and provided archivists with technology-based tools capable of producing a fully integrated descriptive apparatus in an Internet environment that are nonetheless firmly rooted in archival principles and traditions.