RS-3

International Standard For Describing Institutions with Archival Holdings

ISDIAH: International Standard For Describing Institutions with Archival Holdings

Main Page > Requirement sources > ISDIAH

Download the official standard from the ICA website

1. Introduction

2. Related standards and guidelines

3. Glossary of terms and definitions

4. Structure and use of the standard

5. Elements of description

• 5.1 Identity area
• 5.2 Contact area
• 5.3 Description area
• 5.4 Access area
• 5.5 Services area
• 5.6 Control area

6. Relating archival institutions descriptions to archival materials and their creators

1 Introduction

1.1

This standard provides general rules for the standardisation of descriptions of institutions with archival holdings, thus enabling:

• the provision of practical guidance on identifying and contacting institutions with archival holdings, and accessing holdings and available services

• the generation of directories of institutions with archival holdings and/or authority lists

• the establishment of connections with authority lists of libraries and museums and/or developing common directories of cultural heritage institutions at a regional, national and international level; and the production of statistics on institutions with archival holdings, at a regional, national or international level.

1.2

These descriptions may be used:

• a. to describe institutions as units within an archival descriptive system;
• b. to serve as a standardised access point for institutions with archival holdings, within a directory, archival information system or network; and/or
• c. to document relationships between institutions and between those entities and the archives they hold

1.3

The main purpose of the standard is to facilitate the description of institutions whose primary function is to keep archives and to make them available to the general public. But other entities such as cultural institutions (libraries, museums), businesses, families or individuals may hold archives. This standard or an appropriate subset of its elements can be applied to all entities which provide access to the records they hold.

1.4

In addition, this standard makes provision for linking from information about institutions to descriptions of the records they hold and their creators. These descriptions should comply with ISAD(G) and ISAAR(CPF). Links to archival materials may be established according to arrangement or classification schemes applied by the institutions with archival holdings, enabling them to maintain intellectual control over their fonds.

1.5

As corporate bodies, persons or families, the holders of archival materials may be described in ISAAR(CPF) compliant authority records including the appropriate elements of description as indicated in ISDIAH. Otherwise, the description of holders may be included in separate authority files. In this case, links between the relevant authority records should be made.

4. Structure and use of the standard

4.1

This standard determines the type of information that could be included in descriptions of institutions with archival holdings and provides guidance on how such descriptions may be deployed in an archival information system. The content of the information elements included in the descriptions will be determined by the conventions and/or rules that the agency follows. It is recommended that each country should establish and maintain a unique identifier for each archival institution. This should be consistent with the ISIL standard developed by IFLA and any other systems for codifying cultural institutions developed at an international level.

4.2

This standard consists of information elements, each of which contains:

• a. the name of the element of description;
• b. a statement of purpose for the element of description;
• c. a statement of the rule (or rules) applicable to the element; and
• d. where applicable, examples illustrating implementation of the rule.

4.3

Paragraphs are numbered and are given for citation purposes only. These numbers should not be used to designate elements of description or to prescribe the order or structure of descriptive resources.

4.4

The elements of description for institutions with archival holdings are organised into six information areas:

• 1. Identity Area

(where information is conveyed which uniquely identifies the archival institution being described and which defines standardized access points)

• 2. Contact Area

(where information is provided on how to contact the archival institution being described)

• 3. Description Area

(where relevant information is conveyed about the history of the archival institution being described, current structure and policy)

• 4. Access Area

(where information is given about the access to the archival institution being described: public opening hours, free or restricted access, etc.)

• 5. Services Area

(where relevant information is conveyed about the technical services offered by the archival institution being described)

• 6. Control Area

(where the description of the archival institution is uniquely identified and information is recorded on how, when and by which agency the description was created and maintained)

4.5

This standard also makes previsions in Chapters 6 for linking information about archival institutions to multi-level descriptions compliant with ISAD(G) and descriptions of corporate bodies, families and persons as creators of archival material compliant with ISAAR(CPF). Note that a given description may be linked to as many descriptions of archives and/or authority records as required.

4.16

The appendix provides full examples of descriptions of archival institutions compiled in accordance with this standard. See also 4.11.

4.7

All the elements covered by these rules are available for use, but the following elements are mandatory:

• Identifier (element 5.1.1);
• Authorized form(s) of name (element 5.1.2);
• Address(es) (element 5.2.1).

4.8

The nature of the archival institution being described and the requirements of the particular system or network within which the preparer of a description works will determine which of the optional elements of description are used in a given description of an archival institution, and whether these elements are presented in a narrative and/or a structured format.

4.9

When the standard is applied to describe entities other than archival institutions which have the custody of archives, use the appropriate subset of elements. For example, privacy requirements must be considered when the custodian is an individual or a family.

4.10

Many of the descriptive elements in a description of an archival institution established in accordance with the present standard will be used as access points. Rules and conventions for standardising access points may be developed nationally or separately for each language. Vocabularies and conventions to be used in creating or selecting the data content for these elements may also be developed nationally or separately for each language.

4.11

Examples provided throughout the standard are illustrative and not prescriptive. They illuminate the provisions of the rules to which they are attached, rather than extend those provisions. Do not take the examples, or the form in which they are presented as instructions. To clarify the context, each example is followed by an indication in italic of the name of the agency that supplied the example. Further explanatory notes may follow, also in italic, preceded by the word Note.

4.12

This standard is intended to be used in conjunction with ISAD(G) - General International Standard Archival Description, 2nd edition, ISAAR(CPF) – International Standard Archival Authority Records for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families, 2nd edition, ISAAR(CPF), and with national archival descriptive standards. When these standards are used together within the context of an archival descriptive system or network, descriptions of archival institutions will be linked to descriptions of archives and to authority records, and vice versa. See Chapter 6 for guidance on how these links may be created.

4.13

This standard addresses only part of the conditions needed to support the exchange of information about archival institutions. Successful automated exchange of information about archival institutions over computer networks is dependent upon the adoption of a suitable communication format by the repositories involved in the exchange. This standard is intended to be used as the basis for a development of communication and/or data exchange formats, such as XML DTDs and/or schemas.

5. Elements of description

5.1 Identity area

5.1.1 Identifier

Purpose:

To provide a unique code identifying the archival institution.

Rule:

Record a code identifying the archival institution in accordance with the relevant international and national standards.

5.1.2 Authorised form(s) of name

Purpose:

To create an authorised access point that uniquely identifies the archival institution.

Rule:

Record the standardised name of the archival institution, adding appropriate qualifiers (for instance dates, place, etc.), if necessary. Specify separately in the Rules and/or conventions element (5.6.3) which set of rules has been applied for this element.

5.1.3 Parallel form(s) of name

Purpose:

To indicate the various forms in which the authorised form of name of an archival institution occurs in other languages or script form(s).

Rule:

Record the parallel form(s) of name of the archival institution in accordance with any relevant national or international conventions or rules applied by the agency that created the description, including any necessary sub elements and/or qualifiers required by those conventions or rules. Specify in the Rules and/or conventions element (5.6.3) which rules have been applied.

5.1.4 Other form(s) of name

Purpose:

To indicate any other name(s) for the archival institution not used elsewhere in the Identity Area.

Rule:

Record any other name(s) for the archival institution, such as acronyms, changes of name over time and their dates.

5.1.5 Type

Purpose:

To specify the type of the archival institution.

Rule:

Define the category the archival institution belongs to. Different criteria can be used for distinguishing the various categories of archival institutions, for example:

• ownership (public/private, ecclesiastical, university, etc.),
• lifecycle (definitive/intermediary, etc.),
• administrative areas (state/provincial/municipal, etc.).

5.2 Contact area

5.2.1 Location and address(es)

Purpose:

To provide all the addresses of the archival institution.

Rule:

Record the location(s) of the archival institution (street, number, postal code, city, state, etc.). Indicate any other addresses which can be used to contact the archival institution (for example correspondence, administrative, etc.).

Telephone, fax, email

ISIAH 5.2.2

Purpose:

To provide the additional contact details of the archival institution.

Rule:

Record the telephone, fax, general email which can be used to contact the archival institution.

Website

ISIAH 5.2.3

Purpose:

To provide the address of the website of the archival institution.

Rule:

Record the URL of the homepage of the archival institution.

Officers in charge

ISIAH 5.2.4

Purpose:

To provide users with all the information needed to contact the officers in charge.

Rule:

Record the name and the contact details of the officers in charge (first name, surname, area of responsibility, email, etc.). This information should be consistent with the Administrative structure element (5.3.3).

Description area

ISIAH 5.3

Geographical and cultural context

ISIAH 5.3.1

Purpose:

To provide information about the geographical and cultural context of the archival institution.

Rule:

Identify the geographical area (for example using an online map) the archival institution belongs to. Record any other relevant information about the linguistic, cultural and historical context.

History

ISIAH 5.3.2

Purpose:

To provide information about the history of the archival institution.

Rule:

Record any relevant information about the history of the archival institution. This element may include dates of establishment, information about the changes of names, the legislative mandates and any other sources of authority of the archival institution.

Administrative structure

ISIAH 5.3.3

Purpose:

To describe and/or represent the current administrative structure of the archival institution.

Rule:

Describe the current administrative structure of the archival institution and/or represent it using organisation charts.

Collecting policies

ISIAH 5.3.4

Purpose:

To provide information about the collecting policies of the archival institution.

Rule:

Record information about the collecting policies of the archival institution. Define the scope and nature of material which the archival institution collects. Indicate whether the repository seeks to acquire archival materials by gift, purchase and/or loan, and record any exclusions. If the policy includes active survey and/or rescue work, this might be spelt out.

Building(s)

ISIAH 5.3.5

Purpose:

To provide information about the building(s) of the archival institution.

Rule:

Record information on the building(s) of the archival institution (general and architectural characteristics of the building, storage areas and their capacity, etc). Provide information which can be used for generating statistics.

Archival and other holdings

ISIAH 5.3.6

Purpose:

To provide an overview of the holdings of the archival institution.

Rule:

Record a short description of the holdings of the archival institution, describing how and when they were formed. See chapter 6 for guidance on how to establish links to archival databases and/or detailed descriptions of the holdings.

Finding aids and publications

ISIAH 5.3.7

Purpose:

To provide a general overview of the printed and/or unpublished finding aids prepared by the archival institution and any other relevant publications.

Rule:

Record the title and other pertinent details of the printed and/or unpublished finding aids prepared by the archival institution and of any other relevant publications. Use ISO 690 Information and documentation -- Bibliographic references and other national or international cataloguing rules.

Access area

ISIAH 5.4

Opening times

ISIAH 5.4.1

Purpose:

To provide information on opening times and dates of annual closures.

Rule:

Record the opening hours of the archival institution and annual, seasonal and public holidays, and any other planned closures.

Conditions and requirements

ISIAH 5.4.2

Purpose:

To provide information about the conditions, requirements and procedures for access to the archives services.

Rule:

Record information about appointments, readers tickets, letters of introduction, admission fees, etc. Make reference to the legislation relevant to access to the archival institution.

Disabled access

ISIAH 5.4.3

Purpose:

To provide access information for users with disabilities.

Rule:

Record any details about facilities for users with disabilities.

Transport

ISIAH 5.4.4

Purpose:

To provide information about how to reach the archival institution.

Rule:

Record information about directions to the archival institution and details on public transport and parking facilities, etc.

Services area

ISIAH 5.5

Research services

ISIAH 5.5.1

Purpose:

To describe the research services provided by the archival institution.

Rule:

Record information on onsite services provided by the archival institution such as search rooms, enquiry services, internal libraries, map, microfiches, audio-visual, computer rooms, etc. Record as well any relevant information about the offsite research services, such as research undertaken by the archival institution and the fee charge if applicable.

Reproduction services

ISIAH 5.5.2

Purpose:

To provide information about reproduction services.

Rule:

Record information about reproduction services available to the public (microfilms, photocopies, photographs, digitized copies). Specify general conditions and restrictions of the services.

Public facilities

ISIAH 5.5.3

Purpose:

To provide information about facilities available to the public.

Rule:

Record information about facilities available to the public (permanent or temporary exhibitions, free or charged internet connection, cash machines, cafeterias, restaurants, shops, etc.).

Control area

ISIAH 5.6

Description identifier

ISIAH 5.6.1

Purpose:

To identify the description of the archival institution uniquely within the context in which it will be used.

Rule:

Record a unique description identifier in accordance with local and/or national conventions. If the description is to be used internationally, record the code of the country in which the description was created in accordance with the latest version of ISO 3166 Codes for the representation of names of countries. Where the creator of the description is an international organisation, give the organisational identifier in place of the country code.

Institution identifier

ISIAH 5.6.2

Purpose:

To identify the agency(ies) responsible for the description.

Rule:

Record the full authorized form of name(s) of agency(ies) responsible for creating, modifying or disseminating the description or, alternatively, record a code for the agency in accordance with the national or international agency code standard. Include reference to any systems of identification used to identify the institutions (e.g. ISO 15511).

Rules and/or conventions used

ISIAH 5.6.3

Purpose:

To identify the national or international conventions or rules applied in creating the description.

Rule:

Record the names and where useful the editions or publication dates of the conventions or rules applied. Specify separately which rules have been applied for creating the Authorized form of name. Include reference to any system(s) of dating used to identify dates in this description (e.g. ISO 8601).

Status

ISIAH 5.6.4

Purpose:

To indicate the drafting status of the description so that users can understand the current status of the description.

Rule:

Record the current status of the description, indicating whether it is a draft, finalized and/or revised or deleted.

Level of detail

ISIAH 5.6.5

Purpose:

To indicate whether the description applies a minimal, partial or a full level of detail.

Rule:

Record whether the description consists of a minimal, partial or full level of detail in accordance with relevant international and/or national guidelines and/or rules. In the absence of national guidelines or rules, minimal descriptions are those that consist only on the three essential elements of an ISIAH compliant description (see 4.7), while full descriptions are those that convey information for all relevant ISIAH elements of description.

Dates of creation, revision or deletion

ISIAH 5.6.6

Purpose:

To indicate when this description was created, revised or deleted.

Rule:

Record the date the description was created and the dates of any revisions to the description. Specify in the Rules and/or conventions element (5.6.3) the system(s) of dating used, e.g. ISO 8601.

Language(s) and script(s)

ISIAH 5.6.7

Purpose:

To indicate the language(s) and/or script(s) used to describe the archival institution.

Rule:

Record the language(s) and/or script(s) of the description. Include the appropriate ISO codes for languages (ISO 639-2 Codes for the representation of names of languages) and/or scripts (ISO 15924 Codes for the representation of names of scripts).

Sources

ISIAH 5.6.8

Purpose:

To indicate the sources consulted in describing the archival institution.

Rule:

Record the sources consulted in establishing the description of the archival institution.

Maintenance notes

ISIAH 5.6.9

Purpose:

To document the creation of and changes to the description.

Rule:

Record notes pertinent to the creation and maintenance of the description. The names of persons responsible for creating the description may be recorded here.

Relating archival institutions descriptions to archival materials and their creators

ISIAH 6

Archival institutions descriptions are created primarily to provide details on the custody of the archival materials and to give the information required to access the documents. To make this documentation more useful it is necessary to link the descriptions of archival institutions to descriptions of the archival materials. When such linkages are made it is important to describe the nature of the relationship between the archival institution and the linked archival materials. Authority records of the creators of records held by these archival institutions can be linked as well and used as an additional access point.

Links between archival institutions and archival materials can be made according to the classification schemes and/or other arrangement criteria applied by the archival institution to give a meaningful order to the fonds held. Usually, the classification schemes or arrangement criteria aim to represent State structure, sequence of political regimes and/or typology of archival materials and/or of their creators (governmental, private, business, etc.).

This Section provides guidance on how such linkages can be created in the context of an archival descriptive system.

Title and identifier of related archival material

ISIAH 6.1

Purpose:

To identify the related archival material and/or enable the linking of the archival institution description to a description of the related archival material, where such descriptions exist.

Rule:

Provide the title and the identifier for the related archival material.

Description of relationship

ISIAH 6.2

Purpose:

To define the relationship between the archival institution and the fonds or collection according to a classification scheme and/or arrangement criterion.

Rule:

Qualify the relationship between the archival institution and the fonds or collection, applying the classification scheme and/or the arrangement criterion adopted by the archival institution. Describe the classification scheme and/or the arrangement criterion in the Rules and/or conventions element (5.6.3).

Dates of relationship

ISIAH 6.3

Purpose:

To provide the dates of the relationship between the archival institution and the related archival material.

Rule:

Record any relevant dates of the relationships between the archival institution and the related archival material.

Authorised form(s) of name and identifier of related authority record

ISIAH 6.4

Purpose:

To identify the related records creator and/or enable the linking of the archival institution description to a description of the related records creator, where such descriptions exist.

Rule:

Provide the authorised form(s) of name and the identifier of the authority record for the related records creator.