Special Collections has participated in two collaborative grant projects. The finding aids encoded as part of the Georgia Archives and Manuscripts autoMated Access (GAMMA) Project are delivered in SGML. The encoded finding aids are linked to the bibliographic descriptions of the collections, created during an earlier phase of the project, in the RLIN (Research Libraries Information Network) national database. A list of the GAMMA EAD finding aids is also available through the GAMMA website. The GAMMA records have been made available through a file server at Emory on a temporary basis. Plans are underway for GALILEO (Georgia Library Learning Online) to host these and future finding aids encoded using the EAD DTD. Finding aids encoded for the Selected Archives of Georgia Tech and Emory (SAGE) Project are delivered in HTML. Emory's SAGE site uses the Isite search engine to search the SGML version of the finding aids and then deliver the HTML version. Hyperlinks in the HTML files allow the user to link from a folder title to the digital surrogates of the items in the folder.
In 1997, GAMMA rekeyed approximately thirty-five paper finding aids from 17 different repositories (including Emory) and encoded them in the beta version of EAD using Author/Editor.
The SAGE Project (1997-2000) will develop a model digital archive. As a part of the project, we will rekey one finding aid and will encode two others from scratch. Initially, we used Author/Editor, but we have decided to switch to XMetaL. We create an HTML file from the SGML file by hand. Hyperlinks are added to the HTML file that allow the user to link to contents of the file, if they have been digitized. (This process hasn't been automated yet either.) The finding aids currently available through the site are in EAD beta, but we hope to convert them to EAD version 1 during the coming year.
Special Collections also participated in RLG-Apex Finding Aids Conversion Service , but has not yet made those files available.