Encoded Archival Description Tag Library, Version 2002

EAD Elements

<odd> Other Descriptive Data

Description:

An element for information about the described materials that is not easily incorporated into one of the other named elements within <archdesc> and <c>. When converting finding aids to an ideal EAD markup, some shifting of text or addition of data may be necessary to conform to the DTD's sequencing of elements and the consignment of certain elements to specific settings. The <odd> element helps to minimize conversion difficulties by designating, as "other," information that does not fit easily into one of EAD's more distinct categories.

Some situations in which <odd> may be used are when the information does not correspond to another element's definition; when the information is of such mixed content as to make a single classification difficult; and when shifting the information to permit more specific content designation would be too costly or burdensome for the finding aid encoder. The first situation may occur especially when additional narrative description is required beyond what is included in the <bioghist> and <scopecontent> elements, such as when the finding aid is describing a computer file. Applying the TYPE and ENCODINGANALOG attributes may help provide additional content specification in situations where the unspecified <odd> is used.

Despite its wide availability under <archdesc> and <c>, the <odd> element should be used with restraint and only after carefully considering the consequences that unspecified content designation poses for searching, retrieving, and displaying information in a networked environment.

The <odd> element is comparable to ISAD(G) data element 3.6.1 and MARC field 500.

May contain:

address, blockquote, chronlist, dao, daogrp, head, list, note, odd, p, table

May occur within:

archdesc, archdescgrp, c, c01, c02, c03, c04, c05, c06, c07, c08, c09, c10, c11, c12, descgrp, odd

Attributes:

Example:

Note: The Public Record Office of the United Kingdom uses a 7 level system of intellectual units devised specifically for that repository. In that system "division" is the equivalent of "subfonds" and "class" is the equivalent of "series."

    <c01 level="otherlevel" otherlevel="division">
        <did>
            <unittitle>Records of the Industrial Division</unittitle>
            <origination>
                <corpname>Department of Economic Affairs, Industrial Group; </corpname>
                <corpname>Department of Economic Affairs, Industrial Division; </corpname>
                <corpname>Department of Economic Affairs, Industrial Policy; Division </corpname>
                <corpname>Department of Economic Affairs, Industrial Prices and Incomes Department; </corpname>
            </origination>
            <unitdate>1949-1969</unitdate>
            <physdesc><extent>2 </extent><genreform>classes</genreform>
            </physdesc>
        </did>
        <scopecontent>[...]</scopecontent>
        <bioghist>[...]</bioghist>
        <controlaccess>[...]</controlaccess>
        <odd>
            <list type="simple">
                <item>Department of Economic Affairs: Industrial Policy Group: Registered
                Files (1-IG and 2-IG Series)
                <ref actuate="onrequest" target="ew26" show="new">EW 26</ref>
                </item>
                <item>Department of Economic Affairs: Industrial Division and Industrial
                Policy Division: Registered Files (IA Series)
                <ref actuate="onrequest" target="ew27" show="new">EW 27</ref>
                </item>
            </list>
        </odd>
    </c01>