The British Move Toward Standards Of Archival Description: The MAD Standard

Abstract

British progress in developing standards of archival description has been embodied since 1984 in an Archival Description Project, based at the University of Liverpool. In contrast to the United States and Canada, where work on archival descriptive standards has focused on bibliographic exchange, the British archivists have concentrated on developing standards for the system of finding aids within a repository. The author discusses the recently-published Manual of Archival Description, 2nd ed. (MAD2), including its levels, table of data elements, modes, and model finding aids. He also discusses the development of a draft UK MARC format for Archival and Manuscripts Control (AMC) and the potential for MARC-based data exchange projects in Britain.