Brian L. Pytlik Zillig

TEI Analytics: converting documents into a TEI format for cross-collection text analysis

For the purposes of large-scale analysis of XML/SGML files, converting humanities texts into a common form of markup represents a technical challenge. The MONK (Metadata Offer New Knowledge) Project has developed both a common format, TEI Analytics (a TEI subset designed to facilitate interoperability of text archives) and a command-line tool, Abbot, that performs the conversion. Abbot relies upon a new technique, schema harvesting, developed by the author to convert text documents into TEI-A. This article has two aims: first, to describe the TEI-A format itself and, second, to outline the methods used to convert files. More generally, it is hoped that the techniques described will lead to greater interoperability of text documents for text analysis in a wider context.

Enhanced Resource Sharing Through Group Interlibrary Loan Best Practices: A Conceptual, Structural, and Procedural Approach

Members of the Greater Western Library Alliance Interlibrary Loan Committee have spent more than two years developing a Best Practices model for Interlibrary Borrowing and Lending for consortia and local operations. The model includes the practices to be followed, a monitoring plan, and a process for regular evaluation. The GWLA Interlibrary Loan Committee has not yet determined the regular evaluation process, including the timeline. We anticipate that process being established in Spring 2003.

Ordering Chaos: An Integrated Guide and Online Archive of Walt Whitman's Poetry Manuscripts

In order to organize the widely dispersed manuscripts of Walt Whitman, The Walt Whitman Archive, in partnership with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, has utilized the power of Encoded Archival Description (EAD) to create a single, scholarly enhanced guide to Whitmans poetry manuscripts. This integrated finding guide to Whitmans poetry manuscripts includes item-level description, links to repository guides that provide both location information and collection context, links to digital images of the manuscripts, and links to Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) transcriptions. In creating such a guide, we had to work cooperatively across disciplines and institutions, expand the use of EAD, and address how best to integrate description and transcription (EAD and TEI files). This essay describes our procedure as we created the integrated guide. From collecting finding aids and creating partnerships with other institutions, to developing a proper encoding standard and establishing good cross-department working relations, our project has embodied many of the benefits and challenges of digital work in the humanities. By identifying our procedures, and by laying out our future hurdles, we hope we can advance knowledge about Whitman and about how scholars and archivists can collaborate effectively to advance research, improve access, and realize the potential of EAD.

American Indian Civil War treaties

Abstract The creation of nine treaties between the Confederate States of America (CSA) and the tribes residing in Indian Territory in 1861 formed a significant historical perspective to the understanding of the relationships between governments and indigenous peoples of the United States. This research note describes a Web page – “So Long as Grass Shall Grow and Water Run: The Treaties Formed By the Confederate States of America and the Tribes in Indian Territory, 1861” – that provides access to paired CSA Statutes at Large page images and their text for each of these instruments.

The last few American Indian treaties—An extension of the Charles J. Kappler Indian Affairs

Abstract In a previous discussion [Bernholz, C.D., & Holcombe, S.L. (2005). The Charles J. Kappler Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties Internet Site at the Oklahoma State University [The url for this resource is http://www.digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/]. Library Collections, Acquisitions, and Technical Services; 29, 82–89. An electronic collation of documents created by American Indian tribes and the federal government was presented as an effective collection development resource. That digital work provides the final text of 366 of the 375 American Indian treaties recognized by the United States Department of State. This research note describes an electronic suite that supplies access to the texts of the remaining nine treaties, so that its use – in combination with the Oklahoma State University materials – will furnish an avenue to all of these historical instruments. Research examples, for this document set and in comparison to the Kappler collation, are provided.