Taming the "Beast": An archival management system based on EAD

In April 2005, the University of Maryland Libraries launched ArchivesUM (http://www.lib.umd.edu/archivesum), an online database of finding aids for manuscript and archival collections using Encoded Archival Description (EAD). ArchivesUM, however, is only the publicly available end-product of a much larger project-an integrated system that ties together the basic archival functions of accessioning, inventory control, and description with a public interface for searching and browsing collection descriptions. In this article, the authors explore the challenges and solutions encountered while developing the system, addressing the theoretical, practical, and programming decisions that contributed to the design of this archival management system.