range and content
development and data input survey

lay-out
presentation of the five main data sets

standard norms
international standards applied by ODIS

authority lists
survey of the data validation lists

keywords
outline of keyword systems

privacy issues
conformity to privacy legislation
 
 

Standard norms

ODIS attempts where possible to conform to international standards. The following standards were implemented in the database:

ISAD(G)

The ISAD(G) or General International Standard Archival Description is a standard for ordering and describing archival information. The hope is that international descriptive practices will be harmonised through the application of these rules. ISAD builds on older (national) standards, such as the British Manual for Archive Description (MAD) and the Canadian Rules for Archival Description (RAD).

From the beginning the development of the ISAD(G) was sponsored by the International Council on Archives which set up a special working group, the ICA Ad Hoc Commission on Descriptive Standards (ICA/DDS). The standard was accepted in 1994 and was quickly adopted around the world. It was revised in 1999.

ISAD(G) defines the concept of the hierarchical structure and stipulates in the descriptions which data can be entered at which level. As such, it is a structural standard, a blueprint that summarises the elements in a description. It creates a framework that can be used internationally and therefore makes possible the exchange of information on archival records.

ISAD(G) defines the following elements:

  • The concept of multi-level description. In principle the ISAD(G) regulations for inventory description apply to the different levels where registers of records are possible.
  • Four basic rules for a uniform method of description:
    • proceed from the general to the particular;
    • the level described;
    • link each description with the appropriate hierarchical description preceding;
    • information may not be repeated at the lower levels.
  • 26 fields in 7 areas.

The ODIS Record Archives conform to the ISAD.

ISAAR(CPF)

Parallel with the above-mentioned ISAD(G), the International Council on Archives (ICA) has also developed a standard for descriptions of and contextual information on those who set up archives (organisations, institutions, persons and families.)

The International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families [ISAAR(CPF)] is a format for authority files, that is organized collections of authority records. These in turn are standardised descriptions of the entities in an access point (known as an authority entry) and offer further points of information that describe the entity and can point to other authority entries.

ISAAR(CPF) was designed by the ICA Ad Hoc Commission on Descriptive Standards, founded in Stockholm in January 1993. The first version was published in 1996, the second in 2004.

ISAAR(CPF) consists of four fields:

  • Identity Area (where information is conveyed which uniquely identifies the entity being described and which defines standardized access points for the record)
  • Description Area (where relevant information is conveyed about the nature, context and activities of the entity being described)
  • Relationships Area (where relationships with other corporate bodies, persons and/or families are recorded and described)
  • Control Area (where the authority record is uniquely identified and information is recorded on how, when and by which agency the authority record was created and maintained)

Each field in its turn consists of a number of descriptive elements, 27 all together. A description takes four compulsory elements: type of entity (i.e. organization, person or family); authorized form(s) of the name of the entity ; dates of existence of the entity ; and the authority record identifier. The other elements are optional.

The principles and structure of ISAAR(CPF) were integrated in the ODIS database. The contents of the main Persons Record and Organisations Record are consultable in an ISAAR compatible format.

ISO 3166

ISO 3166 Codes for the representation of names of countries gives a list of 239 names of countries (official and abbreviated names) in alphabetical order (ISO 3166-1) and a code made up of two letters (ISO 3166-1-Alpha-2).

This standard is used in the geographical thesaurus of ODIS.

ISO-639-2

ISO 639-2 Codes for the representation of the names of languages was launched in 1998, following a nine-year period of development. ISO-639-2 was developed from the MARC Code List of Languages. It offers a three-letter code for 464 languages. The US Library of Congress is entrusted with its maintenance.

This standard is used in the ODIS authority list Languages.

ISCED 1997

ISCED 1997 International Standard Classification of Education was developed by UNESCO in order to provide a universal classification of education terms, with the purpose of making international comparisons possible. The first version was developed in the 1970s and the last revision dates from November 1997.

ISCED-1997 offers a structure for collecting and presenting education data.

ODIS uses the basic structure of ISCED in the ODIS authority list Educational Levels.

HISCO

HISCO - Historical International Standard Classification of Occupations was developed by an international group of historians, the Historical International Social Mobility Group (HISMA). This standard is based on the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO-68), which was developed by the International Labour Organisation. The hope is that this will foster international comparative research of data on occupations and social mobility. The standard was published as a book in 2002: HISCO. Historical International Standard Classification of Occupations, by Marco H.D. van Leeuwen, Ineke Maas and Andrew Miles (Leuven: University Press Leuven, 2002, 441 p.).

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