Unique Identifier <eadid>

Mandatory

A required element of the header designating a unique code for the description.

• Essential on the Hub in order to ensure that all records are uniquely identified

• This is the identifier for the EAD description; the identifier for the actual archive is a separate entity (contained in the <unitid>).

• There is only ever one <eadid> per description, so it usually represents a whole collection. You cannot add it to lower-level entries.

• The <eadid> has a country code, a mainagency code and an identifier attribute, and all of these 3 elements are used in the content of the tag.

• Commas, semi-colons, stops and hyphens may all be used

ISO countrycode (GB); ARCHON repository(agency) code; local reference code

The <eadid> must contain (i) the countrycode (ii) the repositorycode (iii) the local reference for the actual archive collection (see examples below)

The <eadid> is included in the header information at collection level only

• Do not make the <eadid> content too long - this creates a very long identifier for the record and it is less practical from a user point-of-view. If necessary, create a shorter reference for the purposes of online display.

• Consider using an umbrella reference for archives that have multiple different codes, otherwise the unique id and the reference code displayed on the Hub will be too long.

• GB 231 MS26,27 is preferable to GB 231 MS26; GB 231 MS27

• Forward and backward slashes are allowed in reference codes.

• The Template provides three boxes: (i) GB - already entered by default (ii) for the Archon code (iii) for the reference code.

• Once the record is saved, the eadid cannot be changed

• Single quotes are deleted because they cause huge problems for the database used to store the files during editing

• The template will automatically use the elements for both the <eadid> and <unitid> content and will also add country, repository and identifier attributes to the <unitid>

• It is important to ensure that you enter the countrycode (GB), Archon code, reference and identifier for the archive in the <eadid>

• We also recommend that you add these elements as attributes:
  <eadid countrycode="gb" mainagencycode="33" id="ahm">gb33ahm</eadid>