Archival MARC records and finding aids in the context of end-user subject access to archival collections

Abstract

This article discusses the findings of a study to determine the extent to which archival MARC records represent chronological, geographical, personal, and corporate information contained in corresponding finding aids to archival collections. A content analysis of twenty finding aids to archival collections and their corresponding archival MARC records was conducted. The data suggest that the level of representation in archival MARC records varies depending on subject category. Geographical terms were the most likely to be represented, followed by personal names, chronological terms, and lastly corporate names. Allowing for the searching of full-text electronic finding aids would enable end users to benefit not only from the subject information present at the collection level and in the abstract, but also from the areas in finding aids that tend to get less MARC representation: scope/content notes, historical/biographical information, series summaries, and container information.