Participation FAQ


Who maintains EmpireADC?
EmpireADC is a service of the Empire State Library Network (ESLN). Administration, training and support are provided locally through the nine regional councils that comprise ESLN. Project management and technical development are provided by Southeastern NY Library Resources Council.

How does contribution work?
The finding aids in EmpireADC are structured using the Encoded Archival Description standard (EAD). There are two ways to contribute:

  • Use EmpireADC’s web form to create finding aids and publish them to EmpireADC. No knowledge of EAD required! The system creates the EAD for you! ESLN staff provide training, documentation and support.
  • Use one of EmpireADC’s supported harvesting workflows to contribute locally created EAD finding aids.

My organization does not have EAD finding aids, but we have finding aids as PDFs, Excel files, Word documents, etc. Can they be contributed to EmpireADC?
Yes and no. We’ll ask you to use our web form to create a brief collection-level record to which you may attach your file (PDF or Excel .xls are preferred). This will allow some of the collection information to be searched, browsed and displayed in a manner consistent with the other finding aids in the system.

If we use EmpireADC’s web form, can we save copies of the EAD files locally?
Yes! You can download your EAD files to your computer. EmpireADC supports the downloading of EAD2002 and EAD3.

My organization can contribute EAD files created locally. How do we share them with you?

We currently support the following harvesting workflows:

  • Upload EAD XML files to a publicly accessible web directory.
  • Upload EAD XML files to GitHub.
  • If your organization uses ArchivesSpace 2.1 or greater and has the OAI-PMH module enabled, we can harvest your finding aids directly.

If we submit locally-created EAD finding aids, will you change them in any way?
The only thing we will add is a repository ID, if it’s missing from your EAD files. The system is dependent on unique IDs for each contributing organization (user accounts, statistics, etc.). Beyond that, in order to maintain the integrity of your data, ESLN staff will not edit the EAD files submitted by repositories. If there are problems with your EAD XML files that cause the system to reject them, we will report the errors so you can address the issues locally.

Is there a cost to participate in EmpireADC?
Yes. There is a tiered fee structure, which includes a one-time setup fee and an annual fee. The tiered structure allows for participation from very small to very large organizations. ESLN is the primary sponsor of the service, but we collect fees to help us provide, sustain, and improve the service. Your repository needs to pay the annual fees, otherwise we will remove your finding aids.

Who do we contact for questions and support?
Each of the nine ESLN councils has an EmpireADC support person. Contact your local EmpireADC representative if you have questions or need assistance.

My organization is ready to participate! What is our first step?
Review the participation fees. Then fill out the application form to let us know you are interested. Your regional representative will reach out and make a plan to get you up and running.