ISAD(G), EAD, deep hierarchies, EAC-CPF creators, statutory access management. An open base that equips private family archives as well as labour fonds or diocesan repositories.
Four moments
The archival lifecycle — from the entry of the fonds to public consultation. CollectiveAccess carries the four stages in the same base, with no rupture.
The fonds joins the institution
Deposits, donations, transfers, purchases: the fonds enters the institution. Documentation of the context of production, the producer, the conditions of arrival. The first record opens the traceability chain all the way to consultation.
ISAD(G), EAD, hierarchies
Hierarchical arrangement compliant with the ISAD(G) standard, descriptions exportable as EAD (Encoded Archival Description), links to creators via EAC-CPF. CollectiveAccess handles deep trees with no ceiling.
From the stack to the reading room
Shelf marks, physical location in storage, condition, access restrictions, regulatory timelines. Reading room visits and researcher requests tracked inside the base.
From fonds to public site
The Pawtucket interface turns internal descriptions into a public consultation site: guided search, online finding aids, publication of digitised documents, virtual exhibitions. No double entry.
Six building blocks CollectiveAccess brings to archives, already in production at our clients.
Fonds → sub-fonds → series → sub-series → file → item. Unlimited depth, field inheritance between levels, tree navigation at every depth.
Seven description areas, twenty-six elements. Pre-configured fields, respected order. EAD 2002 and EAD 3 exports for interoperability with national archival portals.
Authority records for persons, corporate bodies and families, separate from fonds descriptions. Links between creators and fonds, functions and activities, historical contexts. Native EAC-CPF export.
Hierarchical shelf marks that can be auto-calculated, storage locations (aisle, shelf, box), location change history, printable labels with QR codes.
Management of consultation restrictions, statutory timelines (most jurisdictions impose delays of 25, 50 or 75 years), restriction reasons (privacy, classified, medical confidentiality). Consultable / restricted status visible in the reading room.
High-definition image storage, IIIF manifests, embedded Mirador viewer, image annotations, version handling (consultation / print / high-resolution).
The recognised professional framework — ISAD(G), EAD, EAC-CPF, statutory access rules. CollectiveAccess implements these standards natively.
International Council on Archives standard, seven areas, twenty-six elements. Reference for hierarchical fonds description. CollectiveAccess implements it natively.
XML format for exchanging finding aids between institutions. EAD 2002 and EAD 3 supported. Compatible with national archival portals.
Encoded Archival Context for Corporate bodies, Persons, and Families. Standardised authority records. Links between creators and fonds documented.
Each jurisdiction imposes its own consultation delays and restriction categories. CollectiveAccess's configurable rules engine handles the French Code du patrimoine, US FOIA delays, UK Public Records Act, etc.
What comes up in the first conversations with archives services and centres.
CollectiveAccess suits private, thematic (labour, religious, women's history, sports…) and medium-sized institutional archives. For large regional or municipal services normed ISAD(G) with tens of linear kilometres, ICA-AtoM (also open source) remains the most mature dedicated tool. We support both, depending on the profile of the project.
Yes. The seven areas and twenty-six elements of ISAD(G) are pre-configured in CollectiveAccess with the expected order and semantics. Arrangement hierarchies (fonds, series, sub-series, file, item) are native, with no maximum depth. EAD 2002 and EAD 3 exports available.
Yes. CollectiveAccess accepts EAD 2002 and EAD 3 imports, rebuilds the full hierarchy, maps ISAD(G) elements onto the target fields. For non-standard inventories (Word, Excel, legacy databases), a manual mapping is defined during the upfront audit.
ICA-AtoM is 100% dedicated to archives, released by the International Council on Archives. It's the most natural tool for normed services with substantial documentary mass. CollectiveAccess is more versatile (mixed collections — archives + objects + iconography) and more extensible (custom fields without code), but less « 100% archives ». The choice depends on the fonds: if it is exclusively standardised textual archive, AtoM; if it is mixed or with strong public-facing valorisation, CollectiveAccess.
Yes. High-definition image storage, IIIF manifests, embedded Mirador viewer, optional OCR via Tesseract. Public-facing delivery goes through the Pawtucket interface (included) or a custom theme if the institution has a specific design.
It varies widely depending on volume, level of initial standardisation and scope of support. For a fonds with a few thousand descriptions to migrate, the initial investment typically falls between €12,000 and €35,000 net. No per-user licence in subsequent years. Ask us for a costed scope for your case.
Your CollectiveAccess installation keeps running — that is precisely the point of open source. The code is public on GitHub. Your ISAD(G) descriptions stay in a standard MySQL format. Your EAD exports stay in standardised XML. Another integrator can take over maintenance without disruption.
Get in touch with idéesculture
Migration of your current inventory, CollectiveAccess configuration for your fonds, ISAD(G) mapping, team training, sovereign hosting, online publication. Free initial discussion, written scoping note you keep.
Prise en main, autonomie, montée en compétence
Reprise de données, conversion, accompagnement
Serveurs dédiés, infogérance, sauvegardes
Inventaire, récolement, export Joconde
Plugins, intégrations, sur-mesure