XMetal instead of MS Word for EAD creation.
Plusses: Seems more straightforward in theory.
Minuses: In practice, archivists rearrange collections as they
describe them; XML tools always want to validate. Also,
we detected that XMetal left behind some "cruft."
Conclusion: Flexibility is a decided plus.
EAD interface + XSL-FO => PDF for printed output.
Plusses: Sexy; cool. ("Ooh; aah.")
Minuses: Students assist with the work now. Do we really want
to make them find other work, especially when there's no
demand from Special Collections to do this, and no technical
support time to learn, deploy, train others and maintain a
new system?
Conclusion: It's cheaper to do it the way we're doing it.
Maintain EADs using WebDAV and XML Spy in Tamino.
Plusses: "Just like an ILS!" Minuses: Staff cost to learn; to train; to maintain. How well will it work? Conclusion: Thanks, but not at this time.