diff --git a/archives-and-special-collections/index.md b/archives-and-special-collections/index.md
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@@ -23,3 +23,11 @@ In these respects we can see the functional similarity with library management s
 * Additional provenance information about the source of collected items
 * Object records capable of describing multiple linked objects with a broad array of content descriptors
 * Some systems will also provide functionality to ingest digital records to enable public discovery of digitised objects. Others will provide the functionality to create records for digitalobjects stored elsewhere.
+
+### Archive standards 
+
+When considering investment in a specific software solution for managing archives and special collections, institutions will need to take account of the developing standards environment. Compared to those adopted by libraries (AACR2 and MARC), archive metadata standards developed much later and don’t have the same level of international application or support. 
+
+For example, DACS (Describing Archives: A Content Standard) is the United States implementation of the ISAD(G) standard (International Standard on Archive Description).  EAD (Encoded Archival Description) is an international standard developed by the Society of American Archivists and the US Library of Congress.  EAD maps closely onto the International Standard for Archival Description ISAD(G) and is used to encode records to enable them to be more easily shared. 
+
+Records in Contexts (RIC) is being developed to reconcile and integrate existing standards and to reorient them to ‘take advantage of developments in communication technologies’. Many archives use data entry templates or forms using Excel which are imported and mapped into standard formats by the archive system.