This is a draft document outlining proposed workflows to begin November 2020
Intake and routing
Curators (Kenvi, Jenny) will communicate with Susan (and Kelcy?) about large accessions scheduled to arrive at the Library, by movers or by mail. This is partly for space concerns and partly as a heads up for upcoming work concerns.
Collections mailed to the Schlesinger will first be received by Jenny (or Kenvi) - boxes opened, invoices (if applicable) removed and given to Sam Post.
Accessions will be brought to Schlesinger 3rd floor shelving: by curators, by movers, or by other staff. Depending on size/shipping situation, curatorial intake may not happen before material is moved to the 3rd floor. Accessioning archivists should wait until they hear from curators to begin accessioning work on collections (but if something shows up on 3rd floor and sits around for a while, they should nudge the curators!)
Each week, Susan will assess what's waiting for accessioning and then discuss with Kelcy (and Jenny/Kenvi as needed) what work is needed, and/or what work could be done and who could do it.
Initial assessments of the accession should keep in mind the following questions:
- What kind of accession/collection is this?
- does it need reboxing? is it in labeled folders? could a container list be created? is it closed? what work is necessary for it to be open to research?
- is it addenda to a collection a current archivist has worked on (if so, can it be given directly to that archivist to add to collection?)
- 2020/2021 focus on this question - is it a small mount of material? is the collection it could be added to onsite?
- what subjects are addressed in the material? does a department member have expertise in that subject?
- Is the collection something that could go through the direct-to-digital workflow?
Susan and Kelcy can then decide what is the best approach for each collection, and if other staff can/need to be involved. They can include other people in their discussions as needed.
Each accession will then be assigned to the best staff member to do the needed work. Staff should have an understanding of what work they are doing to each accession at the time they take on the project.
NOTE: Meeting each week together allows for continuity. This work is unpredictable and there may be weeks with nothing coming in, and then weeks with lots of accessions coming at once. Rarely (during our current remote work environment) is anything time-sensitive.
Accessioning work
Different kinds of accessions need different kinds of work. The goal of team meetings is to discuss together what options are available to us and pick the best one. IN GENERAL we want to make collections open to research with an online container list or finding aid.
Each team member will be responsible for the following work:
- Initial research about collection - stipulations of deed, LC NAF and other biographical research, etc.
- Discussing work needed and level of access with Jenny - open or closed to research, processing priority, etc.
- Reboxing archival material if necessary
- Creating a basic container list or more detailed folder inventory if possible
- Creating a new MARC collection level record for the collection if a new accession; getting another team member to review; alerting Susan that the record is live for her new accessions email list
- Printing labels and barcoding cartons/boxes; giving barcode sheet to Johanna for entry into SL Tracker
- Packing up material in grey bins or communicating with Jenny about doing so (Jenny or Johanna can arrange for HD pickup)
- If small A or B: creating shelf list card and filing material in pool vault
- Making sure paper accession log is accurate with extent info and format counts
- Creating or updating blue cards
More specifics on overall accessioning guidelines and work to be done for new collections and addenda are recorded in separate pages.
Final record keeping
Jenny will finalize Excel accession log with extent information and info on bib record creation; processing done or required; other notes
Jenny will update unprocessed collections spreadsheet as necessary
Susan will email staff each month with list of new collections added to Hollis ; also will update LibGuide with same info
Johanna will enter info from accession log in ArchiveSpace about every month - knowing the correct creator name is important for this step, so having the bib record done is necessary.