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Once all the collection materials have been located and assembled, the archivist will begin to survey the collection. A survey is an overview of all the materials in the collection, and is meant to give the archivist and his/her team lead an idea of what is in the collection, what or is not in the collection, what the major issues will be during processing, etc. While a survey is often considered to be a broad-brush description of the collection, the physical survey at the beginning of processing should be as detailed as possible. It makes sense to review the elements of the processing plan before surveying/as you survey, so that you can be sure to pay attention to relevant issues and questions.
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Format and Physical Condition: These aspects of the materials are almost as important as the content in deciding what to process and what levels of processing will be used. Are most of the items letter, legal, or oversized? Are there duplicates? Are there fragile materials? Is mold visible? Are there peculiar odors? Is the handwriting legible? What formats other than paper are in the collection? What condition are these other materials in? Are there a lot of photographs or audiovisual materials? Is there printed material? How much and of what kind?
Born digital material: if your collection contains born-digital material, determine if it has been imaged and is available for review. Arrange with Jen Weintraub and/or Zachary Maiorana to look at and preliminarily assess the born-digital files. Include in your processing plan information about appraisal of the files and ideas about ways to describe and/or (if appropriate) give access to them.
A survey is also a time for appraisal. A survey allows you to describe the collection, but it should also provide you with enough information to appraise its research value, the relative merits of its parts, opportunities for weeding, etc. Some questions to keep in mind include: Which parts of the collection contain the most complete documentation of the person/organization? Are there materials that are not included that were expected to be part of the collection? Are there materials that could be weeded (duplicates, some newspaper clippings) or are out of scope (some student papers, etc.)? Could Is any of it the material be a good candidate for digitization?
Especially in collections with multiple accessions, do not move material around until after writing a processing plan and talking with your team lead.