Accessioning
Adrien Hilton
Melanie Wisner
Philosophy
Accessioning is a core archival function. It is the means by which a repository establishes legal and physical custody of archival material and, in many cases, begins to describe the material in a database or catalog in order to make it known to researchers. Good accessioning practices form the foundation for all further processes undertaken by a repository. It is of the utmost importance.
In 2005, Mark Greene and Dennis Meissner published their article "More Product, Less Process", known as MPLP. They called on the archival profession to account for its enormous backlog of inaccessible material. The article stirred many to adopt a new paradigm that included backlog-reductive processing measures. Building on MPLP, Christine Weideman coined the phrase "Accessioning as Processing." This method of accessioning has been adopted as one strategy for backlog reduction. The goal is to provide baseline level access to collections as they are accessioned. Accessioning archivists are in an advantageous position to capture important information related to a collection's arrangement, condition, and content. While accessioning, and with a minimum of additional effort, a collection can receive collection level description, basic rehousing, and even some preliminary intellectual arrangement and description at the series or file level. In this way, collections never enter into a backlog or processing queue. Future user needs may then dictate whether more description is warranted.
The goal at Houghton Library since 2011 has been to provide access to all newly-accessioned material. All collections and items receive a MARC record, and most collections receive additional description in a finding aid. The elements in these records are a subset of the rules for full, standards-compliant Houghton cataloging of single items and collections. Collections are designated as minimally processed but as often as possible are open for research.
What is baseline level access?
What is "good enough" description provided at the point of accessioning is a matter of judgment and will vary depending on the size, scope, and complexity of the collection. Finding the "golden minimum" for accessioning as processing is performing the minimum amount of work necessary to make the collection usable. Collections that are well organized (intellectually and/or physically) into discernible series are good candidates for finding aids with series level description. Collections that lack any discernible order should not be over-handled but rather described as holistically as possible, usually by describing the contents of a box as well as can be understood without much handling. Small collections or collections with less research value may only need a collection level description. Donor lists and dealer inventories, if not overly labor-intensive to convert, may be used as a basis for description and cited as such.
Historic Record-Keeping Practices
Beginning in July 1, 2006, the Manuscript Section made accession records in MARC format for all curatorial departments. The previous accessions database, HMA (Houghton Manuscript Accessions, an Access database created for the Manuscript Department circa 1999 from the original MARC-based product, BibBase), was frozen at that time. (Cataloger Bonnie Salt completed a project to create MARC records for all earlier materials appearing only in HMA.) Until approximately 2006, the Harvard Theatre Collection maintained separate accessioning practices and files.
Accessioning then became a backlog-preventive measure. Beginning April 1, 2011, "preliminary box lists" for accessioned collections were posted to OASIS (pending curatorial review). Legacy box lists in Word and other formats were occasionally converted to EAD and uploaded into OASIS or, later, ingested into ArchivesSpace.
Until June 30, 2017 every item, collection, or collection accrual entering Houghton received a MARC accession record; collections of approximately two or more boxes usually received a box list in EAD. Both of these records were derivative of the rules for full, standards-compliant Houghton cataloging of single items and collections.
As of July 1, 2017, accessioning was tracked in ArchivesSpace by creating an accession record for all incoming material, whether a single item, collection, or accrual to a collection. All collections then received collection-level finding aids, MARC records, and, if larger than 2 linear feet, series- or file-level finding aids. Collections were described as minimally processed and were generally open to research.