Technical Services Department FY22 Objectives and Priorities

Objective: Resume onsite activities in a flexible way with a focus on ramping up FY22 acquisitions to pre-COVID levels. 

Priority 1: Discuss and adopt norms for working in a shared office environment

The TS Department held a meeting this fall to discuss shared office norms. We used Padlet to share ideas anonymously. Feedback regarding Padlet was mixed but overall very positive. Our shared norms were posted to the TS wiki. A year-end discussion will be scheduled in June to review and assess how well the norms are working.

Priority 2: Prioritize cataloging, digitization, arrangement and description, and end-processing on materials and orders received/acquired during COVID-19 while keeping pace with current acquisitions and orders

The department is working collaboratively to reduce the backlog created from working remotely. 

• • Single item manuscripts: completed (61 catalog records)
  • Archival collections: completed (152 accessions)
  • Printed materials: 259 items cataloged and fully end-processed with the exception of a few items awaiting conservation work/consultation.
  • Digitization orders: new workflow developed with Imaging Services to send large patron orders over for more efficient digitization

Priority 3: Integrate conscious and inclusive cataloging and description best practices into appropriate section documentation

From the Manuscript Section:

• • Created a template for processing notes when doing reparative description of any kind. This has been added to both the collection cataloging manual and the processing manual. 
  • Tracking both reparative and new descriptive work in order to document decisions and leverage that labor for future decision making. 
  • SNAC documentation is integrated into accessioning, cataloging, and processing manuals which prioritizes describing creators and subjects from underrepresented groups.  
  • Implemented Dorothy Berry’s recommendations for blackface minstrelsy. 
  • Still to come this fiscal year: integrating Mrs. Husband’s name best practices into documentation as well as Annalisa’s best practices for describing people in the performing arts. 

From the Book Section:

• • Implemented adding preferred terms to OCLC and Alma records from African Studies Thesaurus (ascl), Homosaurus (homoit), and First Nations House of Learning (fnhl) where appropriate (e.g., “enslaved people” from ascl, and “non-binary people” from homoit).  Wiki documentation has been created, with examples on how to apply these terms in 650 with appropriate indicators and source codes.
  • Problematic LCSH terms analyzed and discussed during the year-long learning were submitted to Harvard Library SACO DIBAR group. This type of work will continue in perpetuity.
  • Created authority control documentation on RBS wiki, indicating focus on prioritizing members of traditionally or currently underrepresented and/or marginalized communities.

Objective: Collaborate more closely with colleagues in Arts and Special Collections (Fine Arts, Music, and Film Archive) and Harvard University Archives.

Priority 4: Building on existing relationships and collaborative projects, invite colleagues from Arts and Special Collections and University Archives to TS Department Meetings or attend joint ventures

Members of the TS Department are encouraged to attend the broader ASC open houses. Dorothy Berry and Amy Sloper of the Film Archives hosted an event on reparative description for film archives. Adrien Hilton helped Max Goldberg, also at HFA, with creating standardized finding aids for archival collections at HFA. The Creative Arts Archivist position was posted in early February (Betts Coup is leading the search with members from Fine Arts, Music, and Film). Susan Pyzynski and Lilli Keaney, consulting with Fine Arts, created guidelines and standards documentation for FAL photograph albums.  She received the first group of FAL photograph albums to catalog in early February as a test batch.

Priority 5: Organize an informal, virtual meet and greet (this was subsumed under the Archives, Arts and Special Collections open houses)

Objective: Study and implement relevant portions of the OCLC report on the Total Cost of Stewardship.

Priority 6: Calculate available resources for acquisitions, cataloging, processing, digitization, and end-processing using Operations Impact Estimator

Melanie Wisner is using this year to study archival and manuscript accessioning in order to determine the Department’s capacity to acquire archival and manuscript materials. Her report will be finalized at the end of FY22 and shared with the Department. She and Adrien have developed some rough numbers utilizing the accessioning statistics we have from the last four years.

Priority 7: Explore implementation of AirTable as project management tool

Dorothy and Vernica exploring using AirTable to track digitization. This project is on hold; Maggie Hale’s transition from Imagining created some delays.