TITLE

The title of your collection, ex. Elena Bonner papers (no punctuation)

IDENTIFIER

Call number, ex. MS Am 1234 (all in the first text box)

Determine collection call number with Google Sheet

LEVEL OF DESCRIPTION

Select “Collection” from dropdown menu

LANGUAGE

Select from dropdown menu the language most prominently represented in your collection

If you have more than one language in your collection, use the Note: Language of Materials to identify all languages

 LABEL

Keep “Creation” selected

EXPRESSION

 Use to describe the natural language expression of your date(s), ex. circa 1810-1892 (no end punctuation)

TYPE

Select from dropdown menu the type of date you are describing, ex. inclusive, bulk, single

BEGIN

Input the numeric expression of your early date, ex. 1810

END

Input the numeric expression of your late date, ex. 1892

PORTION

Keep “Whole” selected

NUMBER

Input the numeric measurement of linear feet, ex. 7

TYPE

Select “Linear Feet” from the dropdown menu

CONTAINER SUMMARY

Input the number of boxes, volumes, reels, ex. (14 document boxes) (use parentheses)

EADID

Input the eadid for your finding aid, ex. hou02365

Determine eadid using Google Sheet

FINDING AID TITLE

Input the title for your finding aid include the creator (authorized format) at the beginning, ex. Bonner, Elena.  Elena Bonner papers, circa 1910-1957 (MS Rus 1345): Guide.

FINDING AID FILING TITLE

DO NOT USE FOR THE TIME BEING

FINDING AID DATE

Date of finding aid creation

DESCRIPTION RULES

Select “Describing Archives: A Content Standard” from the dropdown menu

FINDING AID STATUS

Unless you are completely finished select “In progress” from the dropdown menu

When finding aid is published, select "Completed" from the dropdown menu

ROLE

Select from the dropdown menu the role of the creator of your collection, ex. Creator or Source (if describing collector)

AGENTS

First “Browse” from the dropdown arrow (or simply search in the text box) to see if your agent is already in ArchivesSpace. Search in the text box on the upper left of the screen that pops up. If you do find your agent, check the box to the left of the name and click the blue “Link to Agents” button on the bottom left of the pop-up screen.

If you do not find your agent in the Browse screen (or via search in the text box) then select “Create” from dropdown arrow. Usually you’ll be selecting either “Person” “Family” or “Corporate Body.”

Fill in the Agent Record screen that pops up

PUBLISH

Check the Publish radio button

DATES OF EXISTENCE

If your agent has dates associated with the name, use this field to record that information, not the Dates field in Name Forms

SOURCE

Select from dropdown menu where you are deriving the name from, usually this will be LCNAF or local if no authorized form exists

RULES

Select from dropdown menu the rules used to formulate the name of the agent, usually Resource Description and Access (RDA)

NAME ORDER

Keep “indirect” selected from the dropdown menu

PRIMARY PART OF NAME

Enter the last name of your agent

REST OF NAME

Enter the first name of your agent

*If your creator has an authorized listing that includes prefix, etc. please fill those data fields in as well.

Click the blue “Create and Link to Agent” button the bottom left of the Agent record.

ABSTRACT

ARRANGEMENT

BIOGRAPHICAL/HISTORICAL

CONDITIONS GOVERNING ACCESS

Restriction information, ex. Collection is open for research. (Punctuation for sentences is fine)

CUSTODIAL HISTORY

Use only for information about former ownership and chain of custody before we received the material. Do not include information about the immediate source in this field; that goes in the Immediate Source of Acquisition field.

IMMEDIATE SOURCE OF ACQUISITION

Accession information, ex. 2016M-20. Transferred from Schlesinger Library in 2019. (Punctuation fine) This information should match the data in the MARC 561.

LANGUAGE OF MATERIALS

Describe the languages represented in your collection, ex. Collection is in English, French, and German. (Punctuation for sentences is fine)

PHYSICAL LOCATION

Use to record the physical location of the collection if the collection is at Harvard Depository. If collection is onsite, locations are associated to Top Containers. Nothing is needed in this field.

PREFERRED CITATION

ex. Elena Bonner Papers, circa 1910-2003 (MS Rus 1345). Houghton Library, Harvard University.

PROCESSING INFORMATION

Use to describe who processed the collection, ex. Processed by Adrien Hilton, 2016 December.

Add “Sub Note” while in PROCESSING INFORMATION to record additional processing notations.

PROCESSING INFORMATION

Use a separate processing information note to record the Alma ID.

LABEL

Alma ID

CONTENT

18-digit Alma ID

SCOPE AND CONTENTS

If only describing materials at the collection level, create instances at collection level.

Each Top Container should get an instance. Avoid using a single instance to describe a range of Top Containers, e.g. Boxes 4-7 would have four instances: Box 4, Box 5, Box 6, and Box 7.

Type

Always use Mixed Materials

Top Container

Browse or Create (if linking to an already existing Top Container, use Browse, otherwise select Create)

Container Profile

Browse or Create

Container Type

The type of container you are describing, e.g. Box, Folder, Volume

Indicator

Numeric indicator of container you are describing.

For each Container Type start the consecutive indicator at 1, e.g. a collection with two boxes and a single volume would be enumerated as Box 1, Box 2, and Volume 1 but not Box 1, Box 2, and Volume 3.

Locations

If Top Container is going to HD, link to (HOU Harvard Depository), otherwise leave blank. End processing and/or collection management staff will assign when material is shelved.

PROCESSING STATUS

Use to record the processing level of your collection.

Completed (Level 1) – reserved for Accessioning to Processing or for collection level finding aid only

Completed (Level 2) – file level processing

Completed (Level 3) – item level processing