Accessioning Workflows

Owned by Adrien Hilton
Last updated: Aug 21, 2024 by Betts Coup
6 min read

Keep in mind these are general outlines of steps, not detailed instructions. It is always at the discretion of the Accessioning Archivist, in collaboration with colleagues in Houghton Library, to determine the degree to which accessions are processed. For instance, it may not be entirely practical to consolidate all related accessions, past acquisitions plus the new one, into a single finding aid due to time constraints, size, and/or complexity of collections or records.

New Collection (Gift or Purchase)

Material given to or purchased by Houghton which will not be treated as an accrual to an existing collection

 

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  • Collection materials come to Houghton/Pusey Library via mail or hand delivery
  • Collection materials are logged in Incoming Collections Log and an email is sent to collecting curator with a link to pre-filled Houghton Accession Web Form
  • Collecting curator fills out the rest of the Houghton Accession Form
  • Acquisitions and accessioning archivist receive alert that new form has been submitted
  • Acquisitions creates stub MARC record and initial Aeon record (signed out to Technical Services - Manuscripts and other)
  • Accessioning archivist creates accession record in ArchivesSpace
  • Accessioning archivist assigns call number and eadid (Google Sheet) and updates MARC
    • If collection includes one or more books that the curator wishes cataloged separately, follow this protocol
  • Accessioning archivist processes collection to the appropriate level
  • Accessioning archivist searches for born-digital media within the materials, and, if found, the accessioning archivist follows the Born-Digital Workflow

  • Accessioning archivist spawns resource record from accession record in ArchivesSpace

  • Accessioning archivist updates extent and item records in MARC and extent and containers in ArchivesSpace
  • Accessioning archivist boxes and labels the collection for transfer to HD (items that need special treatment are forwarded to end-processing)
  • Accessioning archivist publishes resource record and unsuppresses MARC bib and holdings records
  • Accessioning archivist creates or updates baseline SNAC record(s) (see separate SNAC workflow document


*For details about End Processing, see:   IV. Accessioning Workflow (Level I Processing) in the End Processing Manual for Manuscript and Archival collections


Accrual to a Processed Collection (Gift or Purchase)

Material given to or purchased by Houghton for which we have a related collection with shared provenance that has been described in a finding aid


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  • Collection materials comes to Houghton/Pusey Library via mail or hand delivery

  • Collection materials are logged in Incoming Collections Log and an email is sent to collecting curator with a link to pre-filled Houghton Accession Web Form

  • Collecting curator fills out Houghton Accession Web Form

  • Acquisitions and accessioning archivist receive alert that new form has been submitted

  • Acquisitions links invoice (if present) to appropriate existing MARC record

  • Acquisitions adds new 541 to holdings record and initiates Aeon record

  • Accessioning archivist creates accession record in ArchivesSpace; the title of the accrual will be the title of the main collection plus "ADD"

  • Accessioning archivist links accession record to related resource record in ArchivesSpace

  • Accessioning archivist processes accrual to the appropriate level

  • Accessioning archivist searches for born-digital media within the main collection (if feasible) and accrual; if found, the accessioning archivist follows the Born-Digital Workflow

  • Accessioning archivist adds accrual to main resource record in ArchivesSpace, adding a series "Additions to collection" if none exists, listing new material within a subseries of this series labeled "Accession (accession number)", e.g. "Accession 2023M-5"

  • Accessioning archivist remembers to publish all in ArchivesSpace
  • Accessioning archivist boxes and labels the accrual for transfer to HD (items that need special treatment are forwarded to end-processing)
  • Accessioning archivist creates or updates baseline SNAC record (see separate SNAC workflow document)

    *For details about End Processing, see:   IV. Accessioning Workflow (Level I Processing) in the End Processing Manual for Manuscript and Archival collections

Accrual to an Unprocessed Collection (Gift or Purchase)

Material given to or purchased by Houghton for which we have related collection(s) with shared provenance that have not been described in a finding aid


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  • Collection materials comes to Houghton/Pusey Library via mail or hand delivery

  • Collection materials are logged in Incoming Collections Log and an email is sent to collecting curator with a link to pre-filled Houghton Accession Web Form

  • Collecting curator fills out Houghton Accession Web Form

  • Acquisitions and accessioning archivist receive alert that new form has been submitted
  • Acquisitions links invoice (if present) to appropriate MARC record
  • Acquisitions adds new 541 to holdings record and initiates Aeon record

  • Accessioning archivist creates accession record in ArchivesSpace; the title of the accrual will be the title of the main collection plus "ADD"

  • Accessioning archivist assigns eadid (Google Sheet) and updates MARC

  • Accessioning archivist spawns resource record from accession record in ArchivesSpace

  • Accessioning archivist assigns call number (Google Sheet)

  • Accessioning archivist searches for all related unprocessed accessions

  • Accessioning archivist searches for born-digital media within the main collection (if feasible) and accrual; if found, the accessioning archivist follows the Born-Digital Workflow

  • Accessioning archivist exports MARCxml for all accession records and imports them into accession records in ArchivesSpace

  • Accessioning archivist links all accession records to related resource record in ArchivesSpace

  • Accessioning archivist describes each accession as a series in resource record

  • Accessioning archivist, in conjunction with end processing, assigns new and consecutive box numbers to collection

  • If main collection is on site, accessioning archivist creates box labels for both the main collection and the accrual for transfer to HD (items that need special treatment are forwarded to end-processing)

  • If main collection is at HD, accessioning archivist creates box labels and arranges to visit HD to relabel boxes (preferably several such collections at a time)

  • Accessioning archivist updates existing MARC and ArchivesSpace records with extent as well as item records in MARC and container information in ArchivesSpace

  • Accessioning archivist remembers to publish all in ArchivesSpace
  • Accessioning archivist alerts Associate Librarian for Technical Services to consolidation and transfer of invoices/item records in MARC
  • Accessioning archivist edits or deletes old accession records in MARC, transferring item records and any necessary information to main record

  • Accessioning archivist creates or updates baseline SNAC record(s) (see separate SNAC workflow document)


NOTE: If consolidation of accruals as above is not possible because of the complexity of the collection or other time constraints, the accessioning archivist should create a resource record for the latest accrual with a Related Materials note documenting the accession number(s) of the related materials.

*For details about End Processing, see:   IV. Accessioning Workflow (Level I Processing) in the End Processing Manual for Manuscript and Archival collections

Accrual to a Catchall (Gift or Purchase)

Single item given to or purchased by Houghton that will be incorporated into an existing catchall, as requested by curator (see Catchalls document for list)


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  • Item comes to Houghton/Pusey Library via mail or hand delivery

  • Collection materials are logged in Incoming Collections Log and an email is sent to collecting curator with a link to pre-filled Houghton Accession Web Form

  • Collecting curator fills out Houghton Accession Web Form

  • Acquisitions and accessioning archivist receive alert that new form has been submitted

  • Acquisitions links invoice (if present) to appropriate catchall MARC record

  • Acquisitions adds new 541 to catchall holdings record

  • Accessioning archivist creates accession record in ArchivesSpace and links to appropriate catchall resource record

  • Accessioning archivist describes item in finding aid, including item-level Immediate Source of Acquisition

  • Accessioning archivist remembers to publish all in ArchivesSpace
  • If special end-processing is required, accessioning archivist numbers folders physically and in containers in the finding aid

  • Accessioning archivist updates main MARC record if necessary (dates, extent, description in bib; 541 in holdings)

  • Accessioning archivist forwards item to end-processing if special treatment is needed; otherwise, she adds physical item directly to appropriate existing box or new box

  • Accessioning archivist creates or updates baseline SNAC record (see separate SNAC workflow document)

    *For details about End Processing, see:   IV. Accessioning Workflow (Level I Processing) in the End Processing Manual for Manuscript and Archival collections

Single Item (Gift or Purchase)

Single item given to or purchased by Houghton that will be individually cataloged


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  • Item comes to Houghton/Pusey Library via mail or hand delivery

  • Collection materials are logged in Incoming Collections Log and an email is sent to collecting curator with a link to pre-filled Houghton Accession Web Form

  • Collecting curator fills out Houghton Accession Web Form

  • Acquisitions and accessioning archivist receive alert that new form has been submitted

  • Acquisitions creates stub MARC record

  • Accessioning archivist creates minimal accession record in ArchivesSpace (identifier, title, extent)

    • If a Roosevelt Collection item, it is given identifier in format YYYYTRM-#

    • If born digital, accessioning archivist follows the Born-Digital Workflow
    • If wholly photographic, accessioning archivist follows photographic protocol
  • Item is forwarded to the single-item cataloger for all further processing

  • Cataloger creates or updates baseline SNAC record (see separate SNAC workflow document)

    *For details about End Processing, see:   IV. Accessioning Workflow (Level I Processing) in the End Processing Manual for Manuscript and Archival collections