How to Handle Multiple Accession Records

Owned by Betts Coup
Nov 29, 2022

Past practice at Houghton Library included creation of MARC records for each accession related to a single collection. When beginning a processing project always check for other related accessions. The goal is to unite disparate accessions that form part of the same collection. 

Collections are defined by their provenance - disparate accessions being united must all have identical provenance (have come to Houghton via the same source and have the same creator). There are some exceptions to this from past practice, but all newly processed collections must only be made up of accessions with the same provenance.

General information on accessioning can be found separately on the wiki. 

Things to keep in mind:

  • You can find related accession records by doing a search in Hollis for the creator’s name, limiting to Houghton/HTC. This will not turn up SUPPRESSED records. 
  • You can find related accession records by doing a search in Alma. This will turn up SUPPRESSED records. 
  • You may also check accession records in ArchivesSpace for related material. 
  • Generally speaking, only gather material from the same source not necessarily the same creator. 


Following processing there are several steps involved in the cleanup process:

  • You’ll need to transfer information from the incorporated accession records, field 541 (and 561 if necessary), onto the main collection holdings record. 
  • You’ll need to alert the Head of Technical Services if the material was a purchase and has linked invoice records. They have the capacity to move the invoice from purchases over to the new/main Bib and holdings records.
  • You’ll also need to alert the Head of Technical Services if there are item records that need to be associated from the accession record to the main collection record OR item records that need to be deleted. The only time you can delete an item record is if the material was a gift.
  • You’ll need to delete the Bib and holdings records for the incorporated accession records. 
  • If the collection was onsite, you don’t need to do anything further. If the boxes were at HD, please alert Lewis that HD needs to be informed about the barcodes in the deleted item records.