Processing of Books/Publications within Archival Collections

Owned by Melanie Wisner
Last updated: Jan 24, 2024
2 min read
  • Introduction
  • Reasoning
  • Examples
  • Workflow

Introduction

Houghton Library purchases and receives archival collections that often contain books and other published material. (Recent examples include the Dan Aaron papers, Jonathan Bayliss papers, John Ashbery papers, John Updike papers, and Gore Vidal papers.) Recent practice was to separate books from the collection, setting them aside for item-level bibliographic treatment. This contributes to an uncataloged “gift book” backlog, which is already occupying 8 bays (46 shelves). While many of the titles could be copy cataloged, the volumes upon separation remain unaccounted for in the catalog, with loose physical and intellectual control.

In 2022, Technical Services proposed that we not separate books at the point of accession. (The justifications for keeping books with archival collections and for separating them were derived from conversation with colleagues at the Beinecke Library and follow their practice.) Instead, we create a single accession record and finding aid for the entirety of the collection. Archival accessioning includes creating a collection-level record in Hollis and a publicly discoverable finding aid in ArchivesSpace. Books will be described in the finding aid, either in the aggregate as a series or at the item level if accompanied by a list that provides greater detail. If and when the collection has enough use or is otherwise prioritized for further processing, the published material will be reviewed and prioritized for individual cataloging.

Reasoning

At the time of further processing, the following factors should be considered reasons for keeping published material with archival collections:

  • Published materials have heavy annotations or marginalia that have greater value as manuscripts than as publications.
  • Published materials are commonly available and provide greater value within the context of the archival material.

At the time of further processing, the following factors should be considered reasons for separating the published material:

  • Published material consists of a full run of a serial that we don’t already own.
  • Published materials consist of commonly found titles that don’t share a strong connection to the archival materials.

Examples

Below are examples that illustrate different types of accessioning treatment for two recent acquisitions that contained published material.

The Christopher Weimann papers came with description and thus the volumes are described in more detail:

The John Ashbery Reading Library did not come with description and thus the material is described in aggregate:

However, since initial accessioning, Ashbery was prioritized by the collecting curator, and a student is listing the titles individually in a finding aid because of the context a finding aid can provide.

Other recent examples:

Workflow for separate cataloging

  1. Curator submits a separate, additional, accession form drawing information from the one submitted for the whole collection.
  2. Title for this separate allotment should be “[Books removed from] XXX papers”.
  3. Curator completes this additional form.
  4. Accessioning Archivist transfers books from parent collection to Acquisitions Assistant for accessioning.
  5. Head of Rare Book Section is notified of the location of this accession.
  6. If curator requests immediate cataloging of the books, a new priorities form should be submitted to reorder the current fiscal year’s priorities.