Oversize material

Items larger than 8 ½" x 14" are considered oversized. Oversized materials may be treated in two ways. As discussed in "Flagging Materials," when preserving the content is more important than preserving the documents themselves, some oversized documents may remain folded within the folder, reduced by photocopy or even disassembled to be stored in standard size folders. Other oversized material will need to be removed and eventually stored in adequately sized acid-free folders either folio (11"x14.5"), folio+ (16"x20"), oversize (20"x24"), or supersize (36"x48"). Consult with your team lead with any questions about how to treat oversized materials and do not remove any documents until the folders from which they will be removed are numbered: every item must be numbered before removal to oversized folders.

When labeling oversized folders, locate the identifying information as follows:

• folio folders: along the top (long) edge, since they housed standing up in lateral files
• folio+, oversize folders: centered along the fold, since they are housed in flat files/boxes with their openings facing drawer/box sides, and their folds more accessible
• supersize folders: centered along the long edge, since they are housed in flat files with their openings facing forward
  • If only a few supersized items are present, label the items discretely (on back if possible) and file them in the supersize map case with other items from collections with "nearby" MC #s. Add the MC # and the "item" number to the shared folder.
  • You can store multiple items from a collection in one supersize folder even if they do not all belong together intellectually. Go ahead and list them separately in the finding aid inventory but each listing should have a unique title and different number.  Write the appropriate SD# on the back of each document and then write the folder range on the actual folder.  For example, if you have six items in the supersize folder you can number the folder as #SD.1-SD.6. 

Original oversized materials are put into folio, folio+, oversize or supersize folders and housed either in appropriately sized drawers or, if a substantial quantity of oversized material is present, it may fill its own box(es).

Individually filed oversized folders (for processed collections) are gathered up a few times a year, boxed, barcoded, and sent off as a group to HD.

Individual folio, folio+, oversize, and supersize folders can be found by searching for the MC# in the "note" field of the SL Tracker database.

POSTERS

If you have an oversize folder of posters, especially ones that you find interesting and that might be good candidates for eventual digitization, you can list each poster individually with nested <c> s in the finding aid. Digitized graphics usually get done at the item level, and itemizing posters provides metadata that can be repurposed.

Examples of this approach are in the Charlotte Bunch Additional Papers and the Lucile Schuck Longview Papers.