Accessioning workflows from September 2019

These workflows are created for the purposes of training staff in accessioning and getting work done in fall 2019 into 2020. Expect procedures to shift and change as time goes on.

Intake and routing

Curators will communicate with Jenny about when accessions are coming (for larger collections, with as much advance notice as possible!) or when they have arrived via mail, etc.

Accessions will be brought to Schlesinger 3rd floor shelving: by curators, by movers, or by other staff.

Each week, Jenny will assess what's waiting for accessioning and assemble team members as needed to discuss work and who will do it.

Together, accessioning team will do an initial assessment of the accession with an eye to the following questions:

What kind of accession/collection is this?
does it need reboxing? is it in labeled folders? could a container list be created? is it closed? what work is necessary for it to be open to research?
is it addenda to a collection a current archivist has worked on (if so, can it be given directly to that archivist to add to collection?)
what subjects are addressed in the material? does a member of accessioning team have expertise in that subject?

Each accession will then be assigned to the best staff member to do the needed work. Staff should have an understanding of what work they are doing to each accession at the time they take on the project.

NOTE: Meeting each week or biweekly together is for the purposes of training, asking questions, having staff feel comfortable making decisions about the many kinds of collections/situations that we encounter. This work is unpredictable and there may be weeks with nothing coming in, and then weeks with lots of accessions coming at once.

Accessioning work

Different kinds of accessions need different kinds of work. The goal of team meetings is to discuss together what options are available to us and pick the best one. IN GENERAL we want to make collections open to research with an online container list or finding aid.

Each team member will be responsible for the following work:

Initial research about collection - stipulations of deed, LC NAF and other biographical research, etc.
Discussing work needed and level of access with Jenny - open or closed to research, processing priority, etc.
Reboxing archival material if necessary
Creating a basic container list or more detailed folder inventory if possible
Creating a new MARC collection level record for the collection if a new accession; getting another team member to review; alerting Susan that the record is live for her new accessions email list
Printing labels and barcoding cartons/boxes; giving barcode sheet to Johanna for entry into SL Tracker
Packing up material in grey bins or communicating with Jenny about doing so (Jenny or Johanna can arrange for HD pickup)
If small A or B: creating shelf list card and filing material in pool vault
Making sure paper accession log is accurate with extent info and format counts
Creating or updating blue cards

More specifics on overall accessioning guidelines and work to be done for new collections and addenda are recorded in separate pages.

Final record keeping

Jenny will finalize Excel accession log with extent information and info on bib record creation; processing done or required; other notes

Jenny will update unprocessed collections spreadsheet as necessary

Susan will email staff each month with list of new collections added to Hollis ; also will update LibGuide with same info

Johanna will enter info from accession log in ArchiveSpace about every month - knowing the correct creator name is important for this step, so having the bib record done is necessary.