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Mark A. Greene, American Heritage Center Dennis Meissner, Minnesota Historical Society

More Product, Less Process: A Low-Calorie, High-Fiber Alternative to Traditional Archival Processing. Mark A. Greene, American Heritage Center Dennis Meissner, Minnesota Historical Society. The Problem. Archival processing does not keep pace with the growth of collections. The Problem.

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Mark A. Greene, American Heritage Center Dennis Meissner, Minnesota Historical Society

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  1. More Product, Less Process:A Low-Calorie, High-Fiber Alternative to Traditional Archival Processing Mark A. Greene, American Heritage Center Dennis Meissner, Minnesota Historical Society Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  2. The Problem • Archival processing does not keep pace with the growth of collections Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  3. The Problem • Archival processing does not keep pace with the growth of collections • Unprocessed backlogs continue to grow Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  4. The Problem • Archival processing does not keep pace with the growth of collections • Unprocessed backlogs continue to grow • Researchers denied access to collections Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  5. The Problem • Archival processing does not keep pace with the growth of collections • Unprocessed backlogs continue to grow • Researchers denied access to collections • Our image with donors and resource allocators suffers Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  6. Hypotheses • Increasing breadth and scale of contemporary collections Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  7. Hypotheses • Increasing breadth and scale of contemporary collections • Failure to revise processing benchmarks to deal with problem Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  8. Methodology • Literature review Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  9. Methodology • Literature review • Repository survey Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  10. Repository Survey Respondents Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  11. Methodology • Literature review • Repository survey • Grant project survey (NHPRC files) Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  12. Methodology • Literature review • Repository survey • Grant project survey (NHPRC files) • User survey Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  13. Methodology • Literature review • Repository survey • Grant project survey (NHPRC files) • User survey • Review of related surveys Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  14. Findings • Processing benchmarks and practices are inappropriate to deal with problems posed by large contemporary collections Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  15. Findings • Processing benchmarks and practices are inappropriate to deal with problems posed by large contemporary collections • Ideal vs. necessary Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  16. Findings • Processing benchmarks and practices are inappropriate to deal with problems posed by large contemporary collections • Ideal vs. necessary • Fixation on item level tasks Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  17. Findings • Processing benchmarks and practices are inappropriate to deal with problems posed by large contemporary collections • Ideal vs. necessary • Fixation on item level tasks • Preservation anxieties trump user needs Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  18. Findings • Arrangement • Practice: Still often at the item level Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  19. Survey: Arrangement Practice Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  20. Findings • Arrangement • Practice: Still often at the item level • Warrant: Literature mixed, but much advises against item level work Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  21. Findings • Description • Practice: • Weak commitment to online access • Little focus on item level Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  22. Survey: Descriptive Practice Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  23. Findings • Description • Practice: • Weak commitment to online access • Little focus on item level • Warrant: • Describe all holdings, in general, before describing some in detail • Descriptive level follows arrangement level • Level varies from collection to collection Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  24. Findings • Conservation • Practice: Strong commitment to item level work Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  25. Survey: Conservation Practice Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  26. Findings • Conservation • Practice: Strong commitment to item level work • Warrant: Item-focused conservation prescriptions often contradict advice on arrangement and description Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  27. Findings • Metrics • Literature: Range of 4-40 hours per cubic foot Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  28. Findings • Metrics • Literature: Range of 4-40 hours per cubic foot • However, a convincing body of experience coalesces at the high-productivity end: • Maher, 1982 (3.4 hours per cubic foot) • Haller, 1987 (3.8 hours per cubic foot) • Northeastern University Processing Manual (4-10 hours per cubic foot) Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  29. Productivity Expectations(Hours/cubic foot) Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  30. Findings • Metrics • Literature: Range of 4 - 40 hours per cubic foot • Grant Project Survey: 0.6 – 67 hours per cubic foot (Mode = 33 hours ; Mean = 9 hours) Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  31. NHPRC Grant Files Survey: Cubic Feet Processed Per Day Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  32. Findings • Metrics • Literature: Range of 4 - 40 hours per cubic foot • Grant Project Survey: 0.6 – 67 hours per cubic foot (Mode = 33 ; Mean = 9) • Survey of Archivists: 2 – 250 hours per cubic foot (Mode = 8 ; Mean = 14.8) Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  33. Repository Survey: Quantity that Archivist Can Process in a Year Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  34. Recommendations • General Principles for Change Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  35. Recommendations • General Principles for Change • Establish acceptable minimum level of work, and make it the processing benchmark Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  36. Recommendations • General Principles for Change • Establish acceptable minimum level of work, and make it the benchmark • Don’t assume all collections, or all collection components, will be processed to same level Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  37. Recommendations • Arrangement • Description • Conservation • Productivity Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  38. Recommendations • Arrangement • In normal or typical situations, the physical arrangement of materials in archival groups and manuscript collections should not take place below the series level Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  39. Recommendations • Arrangement • In normal or typical situations, the physical arrangement of materials in archival groups and manuscript collections should not take place below the series level • Not all series andall files in a collection need to be arranged to the same level Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  40. Recommendations • Description • Since description represents arrangement: describe materials at a level of detail appropriate to that level of arrangement Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  41. Recommendations • Description • Since description represents arrangement: describe materials at a level of detail appropriate to that level of arrangement • Keep description brief and simple Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  42. Recommendations • Description • Since description represents arrangement: describe materials at a level of detail appropriate to that level of arrangement • Keep description brief and simple • Level of description should vary across collections, and across components within a collection Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  43. Recommendations • Conservation • Rely on storage area environmental controls to carry the conservation burden Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  44. Recommendations • Conservation • Rely on storage area environmental controls to carry the conservation burden • Avoid wholesale refoldering Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  45. Recommendations • Conservation • Rely on storage area environmental controls to carry the conservation burden • Avoid wholesale refoldering • Avoid removing and replacing metal fasteners Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  46. Recommendations • Conservation • Rely on storage area environmental controls to carry the conservation burden • Avoid wholesale refoldering • Avoid removing and replacing metal fasteners • Avoid photocopying items on poor paper Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  47. Recommendations • Conservation • Rely on storage area environmental controls to carry the conservation burden • Don’t perform conservation tasks at a lower hierarchical level than you perform arrangement and description Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  48. Recommendations • Productivity • A processing archivist ought to be able to arrange and describe large twentieth century archival materials at an average rate of 4 hours per cubic foot Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  49. GOAL: Effective collection management strategies • User access is preeminent objective Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

  50. GOAL: Effective collection management strategies • User access is preeminent objective • Resource management is crucial strategy Twin Cities Archives Roundtable April 18, 2007

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