The UC Guidelines for Processing Efficiently

1. The UC Guidelines for Processing Efficiently A Streamlined Approach for Managing All of Your Archival Collections Michelle Light Director of Special Collections University of Las Vegas, Nevada Libraries michelle.light@gmail.com

2. Why is this streamlined approach applicable to me? MPLP… • is not about paperclips or keeping original folders • is not just for modern, organizational records • informs ALL processing activity • focuses on making our collections available for research “There are many degrees of processing, each of which can be done well.”

3. Core Principles • Aim to provide access to all holdings. • Always look for the “golden minimum.” • Analyze the work necessary for every collection and be flexible in the amount of work applied. • Arrange, describe, and preserve materials in harmony. • Measure and compare processing rates to ensure processing is carried out efficiently. • Try using a collection management system.

4. The First Step: Expose All Archival Holdings • At minimum, provide a collection-level record for all archival holdings. • Revise your accessioning practices to represent holdings online at the moment of acquisition. • Revise your access policies to: • Allow access to unprocessed holdings. • Review collections for use on demand. • Tolerate messy collections in the reading room. • Allow use to determine further processing priorities.

5. The Second Step: Process Collections at an Appropriate Level Good processing : “1) expedites getting collection materials into the hands of users; 2) assures arrangement of materials adequate to user needs; 3) takes the minimal steps necessary to physically preserve collection materials; and 4) describes materials sufficient[ly] to promote use.”

6. Five processing levels

7. Minimal effort

8. Low effort

9. Moderate effort

10. Intensive effort

11. Highly intensive effort

12. Assess your collection to determine processing level • Assess the value of the collection. • Consider the collection's condition. Given its value, determine how much work should be invested in the collection to make it usable.

13. Assess the value

14. Find an appropriate processing level

15. Analyze the needs of your collection and understand your institutional context • Physical condition • Physical order • Intellectual access • Appraisal and privacy issues • Institutional resources

16. Processing Rates (Hours/Lin. Ft.)

17. Specific processing approaches • 22 pages of further guidance (tips, tricks, and shortcuts) for minimal, low, and moderate-effort processing • Include strategies applicable to all collections as well as for university records, 19th century collections, photographs, audio-visual materials, born digital materials • 14 case studies from UCs

18. Examples of approaches • Generally • Minimize physical arrangement (or re-arrangement) of files. • Vary descriptive detail according to material present. • Use scope and content notes strategically. • Postpone item-level preservation actions until a user requests access. • When managing multiple accessions, keep them distinct. Do not interfile into each other. Describe them in separately in succession in a finding aid.

19. Examples of approaches • Photographs • Do not routinely separate photographs found in chiefly textual archival collections. • Most photographs do not need to be described at the item level. • Limit the housing of individual items. Rely instead on stricter policies in the reading room. • Audiovisual collections • Delay reformatting activities until users request the material. • Devote staff resources to achieving a finer level of description at the expense of arrangement.

20. Available at http://tinyurl.com/uc-processing-guidelines