Accession and Processing Procedures

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Accession Procedures

If materials are deemed appropriate for inclusion in Spec, they will be accessioned. Manuscript, university, or photograph collections that have been accessioned will be noted with an identifying number beginning with MA or UA. For a step-by-step guide to accessioning, see the Accession Manual.

The following is a summary of steps which make up the accessioning process:

1. If items cannot be accessioned immediately upon receipt, place items on shelving in intake area, as space allows, along with the completed Deed of Gift.
2. Add an accession record to ArchivesSpace (AS) that includes donor and collection information, an accession number, and a preliminary inventory.
3. Rehouse the materials if appropriate to condense for space saving or material stability.
4. Assess how important the materials are to departmental priorities and make a note in the Prioritization Rating List (found in SharePoint).
5. Find a temporary shelf location and note that in the AS accession record.
6. Print Accession Report from AS and place in appropriate accession binder along with the Deed of Gift and/or any relevant communications.
7. Work with department Head to ensure that a thank-you note is sent to the donor, when applicable (found in SharePoint).

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Processing Procedures

Accessioned materials are made more useful and accessible through processing. Even a minimal level of processing should be the goal for all collections. While some collections may warrant a very thorough processing, box or folder-level descriptions should suffice in most instances. The level of detail should be determined by the complexity or variety of materials, the size of the collection, and a professional assessment of the collection’s importance. This is a subjective process. For a step-by-step guide, see Processing Manual.

The following is a summary of steps which should be used to process a collection:

1. Create an inventory in an AS spreadsheet template (found in SharePoint); the template will later be imported into ArchivesSpace (AS)
   • If the collection is very small, it may be more efficient to work directly in AS
2. Rehouse the collection (if not completed at time of accession)
   • Weed to remove personally sensitive or irrelevant materials, like financial receipts or medical records
   • Utilize acid-free housing materials
     • Guidance from the National Archives should be used when making decisions about rehousing materials¹
   • Make a professional determination of the best order for collection
     • Original order is preferred in the archival field
     • If collection bares no evidence of imposed order from the creator, subject or chronological order may be appropriate
3. Create summary, scope of contents, biographical/historical statements in AS
4. Identify subject tags in AS
5. Complete finding aid
   • Assign ARK Number using Archives West Tools Site
   • Flag offensive material
   • Complete all required AS fields
6. Upload record to Archives West using Archives West Tools Site
7. Shelve in final location and make note of location in AS

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Born-Digital Accessioning and Processing

The following framework was largely adapted from the University of Buffalo Libraries Special Collections², Yale Library’s Born Digital Archival Description Guidelines³, and University of California’s Guidelines for Born-Digital Archival Description⁴.

Like physical collections, born-digital assets transferred or gifted to the department will undergo the same accessioning and processing procedures. For more information on how to accession and process materials, please see the Accession and Processing Manuals.

Staff members must be certain to include donor documentation and whatever digital storage information there is upon donation. Before beginning the processing stage, staff members will follow a digital processing framework in order to accurately understand what the scope is.

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Footnotes