“Everyone take out something to write on.  You will take notes.”

Curating a High-Impact Document Room:

Ten Things We’re Glad We Did

Jacqueline Andrews, Linda Greenow, Stephan J. Macaluso

State University of New York at New Paltz

Before we Begin…

• What % of your documents do you believe are currently in print?  Digital?

• List two or three items that are routinely collected by campus departments or by your Provost’s office.

• What comes into your mind when we say “student work?”  Who at your institution collects samples of student work?  

#1: We recognized the need for documentation right from the self-study design phase

#2: We had the right people on our document room team

People who were…• Empowered to

solicit documents• Good at collecting

and organizing documents

• Good at curating spaces: vision!

Action Plan Question:

Name at least three (3) people from your campus that should be involved in the document

room.  

Whom would you invite, and why?

# 3: We decided what to keep in print, and what to keep in digital format

#4: We decided there would be a digital collection, and a curated exhibit space

Action Plan Question:

What is your model of a ‘document room’?  

What objects represent your campus?

#5: We thought outside the 8 ½ x 11” frame

Action Plan Question:Which technologies/ online spaces are you using

to store campus documents (Assessment? Planning? Student work?)  

Do you have an assessment management system?

#6: We formed close bonds with the accommodations team, the tech team, and MS leadership

Action Plan Question:

If you think that you’ll have a physical document room, where might that space

be?  

Which features might you want it to have?

#7: We knew (well, pretty much) who had which documents

Inventory of Documents for Self-Study Design, mapped to the Standards

Student Evaluation of Instruction Summary Reports, Standards 10

& 11

Institutional Factbook, Standards 1, 7, 8, 14

IPEDS Data, Standards 1, 7, 8 14

Action Plan Question:

Name three (3) people at your institution who can point out where

key documents are located.

#8:  Organization and Description

• Dates (no more after…)•Campus slang (lexicon?)•Affirm which standard•Tag the item•Use folders: online and physical•You can describe too much!

•Physical items must be in one, and only one, place, even if they apply to more than one standard. No duplicates!

#9: We had a timeline.  We recommend a 24-month timeline to facilitate document collection

Reports are due

Committees Develop Reports

Submit Self-Study Design in Fall Self-Study

Report is Drafted in Summer

Committees Begin Working

Circulate Self-Study Report in Fall

Team Chair Visits in Fall

Self-Study Submitted to MSCHE in January

Team Visit in Spring

Commission action on

accreditation in June

ACADEMIC YEAR 1 ACADEMIC YEAR 2 ACADEMIC YEAR 3

Collection of Data and Documents Begins in Year 1

Prepare Inventory of Documents for Self-Study Design

TIMELINE: Collection of Data and Documents Begins Very Early!

#10: Keep an Open Mind OR...“This will be messy”

Thanks for listening!

• We hope we’ve helped you on your way to a successful document room/catalog and a very successful reaccreditation visit.

• If we can help, give us a jingle:macaluss@newpaltz.edugreenowl@newpaltz.eduandrewsj@newpaltz.edu