more product, less process: mark a. greene, american heritage center dennis meissner, minnesota...
TRANSCRIPT
More Product, Less Process:
Mark A. Greene, American Heritage Center
Dennis Meissner, Minnesota Historical Society
Mark Greene Director,
American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming
Why did we work on this? My experience at four repositories
with significant backlogs of unprocessed materials: Carleton College, Minnesota Historical Society, Henry Ford Museum, AHC
Dennis’ experience as processing manager at MHS
The Problem Archival processing does not keep
pace with the growth of collections
The Problem Archival processing does not keep
pace with the growth of collections• Unprocessed backlogs continue to grow
The Problem Archival processing does not keep
pace with the growth of collections• Unprocessed backlogs continue to grow• Researchers denied access to collections
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
Findings Processing benchmarks and
practices are inappropriate to deal with problems posed by large contemporary collections
Findings Processing benchmarks and
practices are inappropriate to deal with problems posed by large contemporary collections
• Ideal vs. necessary
Findings Processing benchmarks and
practices are inappropriate to deal with problems posed by large contemporary collections
• Ideal vs. necessary• Fixation on item level tasks
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
Findings Arrangement
•Practice: Still often at the item level
Findings Arrangement
• Practice: Still often at the item level•Warrant: Literature mixed, but much
advises against item level work
Findings Description
Practice:• Weak commitment to online access• Little focus on item level
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
Findings Conservation
•Practice: Strong commitment to item level work
Findings Conservation
•Practice: Strong commitment to item level work
•Warrant: Item-focused conservation prescriptions often contradict advice on arrangement and description
Findings Metrics
•Literature: Range of 4-40 hours per cubic foot
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)
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)
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)
Recommendations General Principles for Change
Recommendations General Principles for Change
• Establish acceptable minimum level of work, and make it the processing benchmark
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
Recommendations Arrangement Description Conservation Productivity
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
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 and all files in a collection need to be arranged to the same level
Recommendations Description
• Since description represents arrangement: describe materials at a level of detail appropriate to that level of arrangement.
Recommendations Description
• Since description represents arrangement: describe materials at a level of detail appropriate to that level of arrangement
• Keep description brief and simple
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
Recommendations Conservation
• Rely on storage area environmental controls to carry the conservation burden
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
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
Recommendations Productivity
• A processing archivist ought to be able to arrange and describe large twentieth century archival materials at an average rate of four hours per cubic foot
The goal of all this… …is to make our
patrons, donors, administrators, and funders happy, proving that repositories can use the resources they have to the best advantage and with the greatest efficiency.
Questions