Forty‐TWOHeadsareBe1erthenOne:PACSCL’sApproachtoaCrossRepositoryProcessingProgram

SAANa9onalConference,ChicagoAugust24,2011

CourtneySmerz,ProjectArchivist

PACSCLHiddenCollec<onsProcessingProject

•  FundedbyCouncilonLibraryandInforma9onResources’“CatalogingHiddenSpecialCollec9onsandArchives”ini9a9ve

•  23par9cipa9ngrepositoriesacrossPhiladelphia,PA–  6museums,7universi9es,3historicalsocie9es,4private

ins9tu9ons,3publicins9tu9ons

•  Eliminateprocessingbacklogandexposehiddencollec9ons–  Processed123hiddencollec<onsofmanuscriptsandarchives–  Converted83LegacyfindingaidstoEAD

•  Centralizedprocessingteam–  ProjectManager,ProjectArchivist,severalteamsofpart‐9me

studentprocessors,1part‐9mecataloger

Experimenta<oninProcessing

Weprocessed3,897linearfeetin2years

•  Employed“MPLP”strategyasintroducedinGreene’sandMeissner’s2005ar9cle“MoreProduct,LessProcess…”–  Testedoncollec9onsrangingthe17thtothe21stcenturies–  Goalof2hoursperlinearfoot9meframe–  CombinedphilosophyofMPLPwithRobertCox’s2010“Maximal

Processing…”tomakethemostofourlimited9mewithcollec9ons–  MPLPisnotjustfor20thcenturybusinessrecordsanymore

•  UsedTheArchivists’Toolkitdatabase

•  Usedstudentlabor–  Developed“ArchivalBootCamp”totrainstudents

PACSCLFindingAidsSiteCreatedacentralonlinefindingaidsite

– DevelopedbytheUniversityofPennsylvaniaLibraries

– Findingaidsfromall23repositoriesinoneplace

– Keywordandfacetedsearching,andsearchinginindividualrepositories

– WillonedaybecomeprimaryresearchpointinPhiladelphia

findingaids.pacscl.org

42Headsarebe1erthan1

23RepositoryReps

+2full9meprojectstaff+16part‐9mestudent processors

+1part‐9mestudent cataloger_______________

42Stakeholders

TheBenefitsofaProjectTeam

•  Centralizedstaffnecessarytoensureadherencetostandardsacross23ins9tu9ons

– HollyMengel,ProjectManager

– CourtneySmerz,ProjectArchivist

– Teamsofstudentprocessors

TheBenefitsofaProjectTeam

•  ProjectmanagerandProjectarchivist–  Developedprocessing

program–  Ensuredstandardsupheld

across23repositories–  Createdprocessingplansfor

eachcollec9on–  Developedtrainingprogram–  Editedfindingaids–  Completedallauthoritywork

•  StudentProcessors–  Processedamajorityofthe

collec9ons–  Thoughaulcollaborators

Commi1eeWork

Sharedknowledge,sharedexperience

•  StandardsCommibee

•  OversightCommibee

•  TechnicalCommibee– Mostac9vecommibee– DevelopedMSExcelspreadsheet,forimpor9ngdataintoTheArchivistsToolkit

RealityofLargeScaleCollabora<on

•  Collabora9vepar9cipa9onvaried– Studentsupervision– Coordinatedon‐sitetechsupport

– Providedfeedback

•  Projectteamfacilitatedcollabora9on– solicitedfeedback

PACSCL‐WideBenefit

•  206unhiddencollec9onsregionwide–  7+ateachrepository

•  3,897LFofbacklogeliminated

•  FindingAidSite–  Researcherbenefit–  Repositorybenefit

BenefitBeyondPACSCL

•  Developedworkflowforelimina9ngbackloginarchivesfaster– Outlinedonprojectwebsite:clir.pacscl.org

•  Developedtrainingprogramtogetthemostoutofstudentworkers

•  Establishedguidelinesforeffec9veselec9onofcollec9onsforMPLPprocessing

•  ProjectblogdisclosedsuccessesandfailuresofMPLPprocessingandTheArchivist’sToolkit

SeekPartnershipsEverywhere!

Despiteourdifferences,Weallhavehiddencollec<onsandprocessingbacklogincommon!

clir.pacscl.org

findingaids.pacscl.org‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

www.pacscl.org