Forty-two heads are better than one
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Transcript of Forty-two heads are better than one
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