Statement of Competency F
Use the basic concepts and principles related to the creation, evaluation, selection, acquisition, preservation and organization of specific items or collections of information.
Whether working in a library, archives or government agency the concepts behind collection development are at the core. Government agencies dealing with records need to understand retention policy and law. Librarians require an understanding to build the most useful collections to support the needs of their community. Archivists are the gatekeepers of the collective memory of society, therefore, need a strong knowledge of creation to preservation. Continual education in the laws, standards and theories behind creation, evaluation, selection, acquisition, preservation and organization of records is essential to keep these documents of lasting value accessible. Whether a records manager dealing with electronic records, a librarian building collections or an archivist processing personal papers similar concepts in collection management are followed.
Concepts of item and collection creation have evolved and blurred in the age of electronic records. The definition of creation differs between records managers and archivists. A records manager concentrates on the life cycle of a record with the creation stage being a concrete concept. Archivists focus on the provenance and original order of items and context in which the document was created. Provenance pertains to the individual or group that created the record. Records of different provenance should not be placed together in a collection. Another tenant requires original order of the records creation should be kept. In libraries and archives, creation of collections is determined by a collections development policy.
An archivist must appraise and determine the provenance of items during the evaluation process. Appraisal is assessed on historical significance, legal, intrinsic value and appropriateness for the repository. If the item does not fit into the criteria of the collection development policy, it may be referred to a fitting archive. Prior to an archive acquiring a collection authenticity must be obtained. This is usually done by a profession archivist or historian in a variety of ways including analysis of handwriting and signatures and deducing the age of the paper (“Intrinsic Value in Archival Materials”, 1982, p. 93).
After proper evaluation, the selected items or collections are acquisitioned into the repository. If rejected, the donor should always be thanked graciously to promote good public relations for the archive. If selected, a deed of gift should always be filled out by the donor. Archives should avoid acquiring items on loan and strive to have complete intellectual, physical and legal control of items. The deed of gift assures the archive has full legal rights over the donation. IRS form 8283 should also be filed if the item is appraised at $5000 or higher.
Preservation of items and collections of items greatly depends on the repository’s budget. Best practice techniques can be quite costly and not always feasible for an institution to carry out. Installing a proper HVAC unit, for example, can be well beyond a modest budget. The Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) provides preservation leaflets for archives of all budgets for meeting their preservation needs. Digitization of materials should be done following university level best practices. However, organizations such as Google use fast and loose methods for bulk digital “preservation”. The Cornell University Library offers an online digital imaging tutorial which outlines best practices for digitization. The idea of preservation for any digital media is a controversial subject among archivists. If possible, original copies should always be kept for any digitized media.
Organizing the collection is done during the processing phase. Arrangement and description of items or records is completed with the goal of keeping the original order of the documents. Finding aids and MARC records are made at this time. Once a set of records is assessed for an existing original order they are organized by series and sub series if necessary. An archivist should keep the researcher in mind when arranging documents. Thinking about how a researcher is likely to seek out the information can help arranging series in a discernible manner. Electronic records are more difficult to arrange. Intellectual relationships between files and how they were created within the organization must be evaluated.
I have concentrated much of my MLIS educational focus on the topic of collection management of archives and digital media. A great amount of experience from creation to preservation of analog and digital material has been garnered throughout my academic career. The Site Assessment evidence from LIBR 259 (Preservation Management) is a study of the environmental conditions of a library and their affect on collections. While filling out a site survey form I did a walkthrough of a public library and history room. Based on best practices from resources including NEDCC I noted issues that may cause potential threats to the preservation of collection materials. The paper is a summary of outstanding issues from immediate to potential dangers to the collection. This assignment allowed me to familiarize myself with the chain of events that can lead from a seemingly harmless situation like food near archival materials to the devastating effects they can have on collections.
The assignment from LIBR 256 (Archives & Manuscripts), Archiving the Moore Family Papers, gave me the hands-on experience to determine provenance and original order of a set of papers and arrange them in a meaningful way. After studying the dates of the letters, photographs and administrative papers I determined how they should be arranged by series and sub series. After the papers were arranged, I created a finding aid including a historical and scope note I gathered from the collection. A MARC record was also created for the collection. I was able to gathering evidence of who the Moore family was via newspaper articles and mention of names in letters.
ContentDM Database is an evidentiary item from LIBR 284 (Digitization and Digital Preservation). I gained hand-on experience with creating a digital collection using the ContentDM digital asset management system. The process included choosing images that would fit into a collection, assigning descriptive metadata and using a controlled vocabulary. I chose to use Library of Congress authorized subject headings for this project and chose metadata fields I thought most appropriate for my user model. This project provided me with valuable experience in digital asset management for which I have a particular passion for.
I believe through these evidentiary items, as well as other hands-on course work, I have a good deal of experience in collection management. I was able to apply my skills from the above classes to my internship at the University of California, Irvine Visual Resources Collection. I feel well suited for a position in an archives, special library or digital media position dealing with creation to preservation of collections.
Reference
Intrinsic Value in Archival Materials (1982). In M.F. Daniels & T. Walch (Eds.), A Modern Archives Reader: Basic Readings on Archival Theory and Practice (pp. 91-99). Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration.