For immediate release:
November 3, 2009
For more information, contact:
Lee Anne George
Association of Research Libraries
202-296-2296
leeanne@arl.org
Washington DC—The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has published Processing Decisions for Manuscripts & Archives, SPEC Kit 314, which examines the current policies and practices for processing manuscript and archival collections in Special Collections. This SPEC Kit is organized around four general areas: personnel, job responsibilities, and training; processing policies, procedures, and priorities; impacts on processing decisions; and management tools.
By the May deadline, responses had been submitted by 76 of the 123 ARL member libraries for a response rate of 62%. Half of the responding institutions have a combined special collections/archives department and all but a few of these process all types of rare books, rare serials, manuscripts, and archival materials. Twenty-seven respondents (36%) indicated that the cataloging of rare books and rare serials was done in another department or unit within the library, usually cataloging or technical services. Only five respondents indicated that manuscripts and archival materials were processed outside of special collections/archives.
The survey responses speak to the classic issues of the management of processing: how to process collections efficiently but yet adequately so that collections are usable with minimal meditation; how to balance demands for more description and item-level cataloging (digitization) with initiatives to make more collections available (“more product, less processing”); and how to manage staff effectively and to assess processing progress.
From the survey results it is clear that the respondents agree on core principles for processing (such as what is fully processed collection, what makes a good processor, and the challenges facing processors), but in practice the application of these principles are tempered by institutional practices, traditions, and resources. This highlights that the application of archival methods and theories may be more art than science. Archival managers and processing archivists need to have judgment and critical thinking skills (and the freedom to apply them) as an essential part of their tool sets in order to balance the various competing critical factors in managing the processing process.
This SPEC Kit includes documentation from respondents in the form of processing policies and procedures, processing worksheets, statistics, and job descriptions.
The table of contents and executive summary from this SPEC Kit are available online at http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/spec-314-web.pdf.
SPEC Kit 314, Processing Decisions for Manuscripts & Archives
Pam Hackbart-Dean and Elizabeth Slomba • November 2009 • ISBN 1-59407-826-2 • 168 pp. • $45 ($35 ARL members)
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Designed to examine current research library practices and policies and serve as resource guides for libraries as they face ever-changing management problems, each SPEC Kit contains a summary analysis, survey questions with tallies, pertinent documentation from participating libraries, and a reading list and Web site references for further information on the topic.
2009 SPEC Kit subscription (ISSN 0160-3582): $225 ARL member/$295 nonmember, six issues per year, shipping included (additional postage may apply outside North America).
The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of 124 research libraries in North America. Its mission is to influence the changing environment of scholarly communication and the public policies that affect research libraries and the diverse communities they serve. ARL pursues this mission by advancing the goals of its member research libraries, providing leadership in public and information policy to the scholarly and higher education communities, fostering the exchange of ideas and expertise, facilitating the emergence of new roles for research libraries, and shaping a future environment that leverages its interests with those of allied organizations. ARL is on the Web at http://www.arl.org/.