SPEC Kit 314: Processing Decisions for Manuscripts &Archives · 113
Challenge 1: Challenge 2: Challenge 3:
Funding, mainly related to staffing and
training.
Archival management of electronic
records.
Acquisition and maintenance of archival
storage space for collection materials.
Getting all of the archivists to follow the
same set of procedures.
Backlog. Migrating all of our collection data into
AT.
Getting everyone to understand the
concept of levels in fully processing
collections.
Our inability to process everything at the
item-level and the growing expectation
that things will be processed at the
item-level and that digital surrogates
will also be available.
Accurate application of DACS.
Grant money needed but not flexible in
matching processing priorities.
Large collections make it more
challenging or sometimes impossible to
use interns, students.
Realistic ways of handling electronic
resources, technical skills in transferring
and description, naming conventions for
repositories.
Great volume of recently received
material.
Great volume of older backlog. Availability of staff and staff time.
Having enough staff to devote to
processing new collections in addition
to serving patrons and keeping up with
the influx of new accessions to existing
collections.
Implementing EAD. Selecting a new software for collection
management.
How to handle sensitive materials. How to handle born-digital materials. How to implement program of
digitization of whole collections in a
reasonable, smart, and sustainable way.
In our case, discerning the appropriate
roles for the heads of our custodial
units (University Archives, HCLA, and
Rare Books/Manuscripts), vis-a-vis our
Processing Coordinator, has been a
challenge.
Correctly anticipating the research value
of any given collection relative to what
level of descriptive detail will provide
adequate access to a collection is an
ongoing challenge.
Recruiting/retaining staff with an ability
to do descriptive work. Many staff find it
a chore and dislike it, and finding those
who have an instinct/ability for this sort
of work makes them valuable indeed.
Increasing volume of acquisitions from
private donors and university offices in
all formats and media,
Decreasing no. Of staff to manage new
and existing holdings,
Access to and preservation of born
digital archival materials created by
private donors and university offices,
Insufficient staff devoted to manuscript
and archival processing,
Huge and increasing volume of gift-
in-kind donations of manuscripts and
archival material which lead to ever
growing backlogs,
Unrealistic donor expectations re
processing timelines,
Insufficient staff to make inroads into an
ever-increasing backlog,
Inability to process certain collections
due to lack of language skills on the
part of the processing staff,
Challenge 1: Challenge 2: Challenge 3:
Funding, mainly related to staffing and
training.
Archival management of electronic
records.
Acquisition and maintenance of archival
storage space for collection materials.
Getting all of the archivists to follow the
same set of procedures.
Backlog. Migrating all of our collection data into
AT.
Getting everyone to understand the
concept of levels in fully processing
collections.
Our inability to process everything at the
item-level and the growing expectation
that things will be processed at the
item-level and that digital surrogates
will also be available.
Accurate application of DACS.
Grant money needed but not flexible in
matching processing priorities.
Large collections make it more
challenging or sometimes impossible to
use interns, students.
Realistic ways of handling electronic
resources, technical skills in transferring
and description, naming conventions for
repositories.
Great volume of recently received
material.
Great volume of older backlog. Availability of staff and staff time.
Having enough staff to devote to
processing new collections in addition
to serving patrons and keeping up with
the influx of new accessions to existing
collections.
Implementing EAD. Selecting a new software for collection
management.
How to handle sensitive materials. How to handle born-digital materials. How to implement program of
digitization of whole collections in a
reasonable, smart, and sustainable way.
In our case, discerning the appropriate
roles for the heads of our custodial
units (University Archives, HCLA, and
Rare Books/Manuscripts), vis-a-vis our
Processing Coordinator, has been a
challenge.
Correctly anticipating the research value
of any given collection relative to what
level of descriptive detail will provide
adequate access to a collection is an
ongoing challenge.
Recruiting/retaining staff with an ability
to do descriptive work. Many staff find it
a chore and dislike it, and finding those
who have an instinct/ability for this sort
of work makes them valuable indeed.
Increasing volume of acquisitions from
private donors and university offices in
all formats and media,
Decreasing no. Of staff to manage new
and existing holdings,
Access to and preservation of born
digital archival materials created by
private donors and university offices,
Insufficient staff devoted to manuscript
and archival processing,
Huge and increasing volume of gift-
in-kind donations of manuscripts and
archival material which lead to ever
growing backlogs,
Unrealistic donor expectations re
processing timelines,
Insufficient staff to make inroads into an
ever-increasing backlog,
Inability to process certain collections
due to lack of language skills on the
part of the processing staff,
