SPEC Kit 314: Processing Decisions for Manuscripts &Archives · 117
Challenge 1: Challenge 2: Challenge 3:
Staffing is low and getting much lower.
Student assistants and even FTE are
being reduced for all departments due
to institutional funding.
The turn-around time for having either
some level of processing or familiarity
with a collection is declining as the rate
of reference use increases. Development
and promotional use of archival
materials often require collections
to be user ready soon after they are
accessioned and listed as summary
descriptions on the Web site.
Newly trained library and information
school graduates have much theoretical
sophistication and knowledge but
less ability to apply theory to actual
practice than earlier generations of
new professionals. New graduates
need a better knowledge of general
historical method and the substance of
history that was commanded by earlier
generations of starting archivists and
manuscript curators.
Staffing issues. The level of staffing
impacts how much is processed
each year and the degree to which
we prepare collections for use. Staff
turnover impacts the ability to process
complex, large collections. It takes a
long time to train a skilled processor. Or
if outsourcing the work, it still requires
expert staff to check for quality control
and handle coordination.
Funding. We regularly ask donors to
provide funding for processing as part
of the acceptance of large collection
gifts. We also actively seek external
funding that will help to support the
staffing, supplies, or digitization needed
to process important collections and to
make them accessible to users.
Media obsolescence. We lack the
equipment to transfer or read older
forms of magnetic and electronic media.
Staffing level. Influx of material. Supplies and budget constraints.
Staffing levels. Growth of backlog. Lack of physical storage and work space.
Staffing, the economic downturn is
effecting the state budget.
Time. Financial resources.
Staffing: we do not have a dedicated
manuscript/archive processor. The person
who does the most processing—the
assistant curator of manuscripts—has
many other responsibilities.
Staffing. We have a very large collection
of over 100,000 items and a staff of 4.5
FTE. This makes doing everything we
need to do a challenge every single day.
We rely heavily on student assistants.
Money to continue digitizing and to
keep refreshing already created digital
content. This makes the pressure for
grant seeking very high.
Preservation of endangered moving
image and sound items in our collection.
We have a small budget for preservation
that pays for some chemical
preservation of our film collections and
lab transfers for some audio and video
collections. We have 4 freezers that are
almost completely full with films that are
suffering from vinegar syndrome that
need preservation attention. This is an
extension of challenge 2 — money.
Challenge 1: Challenge 2: Challenge 3:
Staffing is low and getting much lower.
Student assistants and even FTE are
being reduced for all departments due
to institutional funding.
The turn-around time for having either
some level of processing or familiarity
with a collection is declining as the rate
of reference use increases. Development
and promotional use of archival
materials often require collections
to be user ready soon after they are
accessioned and listed as summary
descriptions on the Web site.
Newly trained library and information
school graduates have much theoretical
sophistication and knowledge but
less ability to apply theory to actual
practice than earlier generations of
new professionals. New graduates
need a better knowledge of general
historical method and the substance of
history that was commanded by earlier
generations of starting archivists and
manuscript curators.
Staffing issues. The level of staffing
impacts how much is processed
each year and the degree to which
we prepare collections for use. Staff
turnover impacts the ability to process
complex, large collections. It takes a
long time to train a skilled processor. Or
if outsourcing the work, it still requires
expert staff to check for quality control
and handle coordination.
Funding. We regularly ask donors to
provide funding for processing as part
of the acceptance of large collection
gifts. We also actively seek external
funding that will help to support the
staffing, supplies, or digitization needed
to process important collections and to
make them accessible to users.
Media obsolescence. We lack the
equipment to transfer or read older
forms of magnetic and electronic media.
Staffing level. Influx of material. Supplies and budget constraints.
Staffing levels. Growth of backlog. Lack of physical storage and work space.
Staffing, the economic downturn is
effecting the state budget.
Time. Financial resources.
Staffing: we do not have a dedicated
manuscript/archive processor. The person
who does the most processing—the
assistant curator of manuscripts—has
many other responsibilities.
Staffing. We have a very large collection
of over 100,000 items and a staff of 4.5
FTE. This makes doing everything we
need to do a challenge every single day.
We rely heavily on student assistants.
Money to continue digitizing and to
keep refreshing already created digital
content. This makes the pressure for
grant seeking very high.
Preservation of endangered moving
image and sound items in our collection.
We have a small budget for preservation
that pays for some chemical
preservation of our film collections and
lab transfers for some audio and video
collections. We have 4 freezers that are
almost completely full with films that are
suffering from vinegar syndrome that
need preservation attention. This is an
extension of challenge 2 — money.
