Processing Decisions for Manuscripts & Archives, SPEC Kit 314 (November 2009)

Hackbart-Dean, Pam; Slomba, Elizabeth

62 · Survey Results: Survey Questions And Responses
10. What factors are considered to determine which level of description to use for a given collection
or part of a collection? Check all factors that are considered. Check up to three of those factors
that are the most important in determining which level of description to use for a given collection.
N=73
Factor Considered
N=73
3 Most Important Factors
N=72
Size of the collection 70 38
Patron access needs 67 48
Anticipated high-use 66 39
Staffing level 59 30
Homogeneity of the collection 57 25
Preservation risks 51 8
Backlog 44 6
Processing policy 43 11
Other factor(s) 15 7
Please describe the other factor(s) and how much weight it has in determining which level of
description to use for a given collection. N=14
1. Staff reference needs. 2. Existence of supporting documentation and detailed description, especially from purchased
literary manuscripts. 3. Value of items within a collection. 4. Need to highlight strengths or unique items within a
collection.
As above, gifts in kind requiring tax receipt are usually described in more detail to ensure accurate fair market value. File
lists for university records required to comply with provincial privacy legislation.
Complexity of organization — perhaps of equal weight as homogeneity of the collection.
Digitization potential ease of processing arrangement — how well arranged was the collection when it came through
the door?
Does the processing staff have the language ability or subject knowledge required to process a collection?
Expected privacy or security issues condition of collection (lacks order) formats found in the collection are all important
factors.
Funding from a donor, grant, or other source. Or, likelihood that collection will be scanned.
If a fonds/collection is being considered for an application for certification as Canadian cultural property a much more
detailed description is required. In some cases, such as AV items, technical issues may also be considered.
If a register and container list is being created for a modern manuscript collection, we describe at the folder level. If no
register is being created, then we describe only at the collection level with a MARC record. No register will be created
when there is such a homogeneity to the materials that a cataloging record is sufficient description.
Other: donor agreements format (i.e., photographs, ledgers, or particular special objects, etc.)
Restrictions (closed series) often mean no description is given.

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SPEC Kit 314: Processing Decisions for Manuscripts & Archives (November 2009) resources

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62 · Survey Results: Survey Questions And Responses
10. What factors are considered to determine which level of description to use for a given collection
or part of a collection? Check all factors that are considered. Check up to three of those factors
that are the most important in determining which level of description to use for a given collection.
N=73
Factor Considered
N=73
3 Most Important Factors
N=72
Size of the collection 70 38
Patron access needs 67 48
Anticipated high-use 66 39
Staffing level 59 30
Homogeneity of the collection 57 25
Preservation risks 51 8
Backlog 44 6
Processing policy 43 11
Other factor(s) 15 7
Please describe the other factor(s) and how much weight it has in determining which level of
description to use for a given collection. N=14
1. Staff reference needs. 2. Existence of supporting documentation and detailed description, especially from purchased
literary manuscripts. 3. Value of items within a collection. 4. Need to highlight strengths or unique items within a
collection.
As above, gifts in kind requiring tax receipt are usually described in more detail to ensure accurate fair market value. File
lists for university records required to comply with provincial privacy legislation.
Complexity of organization — perhaps of equal weight as homogeneity of the collection.
Digitization potential ease of processing arrangement — how well arranged was the collection when it came through
the door?
Does the processing staff have the language ability or subject knowledge required to process a collection?
Expected privacy or security issues condition of collection (lacks order) formats found in the collection are all important
factors.
Funding from a donor, grant, or other source. Or, likelihood that collection will be scanned.
If a fonds/collection is being considered for an application for certification as Canadian cultural property a much more
detailed description is required. In some cases, such as AV items, technical issues may also be considered.
If a register and container list is being created for a modern manuscript collection, we describe at the folder level. If no
register is being created, then we describe only at the collection level with a MARC record. No register will be created
when there is such a homogeneity to the materials that a cataloging record is sufficient description.
Other: donor agreements format (i.e., photographs, ledgers, or particular special objects, etc.)
Restrictions (closed series) often mean no description is given.

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SPEC Kit 314: Processing Decisions for Manuscripts &Archives · 63
Restrictions, either donor applied or locally applied. Need to be extra careful when known privacy issues exist. Donor
restricted collections are negatively weighted until restrictions expire.
The nature of the collection is a major factor in determining what is done.
We are currently moving through medium size collections (20 boxes or more). Generally at the folder level. Larger
collections would lend themselves more towards series and box level. Security — high value of collections processed to
item level. Donor or grant funding may impact level of processing.
Please briefly describe the most important factors for determining each level of description. N=70
Item-level N=67
Access to non-textual material and application for cultural property certification.
Anticipated high use and/or single-folder collections.
Anticipated high-use, monetary value, patron access needs, staff available.
Archives: format — used only for photographs, audio/visual RBSC: patron needs and the nature of the collection.
Codex manuscripts and most miscellaneous manuscripts are described at the item level, because they are not part of a
larger collection.
Correspondence indexing is done for significant authors, artists, and local historical collections.
Depends on what type of collection.
Done if required, rare.
Factors checked above are constantly applied against all levels.
For individual manuscripts, particularly literary works, and early works (pre-1800).
For rare/valuable manuscripts.
Generally items acquired singly or of exceptional importance.
High information value high artifactual value.
High research interest photograph collections that can be described.
High research value, digitizing, format.
High value (intrinsic or monetary).
If and only if the monetary value of each item is extreme and/or patron needs warrant, and then only if the collection is
small enough that we can allocate time and resources needed.
Importance and digitization.
Importance of materials and anticipated use.
Item level description presupposes uniqueness requiring that an extraordinary breadth of detail be provided to the
patron.
Item level is reserved for one-off items such as important letter or autograph.

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SPEC Kit 314: Processing Decisions for Manuscripts & Archives (November 2009) resources

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SPEC Kit 314: Processing Decisions for Manuscripts &Archives · 63
Restrictions, either donor applied or locally applied. Need to be extra careful when known privacy issues exist. Donor
restricted collections are negatively weighted until restrictions expire.
The nature of the collection is a major factor in determining what is done.
We are currently moving through medium size collections (20 boxes or more). Generally at the folder level. Larger
collections would lend themselves more towards series and box level. Security — high value of collections processed to
item level. Donor or grant funding may impact level of processing.
Please briefly describe the most important factors for determining each level of description. N=70
Item-level N=67
Access to non-textual material and application for cultural property certification.
Anticipated high use and/or single-folder collections.
Anticipated high-use, monetary value, patron access needs, staff available.
Archives: format — used only for photographs, audio/visual RBSC: patron needs and the nature of the collection.
Codex manuscripts and most miscellaneous manuscripts are described at the item level, because they are not part of a
larger collection.
Correspondence indexing is done for significant authors, artists, and local historical collections.
Depends on what type of collection.
Done if required, rare.
Factors checked above are constantly applied against all levels.
For individual manuscripts, particularly literary works, and early works (pre-1800).
For rare/valuable manuscripts.
Generally items acquired singly or of exceptional importance.
High information value high artifactual value.
High research interest photograph collections that can be described.
High research value, digitizing, format.
High value (intrinsic or monetary).
If and only if the monetary value of each item is extreme and/or patron needs warrant, and then only if the collection is
small enough that we can allocate time and resources needed.
Importance and digitization.
Importance of materials and anticipated use.
Item level description presupposes uniqueness requiring that an extraordinary breadth of detail be provided to the
patron.
Item level is reserved for one-off items such as important letter or autograph.

SPEC Kit 314: Processing Decisions for Manuscripts &Archives · 61
The default is folder level, but we assess the level of processing for each collection.
The folder level is the most common level in the CSWR, however within a collection we also do series descriptions.
Usually we include series information and then file-level information, but it depends on the size, complexity, and content
of the collection.
We almost never go beyond the folder level. We’re currently working on digitizing a complete collection with an NHPRC
grant, but that is also only folder-level description.
We customarily process to folder level. In some cases, most often in photograph collections and in collections that
include (or consist of) printed ephemera, we describe at the item level. For manuscript collections consisting of a single
item, we ordinarily create an item-level MARC record.
We have done all four types of processing at different times and for different reasons. We are presently engaged in
generating at least collection-level records for all 2000+ of our collections. Our policy for new collections is to create a
collection-level description with corresponding MARC record immediately upon accession. If possible we will also do a
series-level description. Folder-level processing is prioritized based on a variety of factors, and the vast majority of our
inventories are done to the folder level. We rarely perform item-level processing though some of our collections that
were done years ago are item level, today it would be done only in unusual circumstances (e.g., such access is required
to make the collection useful to researchers). We have no problem with different parts of a collection having different
levels of description, as appropriate.
We have often described at a consistent level throughout the collection, sometime we describe at the series and box
levels rather than the folder level in cases where the materials are rather undifferentiated or homogeneous.
We have processed and described the correspondence series to item level for a particular collection other series are
processed and described to the folder level for this collection.
We may use all of the levels within a given collection if warranted.
We most frequently process to the folder level. We may process at the series or collection level for collections, or parts
of collections, that we expect to be infrequently used. If our assessment is wrong and the collection is used, then we
can do additional processing. We very rarely process at the item level. Any level may be used for any part of a collection.
Most frequently, a whole series would be described at any one level.
We no longer process at the item level with the exception of images, but it had been done in the past at this institution.
Most full collection processing will go to the folder level. In recent years, we have decided to strategically process at the
collection, series, or folder level as expected/known research demands indicate.
We rarely use item-level cataloging any more folder level consists of folder titles used in the container lists.
We use all levels needed to make the materials usable.
We use all levels of description. Item level is used only for very important material.
We usually use series and folder, but in our Manuscripts unit we sometimes use series, folder, and item level.
Within a collection only one level is used.
Within a collection we process to the series level if it has high demand or probably will have high usage and is worthy
of a preliminary inventory. If we process at the collection level, the materials get either a summary description or a full
preliminary-inventory with folder-level control.

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Page 7Survey Results click to expand contents

Page 123Representative Documents click to expand contents

Page 125Job Description of Processing Decision Maker click to expand contents

Page 129Job Descriptions of Processing Staff click to expand contents

Page 133Processing Policy click to expand contents

Page 137Processing Procedures Manuals click to expand contents

Page 143Processing Worksheets click to expand contents

Page 151Procedures for Prioritizing Processing click to expand contents

Page 155Collecting Processing Statistics click to expand contents

Page 159Sample Statistics Reports click to expand contents

Page 163Selected Resources click to expand contents

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