Now we are approaching descriptive chaos. We have so many tools available and so many process options that it is very difficult to make sense of them, and even harder to make choices amongst them in the context of our institutional missions and resources and the absence of any qualitative data. Choices must be made since very few institutions can afford to use all the tools that are now available, and now the choices made even at very basic levels of processing impact the rest of the work flow. The challenge must be to incorporate new roles and standards into the processing routine so that finding aids, or the data behind them, can be used to derive many different hardcopy and electronic products.
I recently tried to map out all the descriptive tools and products our department currently uses, or is trying to implement, and the data flow is mind boggling. We currently have internal databases for accessioning and inventory, database and word processing files for finding aids, a repository guide for photographs, database index records for brief item/small group level description, filename management for digital image files of photographs, USMARC catalog records going primarily to our local online catalog and OCLC but also appearing in RLIN, microfilmed finding aids indexed in ArchivesUSA, and portions of finding aid text on the web. We are looking at implementing EAD for web access and delivery and also discussing Resource Discovery Format and/or Dublin Core descriptions for direct internet discovery of digital image files. The matrix of tools and levels of description (item, group, collection, repository) is becoming unmanageable and it is not clear that any of these tools can justifiably be eliminated. But what happens when we are called upon to justify the costs?
Can one repository do it all? Is there any research out there that says any one repository should do it all? It is clear that libraries and archives are moving toward a descriptive environment that facilitates resource discovery through a variety of channels and access points. Given what we believe to be the fast changing information needs and seeking behavior of our traditional patrons and the storied "virtual" patrons we will reach through the internet, we probably do need to facilitate multiple access paths. I would greatly prefer to do this on the basis of solid research rather than our tradition of supposition.
Abundance is simultaneously a blessing and a curse. We have the potential to greatly expand the accessibility of archival resources to new and needful audiences, but determining process costs and a sense of the value added by different descriptive activities is increasingly difficult. With new technologies we have many new opportunities to build evaluative mechanisms into our systems so we can begin to capture the raw data we need to evaluate use (please don't talk to me about web page hits--show me printout and download figures, puhleese!). With data in hand we can begin the arduous and sometimes embarrassing task of testing our processes, but only archivists can do this research and the time is indeed upon us. Let us establish funding programs for basic research, leverage the good graduate research coming from our archival education programs, and establish collaborations between groups like the Description Section and the Reference, Access and Outreach Section to learn about the value of archival description. Only then will we make good descriptive choices in this age of abundance!
The second proposal, endorsed by the Manuscript Repositories Section
and Technical Subcommittee on Descriptive Standards, looks at, "Tobacco,
Human Radiation Test, and Asbestos Litigation: The Impact of Current Events
on Archives Programs." Bob Horton, in "Good Cases Make Bad
Law: Learning from the Minnesota Tobacco Records Depository," will give
a status report about the Minnesota Tobacco Records Depository focusing
on how to define and articulate archival concerns, particularly description
and access, in a situation where other concerns have dominated the debate.
Kathleen O'Connor's presentation, "'Non-burn or Glow' Litigation
Research: Making Your Existing Finding Aids Work," will explain how
to use existing finding aids to the best advantage when faced with asbestos
and human radiation testing research needs. Karen Benedict
will chair and comment on the papers. The session originally included
Greg Bradsher discussing the process and collaborative effort with
researchers to refine and redescribe finding aids to access information
on Nazi gold. His paper instead will be featured in one of the three
plenary sessions.
At the business meeting of the ACDA 1994 Summer Conference, the project of creating a thesaurus was proposed and the committee, co-chaired by Kinga Perzynska, of the Catholic Archives of Texas, and Christine Taylor, of the Archdiocese of Seattle, was established. The Thesaurus Committee prepared a grant proposal and in May, 1998, the ACDA learned of the approval of the financial co-sponsorship of the project by Raskob Foundation for Catholic Activities, Inc. of Wilmington, Delaware.
The project to prepare the controlled vocabulary of Catholic terms should be finished by the beginning of the year 2000 and should result in the publication of the Thesaurus of Catholic Diocesan Terms. It will provide a resource, mainly for archivists of diocesan collections, to aid in gaining intellectual control over materials. The thesaurus will allow for standardized descriptions and cataloging of the collections in Catholic diocesan archives and other Catholic repositories, as well as enhanced access by diocesan staff and researchers to those collections. It is planned for use in conjunction with Library of Congress Subject Headings, Art and Architecture Thesaurus, and Thesaurus of Graphic Materials.
The Catholic Archives of Texas announces the opening of the records of the Texas Catholic Conference (TCC) in July 1998. The TCC, one of thirty state conferences in the United States, is currently the only state conference to have processed their records and made them available for scholarly research. CAT's archivist, Kinga Perzynska, embarked on this groundbreaking project because she saw the value of TCC's records to researchers seeking information about the post-Vatican II Church in Texas. Perzynska applied for funding to the Scanlan Foundation of Houston, which approved grant monies for the two-year project. Project archivist Margaret Schlankey was hired to appraise, arrange, and describe the records.
State Catholic conferences proliferated after the Second Vatican Council. The Council strongly recommended increased cooperation among bishops in the same region or state to further the Church's goals and provide better service to the Church's members. Four state conferences existed prior to the Council in order to monitor legislation in their state governments. Texas bishops discussed the need for the Church to present a unified front in public policy decisions prior to Vatican II, but it wasn't until they met in Rome during the Council that they decided to form a state conference.
Correspondence, reports and formal statements are just a few of the records that document TCC's work in public policy. The records also show the organization's numerous other activities. Acting from a strong belief in ecumenism, the Conference involved itself in cooperative works with other Christian denominations and members of the Jewish faith. TCC was the first state conference to bring together lay and clerical leaders from each of the dioceses in Texas to discuss their work and coordinate activities on a statewide basis. Records of the TCC's Education Department provide evidence of the changes in curriculum and administration in Catholic schools over the past 35 years. Volunteers for Educational and Social Service (VESS), an organization that provides volunteers from around the country to schools, hospitals, and other social service organizations in Texas, exists under the auspices of TCC and its materials are also included in this record group.
A retention schedule for the TCC offices was produced to guide future
record transfers to the Archives. A Guide to the Records of the
Texas Catholic Conference is available for $10.00 (including shipping
and handling) from the Catholic Archives of Texas, P.O. Box 13124 Capitol
Station, Austin, TX 78711, 512-476-6296.
SAA's Lesbian and Gay Archives Roundtable (LAGAR) announces the availability of Lavender Legacies: Guide to Sources in North America. The guide contains detailed information on the collections and access procedures of more than fifty archival repositories across the U.S. and Canada, both community-based and in mainstream institutions, which hold significant archival collections pertinent to LGBT history and culture. The guide is available at: http://www.archivists.org/units/lagar/guide.htm.
The Dayton Art Institute is conducting a one-year, grant-funded
project to process institutional records. The project staff will
review previously processed materials, perform holdings maintenance, collect
and process materials within various departments of the museum, assist
with processing a backlog of materials, and assist with drafting policies
and procedures. The Lewiston Public Library in Lewiston, Maine,
plans a project to process the records of the W.S. Libbey Co.
Funded by the City of Lewiston and Maine Historical Records Advisory Board,
the project is designed to prepare the Libbey collection for public access.
The W.S. Libbey Co. collection dates from the 19th century and documents
a major manufacturing enterprise in central Maine. The Peabody
Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology will carry out a three-month
summer project to process the Dr. Hallam H. Movius Papers, a large
anthropology and archaeology collection. The papers consist of over
187 linear feet of field diaries and journals, bibliographic and data cards,
professional correspondence, annotated maps and site drawings, as well
as photographic materials documenting Professor Movius' distinguished career
in European and Asian archaeology. Union Theological Seminary,
Burke Library, in New York City, will process the papers of the
Fund for Theological Education, a collection comprising ca. 150
cubic feet. The FTE, established in the early 1950s, became a leading
force in support of excellence in theological study and the wider inclusion
of African Americans and Hispanic Americans in theological education.
The project was scheduled to begin in March and to be completed in approximately
four months.
Please submit items for future issues to Hodges@library.uta.edu, or to:
Ann Hodges
The University of Texas at Arlington
University Libraries, Special Collections Division
P.O. Box 19497
Arlington, Texas 76019-0497
Fax: (817) 272-3360
Phone: (817) 272-3000, ext. 4963
| The Society of American Archivists has published Encoded Archival
Description: Context, Theory and Case Studies. This book
makes available in a single volume the twelve articles that were published
in the summer and fall 1997 issues of the American Archivist (vol.
60, nos. 3 and 4). The authors of the six context and theory papers
all were members of the original EAD development team. They explore
the context within which EAD was developed, the essentials of its structured
approach to encoding finding aid data, and the role that EAD is meant to
play in individual repositories and for the archival profession as a whole.
The six case studies were written by archivists at Harvard University,
the Library of Congress, the Minnesota Historical Society, the University
of Vermont, the University of Virginia, and Yale University.
Edited by Jackie Dooley and published by Society of American Archivists (1998). 178 pp., soft cover. Product Code 349. $40 (SAA members $30) plus shipping (U.S.A. $6.75; Canada $9.50; all other countries $10.50). Prepayment required. Visa and MasterCard welcome. |