Tech Services student manual

Background

This student manual started as a student processing manual written by Processing Archivist Madison White during the 2018-2021 Access to Collections (A2C) Project. It was heavily revised and expanded to include all student archival accessioning and processing by Archival Processing Assistant Grace Phippard (Class of 2024) as part of a Fall 2023 Special Studies project, with substantial assistance from Archival Accessioning Assistant Claire Clusin (AC 2024) and other student assistants. In 2024, Megan O'Shea updated the accessioning section with revised workflows for student workers.

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Contents for Tech Services student manual

• Smith College Special Collections

  • Our repositories
  • Workspaces
  • Student expectations

• Overview

  • The records life cycle
  • Structure of collections
  • How much time to spend

• Accessioning

  • Accessioning workflow for students

• Processing

  • Overview of processing workflow

• Appraisal

  • Restricted materials
  • Deaccessioning

• Arrangement

  • Intellectual vs physical arrangement
  • Rehousing

• Description

  • Collection level description
  • Series and sub series level description
  • File level description
  • Finding aid notes

• Appendices

  • CD and DVD ripping
  • How to read a processing plan
  • Record values