Processing PhilosophyAs the Carolina Academic Library Associate for Special Collections Technical Services, I came to appreciate the role arrangement and description play in making archival materials accessible to users. I understand the appropriate best practices and standards needed to process archival materials. From nineteenth-century correspondence to born-digital materials, I have experience processing a variety of formats, and have worked to establish physical and intellectual control over collections as small as 1 item and as large as 81 linear feet. Finally, I transfer the knowledge gleaned from the collections during processing to the collection’s DACS-compliant EAD finding aid, links to which are below.
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Sample Collections
School of Law Records, 1923-2005 (#40046)
This collection is 81 feet of linear shelf space and documents the administration of and programs in the University of North Carolina School of Law. My first experience with university records groups, processing this collection required applying a new records retention schedule to records created and accessioned prior to its implementation as well as careful screening for potentially sensitive and restricted information.
William Watlington Dow Papers, 1967-2011 (#05612)
This collection is 18.5 feet of linear shelf space and documents Dow's professional career. Processing this collection was my first opportunity to work with a collection from the start: analyzing it to determine its organization, arrangement, preservation, and description needs; developing a processing plan; physically arranging and describing the collections; and creating a DACS-compliant, EAD-encoded finding aid.
Souls Grown Deep Foundation Photographic Collection, 1987-2001 (#20491)
This is an ever-growing collection that currently has over 7,300 35mm color slides in the finding aid. Working with this collection required examining files relating to the provenance of the collection; reviewing pertinent historical literature, including Souls Grown Deep: African American Vernacular Art of the South; analyzing materials to determine content; physically arranging and describing slides by artist and artwork; and developing and documenting a processing workflow for future research assistants working with the collection.
This collection is 81 feet of linear shelf space and documents the administration of and programs in the University of North Carolina School of Law. My first experience with university records groups, processing this collection required applying a new records retention schedule to records created and accessioned prior to its implementation as well as careful screening for potentially sensitive and restricted information.
William Watlington Dow Papers, 1967-2011 (#05612)
This collection is 18.5 feet of linear shelf space and documents Dow's professional career. Processing this collection was my first opportunity to work with a collection from the start: analyzing it to determine its organization, arrangement, preservation, and description needs; developing a processing plan; physically arranging and describing the collections; and creating a DACS-compliant, EAD-encoded finding aid.
Souls Grown Deep Foundation Photographic Collection, 1987-2001 (#20491)
This is an ever-growing collection that currently has over 7,300 35mm color slides in the finding aid. Working with this collection required examining files relating to the provenance of the collection; reviewing pertinent historical literature, including Souls Grown Deep: African American Vernacular Art of the South; analyzing materials to determine content; physically arranging and describing slides by artist and artwork; and developing and documenting a processing workflow for future research assistants working with the collection.
