Appendix C. Partnerships In Accessioning

INTERNAL PARTNERSHIPS

Selectors and curators: In addition to identifying and pursuing collections of interest, selectors and curators are responsible for transmitting insights discovered in conversations with collection sources. As key partners in the process, they may be candidates for full(er) instruction on accessioning; at minimum, their professional networks and their relationships with collection sources and researchers may be tied directly to the availability of acquisitions. Clear, open, and thorough communication between the selector and accessioning archivist throughout the acquisition process determines how effectively the “product” of accessioning meets the needs and expectations of all parties.

Legal counsel: Institutions generally have an individual or team whose responsibility it is to protect the legal interests of the collecting institution. Enlisting their services to navigate rights and restriction requests and to facilitate transfer of legal custody of materials is a natural fit. Externally, lawyers may represent donors or their estate and may participate in the completion of the deed of gift and other legal instruments related to the transfer of custody.

Development and outreach: Development and outreach staff are likely connected to existing and past collections donors and may have a sustained interest in pursuing future gifts. They may also be involved with courting potential new donors. New donors frequently have questions about what will happen to the materials they donate; a relationship with the development team can provide a window into the mechanics of the accessioning process, leading to a shared understanding of what is possible—and what is realistic—for all parties from the outset. Partnering with the outreach team to announce new acquisitions can also lead to promotion of the collection, marketing initiatives, and other donor-cultivation activities.

Administration: Management and leadership may have varying levels of knowledge about and understanding of accessioning work. The more administrators understand the time, skills, and resources required for effective and efficient accessioning, the more they can support the needs of the program.

IT: Whether supporting content and collection management systems, maintaining servers, or overseeing processes for file transfer, ingest, or asset management, accessioning work is highly dependent on an adequate and responsive technology infrastructure. Partnering with IT colleagues to build and maintain an environment that supports this work while also staying compliant with the institution’s security and overall IT policies, procedures, and capacities allows both sides to operate with confidence.

Preservation and conservation: Whether internally or externally, the accessioning archivist needs a strong relationship with a partner who can assist in stabilizing, treating, and otherwise addressing condition concerns encountered during accessioning. Internal partners may want to engage in treatment with some urgency to prevent further damage to incoming acquisitions and the people, spaces, and collections in proximity. Collecting institutions without in-house support should have a list of external vendors or local conservation resources on hand.

Reference and public services: If a repository allows access to accessioned collections, the accessioning archivist will have the most knowledge about the collection’s content and should be considered a valuable resource in facilitating collection use by researchers. Reference archivists can support the work of accessioning archivists by relaying information encountered during researcher use of the accessioned materials—often to the benefit of enhancing or correcting provisional information compiled during accessioning.

Technical services: Processing archivists, digital archivists, catalogers, and other allied colleagues are partners in many aspects of accessioning work, and they should be part of a regular continuum of shared knowledge and support.

Stacks managers: Accessioning generates new materials for collections management personnel to manage. Prior notification to and communications with those involved in stacks maintenance is a necessary courtesy, and discussions relating to space constraints or upcoming shelving needs are also beneficial to both staff and collections.

Facilities: Facilities and operations staff may be tasked with establishing storage or work spaces, moving materials or furniture, maintaining climate controls, cleaning, and other physical tasks necessary to support accessioning work.

Records managers: In addition to ensuring legally compliant retention of records, staff fulfilling records management responsibilities can be effective partners in identifying administratively and historically significant records for long-term preservation. Records managers may have the authority to establish expectations with records creators for how records are housed and described for deposit into offsite records storage or transfer to an archival repository. Clarifying accessioning workflows with records managers can facilitate the receipt of archival materials in appropriate containers and with reusable descriptive metadata, saving the accessioning archivist labor during the intake and stabilization phases of accessioning.

Student workers, interns, and volunteers: The time-consuming work of provisional treatment, housing, labeling, and inventorying often falls on casual workers such as students, interns, and volunteers. Participation in accessioning tasks allows them an opportunity to interact closely with materials of interest while also deepening their overall experience in archives. Student workers and interns in particular can be excellent collaborators in building practical training manuals and documentation, but their behind-the-scenes efforts should be acknowledged through skills development, learning outcomes, opportunities to present on their work, and acknowledgment in finding aids or other work products. Students or volunteers are not a replacement for paid professional and paraprofessional staff. Internships should be compensated through course credit or a stipend. Unpaid internships are a barrier to achieving equity in the workplace and are highly discouraged.

EXTERNAL PARTNERSHIPS

Collection creators and donors: Perhaps the partners most closely connected to the materials, creators and donors are valuable information resources about their collections. Intake interviews and follow-up discussions can both clarify an acquisition’s context and illuminate its content. Creator, donor, and accessioning archivist—as well as the collection materials—all benefit from an open exchange of information about both the materials and the process of making them accessible to researchers.

Sellers: Accessioning archivists may work directly with sellers to acquire collection materials via purchase on behalf of a curator or selector. Sellers may have additional contextual knowledge about their collections that can support the accessioning archivist’s work.

Movers and shippers: Careful packing and delivery ensures collection materials are received in the best possible condition. Additionally, movers and shippers may interact directly with collection donors or sellers, and thus unofficially represent the institution during the packing and shipping process.

Vendors: An accessioning archivist or their parent archival unit may work with external vendors to buy software, applications, or hardware to facilitate processing born-digital material, digital preservation, and discovery.

Users: All accessioning work is ultimately for the purpose of providing end users with access to materials. They can enhance accessioning work by providing additional information, such as notes on content or feedback on the ease of use of an accessioned collection.

Records subjects: While the accessioning archivist will likely never interact with the subjects of the collections they accession, gratitude for their contributions to the historical record can be expressed through authentic and considerate representation in archival description and promotional activities.