The Road to Best Practices

FINDING THE PATH

The National Best Practices for Archival Accessioning Working Group officially launched in 2021, emerging from a sea change in the profession that began to articulate the importance of accessioning and demand a more sophisticated understanding of accessioning praxis. Despite this development, individuals performing accessioning often find themselves isolated and under-supported, combating misunderstanding of the necessity and complexity of their efforts. There were no profession-wide best practices for archival accessioning.

Rosemary K. J. Davis (Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University) and Meaghan O’Riordan (Archives, Moravian Church in America, Southern Province) began organizing within the profession toward that end. Beginning with a research project in 2019 to build a network of archival accessioning peers, Davis and O’Riordan developed their project into broader initiatives, building a community of practice around archival accessioning labor. This included:

• Petitioning the Society of American Archivists (SAA) for an accessioning-focused section, leading to the addition of accessioning to the topical focus of the former Acquisitions and Appraisal Section. The section’s title was amended to “Accessioning, Acquisitions, & Appraisal Section” in Winter 2022,

• Applying for IMLS funding to host a nationwide meeting for accessioning practitioners, and

• Submitting a proposal to the SAA Standards Committee to form a working group for the formal development of best practices for archival accessioning.

Concurrent with Davis and O’Riordan’s work, Audra Eagle Yun (University of California, Irvine, Special Collections and Archives) gathered archivists together to demystify and guide the work of archival accessioning—its history, practice, impact, and its many forms—in an SAA-published volume. Published in 2021, Yun’s Archival Accessioning was the first SAA publication dedicated exclusively to accessioning labor, and it served as an additional catalyst to support the formal development of accessioning best practices.

THE NATIONAL BEST PRACTICES FOR ARCHIVAL ACCESSIONING WORKING GROUP

In an effort to address the lack of best practices, the SAA Standards Committee approved the application to create the National Best Practices for Archival Accessioning Working Group (ABP) in 2021, with sponsorship from the Accessioning, Acquisitions, & Appraisal Section. In the spring, Davis and O’Riordan issued a call for applicants to join this working group, requesting information about professional experience, personal identity, and motivation to improve accessioning work. Thirty archival practitioners were selected from more than 90 applicants. In the selection process, Davis and O’Riordan prioritized applicants who were professionally qualified and self-identified as members of marginalized communities, resulting in an inclusive group demographic. Both new professionals (0–2 years of experience) and seasoned practitioners (10+ years of experience) were well represented in the working group, as were varying perspectives of professional practice within historical societies, corporate archives, public and private colleges and universities, public and federal libraries, and philanthropic foundations.

With Davis and O’Riordan as initial co-chairs, ABP was charged for a three-year term and divided into five subgroups, each with its own leader and topical focus. Subgroup leaders laid the foundations beginning in June 2021, and the full working group kicked off in October 2021. The first year of ABP focused primarily on establishing a leadership cohort and fostering community among the new members, a crucial step for a thirty-two-person group spread across the country. ABP’s second year focused on accomplishing two main goals: (1) developing a comprehensive first draft of the best practices, and (2) organizing an in-person, multi-day summit for all members of the working group.

The summit was funded by an IMLS National Leadership Grant for Libraries in the amount of $245,963, received by Davis and O’Riordan in 2022. ABP members convened in Providence, Rhode Island, in May 2023. The IMLS award funded ABP participants’ lodging, meals, and transportation. The three-day summit resulted in a new structure for the best practices, a draft combining texts generated by the subgroups, and many deep professional connections. The final year of ABP focused on revision of the Best Practices, circulation for public feedback, submission to the SAA Standards Committee for approval and adoption, public programming, and community engagement.

Working group members received two stipends, one for each year of the grant, to compensate them for their efforts. The development and maintenance of standards, guidelines, and best practices demand time, energy, emotional labor, and administrative skill on the part of the individuals who contribute to these efforts.

THE ROAD AHEAD

Though the work of the ABP ends with the formal submission of the Best Practices to the SAA Standards Committee, ABP members have built a suite of accompanying educational materials to support the sharing and adoption of these best practices by the professional community. It is the intention of this group that the Archival Accessioning Best Practices will be reviewed, considered, and updated on a regular schedule, so that they may grow and evolve with the profession. Future revisions and enhancements will be made to maintain these recommendations as a useful and applicable guide for the professional community.