Arrangement & Description
Processing of archival material involves first arranging then describing it.
Arrangement involves analysing the records to see who or what created them, how and why they were created, what functions and activities they document, when they were created and what their physical nature is. While the records themselves provide the most concrete source for this information published histories and the recollections of the records creators themselves will also provide valuable insight to this procedure.
Description is the process of explaining that arrangement so that people - researchers, administrators, whomever - who want to use the records know where to look to find the answers to their questions. Arrangement, therefore, is the process of studying the records to discover how they relate to the entities that created them. Description is the way of sharing that knowledge with everyone else.
Taken from Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences by John D. McDonald and Michael Levine-Clark
Arranging Archival records
Book | Chapter 4 of A Manual for Small Archives by AABC
Web | Archives and Records Management Resources by Oliver W. Holmes (1964)
Web | Archives - What they are and how to use them by Iowa State University Library
Article | Putting the Parts of the Whole Together: Systematic Arrangement of Archives by Terry Eastwood
Article | Thinking Outside of the Box by Dan Davies
Article | Archivalterity: Rethinking Original Order Heather MacNeil
Slides | Archival Arrangement & Description by Becky Simmons
Article | Processing for Access Uli Haller
Describing archival records
Book | Chapter 5 of A Manual for Small Archives by AABC
Blog | How Do Archivists Describe Collections? (or, How to Read a Finding Aid) by PAMA
Article | The Development of Descriptive Standards in Canada: A Progress Report by Kent M. Haworth
Article | Grounding Archival Description in the Functional Requirements for Evidence by David Bearman & Wendy Duff
Article | The Reclamation of Archival Description: The Canadian Perspective by Wendy Duff & Kent M. Haworth
Article | Managing the Present: Metadata as Archival Description by David A. Wallace
Article | Metadata Strategies and Archival Description: Comparing Apples to Oranges by Heather MacNeil
What information needs to be recorded in order to ensure that the longevity of a digital record? Let's talk about Rules for Archival Description and PREMIS.
How do you manage photographs when you cannot determine who owned them or who holds copyright over them or you don't know anything about the content of the photograph itself.
RAD & Examples of Archival Finding Aids
Guide | Archival Processing Physical Arrangement: A guide to processing archival collections by George A. Smathers Library
Sample | Mark Winston Fonds by SFU Archives on AToM
Sample | Creating Finding Aids by Benson Ford Research Center
Sample | Oral History Processing Manual by Brooklyn Historical Society
Template | Reference Publication Identification Worksheet Template for Data Entry
Template | Reference Inventory Identification Worksheet Template for Data Entry
Labelling your Boxes, Folders and Files
Web | Traditional Knowledge (TK) Labels by Local Contexts
Web | Archival Processing: Final Steps by George A. Smathers Libraries
Web | Holdings Maintenance: Boxes by U.S. National Archives
Book | Packing, Labeling, and Shelving at the National Archives By MORRIS RIEGER