Processing Plans

In many cases, effective accessioning practices will provide enough description for a user to successfully use the collection. In other cases, and for a variety of reasons (user demand, repository priorities, funding, etc), collections will need to be more fully processed.

 

If a collection needs more descriptive or physical attention than the level given at accessioning, archivists should create a processing plan to detail their appraisal decisions and describe the needed archival intervention.  

 

Processing Plan

What: A processing plan lays out the work needed for a collection to be accessible and usable at a determined processing level.

Why: A processing plan documents the rationale for work performed on a collection, and allows for transparency of practice among archivists and between archivists and users. Processing plans can function as internal documentation and provide continuity in times of staff change. They can assist in the project management of work on a particular collection, especially a large one where work is shared by a number of staff and/or student workers. In many cases, research done for processing plans can be used in (or used as) a finding aid.

How: A processing plan should be created for each collection worked on by an archivist. Parts or the entirety of the processing plan can be created at the point of accessioning, and the document may allow for input by staff in different departments or units, etc. It can flow from or incorporate other formal documentation created during accessioning, collection development considerations, etc. A plan can also be created by professional staff with work outlined to be followed by student employees or paraprofessional staff.

In addition to basic information about the size, provenance, and physical condition of a collection, a processing plan should document archivists’ appraisal decisions based on the collection’s general research value, as well as any other special values to the repository. Archivists can record the level of description they feel is appropriate to each collection, or to each part of the collection. Archivists must assess restriction issues within the collection, if any, and suggest reasonable practices or methods to balance access to the material with the needs of the donor/repository/institution.

A processing plan should be a living document - it can be revised during the course of the processing project if necessary, and good practice includes returning to the processing plan at the end of the processing project to record additional decisions made, time spent, lessons learned, etc. Copies of processing plans can be kept in a collection control file for future review.