Society of American Archivists, Chicago, IL Session 408: Cooperation Makes it Happen: Collaboration in Museum Archives Museum archives and other small shops are facing the challenges of the 21st century creatively by joining forces and collaborating with colleagues. This panel discussion examines six innovative projects that utilized shared resources and mutually beneficial goals, resulting in a greater overall impact for participants than could have been achieved by one archives going it alone. The speakers, who represent a variety of repositories, examine both in-house projects and collaborations between and among institutions. Susan K. Anderson, Chair, Philadelphia Museum of Art Michelle Elligott, Museum of Modern Art Susan J. von Salis, Harvard Art Museum David M. Dwiggins, Historic New England Alfred Lemmon, CA, Historic New Orleans Collection Courtney Smerz, Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries

1. Forty‐TWO Heads are Be1er then One:
PACSCL’s Approach to a Cross Repository Processing Program
SAA Na9onal Conference, Chicago
August 24, 2011
Courtney Smerz, Project Archivist

2. PACSCL Hidden Collec<ons
Processing Project
• Funded by Council on Library and Informa9on Resources’
“Cataloging Hidden Special Collec9ons and Archives” ini9a9ve
• 23 par9cipa9ng repositories across Philadelphia, PA
– 6 museums, 7 universi9es, 3 historical socie9es, 4 private
ins9tu9ons, 3 public ins9tu9ons
• Eliminate processing backlog and expose hidden collec9ons
– Processed 123 hidden collec<ons of manuscripts and archives
– Converted 83 Legacy finding aids to EAD
• Centralized processing team
– Project Manager, Project Archivist, several teams of part‐9me
student processors, 1 part‐9me cataloger

3. Experimenta<on in Processing
We processed 3,897 linear feet in 2 years
• Employed “MPLP” strategy as introduced in Greene’s and
Meissner’s 2005 ar9cle “More Product, Less Process…”
– Tested on collec9ons ranging the 17th to the 21st centuries
– Goal of 2 hours per linear foot 9meframe
– Combined philosophy of MPLP with Robert Cox’s 2010 “Maximal
Processing…” to make the most of our limited 9me with collec9ons
– MPLP is not just for 20th century business records anymore
• Used The Archivists’ Toolkit database
• Used student labor
– Developed “Archival Boot Camp” to train students

4. PACSCL Finding Aids Site
Created a central online finding aid site
– Developed by the University of Pennsylvania
Libraries
– Finding aids from all 23 repositories in one place
– Keyword and faceted searching, and searching in
individual repositories
– Will one day become primary research point in
Philadelphia
findingaids.pacscl.org

6. 42 Heads are be1er than 1
23 Repository Reps
+ 2 full 9me project staff
+ 16 part‐9me student
processors
+ 1 part‐9me student
cataloger
_______________
42 Stakeholders

7. The Benefits of a Project Team
• Centralized staff necessary
to ensure adherence to
standards across 23
ins9tu9ons
– Holly Mengel, Project
Manager
– Courtney Smerz, Project
Archivist
– Teams of student processors

8. The Benefits of a Project Team
• Project manager and
Project archivist
– Developed processing
program
– Ensured standards upheld
across 23 repositories
– Created processing plans for
each collec9on
– Developed training program
– Edited finding aids
– Completed all authority work
• Student Processors
– Processed a majority of the
collec9ons
– Thoughaul collaborators

9. Commi1ee Work
Shared knowledge, shared experience
• Standards Commibee
• Oversight Commibee
• Technical Commibee
– Most ac9ve commibee
– Developed MS Excel spreadsheet, for
impor9ng data into The Archivists
Toolkit

10. Reality of Large Scale
Collabora<on
• Collabora9ve
par9cipa9on varied
– Student supervision
– Coordinated on‐site tech
support
– Provided feedback
• Project team facilitated
collabora9on
– solicited feedback

11. PACSCL‐Wide Benefit
• 206 unhidden
collec9ons region wide
– 7+ at each repository
• 3,897 LF of backlog
eliminated
• Finding Aid Site
– Researcher benefit
– Repository benefit

12. Benefit Beyond PACSCL
• Developed workflow for elimina9ng backlog in archives
faster
– Outlined on project website: clir.pacscl.org
• Developed training program to get the most out of
student workers
• Established guidelines for effec9ve selec9on of
collec9ons for MPLP processing
• Project blog disclosed successes and failures of MPLP
processing and The Archivist’s Toolkit

13. Seek Partnerships Everywhere!
Despite our differences,
We all have hidden
collec<ons and
processing backlog in
common!
clir.pacscl.org
findingaids.pacscl.org
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www.pacscl.org