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Purpose: These procedures will outline the process for barcoding archival collections for both ArchivesSpace and Sierra databases. 

Tools

  • ArchivesSpace

  • Sierra

  • Airtable

  • Barcodes

Preparation

Prior to work in ArchivesSpace and Sierra, the EAD finding aid and collection level MARC record will need to be present in the ArchivesSpace and Sierra databases. 

Student Technicians should gather as much of a collection onto a cart at a time as possible.  It may be necessary to only work on one collection at a time.  Please leave shelf markers noting that the collection has been removed for barcoding.

Sign up for a Collection in Airtable

  1. Open “Barcoding, Tracking, Issues, and Stats” airtable base.

  2. Click on the “Sign Up” tab

  3. Select the view for the SCA district you are working on - typically Manuscripts or Photographs

  4. Look for a collection with the Current Status of “Unassigned”

  5. Sign up for a collection by recording information in:

    1. “Name” field

    2. “Date Assigned” field

  6. Change the Current Status field to “In Progress”

Note that this only needs to be done when starting a new collection. If a collection takes more than one shift to complete, please start all subsequent work in the “Track Your Cart” procedures.

Pull the items from the shelf

  1. Take a cart to the SCA stacks and pull all items for the collection (or as many as will fit on the cart).

  2. Review the numbering for the boxes and determine if any are missing. If they are, consult with the Archival Cataloging library (specific items in a collection can be located in the vault, cold storage, oversize, or the BARN - or might be in use by a patron.)

    1. If boxes or items are found in other locations than the main shelving, create a flag for each item with the location that it came from - this will be used in the ArchivesSpace process

  3. Leave markers on the shelves indicating your name, date, and the items you have removed from the shelves.

Track Your Cart

For each cart pulled, please track the cart information in Airtable.

  1. Open the “Barcoding, Tracking, Issues, and Stats” airtable base.

  2. Click on the “All Tracking” tab

  3. Select the view for the SCA district you are working on - typically Manuscripts or Photographs

  4. Add the following to a new line:

    1. Name

    2. Area (should self-assign if you are in the correct view)

    3. SignUp ID (this is linked to the Sign Up tab, search for your collection and link to it)

    4. First Call No. on Cart - for archival collections, the full call number is not necessary, the Box number of the first box on the cart will suffice

    5. Last Call No. on Cart - for archival collections, the full call number is not necessary, the Box number of the last box on the cart will suffice

    6. Date Started

Once this is recorded, proceed to the “Sierra-Add Items” process.

Sierra Process

Prior to beginning on the process, set up the appropriate item template for the district being worked on by going to Admin → Record Templates. Change the record type to “Item” and select the appropriate template for the collections being worked on:

  • CollMSS = main manuscript collections

  • FileMSS = file manuscript collections

  • Photo = photograph collections

Note that collection level records should be ingested into Sierra prior to the barcoding process. If a collection level record is not available, notify the Archival Cataloging Librarian.

Add Items

Open the Sierra program, go to the Cataloging function.

  1. Look item up the collection in Sierra by searching for the collection name using the title search (use the collection exactly as written) or the call number (using the local/Dewey search, note that starting 0’s may be left off of the call number index). Note that, unless cataloged at the item level, most collections should have a “collection level” record only.

  2. When collection record is found, click on the record

    1. Typically the first item record should display automatically, click on Summary and select the “item” from the “View” drop down menu to see all items attached to the bibliographic record

    2. Typically one item record will exist for every collection. Edit the first item record with the call number and barcode for the first box (or barcoded item) and create new item records for all boxes or barcoded items in the collection

      1. To create a new item, click on “Attach new item”

    3. Add the following information

      1. Barcode (replace the SPCL barcode, if present)

      2. Call number

        1. Collection call number should be recorded in the Call No. field, for example: COLL MSS 6 or CAINE MSS 12

      3. Volume

        1. Put the box or volume numbers in the Volume field, for example: Box 2

      4. Ensure that the location is correct for the item in hand

        1. Manuscripts

          1. imanu = main manuscript collection

        2. Photographs

      5. Click on Save

    4. If bib record does NOT exist:

      1. Leave a comment in Airtable and tag the Archival Cataloging Librarian (Paul), who will address it as needed

  3. Physically process item with appropriate material:

    1. Barcode archival boxes by affixing to front of box above the label

      1. Barcode other items per the rules established for that collection,,

  4. If the item is not a box, follow regular barcoding physical processing procedures for books or items

ArchivesSpace Process

Verify Collection Hierarchy and Metadata

EAD finding aids should be ingested into ArchivesSpace prior to the barcoding process.  Due to legacy collections, Student Technicians will likely need to restructure portions of the collection hierarchy in the guide prior to the barcoding process.

  1. Search for the Resource record in ArchivesSpace

    1. For call numbers, search with “UUS_” then the collection number. If needed, search by the collection number.

      1. Note that there multiple kinds of records in ArchivesSpace. Select the “Resource” record (see far left column in the results list to identify the record type)

  2. All archival object records need the following information.  With the exception of the “restrictions apply”, it is rare that the data needs to be added or modified, but review to make sure the ArchivesSpace data matched the item in hand. Consult with the Archival Cataloging Librarian if anything is different.

    1. Basic Information:

      1. Title: If the title is not already inserted, transcribe from the box, folder, or item.  (This is rare)

      2. Level of Description: Record the level that this archival object is at:

        1. Series = Series

        2. Sub-series=Sub-series

        3. Box = File

        4. Folder = File

        5. Item = item

      3. Restrictions apply? : Click this box if there are any restrictions on the archival object (indicated on the box)

      4. Dates

        1. Label: Creation

        2. Type: Inclusive Dates

        3. Begin: Year (or YYYY-MM-DD, if known)

        4. End: Year (or YYYY-MM-DD, if known)

        5. Certainty: Approximate

        6. Era: ce

        7. Calendar: Gregorian

Verifying an instance in an Archival Object Record

ArchivesSpace should automatically be creating a top contain for all boxes. It does this by identifying unique box numbers in a collection. Typically, before barcoding, instances will look like this:

For any collection that has more than one series AND those series start over with the box numbering, ArchivesSpace will assume the Box 1 in each series is the same box. This looks like:

If this situation occurs, contact the Archival Cataloging Librarian.

Editing A Top Container

ArchivesSpace will predict which items are top containers by using the encoded information from the EAD guide. This will usually be the box, but may also be a folder or a book. Simply edit the existing top container by:

  1. Click on the box (or top container item) in the hierarchy at the top of the page

  2. Scroll down to the “Instance”

  3. Click on the blue highlighted Top Container

  4. Click “View”. (Note that this opens a new browser tab.)

  5. Click “Edit”

  6. Select the container profile

    1. Common container profiles are listed under “A” - most boxes will be half or full, letter, legal, or bank sized boxes

    2. If the container is not displaying, click on “Browse” and use the search or facets to find the box

  7. Add the barcode

  8. Link to the appropriate location

    1. For manuscripts, the options are:

      1. Manuscripts - Main Shelving

      2. Manuscripts - Oversize

      3. Vault

    2. For Photographs, the options are:

      1. Photographs - Main Shelving

      2. Photographs - Oversize

      3. Cold Storage

      4. Vault

    3. Note that if a box or item is listed in ArchivesSpace but is not the shelf, set the location as “Missing” and record in the note field “Not found during barcoding process, [DATE]”

  9. Click on “Save Top Container”

  10. At this point, the browser tab can be exited. Return to the main list and repeat for every box (or barcoded item) in the collection.

Adding Top Containers (NOTE: RARELY NEEDED)

If a top container is not present or needs to be created, please consult with the Archival Cataloging Librarian who will recommend a course of action. If the creation of a top container is recommended, the process looks like this:

  1. Click on the box (or top container item) in the hierarchy at the top of the page

  2. Scroll down to the “Instance”

  3. Select “Create” from the Top Container field in the Instance Record

  4. Fill out the following fields:

    1. Select the container profile

      1. Common container profiles are listed under “A” - most boxes will be half or full, letter, legal, or bank sized boxes

      2. If the container is not displaying, click on “Browse” and use the search or facets to find the box

    2. Add the barcode

    3. Link to the appropriate location

      1. For manuscripts, the options are:

        1. Manuscripts - Main Shelving

        2. Manuscripts - Oversize

        3. Vault

      2. For Photographs, the options are:

        1. Photographs - Main Shelving

        2. Photographs - Oversize

        3. Cold Storage

        4. Vault

      3. Note that if a box or item is listed in ArchivesSpace but is not the shelf, set the location as “Missing” and record in the note field “Not found during barcoding process, [DATE]”

Adding Instances (NOTE: RARELY NEEDED)

For every box that does not have an instance, one can be created by:

  1. Select the “Add Container Instance” under the Instance field.

  2. Input the following:

    1. Type: Mixed Materials

    2. Top Container:

      1. If a top container is already created, search for the container using the barcode assigned to it

      2. If no top container exists, following the instructions in the next section

  3. If the Instance is for the Top Container, no other data is needed.  Click on “Save Archival Object”

  4. If the Instance is a child of a Top Container (such as folder inside of a box), add the child type and indicator information

  5. If the Instance is a grandchild of the Top Container (such an item inside of a folder inside of a box where the BOX is barcoded), add both the child type and indicator as well as the grandchild type and indicator information

Track Your Cart (again)

When a cart is finished, track your progress by doing the following:

  1. Return to the “Barcoding, Tracking, Issues, and Stats” airtable base.

  2. Click on the “All Tracking” tab

  3. Select the view for the SCA district you are working on - typically Manuscripts or Photographs

  4. Find the line for the cart that was created when the cart was first pulled

  5. Update the following fields:

    1. Date Finished

    2. Reviewed - record the total number of boxes (or items, if barcoding at the item level) on the cart

    3. Barcoded - record the total number of boxes (or items, if barcoding at the item level) that were barccoded

    4. Sierra Edits Made - count all item records that previously existed that were modified during this process (usually just one per collection)

    5. Sierra - Items Added - count all new item records that were created during this process

    6. Sierra - Items Deleted (not common) - record all item records that existed prior to this process that needed to be deleted

    7. AS Containers added - record the number of containers EDITED or CREATED in this process

    8. AS Reordering lines - record the number of lines (objects) that needed to be moved during this process. If not certain, give best estimate

    9. AS - Added or Removed Boxes from Inventory (not common) - check this field if you added boxes or removed existing boxes from the inventory

    10. All Stats - search for and select the correct name-month-year combination

Once this is recorded, reshelve items. If more remains for the collection, pull another cart’s worth of material and return to “Track Your Cart” to record it.

If this completes the collection. proceed to the next process.

Close out the Collection in Airtable

IF the collection has been completed, return to the “Sign Up” tab and record the date in the “Date Finished” tab. Leave any comments or notes in the “Comments” field (this can also be done throughout the process). Please note if boxes were missing from the shelf. Then choose a new collection to work on.

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