History of accessioning at Dalhousie
- Creighton Barrett
Introduction
- Dalhousie University Archives has maintained an accession register since 1970.
- In the early 1970s, the Archives accessioned new acquisitions and materials that were donated prior to 1970.
- Some of these gifts are documented in pre-1970 President's Reports and administrative records in the Dalhousie Libraries fonds.
- Records have been kept by various methods:
- 1970-2002: Paper accession records
- 2002-2011: Microsoft Access accession database
- 2012-2018 : Archivists’ Toolkit accession database
- 2018-present: ArchivesSpace database
Paper accession records (1970-2002)
The earliest paper accession forms allowed the University Archives to gain basic intellectual and administrative control over each accession. The following table describes the fields on the accession form:
| Accession form field | Description |
|---|---|
| MS Number | The Unique Identifier for the fonds or collection of which the accession forms a part. |
| Accession Number | The Unique Identifier for the accession. Accession numbers are formed by combining a four-digit year and three-digit sequential number (i.e., YYYY-nnn). |
| Date of Accession | The date the accession record was created. |
| Union List of Manuscript (ULM) Number | The number assigned to the accession so it could be included in the Union List of Manuscripts in Canadian Repositories (ULM). The ULM was a comprehensive listing of manuscript collections in Canadian repositories. |
| Unit Title | The title of the accession. Generally, this is the title of the fonds, but in some cases, other titles are provided. |
| Biographical/Administrative Information | Fields for basic information about the creator (e.g., birth and death dates, principal occupation, and residence). |
| Type | The type of materials included in the accession. Generally this was “original” or “copies,” but there were no best practices in place and the usage of the field has evolved over the years. |
| Inclusive Dates | The date range of the records. |
| Extent | The extent of the records. The extent is either indicated in linear measurements (feet or metres), or by counting the number of pages, photographs, objects, etc. |
| Description | A brief explanation of the scope and content of the materials in the accession. Some records have highly detailed descriptions, others have no description at all. Many accessions also have “inventories” which can be found in the case file. |
| Donor or Creating Agency | The name of the donor or agency that created the records. The paper form also includes a field for address information. |
| Restrictions | A field for indicating any access restrictions placed on the records by the donor (e.g., diaries closed for 25 years). |
| Archivist | A field for indicating the name of the archivist that accessioned the materials (i.e., filled in the form). |
The paper accession form allowed Archives staff to assign collection IDs, accession numbers, ULM numbers, and related accession numbers.
Microsoft Access accessions database (2002-2011)
In 2002, the Archives began using a custom Microsoft Access database to create accession records. The relational database allowed the Archives to centralize accession records, biographical sketches, file inventories, and other information that had previously been kept in separate paper documents. Data from the paper accession forms was manually transferred into the Access database.
The database form captured all of the information previously recorded on the paper forms, but also provided additional features that allowed the database to serve as the Archives' first collections management tool.
Archivists' Toolkit accession database (2011-2018)
In January 2011, the Archives began using the open-source application Archivists' Toolkit to create accession records. Data from the Microsoft Access database was manually transferred into the Archivists' Toolkit. During the migration, paper accession records were checked again and additional information was transcribed from other documents in the /wiki/spaces/APM/pages/16351495. After Dalhousie merged with the Nova Scotia Agricultural College, staff in the MacRae Library began using the Archivists' Toolkit for accessioning archival material. The database was converted into a "multi-repository" database like the Archives Catalogue.
Information in Archivists' Toolkit accession records is spread across several tabs. For example, the basic information tab:
And the Accession Notes tab:
ArchivesSpace database (2018-present)
In March 2018, the Archives migrated its archival accession records from the Archivists' Toolkit into ArchivesSpace v2.3.1, an open-source application that merged features from the Archivists' Toolkit and another application called Archon. Data from the Archivists' Toolkit was migrated into ArchivesSpace using the ArchivesSpace data migrator utility.
ArchivesSpace has similar functionality to the Archivists' Toolkit but it is a web-based application with a different look and feel. The browse view:
ArchivesSpace does not use a tabbed view. Information is presented on one page with a table of contents in the left sidebar:
