Definition

The process of creating a finding aid or other access tools that allow individuals to browse a surrogate of the fonds or collection to facilitate access and that improve security by creating a record of the collection and by minimizing the amount of handling of the original materials.

Source: Richard Pearse-Moses, A glossary of archival and records terminology. Society of American Archivists. 

Introduction

Description is akin to library cataloguing but archivists also have to ensure descriptions are organized according to a pre-defined intellectual arrangement. The Canadian Rules for Archival Description define description as "the recording in a standardized form of information about the structure, function and content of records."

Related terms

Arrangement

Finding aid