A year with the accessioning archivist and stacks manager

What has the first year as Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA) Accessioning Archivist and Stacks Manager been like? Busy.

I work with new incoming materials that the collection archivists have worked with donors to acquire or with rare booksellers to purchase. SCUA is home to many collections that document not only university research areas and history but Iowa history, too. These can include photos, paper and digital documents, books, serial publications, and audiovisual materials. The collections are then used in instructional sessions for a variety of classes and by researchers.  

Once the materials have arrived at SCUA physically I complete what’s called the “accession record”. This is a document that allows SCUA to establish legal, physical, and intellectual control over the materials. These are important in assigning levels of access and use that we can provide to patrons. I record what’s in the boxes, who gave us the materials, the story behind the donation, and other information. This is helpful for the processing archivists when they create the finding aid—what researchers use to locate what they’re interested in—as a complete accession record gives them a deeper level of detail to work with when processing. I work with our Preservation Lab to make sure newly acquired materials are in good condition. On the stacks management side, I work with people in Library Facilities and Preservation to make sure our physical spaces meet the environmental conditions needed to slow deterioration of the materials. 

There have been a lot of interesting collections that have come in this year. Letters from World War II veterans, scrapbooks from the last 100 years, and a notebook (pictured) from a nursing student in 1918 are some of the things we’ve added. Browse our collections here, and stop by during Reading Room hours if something catches your interest.