INTRODUCTION TO ARCHIVAL ORGANIZATION AND DESCRIPTION

archival collections offer challenges for those charged with their care and management

associated with other types of cultural heritage artifacts. Each is unique having been created at a

particular time , by a particular organization or individuals, as the result of a particular activity or

activities. The particular intersection of people, time, actions and events that generate a

collection cannot be replicated. If the cultural records contained in each collection is to be made

accessible it is necessary to examine, organize and describe each collection individually . And

this must be done with particular attention and sensitivity to the context in which the collection

was created, and its provenance.

Over the years archivists have developed principles governing their actions as custodians of

these unique collections. These principles have evolved into common practices that are both

flexible enough to accommodate the variety of inherent archives and standardized enough to

provide the consistency that is required, particularly in the increasingly network electronic

environment. The archival profession has evolved a number of vehicles for educating current and

aspiring archivists in subtitles of this work

Formal training is offered in colleges and universities, training opportunities abundant,

national and regional archival conferences, a substantial bibliography on archival practice have

developed and internship on the job training provide necessary hands-on experience.

Archivists work through the sequence of activities of processing a collection, and illustrate the

decision-making process that engages the archivist in this work

DEFINITION OF ARCHIVE

A collection of items which form evidence of activities of a person or institution. A building

where historical records are kept are also called archive centres or record offices or

repositories.any papers that are old or use infrequently.the act of adding records to an archive .

COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES are archives that preserve materials relating to a

specific academic institution.

CORPORATE ARCHIVES are archival department within a company or corporation that

manages and preserves the record of that business.

School record management by Valentina Umeri /mar 29,2022/TIPS/0 comments

School records refers to official documents, books and files containing information that is highly

crucial about actions and events that take place in schools. Some organization have continued to

use paper and pen , the traditional methods of record keeping, for their documentation processes.

Electronic, the focus is on managing time , costs and resources. Schools have various documents

and files to manage and thus records management is essential compared to traditional records-

keeping , software-based school records management system offer several advantages which

includes :

1. The ability to pull reports at all levels : schools should place a great deal of importance on

keeping school records. Records keeping system ensures that schools get information whenever

they need it and that they destroy the information routinely when no longer needed
2. It also enables learning institutions to function daily and meet the legal and financial

requirements. School records must serve as primary information tools that sustain the school and

aid in achieving its educational goals and objectives.

Generally speaking there are two types of records management systems. Traditional

paper records management system and electronics management system .

There are three primary reasons for documenting the collections of cultural heritage materials

a. To facilitate users discovery or materials

b. To establish the authenticity of holdings

c. To satisfy administrative needs

To make a collection useful to researchers, the archivist must undertake a variety of

activities that will make a content accessible both intellectually and physically. The following

activities which are known as processing are necessary in order to provide that access

1. Analysing the materials to identify their origin, structure and content, assembling

documentation.

2. Organizing and arranging the materials. Organization and arrangement

3. Creating finding aids to provide access to materials descriptions conveying information to

users. As the archivists examines the collection, he or she gathers information about it's structure,

at the same time , he or she analyses the contents of the collection, which may in turn inform the

final organization and arrangement.

The physical processing of collections includes four related activities

1. Organizing

2. Arranging

3. Housing

4. Conserving.

These may be performed as distinct and separate actions that are fully completed one after

another in sequence or is more often the case , different activities as the collections is examined

1. ORGANIZATION : Organization relates to the manner in which the materials have been

subdivided into smaller units . For example , record groups are divided into series and series into

sub-series. It is the underlying conceptual order of the collections. As the archivists examine the

collections , the order and organization is noted as information about types of material

information about the type of materials information recorded there in and people , events and

activities documented.The manner in which items are grouped and organized can reveal new

information that assist in the understanding and interpretation of the collection. All of this

information is brought to bear on how the collection is ultimately organized and arranged

2. ARRANGEMENTS: Arrangements indicate the pattern of filling ( e.g. alphabetical

chronological etc) or materials within the unit described once the organizational relationship

among the various units are sub units of the collection have been established, the archivist

decides how to order the individual items within those unit.

3. HOUSING: Determining the proper size and type of container for different materials is

another task performed at this time , size , condition and format are all factors in deciding upon
what type of container is appropriate. Repackaging the materials into archive appropriate acid-

free boxes .archival processing and folders is another important component of the physical

processing of a collection.

4. CONSERVATION: Making decisions about which materials should receive special

conservation treatment occurs at this stage which might also include activities such as removing

metallic fasteners and copying fragile and brittle items ( including newspapers and thermofax

documents) to save wear and tear on the original.

REFERENCES

1. https://www.getty.edu/publication/resource/virtual _0892365455.PDF

2. Introduction to archival organization and description Micheal.J.Fox , Peter.L.Wickerson .

Getty information institution.1998

3. Wusu.H.Oluwaseyi : The use of library ISBN 978-282976-6 2016