Susan K. Soy Austin History Center Changing Times: Changing Traditional Processing Practice Teaming Up to Process Collections: Closed Thursdays at the Austin History Center Society of Southwest Archivists San Antonio, Texas May 28, 2004 Photo of boxes containing papers from the four processing projects. [Austin History Center CT001]

May 28, 2004Susan K. Soy Austin History Center Environmental Scan Pressures to perform -- budget cuts Staff cooperation Volunteers Support organization Unique closure due to budget cuts and organization advocacy

May 28, 2004Susan K. Soy Austin History Center Planning & Setting Criteria Priorities for acquisition –African American materials -- gaps in collection –Hispanic American materials -- gaps –Austin Business -- high tech industry gaps –Old Favorites -- heavily used collections

May 28, 2004Susan K. Soy Austin History Center Collections Selected Moya Papers –First Hispanic elected official in our County - well organized with 160 notebooks in chronological order Villager Photographs –Ongoing acquisition of about 800 items each year with no organization Tracor Business –Austin’s 1st Fortune 500 company; many public information office photos, official documents McCallum Papers –Amazing and popular woman; suffragette; Secretary of State

May 28, 2004Susan K. Soy Austin History Center Collections Added Flower Hill -- Heritage Society records Susan Toomey Frost -- EAD nearly complete Pease Papers -- volunteer interest Student projects -- many unfinished, but nearly finished projects Photolab processing to accompany program development MAIN -- electronic and paper records

May 28, 2004Susan K. Soy Austin History Center Reporting to one another Archives Processing Manual Learning EAD Reporting to one another -- weekly reports // Processing log books Muddling through thick and thin

May 28, 2004Susan K. Soy Austin History Center Using Volunteers Preserving the history of the community will enable future generations to understand and connect their lives to the past. The Austin History Center archives provide a valuable record of how ideas and community goals have prospered and changed over time in Travis County. AHC volunteer working on a preliminary finding aid. [Austin History Center CT010] Removing plastic sheets, separator sleeves, and sorting photographs [Austin History Center, CT006]

May 28, 2004Susan K. Soy Austin History Center Closed Thursdays Web site to explain what is going on Invited Moya, editor of the Villager, former employees, new volunteers Political literature from the Moya Collection. [Austin History Center, AF- Biography] Photo of Richard Moya and Sue Soy - AHC Archivist/Manager. [Austin History Center CT002]

May 28, 2004Susan K. Soy Austin History Center Web Site Reference Points Accession and register materials received from the creator or donor Create a preliminary inventory for the material briefly describing the essential features of the donation Preserve the material; a process that includes refoldering, preservation copying, and rehousing the materials while maintaining the original order of the material Arrange and fully inventory the material Create the creator sketch (biographical notes) and the scope and content notes to provide an overview of the materials and other elements of the finding aid Label the boxes and place in the archives Create the Encoded Archival Finding Aid and place on the web site Announce availability of the finding aid

May 28, 2004Susan K. Soy Austin History Center Labor and Supply Costs McCallum $ 7,945 Villager $ 8,769 Moya $10,170 Tracor $10,835 Rate for volunteer service $17.19/hr

May 28, 2004Susan K. Soy Austin History Center Results October - May 2004 –Complete except for EAD -- Moya & Villager –Frost EAD -- under final review –Pease, Tracor & McCallum underway –Flower Hill initial inventory done –MAIN underway

May 28, 2004Susan K. Soy Austin History Center Humor and Flexibility working together Smaller than many but larger than some On the verge of developing the electronic repository Huge opportunities

May 28, 2004Susan K. Soy Austin History Center Reference List A braham, Terry, Stephen E. Balzarini, and Anne Frantilla. “What Is Backlog Is Prologue: A Measurement of Archival Processing.” American Archivist 48 (Winter 1985): Austin History Center, Austin Public Library. Archives and Manuscripts Manual, version 4.6. Prepared by Rebecca Rich-Wulfmeyer with updating by Austin History Center staff. Austin History Center: Austin, TX (2004) (accessed May 29, 2004).

May 28, 2004Susan K. Soy Austin History Center Reference List Austin History Center, Austin Public Library. Closed Thursdays. Prepared by Amaris Vigil with revisions by Austin History Center staff. Austin History Center: Austin, TX (2004) Accessed May 29, Bain, George W. “Visualizing the Archival Work Process: A Survey and Interpretation.” Archival Issues: Journal of the Midwest Archives Conference 21, no. 1 (1996):

May 28, 2004Susan K. Soy Austin History Center Reference List Bauer, G. Philip. The Appraisal of Current and Recent Record. National Archives Staff Information Circulars No. 13 Washington, DC: June Boles, Frank, in association with Julia Marks Young. Archival Appraisal. New York: Neal-Schuman, Cook, Sharon Anne. “Connecting Archives and the Classroom.” Archivaria 44 (Fall 1997): Ericksen, Paul and Robert Schuster. “Beneficial Shocks: The Place of Processing-Cost Analysis in Archival Administration.” American Archivist 58 (Winter 1995):

May 28, 2004Susan K. Soy Austin History Center Reference List Independent Sector Coalition. “The Estimated Dollar Value of Volunteer Time Is $17.19 per Hour for 2003.” (accessed May 29, 2004). Maher, William J. “The Importance of Financial Analysis of Archival Programs.” Midwestern Archivist III, no. 2 (1978): Maher, William J. “Measurement and Analysis of Processing Costs in Academic Archives.” College & Research Libraries 43, no. 1 (January 1982): Wilsted, Thomas. Computing the Total Cost of Archival Processing. Mid- Atlantic Regional Archives Conference Technical Leaflet No. 2 (1989).

May 28, 2004Susan K. Soy Austin History Center Austin History Center PO Box 2287 Austin Texas Volunteer forms at Contact Information