1. MPLP: Adoption, Adaptation, and Misunderstanding Dennis Meissner Head of Collections Management Minnesota Historical Society 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 1

2. Part 1 Overview: Research, findings & recommendations 09/27/2012University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee2

3. 2 “However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results” --Winston Churchill

4. The Problem Archival processing does not keep pace with the growth of collections Unprocessed backlogs continue to grow Researchers denied access to collections Our image with donors and resource allocators suffers 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 4

5. Hypotheses Increasing breadth and scale of contemporary collections Failure to revise processing benchmarks to deal with problem 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 5

6. Methodology Literature review(70 sources) Repository survey(100 responses) Grant project survey (40 NHPRC files) User survey(50 scholars) 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 6

7. 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 7 Repository Survey Respondents

8. Findings Processing benchmarks and practices are inappropriate to deal with problems posed by large contemporary collections Ideal vs. necessary Fixation on item level tasks Preservation anxieties trump user needs 09/27/2012University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee8

9. 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 9 Survey: Arrangement Practice

10. Findings Description Practice: Weak commitment to online access Little focus on item level Warrant: Describe all holdings, in general, before describing some in detail Descriptive level follows arrangement level Level varies from collection to collection 09/27/2012University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee10

11. 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 11 Survey: Descriptive Practice

12. Findings Conservation Practice: Strong commitment to item level work Warrant: Item-focused conservation prescriptions often contradict advice on arrangement and description 09/27/2012University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee12

13. 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 13 Survey: Conservation Practice

14. Findings Metrics Literature: Range of 4 - 40 hours per cubic foot However, a convincing body of experience coalesces at the high- productivity end: Maher, 1982 (3.4 hours per cubic foot) Haller, 1987 (3.8 hours per cubic foot) Northeastern University Processing Manual (4-10 hours per cubic foot) Grant Project Survey: 0.6 – 67 hours per cubic foot (Mode = 33 ; Mean = 9) Survey of Archivists: 2 – 250 hours per cubic foot (Mode = 8 ; Mean = 14.8) 09/27/2012University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee14

15. 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 15 Productivity Expectations (hours/cubic foot)

16. Recommendations General Principles for Change Establish acceptable minimum level of work, and make it the benchmark Don’t assume all collections, or all collection components, will be processed to same level 09/27/2012University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee16

17. Recommendations Arrangement Description Conservation Productivity 09/27/2012University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee17

18. Recommendations Arrangement In normal or typical situations, the physical arrangement of materials in archival groups and manuscript collections should not take place below the series level Not all series and all files in a collection need to be arranged to the same level 09/27/2012University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee18

19. Recommendations Description Since description represents arrangement: describe materials at a level of detail appropriate to that level of arrangement Keep description brief and simple Level of description should vary across collections, and across components within a collection 09/27/2012University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee19

20. Recommendations Conservation Rely on storage area environmental controls to carry the conservation burden Avoid wholesale refoldering Avoid removing and replacing metal fasteners Avoid photocopying items on poor paper Don’t perform conservation tasks at a lower hierarchical level than you perform arrangement and description 09/27/2012University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee20

21. Recommendations Productivity A processing archivist ought to be able to arrange and describe large twentieth century archival materials at an average rate of 4 hours per cubic foot 09/27/2012University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee21

22. Part 2 What’s it all about—I mean really? 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 22

23. Getting better results Results trump approaches and processes Best results achieved through meaningful scaling and flexible approaches Archival approaches provide an extensible model for working at scale MPLP offers some value as a model 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 23

24. Key MPLP messages It’s about results, not approaches It’s about managing resources It’s not about: Cookie-cutter approaches Some particular arrangement level or approach Some particular description level or approach Paper, clips, staples, and rubber bands Refoldering/not refoldering Reboxing/not reboxing Mending, cleaning, photocopying, deacidifying Whether we read all collection items 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 24

25. Key MPLP messages Make user access paramount: Get most material available as quickly as possible in some usable form Expend greatest effort on most deserving or needful materials Establish an adequate, minimal level of work as the processing benchmark Embrace flexibility: Novel approaches for novel problems Don’t allow preservation anxieties to trump user access or good sense 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 25

26. A better model Put the customer first: We preserve collections to provide access, not because they are groovy-cool Expose hidden collections Adjust practices to align with resources Use archival approaches to achieve archival scale Digitize, digitize, digitize (with the resources you save) 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 26

27. A better model Establish good risk management models Risk is unavoidable Risk is amenable to being managed: assess mitigate budget respond 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 27

28. Old processing model Process driven 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 28

29. Old processing model Process driven Resource insensitive 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 29

30. Old processing model Process driven Resource insensitive Artisan quality 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 30

31. Old processing model Process driven Resource insensitive Artisan quality High unit cost 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 31

32. Old processing model Process driven Resource insensitive Artisan quality High unit cost Lengthy turnaround 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 32

33. Old processing model Process driven Resource insensitive Artisan quality High unit cost Lengthy turnaround Stable resources 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 33

34. New processing model 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 34

35. New processing model Audience driven 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 35

36. New processing model Audience driven Resource sensitive 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 36

37. New processing model Audience driven Resource sensitive Production quality 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 37

38. New processing model Audience driven Resource sensitive Production quality Low unit cost 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 38

39. New processing model Audience driven Resource sensitive Production quality Low unit cost Rapid turnaround 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 39

40. New processing model Audience driven Resource sensitive Production quality Low unit cost Rapid turnaround Uncertain resources 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 40

41. Part 3 Beyond archives 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 41

42. Archival approaches produce big outcomes for Special Collections Broad approach to leveraging our collective ability to provide access to research collections Extensible to deal with novel problem spaces Sustainable approaches, at meaningful scale, can result from seeing items as collections Economic approaches are driving innovations in practice, among them digitization 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 42

43. Digitization offers biggest opportunities Audience engagement Opportunities for revenue and relevance Adequate approaches yield exponential outputs A problem space that archivists are addressing: User needs and interests Flexible approaches and procedures Relaxed approach to “standards” and “best practice” Novel solutions that are widely extensible 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 43

44. Minnesota Historical Society Rethinking items as collections Photographs (albums and loose images, as well) Sheet music Bound publications Maps Oral histories Audio and moving image materials Born-digital holdings 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 44

45. Photograph collections 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 45

46. Sheet music collections 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 46

47. Telephone directories 09/27/2012University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee47

48. Born-digital holdings 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 48

49. Born-digital holdings 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 49

50. Born-digital holdings 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 50

51. Minnesota Historical Society Rethinking items as collections Photographs (albums and loose images, as well) Sheet music Bound publications Maps Oral histories Audio and moving image materials Born-digital holdings Use PDFs to inexpensively bundle and present complex objects 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 51

52. PDFs: low-cost digital carriers 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 52

53. The (im)Perfect PDF Perfection—the leading cause of program death Scan with flatbed, camera, or photocopier As fast as possible (whatever works) JPEG quality (300 ppi max) Bundle images into a single PDF OCR, if it can be done cheaply 09/27/2012University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee53

54. The (im)Perfect PDF Throw away the JPEGs! (no preservation value) Create strong filenames No added descriptive metadata (inherited from context) Archival finding aids carry metadata, discovery, and access burden OCLC Research Scan on Demand white paper: http://www.oclc.org/research/publications/library/2011/2011-05.pdf http://www.oclc.org/research/publications/library/2011/2011-05.pdf 09/27/2012University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee54

55. Minnesota Historical Society Walter Mondale Papers NEH “We the People” Project High productivity + high-value products http://www.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00697.xml 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 55

56. Mondale Papers finding aid 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 56

57. Mondale Papers finding aid 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 57

58. MHS project : People of Phillips Records Content: Committee records, minutes, reports, bylaws, directories, some photographs, and materials related to housing, youth and other programs of a community development organization located in a distressed South Minneapolis neighborhood. Condition: Box list to only 17 boxes; series were atomized throughout boxes; no arrangement or appraisal had been performed during acquisition. Quantity: 33 c.f. accessioned; 27 c.f. retained Staff: 1 processing assistant, 1 cataloger, 1 processing manager Time: 74 total staff hours (0.45 c.f./hour) including supervision Performance: Exceeded basic MPLP expectations by 60% 09/27/2012University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 58

59. MHS project : People of Phillips Records Arrangement: Use a top-down approach Start by performing a rough overview and tagging box contents with identifying information to help form separate series and plan series arrangement; Sort out the known and recognizable sets (Administrative and Financial files; Councils and Committees) to whittle down to the less known or recognizable sets. Material in binders dismantled and foldered Loose material foldered as found, and identified by record type Obvious duplicates culled 09/27/2012University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 59

60. MHS project : People of Phillips Records Arrangement: Assess the nature of remainder to give rough groupings (Housing Files; Subject Files). In the case of the housing files we chose only to list those that served as the administrative subsets within these series (bylaws and minutes) and to simply group the remainder as a set of unlisted subject files. Key box contents into Excel template as each series is completed Assign locations at end of processing, label boxes, and add location numbers to container list. 09/27/2012University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 60

61. MHS project : People of Phillips Records Description: Excel box list converted into EAD by cataloger using script Catalog record created in OCLC, uploaded to WorldCat Record downloaded into MnPALS (local OPAC) MARC record converted (MARCtoEAD script) to create high level (archdesc) portion of EAD 09/27/2012University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 61

62. MHS project : People of Phillips Records EAD: Overview 09/27/2012University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 62

63. MHS project : People of Phillips Records EAD: Container list Admin & financial files Councils and committees NOTE: that for many very large files (often comprising entire containers) small, focused scope notes are included. An assist to users that cost very little in added time. 09/27/2012University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 63

64. MHS project : People of Phillips Records EAD: Container list Housing files 09/27/2012University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 64

65. MHS project : People of Phillips Records EAD: Container list Subject files 09/27/2012University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 65

66. MHS project : People of Phillips Records EAD: Catalog tracings 09/27/2012University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 66

67. Indictments of MPLP approach Loss of item-level control A specious argument; archival mythology Historical application has been occasional, haphazard, ineffective MPLP message: Never say never! Process all collections to sufficient basic level, then… Focus extraordinary efforts intentionally, not accidentally Archival thinking has always emphasized the whole over the parts 09/27/2012University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee67

68. Indictments of MPLP approach Loss of item-level control Exposure of “sensitive” and third-party materials Archivist-donor-researcher cost-sharing is out of balance Educate donors and users Reinvent collaboration models Archivists have bad risk management models Litigation vulnerability hugely overstated Fearful behaviors may help create unsustainable “affirmative standard” Pursue reasonable mitigation efforts, not unreasonable ones 09/27/2012University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee68

69. Indictments of MPLP approach Loss of item-level control Exposure of “sensitive” and third-party materials Unfair burden imposed on researchers & reference staff Current cost-sharing model: Archives bear all costs; researchers none Need new model that recognizes the economics of access: Understand “true cost of ownership,” and apportion those costs Free kittens, not free beer The researcher’s currency is time and labor Added user costs are smaller overall than saved processing costs 09/27/2012University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee69

70. Indictments of MPLP approach Loss of item-level control Exposure of “sensitive” and third-party materials Unfair burden imposed on researchers Invitation to document thieves Item-listing reduces theft in same way that publishing household goods inventories reduces burglaries 09/27/2012University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee70

71. Indictments of MPLP approach Loss of item-level control Exposure of “sensitive” and third-party materials Unfair burden imposed on researchers Invitation to document thieves Professional status of archivists is weakened Archivists will not be judged on processing labor inputs, but rather on user outcomes Finding aids are not archival literature Economical processing makes us smarter, not dumber, because it helps us become managers 09/27/2012University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee71

72. Have we reconsidered any advice? Description ROI much higher here than with physical processing When resources permit, describe at finer granularity than you process Searchable text mitigates other effects of other economies Browser-exposed EAD finding aids File-level container lists not a huge additional burden 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 72

73. The big picture What is MPLP? "At its core, MPLP asks archivists to embrace change, to place access at the pinnacle of what we do, and look more to the forests than the trees. These are not easy goals." 09/27/2012University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 73

74. The big picture What is MPLP? “The goal is to work smarter, not harder; to do things ‘well enough’ rather than ‘the best way possible’ to accomplish more with less (or the same) resources.” 09/27/2012University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 74

75. The big picture What is MPLP? It’s not just about doing less to more It’s about the big picture of processing: Matching our resources to our backlog problems Employing a more pragmatic approach to processing Weighing the benefits against the costs and/or risks Managing expectations – our own and those of our donors, resource allocators, and users Making decisions based on the individual institution and the individual collection It’s about sustainability and effectiveness 09/27/2012University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 75

76. The big picture When you remove the routine tasks, what is left: Making the tough decisions Looking at the big picture of providing the most access to the greatest number of collections Doing the intellectual work of processing 09/27/2012University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 76

77. The big picture Don't be afraid to make mistakes Do trust your abilities, training, and skills “The Future Belongs to Archivists” 09/27/2012University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 77

78. Mondale Papers finding aid 09/27/2012University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee78

79. Dennis Meissner Head of Collections Management Minnesota Historical Society dennis.meissner@mnhs.org 09/27/2012 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee 79