Laurie,
Bruce Stark has published some estimates of processing rates in
his 2001 __Guide For Processing Manuscripts Collections__ (pp. 53-54), which
I've found very useful. While acknowledging that processing rates differ
from collection to collection, he identifies four categories of collections
with descending processing rates relative to the complexity of the material.
The range is broad: from 40 hours per linear foot for collections that have
to be described at the item level to 10 hours per linear foot for
collections that have no significant organizational problems and mainly need
reboxing, refoldering, listing, and describing of the contents of the
papers. Four hours per linear foot does not seem reasonable to me for
processing any collection on average.
Laura McLemore, Ph.D., C.A.
Archivist
Archives and Special Collections
Noel Memorial Library
LSU Shreveport
One University Place
Shreveport, LA 71115
318-797-5378
Fax: 318-797-5156
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"He who destroyes a good Booke, kills reason it selfe" -- John Milton
_____
From: Laurie Langland [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2005 9:20 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: cost to process a collection
I've been asked to calculate some estimates to finish processing one of our
collections (the non-political papers, photos, memorabilia, etc. of a former
politician) and to re-process another collection (political papers and other
material of a former politician). I'm to use my salary and benefits to
calculate the labor. But we're unsure of the amount of time to use. One
formula we've been told is 4 hours per linear foot. Does that seem
reasonable for processing additional boxes of papers and other material, as
well as updating the current finding aid?
As for supplies for both collections, I can estimate the number of record
storage boxes we'd need - we use the legal by letter size archival boxes.
But I'm unsure of how many folders to estimate as an average per box, as it
can vary from 10 or 12 per box to 30 or 40. I also need to guesstimate
supplies for other formats, such as photos, audio and visual material, and
artwork.
Re-processing may not be quite the right word for the one collection - it's
approximately 250-300 linear feet of political papers plus family
memorabilia, artwork, and other miscellaneous items. It was indexed quite
extensively 40 years ago, but the collection has undergone many changes over
the years. It needs to be re-housed in archival folders and boxes and other
storage containers. Also, the massive index needs to be corrected and
updated as the collection is worked through. Would the 4 hours per linear
foot be a workable estimate for this type of project? (In the handling of
this collection, files have gotten out of order - some may have been
misfiled, but we're afraid that others have disappeared forever.)
Is there anything else we haven't thought of? Any suggestions and advice
will be greatly appreciated!
Laurie Langland
University Archivist/Director of Service Learning
Layne Library, Dakota Wesleyan University
1200 W. University Ave.
Mitchell, SD 57301
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