Hi Laurie,
I was curious about your estimate of 10 or 12 folders to 30 or 40 folders
per box. We recently finished processing a large political papers
collection, and it seemed to me there were more folders per box, so I did a
quick estimate. We also use the legal by letter record center boxes, and we
use letter size folders (for just about everything except some newspaper
clippings). Our average is 40 folders per box, with a low of 20 and a high
of 101. I suppose if you use legal folders you might have only 10 folders
in a box, but that struck me as really low. I know some of our collections
have an average more around 50 folders per box. I think if I had both legal
and letter size folders I would estimate them separately.
Just some thoughts. Interesting discussion!
Kathy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kathy Mitchell
Archives Specialist
Special Collections & Archives
Penrose Library
University of Denver
2150 E. Evans Ave.
Denver, CO 80208
ph. 303.871.3428
fax 303.871.2290
<mailto:[log in to unmask]> [log in to unmask]
http://library.du.edu/about/collections/specialcollections/
_____
From: Archives & Archivists [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Laurie Langland
Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2005 8:20 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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