Bedford BC - OFFICIAL-Unsecure
Totally agree with Sandra, we only had a legacy of 100 years of catalogues to deal with but the issues were the same.
We do display the level on the public catalogue but it doesn't mean anything to our users, they are just headings to them. Because creator is a searchable field on our public catalogue we actually find it helpful to restrict its use to only those collections/fonds where searching by a creator is considered helpful in finding things such as a particular parish or business collection. We use other fields to give more thorough information about provenance.
Even with limited use of the creator field getting consistency across the various people cataloguing has not been easy so, although I would like to make more use of creator the practicalities still worry me. How do we explain what we mean by it to our users and how do we get our staff to apply it in a standard way? To me there are much more important elements of our catalogues that need review and revision and those are the ones I'm concentrating on before I tackle the creator.
Pamela Birch
Service Manager (Archives Records)
Bedfordshire Archives & Records Service
800 years of history, 100 years of service.
Open: Mon 9.15am-7pm, Tues, Wed & Fri 9am-5pm. If you wish to visit please contact us (01234 228833 or [log in to unmask]) to make a booking. Closed Thursday.
Tel: 01234 228908 (direct line) 01234 228833 (main office) www.bedfordshire.gov.uk/archive Twitter @BedsArchives
-----Original Message-----
From: Archivists, conservators and records managers. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Tuppen, Sandra
Sent: 07 March 2016 19:58
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Question about fonds and creator
William,
I can't speak for any other organisations that don't differentiate between 'fonds' and 'collections' in their catalogues, but at the BL it was a pragmatic decision. When undertaking a massive retroconversion project on 250 years' worth of catalogue descriptions, mostly created before ISAD(G) was invented and predominantly describing manuscript collections, not archives, we needed to automate the process of extracting multi-level descriptions from hard-copy catalogues. We did not have the resources to revisit thousands of descriptions to check whether they each represented a collection or a true 'fonds'.
Perhaps we should not have used the word 'fonds' at all; what we really needed was a single term that just identified the top level of the description, be it of a collection or true fonds. We do not display the 'level' field visible in descriptions on the public catalogue; however, the information is used by the underlying IT system to generate and display the hierarchy correctly. Whether or not something we hold is a collection or fonds is, I think, made clear in the descriptions themselves.
Of course, if we hadn't had this legacy data to manage, our approach might well have been different. I would be interested to know how others, especially those who have undertaken large-scale conversion projects, have dealt with this.
Regards,
Sandra Tuppen
Dr Sandra Tuppen
Lead Curator, Modern Archives and Manuscripts, 1601-1850 The British Library
________________________________________
From: William Robley [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 04 March 2016 09:28
To: Tuppen, Sandra; [log in to unmask]
Subject: RE: Question about fonds and creator
Surely the whole point of our using the terms 'fonds' and 'collections' is to differentiate between the two, so where is the logic in calling collections fonds? They are obviously two mutually exclusive things.
Regards,
Will Robley
University Archivist
University of Greenwich
-----Original Message-----
From: Archivists, conservators and records managers. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Tuppen, Sandra
Sent: 03 March 2016 17:49
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Question about fonds and creator
Dear Jane,
At the British Library, our in-house cataloguing system is set up to require the top-level description in any hierarchy to be classed as the 'fonds', whether it be an archive or artificial collection. So we have many so-called 'fonds' descriptions with no creator.
Best wishes,
Sandra Tuppen
Dr Sandra Tuppen
Lead Curator, Modern Archives and Manuscripts, 1601-1850 The British Library
-----Original Message-----
From: Archivists, conservators and records managers. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Pamela Birch
Sent: 03 March 2016 17:28
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Question about fonds and creator
I admit we use fonds as the top level for all our collections, I don't know how we would could do otherwise. That being the case we currently only use creator in certain fonds level descriptions.
It's not that we don't know the provenance, but the word 'creator' just doesn't seem to fit, we have the same difficulty with the return of accessions to TNA every year.
I admit I probably need to re-read the definition of creator as defined in ISAD(G) but it is one bit we have always had some trouble with given the nature of county record office collections.
Regards
Pamela Birch
Bedfordshire Archives
________________________________________
From: Archivists, conservators and records managers. [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Jane Stevenson [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 03 March 2016 17:10
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Question about fonds and creator
Hi there,
I have another question about catalogue data and best practice….
For the Archives Hub we have decided to make ‘creator’ mandatory if the description is a ‘fonds’ description. This is on the basis that a fonds has to come from a source - it has to have a known provenance so that the archivist is aware that it is an organic whole. We don’t make creator mandatory for a ‘collection’ description, as this may refer to a group of materials that is not from a single source.
However, we have a number of descriptions that are ‘fonds’ where the creator is given as ‘unknown’ or variations thereof.
It seems unlikely to me that the creator can be unknown, because if that is the case, how can we be sure that it is a fonds?
When I’ve raised this a few times with a few of our contributors, I have found that the collections in question are really artificial collections. I wonder whether there is a tendency to call all collections ‘fonds’ even if they are not?
I’d be really interested to hear any views on this.
cheers,
Jane
Jane Stevenson
Archives Hub Service Manager
[log in to unmask]
T 0161 413 7555
W archiveshub.ac.uk
Skype janestevenson
Twitter @archiveshub, @janestevenson
jisc.ac.uk
Jisc is a registered charity (number 1149740) and a company limited by guarantee which is registered in England under Company No. 5747339, VAT No. GB 197 0632 86. Jisc’s registered office is: One Castlepark, Tower Hill, Bristol, BS2 0JA. T 0203 697 5800.
Jisc Services Limited is a wholly owned Jisc subsidiary and a company limited by guarantee which is registered in England under company number 2881024, VAT number GB 197 0632 86. The registered office is: One Castle Park, Tower Hill, Bristol BS2 0JA. T 0203 697 5800.
Contact the list owner for assistance at [log in to unmask]
For information about joining, leaving and suspending mail (eg during a holiday) see the list website at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=archives-nra
“Confidentiality: The information contained in this e-mail and any attachment may be confidential and may contain legally privileged information. It is intended only for the use of the named recipient. If you are not the named recipient, please notify us immediately and delete it from your system. In such an event, you should not disclose the contents of this e-mail to any other person, or print it.”
Contact the list owner for assistance at [log in to unmask]
For information about joining, leaving and suspending mail (eg during a holiday) see the list website at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=archives-nra
******************************************************************************************************************
Experience the British Library online at www.bl.uk<http://www.bl.uk/> The British Library’s latest Annual Report and Accounts : www.bl.uk/aboutus/annrep/index.html<http://www.bl.uk/aboutus/annrep/index.html>
Help the British Library conserve the world's knowledge. Adopt a Book. www.bl.uk/adoptabook<http://www.bl.uk/adoptabook>
The Library's St Pancras site is WiFi - enabled
*****************************************************************************************************************
The information contained in this e-mail is confidential and may be legally privileged. It is intended for the addressee(s) only. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete this e-mail and notify the [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> : The contents of this e-mail must not be disclosed or copied without the sender's consent.
The statements and opinions expressed in this message are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the British Library. The British Library does not take any responsibility for the views of the author.
*****************************************************************************************************************
Think before you print
Contact the list owner for assistance at [log in to unmask]
For information about joining, leaving and suspending mail (eg during a holiday) see the list website at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=archives-nra
University of Greenwich, a charity and company limited by guarantee, registered in England (reg. no. 986729). Registered office: Old Royal Naval College, Park Row, Greenwich, London SE10 9LS.
Contact the list owner for assistance at [log in to unmask]
For information about joining, leaving and suspending mail (eg during a holiday) see the list website at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=archives-nra
Information security classification of this email: OFFICIAL-Unsecure
EMAIL CLASSIFICATION DEFINED:
*** OFFICIAL-INTERNAL: This message is intended for internal recipients only.
*** OFFICIAL-UNSECURE: This message and any attached file(s) do not contain personal or sensitive information which requires it to be sent encrypted.
*** OFFICIAL-SECURE: Either this message or any attached file contains either personal or commercially sensitive information that requires it to be sent encrypted.
All email traffic may be subject to recording and/or monitoring in accordance with relevant legislation. This email and any attached file are the property of Bedford Borough Council. Any opinions expressed in this mail do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Bedford Borough Council.
† Bedford Borough Council is continuously working towards the requirements of the Public Sector Network and Data Protection Act
Contact the list owner for assistance at [log in to unmask]
For information about joining, leaving and suspending mail (eg during a holiday) see the list website at
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=archives-nra
|