The Special Collections and Archives unit acquires materials through purchases, donations, gifts, or record transfers from individuals or organizations. Upon transfer of custody of the materials or memorandum of understanding regarding their digitization, transferred materials are appraised by curators and processing archivists as to their archival value, and are then either processed in Special Collections and Archives, routed to other departments for bibliographic description, or recommended to another institution with whose collecting policies and strengths they are more aligned.
Accessioning archivists create an initial accession record in the archival collection management system for all new acquisitions in Special Collections and Archives. The accession record is the initial, brief description of the records being donated or transferred to Special Collections and Archives. It is the authoritative record for any incoming accession or accrual. All incoming Special Collections and Archives materials must be accessioned. Exceptions are made for purchases of bibliographic materials made by the Library Collections Procurement and Processing (Acquisitions) unit on behalf of Special Collections and Archives; these instead receive order records in the library management system.
Creating an accession record as soon as possible after obtaining the material is of the utmost importance. Until a collection is processed, the accession record is the primary source of information regarding the materials and their provenance. It should state what the materials are, where they are located, and where they came from. Any restrictions pertaining to the records should also be documented.
Instructions for creating Accession records in ArchivesSpace may be found here.