Tom Hyry, Correspondence with (edited for brevity)
[08/12/04 Thom to Daniel and Julie]
Hi Daniel and Julie: There are a number of items on the table, here, and I'm sorry to take a few days to get back to you ... Bigger question of cutting me out of the loop is a good one-- wish I had a good answer. You guys could order your own boxes, or put an order in with us for the next time we put one in, but your use and need for them is so sporadic, it'd be hard to plan.
As for the new pinkasim, I can definitely add them to the collection we already have here. If that's the case, though, they should not go through Daniel for individual cataloging. I think we settled this, but I just want to be clear.It's also true if Daniel has already cataloged some individual pinkasim (or even a few together in one box, as a discreet unit), they shouldn't to come to MSSA--they can be sent to LSF as long as they are encoded to be used in our reading room. If new pinkasim do come here to be added to the current collection of pinkasim, then the bib records (I'm guessing these are put in during acquisitions, right?) should be suppressed in Orbis.
[6/04 Thom to Daniel and Julie]
If there isn't a collection level record, there will be soon. One section of the finding aid, which is called the Overview of the Papers, contains all of the fields we use for collection level MARC records. Once we finish the work we've done on the collection, we'll add the collection level record to Orbis. It's up to you whether to keep the individual records, although I would lean towards suppressing them. Sorry to have taken so long to get back to this. I was out on vacation when it came in and have been playing catch-up ever since. -Tom.
At 09:54 AM 6/11/2004 -0400, Daniel Lovins wrote:
Hi Julie. This was the first ms. collection we worked on together, and I think at the time we were mostly using local subject tracings to pull all the records together (rather than an overarching collection-level record). We added to each record "695:04:North African Jewish manuscripts", which can be searched via the "local subject" index in Voyager cataloging module, or as a boolean keyword phrase in Web Voyage. I'll take another look at these, and see if there is also a collection level record, and, if so, what its access points are, and how to make it more useful. Daniel
[3/8/04 Tom to Daniel] Two different circumstances:
(1) Collections coming into MSSA custody, such as North African Jewish Manuscript collection. These are multi-box collections with finding aids as most detailed access tool and a collection level record in Orbis. For these, we'll do our own bar codes for each box and you can delete.
(2) Collection remaining in SMLJUD custody: tagged to be used in MSSA because Sterling's supervised reading room: need to keep bar code on the box level, so retrievable from LSF. So specifically for boxes 18 and 19 of the Pinkese Kehilah, if we are going to add them to the collection already here, and I think we are, then you can delete the bar codes; You just need to make any necessary updates to the collection level record.
[DSL to Julie 3/8/2004]
Items which are to be added to the Pinkese kehilah collection. I can update the Orbis record in terms of subject analysis, chronology, added titles, etc.. I'm starting to wonder, though, about the consequences of deleting bar codes from the individual pinkasim (as you had suggested on a sticky note). If these materials end up in LSF-R, will each one of these boxes (e.g., nos. 18 and 19 which I have on my desk) need to keep at least one bar code? I'm assuming that's the only way we'll be able to keep track, since the items are not physically going to be stored in MSSA, but rather in LSF (only to be *examined* in MSSA). I'm copying Thom on this as well, to get his input.[Tom to Julie 11/5/03]
I still have the Pinkese finding aid but have yet to run it through our EAD-making scripts, which also count folders and provide a nicely formatted print version of the finding aid. We had a server crash two weeks ago and are still struggling to get everything back into place and functioning as it had been and one of the remaining issues to resolve is the finding aid scripts. But it's coming I promise. Answers to your other questions are embedded below:At 04:45 PM 11/5/2003 -0500, Julie Cohen wrote:
Hi, Tom, I think I'm about as far as I can go with these preliminary finding aids. Daniel deleted the bar codes for the items, and I have gone through all the boxes to make sure there are copies of the descriptive material from the vendors both in our files and in the boxes. Questions:1. Since we collected data on number of pages in the North African documents, is there a good way to include that information in the finding aid?
Sure, you can do it in two ways. If you want to just include a total number, you can include that in the narrative that comprises the "Summary" field (which maps to the 520 field in the catalog record). If you want to include page counts for individual documents, you can include that in the inventory listing for each one.
2. Could you please check to make sure the way I have books in boxes is not too packed or too loose?
Yep. I can come up on Monday just about any time except for the late morning. Let me know what works for you.
3. In a few cases, unrelated papers are stuck in a register. I think I included that in the item's description--is that the way to do it?
Yep, sounds good. Something like: also includes documents relating to such and such . . .
4. There are a few lists of documents for the North African materials that I translated and included in the finding aid, but most of them I just left as copies with the materials and in our files. Do you have suggestions how to make this information more accessible?
We could conceivably make them an appendix to the finding aid, but I'm reluctant to do this. Why not put them in a folder in the first box that we can point researchers to who are interested. Remember, these materials are probably going to get processed more fully, and fairly soon, so we can live with interim measures that aren't ideal, as long as researchers can get to the material.
5. We have quite a few other small collections of manuscripts to send you--mostly one folder or at most, one box. Should I use the same template to do preliminary finding aids for these?
Yep. There's a question about housing these materials that we'll have to deal with. We have boxes that are essentially half the size of the standard gray document boxes, but if these things are only folders, we might need to use a different way of housing them. Is there any way they can be consolidated?
Also, the North African collection includes 10 groups of documents purchased from Vinograd and 1 group of documents purchased from Judaica Jerusalem. The Pinkese Kehilah Collection includes 31 registers purchased from Vinograd, 5 from Bery Gross, and 1 from Kestenbaum. Should the vendor information for each item be noted anywhere other than in our files and in the Voyager acquisitions module?
- Leader: TOC: always use a (Archival control); Record type: p
- 008 Place of Publication: always ctu Connecticut
- 1XX Should have a main entry if one person, family, or corp body created the papers
- 245 Can transcribe a title for a single item; for a collection devise a title
- 246 Use only for an additional title transcribed from the material, that readers might search for. This usually occurs only for single items. Put other descriptive information in a 500 general note or a 520 scope and content note
- 300 Don’t list number of folders. Instead do one of the following:
- State linear ft. in $a, followed by “linear ft.” and number of boxes in ( )’s, either also in |a or in |f, eg: 300 $a 0.20 linear ft. (1 box)
- State number of items only, eg: 300 |a 15 items.
- for single items, describe the item, eg: 300 |a 1 |f v. (32 p.) : |b ill. ; |c 28 cm.
- Linear footage calculator:
http://www.library.yale.edu/beinecke/manuscript/process/lconv.htm- 351 Optional; can use to describe arrangement, eg 351 |b Arranged chronologically.
- 5XX Recommended order of notes:
http://www.library.yale.edu/~kspicher/MCC/5xx%20draft.htm- 520 Use scope and content note to explain what is in collection, list highlights, summarize research value, justify access points. Better not to quote from vendor in full level record, might sound like the cataloger did not examine all the material. You could also make a container list (a listing of the collection stored in the box with the collection) and state this in a 555, eg: 555 0 : $a Accompanied by a container list.
- 541 Don’t use; use 561 instead.
- 656 is indexed in voyager by keyword only; not by subject. So, you may want to use 650 in addition to or instead of 656. Some of our older records have 656 only, because notis indexed them as subjects.
- Prelim vs. full level: not necessary to establish authorities for all name headings. Follow Yale practices for establishing names to break a conflict or when cross refs are needed. May want to establish a name whenever you hold an important collection of papers of that person. Common for ms record to be full level even though not all names are established. For collections, it is not necessary, and often not practical, to analyze every item, but description should give summary level description, and account for all physical pieces, either by a linear footage measurement (if at least one box), or an item count (if less than one box).
Selected fields from Annotated MARC record example
- 524 $a Bronislaw Malinowski Papers. Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library.
- 530 $3 Fieldwork and correspondence excluding restricted material $aAvailable in microfilm (7,121 frames on 7 reels, 35 mm.); $bManuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library;$cat cost;$dHM129.
- 540 $a Copyright has not been transferrred to Yale University
- 541 $a Malinowski, Valetta;$cgift;$d1972.
- 544 $a Bronislaw Malinowski Papers;$aLondon School of Economic and Political Science.
- 545 $a Cultural anthropologist, teacher, and author; educated in Poland, Germany, England; field work in New Guinea, Australia, Melanesia, 1914-1918; taught at London School of Economics and Political Science, 1921-1942.
- 546 $3 Correspondence$aEnglish, French, German, Italian, and Polish.
Examples of small collections done by BEIN MSSA:
- 6556364
- 6577634
- 4822587
- 3173810
North African Jewish Manuscript Collection
MFHD
- Master record bib 6642819
- $kSuppressed $h CIE $x use BIB 6642819
- $x Transf. from smljud; HEB/DSL 8/9/2004.
Carol King (2-7364): Grey storage boxes, e.g., 41 x 38 x 4 cm., lie flat (like pizza boxes). If 3 in. deep, e.g., divide by 12 to get linear ft. Bar code gets affixed to side of box, doesn't matter which side (LSF can generate duplicate stickers). Label should go on "right front" end of box
Bubble wrap is no good, per Erica and Bobby. Page protectors and folders may also be acidic. Supposed to have met with Gisela on Aug. 18th, 2004, and have her examine materials. Pina would hand them to Bill or Mike DiMassa at LSF, but for now we need to wait for Gisela's go ahead.