1. Mining Online Catalogs!
The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania,!
September 10, 2011!
Holly Mengel
PACSCL/CLIR Hidden Collections
Processing Project

2. PACSCL
Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries
• Cooperative group of special collections libraries with shared goals for
their collections
• Founded in 1985 with 16 member libraries
• Today, PACSCL is composed of 35 member libraries
– 4,000,000 rare books
– 260,000 linear feet of manuscripts and archival material
– 9,000,000 photographs, maps, architectural drawings, and works of art on
paper
– But, PACSCL itself, does not own collections
www.pacscl.org

3. Backlog: Everyone has it.
This is not a
PACSCL problem
or a Philadelphia
problem.
This is a national
problem.

4. Backlog exists because:
• Processing
archival material
is a time-intensive
skill.
• Archival
repositories are,
generally
speaking,
underfunded and
understaffed.
• Collections are
acquired faster
than they are
processed.

5. Hidden Collections are …
• Materials in a repository’s holdings that are
– Un-arranged
– Un-described
– Under-described
• Not physically or intellectually accessible to
researchers or repository staff
• Not advertised to researchers

6. So …If no one knows it exists !
or can use it, why keep it?

7. Efforts to Eliminate Backlog
• Minimal processing:
– Introduced as “More Product, Less
Process” in 2005 by Greene & Meissner
– Recommends 4 hours per linear foot
(versus 8 to 15)
– Less intensive processing: processors do
not alphabetize material in folders,
sometimes do not re-house material and
describe collections only to the collection,
series or folder level (NEVER item level).

8. Pros & Cons !
of Minimal Processing
• Arguments against minimal processing:
– The collection is not “finished”
– It is not as easy for researchers to find material
– It is not as easy for reference staff to find materials
• Arguments for minimal processing:
– The collection is available to researchers in
significantly less time than if traditionally processed.
– Staff is able to identify the most “valuable” segments of
the collections and further process them
– Documented use of collections may result in grant
funding for traditional processing

9. Efforts to Reveal !
Hidden Collections
Council on Library and Information
Resources (CLIR)
Cataloging Hidden Special Collections
and Archives Initiative
www.clir.org/hiddencollections/

10. PACSCL/CLIR Hidden Collections
Processing Project
• Follow up to the PACSCL Consortial
Survey Initiative Project
(www.pacsclsurvey.org)
• 27 month project
• Process and make accessible to
researchers approximately 120
currently “hidden collections” in
PACSCL repositories (nearly 4,000
linear feet)

11. 25 Participating Repositories
• Academy of Natural Sciences
• Bryn Mawr College
• Chester County Historical Society
• City of Philadelphia Department of Records
• College of Physicians of Philadelphia
• Drexel University Archives and Special Collections
• Drexel University College of Medicine
• Free Library of Philadelphia, Rare Books
• German Society of Pennsylvania
• Haverford College
• Historical Society of Pennsylvania
• Independence Seaport Museum
• Library Company of Philadelphia
• Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia
• National Archives and Records Administration,
Mid Atlantic Region
• Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
• Philadelphia Museum of Art
• Presbyterian Historical Society
• Rosenbach Museum and Library
• Temple University Special Collections
• Temple University Urban Archives
• Union League of Philadelphia
• University of Delaware
• University of Pennsylvania
• Wagner Free Institute of Science

12. Methodology
• Minimal Processing (at 2 hours per
linear foot)
• Team processing by archival studies
graduate students (trained via project
“Bootcamp”)
• The Archivists’ Toolkit computer
program for creation of
standardized finding aids.

13. The Finding Aid
• Guide to a collection
• Includes
– Administrative information about the
repository and donor
– Biographical/historical note
– Scope and content note
– Related collections
– Name & subject headings (authorized
terms)
– Inventory of contents

14. Example of an electronic
finding aid …

15. Making Collections Available
Project website:
http://clir.pacscl.org
• Blog
• Collections by
Topic

16. Family Histories and Genealogy

17. PACSCL Finding Aids Site !
http://findingaids.pacscl.org
• Provide a single access point for all of the
region’s research collections, and therefore,
present insight into the country’s political,
economic, social, religious and cultural
experiences, as well as Philadelphia’s role in
shaping America and its citizens
• Developed by the University of Pennsylvania
Libraries
• Finding aids from all 25 repositories in one
place
• We are NOT digitizing collections

18. PACSCL Finding Aids
findingaids.pacscl.org

19. The Searches
• Cross-repository searching
– Useful for finding related material in multiple
repositories
• Keyword searching
– Useful for finding every instance of a name
or topic
• Faceted searching
– Useful in finding collections with
concentrated focus in a certain name or topic

20. The Searches

21. The Searches

22. The Searches

23. Impact on Genealogists
• We are not sure …
– Are minimally processed collections
sufficient for detail-oriented genealogical
research?
– Do finding aids created at this speed provide
the necessary description for research?
• Your help …
– If you use one of our collections, LET US
KNOW!
– Participate in a user study to be conducted in
future!

24. Now available …
– 125 collections (just over 4000 linear feet)
– Part time student processors worked for 1
year and 11 months
– At 8 hours per linear foot (traditional
processing), this same linear footage would
take a full-time archivist 15 years to
complete.

25. Historical Genealogists

26. Albert Cook Myers !
(aka William Penn’s stalker)
Albert Cook Myers collection of William Penn material,
Chester County Historical Society

27. Biographies …
Bradford collection of biographies of homeopathic physicians,
Drexel University College of Medicine

28. In their mother’s words,
Nicholson and Taylor family papers, Logan family papers,
Haverford College
Library Company of Philadelphia

29. in their own words,
Diaries and letters, Bryn Mawr College and Haverford College

30. Through photographs and
sketches
Alma A. Clarke papers,
Rush family papers,
Bryn Mawr College
Library Company of
Philadelphia
Ministerium of Pennsylvania,
Lutheran Theological Seminary
at Philadelphia

31. via the military,
John Dickinson papers, Library Company of Philadelphia

32. and by the land
Logan family papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania

33. In sickness …
Alma A. Clark papers,
Bryn Mawr College
Rush family papers,
Library Company of Philadelphia
Rush family papers,
Library Company of Philadelphia

34. … in death …
Elizabeth Graham
Fergusson papers, Library
Company of Philadelphia
Philadelphia Memorial Park Philadelphia Memorial Park records,
records, Chester County Chester County Historical Society
Historical Society

35. … and in the heavens!
Read family papers, Library Company of Philadelphia

36. Check us out!
• Project website and blog:
http://clir.pacscl.org
• PACSCL Finding Aid Site:
http://findingaids.pacscl.org
• PACSCL website:
http://pacscl.org
• Contact us with input, suggestions, complaints, etc.!