I can't think of any pros to doing this.
The physical arrangement or storage of archival materials should not
have anything to do with their intellectual description. What they are
asking you to do sounds like a sure recipe for hindering users in
information discovery. This could end up confusing staff later, too.
Users may find a piece of the collection's description but not the
whole, and even if they do find all the finding aids, they will
probably be confused as to why they have been separated and may
falsely attribute it to something other than physical location. You
will likely have to repeat information in multiple places. When you go
to make any adjustment to that information down the line, you'll have
to remember to update it in multiple places.
In my experience it's not uncommon for items in a collection to be in
various physical locations throughout the building, in particular if
they are different formats (video in one place, papers in another). I
don't see any reason this should change the finding aid.
Joyce
On Thu, Mar 11, 2010 at 8:12 AM, Justin Lee Tyler
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hi all. I've been asked to make two (or more) separate finding aids for a single collection which is split into two (or more) locations (and by location, I mean different floors in the same building.)
>
> In other word, Stanton family papers might have two finding aids. One for the first half which is on level A, and one for the second half which is on level B... and so forth.
>
> 1) Is this common?
> and
> 2) What would be the pros and cons of doing this?
> and
> 3) Any additional thoughts?
>
> Let me know if I'm not being clear. :)
>
> Thanks,
> Justin
>
> -----
> Justin Lee Tyler
> Cataloger / Special Collections and GovDocs
> Bibliographic Division
> Detroit Public Library
> [log in to unmask]
>
--
Joyce Chapman
NCSU Libraries
Metadata and Cataloging/
Digital Library Initiatives
[log in to unmask]
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