This is similar to what we do when necessary -- we often include a brief note stating "An item level inventory has not yet been created for this collection" or "The item-level inventory for this collection has not yet been converted to electronic format" etc. See http://library.syr.edu/digital/guides/a/alexander_fo.htm or http://library.syr.edu/digital/guides/a/ace_books.htm for examples of this barest minimum. At the next level, where we provide a box list, we include a note to the effect that "This is a simple box list, this collection has not been processed" (see http://library.syr.edu/digital/guides/b/blatas_a.htm for an example of this level). While there are drawbacks to the aptly-termed "triage approach" there are also benefits -- the biggest being, in my opinion, that with even a minimal finding aid out there, at least people will know we have the material. In addition, creating a minimal level EAD record requires much the same information as creating a basic MARC record so you can get two for the price of one. Michele ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sam Passey" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Tuesday, March 21, 2006 11:12 AM Subject: Re: EAD and minimal-level processing - preliminary inventories online? At the University of Utah, many of what other institutions would call preliminary inventories are on-line. The sad fact is that with this triage approach (Minimal level processing) to processing collections, some inventories are never revisited. The preliminary inventory becomes then the inventory. Examples can be seen by searching our EAD database at: http://db2-sql.staff.library.utah.edu:8801/lucene/search.jsp# Sample Search: Michael Joseph Gorrell _______________________________ Sam Passey