ArchivesSpace is the platform of record for OU Special Collections finding aids, but collection level records for all finding aids will also be listed in Alma. 

To ensure broad searchability of collections, whether a user is approaching the information through ArchivesSpace or Alma, all collections need to have a strong scope and contents note - this will be the main source of descriptive information about the collections available through Alma (beyond title, subjects, dates, etc.).

Step-by-Step Review: Manuscript Finding Aids

All parts of this job, prior to the actual update of the scope note can be completed with public facing access to OU's instance of ArchivesSpace: archives.libraries.ou.edu. 

• What is a Scope and Contents Note? Read about it in Describing Archives a Content Standard (DACS)

• You will be assigned a group of collections from the ArchivesSpace-Ingest-Finding-Aids-2020 Google spreadsheet

  • The only column you will have access to modify is the "Scope Note Review" column

• Navigate to the document registry to find the PDF finding aid for the collection you'll be working with - this should have the most updated scope and contents note. For most collections, this is the block of text at the top of the PDF

• Review the component records of that collection to determine if there are any broad descriptive areas not already covered in the scope note; ex. collection has 7 folders related to a specific event, but the event is not mentioned in the scope note
• Propose additions to the scope note based on your research by copying the current text into a text editor, making modifications, and then copying the new proposed scope note into the "Proposed Scope Note" column in the Google Spreadsheet
  • Alternatively, propose that the scope note is sufficient as is with "as is"
• ​Once you've completed these tasks for a collection, mark the "Scope Note Review" column as complete with your iniitals and move on to the next collection that's been assigned to you.
• Notify a working group lead once you've completed a full group of collections so that they can review your work and assign you a new group of collections

Step-by-Step Review: Photo Collections

For this job, you will need access to the Photo Finding Aid Editing OneDrive folder and the WHC Photo Finding Aid Proofreading Google Sheet.

• What is a Scope and Contents Note? Read about and/or review it in Describing Archives a Content Standard (DACS)

• You will be assigned a group of collections from the WHC Photo Finding Aid Proofreading Google Sheet

  • The only columns you will edit are the Scope Note Assigned to and Scope Note columns

• Navigate to the Photo Guide folder of the Photo Finding Aid Editing OneDrive folder to find the PDF of the photo guide book. This should have a complete listing of scope notes for photo collections all in the same document. Using Control-F (windows)/Command-F (mac) to search and find the collection title you're looking for should speed up the process of looking through these documents.

• You will also need to navigate to the main OneDrive folder to find a copy of the full finding aid for each collection.

• Review the component records within the finding aid to determine if there are any broad descriptive areas not already covered in the scope note; ex. collection has 7 photographs related to a specific event, but the event is not mentioned in the scope note
• Propose additions to the scope note based on your research by copying the current text into a text editor, making modifications, and then copying the new proposed scope note into the "Scope Note" column in the Photo-specific Google Spreadsheet
  • Alternatively, propose that the scope note is sufficient as is with "as is"
• ​Once you've completed these tasks for a collection, mark the "Scope Note Assigned to" column as complete with your iniitals next to your name and move on to the next collection that's been assigned to you.
• Notify a working group lead once you've completed a full group of collections so that they can review your work and assign you a new group of collections.