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Re: organization schemes



Once you've set up a scheme (28.1, 28.2)....and something changes in
the hierarchy, it is usually better to begin the new records under that
scheme.   So 1997-2000 would be your 28.2 (or whatever) and records
for May 2000-forward would be 4.7 (or whatever).    One basic reason
is that the parent agency that oversees the unit will also contain materials
about that unit (historical)....so the new 4.7 provides a clue that there
might be materials in 4.0.     The other way to do it is to keep the records
together in 28.2 but change the written administrative history.

I have the similar problem.   There are quite a number of collections
where the family has made multiple donations over a span of twenty
years.   My predecessor tried to keep track by simply calling them
Jones Family; then Jones Family Group II, and Jones Family Group
III.   That's been a nightmare for researchers especially if letters from
1906 are in group III, a single letter from 1906 is in Group 1,...etc.
I've combined a number of collections, creating first an inventory for
each group (so we have a record), and then combining and doing
a new single inventory.    That is a lot of work and creates some
problems in shifting.   If the collections are separate....say group
one covers 1867-1910, and clearly group two covers 1911-1950...
then I'm keeping them as two separate collections, but making
sure that our finding aids refer the user back and forth.  (As in
see Collection M1972-14 for additional records)

Dean



Dean DeBolt
University Librarian
Special Collections and West Florida Archives
John C. Pace Library
University of West Florida
11000 University Parkway
Pensacola, FL  32514-5750
Tele:  850-474-2213;   Fax:  850-474-3338

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