TRENDS IN ARCHIVES PRACTICE, a new, open-ended series of modules by the Society of American Archivists, features authoritative treatments written and edited by top-level professionals that fill significant gaps in archival literature.

Module 2 in the series, PROCESSING DIGITAL RECORDS AND MANUSCRIPTS, builds on familiar terminology and models to show how any repository can take practical steps to process born-digital materials and to make them accessible to users.

TRENDS IN ARCHIVES PRACTICE includes two other modules: STANDARDS FOR ARCHIVAL DESCRIPTION and DESIGNING DESCRIPTIVE AND ACCESS SYSTEMS. Each module can be purchased separately, or you can purchase the bundle, ARCHIVAL ARRANGEMENT AND DESCRIPTION, which features all three modules.

J. Gordon Daines III is the university archivist and assistant department chair, manuscripts, in the L. Tom Perry Special Collections at Brigham Young University.

Preface to Trends in Archives Practice

Archival Arrangement and Description
by Chrisopher J. Prom and Thomas J. Frusciano

Module 2: Processing Digital Records and Manuscripts
Introduction
Issues and Challenges Posed by Digital Records and Manuscripts
Arrangement and Description: Mapping a Business Process
Accessioning
Gathering Contextual Information
Performing a Conservation Assessment
Providing an Arrangement Scheme/Intellectual Arrangement
Arranging the Records
Describing the Records
Creating Access Tools
Sample Processing Workflow
Digital Processing: Practices and Procedures
Using the OAIS Reference Model
Preparing to Process
Developing Policies and Procedures
Accessioning
Arrangement and Description
Recommendations