We conducted a pilot survey on February 23 to test our scrapbook collection assessment tool. We have designed our tool as a checklist that records both description and condition of the binding, the supports, and the items (our term for the clippings, photos, etc. collected in the scrapbooks). Though we created an Excel spreadsheet version of our tool, we decided to conduct the pilot survey with paper copies of the checklist, allowing us to take more extensive notes and make changes as we go. We surveyed 10 scrapbooks of various binding styles from a range of decades. As result of the pilot survey, we have decided to make the following changes to our assessment tool:
- Add more categories under both description and condition to account for the wide range of materials and damage we were finding. For example, instead of just noting whether handwritten notes were done in pencil or ink, we've expanded the choices to include ball point pen, felt tip pen, Sharpie/permanent marker, colored pencil, etc.
- Include a simple ranking system for condition categories - 1 = mild/infrequent; 2 = moderate; 3 = extreme/occurs throughout. We acknowledge that these rankings will have to be pretty subjective, but we anticipate that they will help us provide the archive with a more accurate picture of the current condition of the collection.
Posts
More than subjective i would define these rankings as either too broad or too narrow. They never seem to adequately fit the case at hand. The same happens with surveys. And yet, surveys are a major research tool that allows some way of grasping the enormous diversity of reality. I do however like the fact that you are trying to better define the categories by explaining that extreme is equal to occurs throughout.
ReplyDelete