Tools and Workbooks

A compilation of tools, toolkits, workbooks, and other resources developed by various repositories to regulate local practice and to create efficiencies. All of these resources are included because they have potential to be adapted by other repositories. 

Tools and Toolkits

• Archival Metrics Investigators. Archival Metrics Toolkits.

  Our project seeks to promote a culture of assessment in the archival domain by creating standardized user-based evaluation tools and other performance measures. Our user-based evaluation toolkits are ready-made packages that include validated, tested questionnaires, administration and coding instructions, and sample reports illustrating how to effectively communicate study results to others. Adoption of these standardized measures will support the movement to allow repositories to compare their performance with others' thereby identifying best practices, and helping all institutions improve their user services.

• New York University. Archival Collections Management: Arrangement and Description. Processing Plan Template

  A formatted model, with embedded instructions, used by the repository to create a standardized processing plan document to guide each project.

• SAA. Regional Archival Associations Consortium. Disaster Planning and Response Resources

  A wide-ranging set of resources--including tools, toolkits, and guidelines--that are intended to provide archival repository employees with useful information about disaster planning, response, and recovery so they have somewhere to turn when an emergency strikes. While the list is not all encompassing, the links here will guide you in the right direction. The resources provided are for informational purposes only and are not meant as an endorsement by RAAC or its members. Many of the pages contain links to additional resources.

• Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Linear Footage Calculator.

  This simple form-based calculator allows one to convert a group of storage containers of various types and sizes into a linear footage total.

• North Carolina State University Libraries. Social Media Archives Toolkit.

  In 2014, the NC State University Libraries was awarded an EZ Innovation Grant from the State Library of North Carolina to develop a freely available web-based documentary toolkit that publicly documents their own effort to develop a sophisticated social media archival program in a way that may help guide cultural heritage organizations that are interested in collecting and curating social media content. The toolkit may help archivists develop collecting strategies for content, see how peer institutions have done so, assess legal and ethical implications, understand potential of such content for researchers, and utilize labor- and cost-saving techniques.

•  Special Collections and Social Media Wiki.

  This site is intended to be resource for the libraries and archives communities, providing an aggregate of links to the social media sites that special collections libraries and archives use. There is also a section in which participants can consider best practices, ask questions, and share ideas with each other. This wiki is organized by social media type.

Resource Guides

• Lesbian and Gay Archives Roundtable (2012 and ongoing). Guide to Sources in North America.

  A Comprehensive guide to archival collections.

• MARAC. Diversity and Inclusion Committee - Resource List.

  A comprehensive and ongoing list of D+I resources for archivists.