Presentation given by Rebecca Grant of the Digital Repository of Ireland as part of a training session in The National Irish Visual Arts Library (NIVAL), 12 August 2014. An introduction to the main principles of archival arrangement and description, including an overview of hierarchical arrangement of archives and the archival descriptive standard ISAD(G).

1. Rebecca Grant
Digital Archivist, Digital Repository of Ireland
PhD candidate, UCD School of History and Archives
Archival Description and Archival Arrangement

2. • ISAD(G) – an international standard for describing
archives (but not the only one, eg. DACS, IGAD)
• Lists elements to be used, and how to fill them in – a
framework, not totally prescriptive
• 26 elements, 6 are mandatory (Reference code, Title, Name of
Creator, Dates of Creation, Extent of the Unit of Description, Level of
description)
• Describes collections which are arranged
hierarchically.
ISAD(G): International Standard for Archival
Description (General)

3. • An XML encoding of ISAD(G)
• EAD encodes the archival FINDING AID and allows you
to link to digital assets on the web
• Not truly designed to catalogue digital assets – better
to describe physical collections and link to the assets as
digitised surrogates
• Slightly different elements to ISAD(G), more
customisable using attributes and sub-elements
Encoded Archival Description (EAD)

4. • The whole of the documents made and received by a
juridical or physical person or organisation in the
conduct of affairs, and preserved. (International
Council on Archives)
• Archives can also be collected or assembled by an
organisation (or a researcher etc) should the collection
be named after the creator, or the collector?
What is an archive?

5. Core principles in archival arrangement and
description
Principle of provenance: The basic principle that
records/archives of the same provenance must not be
intermingled with those of any other provenance; frequently
referred to as "respect des fonds".
Principle of original order: The principle that archives of a single
provenance should retain the arrangement (including the
reference numbers) established by the creator in order to
preserve existing relationships and evidential significance and
the usefulness of finding aids of the creator.

6. Arranging Archives: assessing a new collection
• Undertake a review of general content and the condition of records.
• Make note of a general overview of arrangement.
• Gather information from the donor on context of the collection’s creation.
• Provenance: is all content from same person or organisation?
• Order of collection: identify major groupings and sub-groupings, the filing
order, missing areas and gaps. These will be based on similar activities or
function
• Physical extent and condition: how much, what types of material?

7. Planning arrangement, imposing order
Arrangement helps the archivist to gain intellectual control over the
collection prior to description.
If the collection is well ordered, try to maintain original order where
possible. Group records into series and sub-series, maintain files, decide
whether to catalogue to item level.
If the collection has no order, survey the items and files, look for
relationships between items keeping the functions and activities of the
creator in mind.

8. What are the levels of arrangement?
FONDS: The collection as a whole – all items associated with a single creator
SUB-FONDS: All records of an administrative sub-unit of the organisation
which created the fonds
SERIES: A group of records created or accumulated from the same function,
activity or subject
SUB-SERIES: records within a series that are readily identifiable as a
subordinate or dependent entity on the basis of classification or filing,
physical form or content.

9. What are the levels of arrangement?
FILE: documents kept together in a way that reflects particular activities,
subjects, etc. Files may also have sub-files (which should not be confused
with items). (NB: EAD does not allow you to attach digital assets to File level
descriptions)
ITEM: the smallest descriptive unit. Items are intellectual - not physical -
units and can include many separate things. A letter in a correspondence file
is an item, as is a ledger book, a photograph or an architectural drawing,
even though these items may have many separate pages.

10. Rules of hierarchical
arrangement:
1. Move from the general to the
specific
2. Information provided at each
level must be appropriate to
that level
3. The hierarchy should reflect
the relationships between the
records
4. It is not possible or desirable
to include every level for
every collection
5. Do not repeat identical
information given at a higher
level in the level below

11. http://www.paradigm.ac.uk/workbook/cataloguing/ead-suggested.html

12. The Michael Healy Collection:
Current arrangement

13. The Michael Healy
Collection:
potential arrangement

14. Arranging archives - conclusions
Are related items/files grouped together in a meaningful way?
Are series and files arranged to allow expansion if further accruals occur?
How does the arrangement relate to the original order of the documents?
How does the arrangement relate to the context of creation? Who created
or collected the records?
Does the arrangement reflect the original collection, or the digitised one?

15. Useful references
ISAD(G): http://www.ica.org/10207/standards/isadg-general-international-standard-
archival-description-second-edition.html
DACS [Describing Archives: a Content Standard]:
http://www2.archivists.org/groups/technical-subcommittee-on-describing-archives-
a-content-standard-dacs/dacs
IGAD [Irish Guidelines for Archival Description]:
http://www.learnaboutarchives.ie/~learnabo/images/documents/igad_220409.pdf
Paradigm Project [Personal Archives Accessible in Digital Media]:
http://www.paradigm.ac.uk/
Michael Healy Collection in the Digital Repository of Ireland:
https://repository.dri.ie/catalog/95944s32v

16. @beck_grant
@dri_ireland
r.grant@ria.ie
beck.grant@gmail.com
www.repository.dri.ie
The content of this presentation is licensed as CC-BY. Please attribute to Rebecca Grant, Digital
Archivist, Digital Repository of Ireland, 2015.