Archival Accessioning Best Practices Released
Society of American Archivists approves the first official set of best practices for accessioning in the United States
On November 19, 2024, the Council of the Society of American Archivists (SAA) approved the Archival Accessioning Best Practices on the recommendation of the SAA Standards Committee, making it the first official set of recommended professional best practices on archival accessioning published in the United States.
Authored by the National Best Practices for Archival Accessioning Working Group, this resource provides recognition, support, and validation for individuals and organizations performing accessioning labor, and encourages more efficient and effective accessioning work throughout the archival profession on a national scale. Archivists Rosemary K.J. Davis and Meaghan O’Riordan founded the Working Group of 32 archival professionals in 2021 with the intention of addressing the real needs of workers engaged with accessioning labor, establishing a supportive community of practice, and strengthening and standardizing accessioning practice across the profession.
“Accessioning is foundational to ethical archival practice,” as stated in the introduction to the Best Practices. “It is a suite of activities through which archivists appraise, transfer, stabilize, and document archival acquisitions. Accessioning provides pathways to access, informs future decisions, and promotes sustained resource commitment for the care of archival materials.”
The Working Group developed the Best Practices over three years, first working within five topical subgroups to draft sections of the document, then coming together in-person in May 2023 for a three day summit that fostered deep professional connections amongst the Working Group members and resulted in a new structure for the Best Practices. The final year focused on revising and refining the Best Practices, gathering community feedback, public programming including the Accessioning Best Practices Symposium at the August 2024 SAA Annual Meeting, and finally, submitting the Best Practices to the SAA Standards Committee for approval and adoption by SAA.
“The labor of archival accessioning deserves attention, care, and support, as do the people who are performing, managing, and advocating for it,” said Working Group co-founder Rosemary K.J. Davis. “In that spirit, our working group couldn’t be more proud that these best practices have been approved by the Society of American Archivists. The opportunity to collaborate on this project with archival practitioners from across the United States was not only a meaningful exercise in building community around archival accessioning, it has also produced an imminently adaptable, human-centered set of guidelines that we hope can be utilized by individuals and repositories of all types. The working group is deeply grateful to SAA and to everyone who provided feedback on our work over the past three years.”
In addition to approving the Best Practices, SAA Council honored the Working Group with a Council Exemplary Service Award for “their innovative professional standards development and accompanying community-building for the archival profession.” The National Best Practices for Archival Accessioning Working Group was funded generously by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) National Leadership Grants for Libraries program, and is supported by the SAA Standards Committee; the SAA Accessioning, Acquisitions, & Appraisal Section; and the SAA Foundation.
The Archival Accessioning Best Practices are available online at: https://accessioning.gitbook.io/archival-accessioning-best-practices
The Working Group plans to host a free webinar on the Best Practices in early 2025. Stay tuned to the SAA Accessioning, Acquisitions, & Appraisal Section email list for more information.
National Best Practices for Archival Accessioning Working Group 