The National Best Practices for Archival Accessioning Working Group (NBPAAWG) was established in 2021 to develop a body of best practices for archival accessioning. This group of archivists is supported by the Standards Committee of the Society of American Archivists and is funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ National Leadership Grants for Libraries program.

From the proposal to SAA Standards:

“Accessioning best practices will provide recognition, resources, and validation for individuals and organizations performing this work and allow for more efficient and effective accessioning work throughout the profession.

What’s more, our plans to develop this standard collaboratively address two vital issues: 1) By engaging active archival practitioners in the creation process, our best practices can accurately address the real needs of those in the field; and 2) bringing together this group will help formally establish a supportive community of practice where individuals performing accessioning can learn from each other.”

We are grateful to SAA, IMLS, and the Beinecke Library at Yale University for their professional, material, administrative, and fiscal sponsorship of this project. We are additionally grateful to members’ home institutions for their ongoing support of this important work.

A copy of our funded grant proposal to IMLS is available here.