Peer Reivew

Before submitting the final draft of your finding aid to your supervisor, finding aids must first go through a process of peer review. In the Archival Processing unit we participate in a collaborative peer review process with our processing archivist colleagues at the Schomburg Center.

When you are ready to share your finding aid with your colleagues, generate a pdf of the finding aid in ASpace. The ASpace User Guide section on exports explains how to create a PDF of your finding aid. Add the PDF to the shared finding aids folder 🔒 in Google Drive. Make sure to add your finding aid to the current month’s folder, or make a folder for the current month if there is not one yet. Once the month ends, that folder will be added to the current fiscal year’s reviewed folder.

Email a link to you finding aid to the processing archivists email address. In your email, let your colleagues know that the finding aid is ready for review, provide a deadline for feedback, and let them know if you have any specific questions or issues.

Peer review is an opportunity for your processing archivist colleagues to review your finding aid, and to provide feedback, offer suggestions, and to catch spelling and grammatical mistakes you may have overlooked. When reviewing a finding aid, it is recommended that you consult the processing checklist to make sure the finding aid, which provides all the required fields and corresponding DACS guidelines. The review process is for much more than just catching spelling mistakes or missing commas, it is also a space for conversation with your colleagues regarding questions about arrangement and description. Often important issues about DACS rules and local description standards are discussed in the comments, which are helpful for both the finding aid author and the other archivists.

While reviewing a finding aid, also consider if the description will be clear to a researcher who has never seen the collection. Consider previous feedback from public service staff, and keep in mind that each division and reading room has specific local conventions. If you are unsure about divisional preferences and practices, consult with your supervisor and refer to the division specific guidelines 🔒 documentation. It can also be helpful to refer to the archival processing checklist to verify that all the required fields are present.

Remember that it is just as important to take the time to review your colleagues’ finding aids as it is to share your own finding aids for review.