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. This process 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 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 finding aids folder in Google Drive, email a link to all the processing archivists email address. In your email, let your colleagues know that the finding aid is ready for review, and provide a deadline for feedback. 

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. 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.