Today I finished off the inventory of the backlog stacks. When that was completed I had the opportunity to update the records in the electronic documents and records management system (EDRMS). Many of them were listed in other locations or lacked any indication of where they might "live." Updating these records will allow the staff to more effectively locate and process these items so that they can be added to the working collection. It was an excellent introduction to the EDRMS as used by the archivists and the system of processing the documents for use in the Archive. I was able to more accurately indicate the linear meters of the each accession and indicate the specific location within the stack as well as provide greater detail about the type of container used. Some boxes were archival allowing the items to remain in those containers. Some boxes were off site boxes and will need to be replaced. This will also allow the archivists to better identify each accession.
The system used at Wellington City Council Archive is VERNON which is software originally designed for the management of gallery and museum accessions. This means that many of the field available to the archivist for arrangement and description of items doesn't actually apply to documents in the Archive; however, it does mean that there are many that do apply and provide adequate means to record meta-data in a responsible way.
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