Special Collections & University Archives Best Practices Manual
Records Management
General rules
In general, each academic department, student organization, and university administrative office should get its own record group collection number. ArchivesSpace contains the record groups for those organizational units whose records we have received. There are also other organizational units for which an RG collection number has been assigned but is not yet in use. When the archives receives an accession with a provenance that does not fit within any of the existing record group collections, such as a new academic program or a restructured organizational unit (i.e., department split or merger), a new RG collection number should be assigned in consultation with the university archivist.
When a new RG collection number is assigned, the collection must be created in ArchivesSpace and Alma, and the list of record group numbers must be updated. RG collection numbers are nested in a hierarchy based on university division or function. (See “Deciphering RG numbers” tab on this page.)
When departments or offices are renamed but there are no structural changes to that unit, the record group collection number remains the same and the name change and date should be noted in the collection’s historical note. If there are no structural changes to the department or office, the name on this collection should be updated to the most recent name, with the historical note updated with information about the name change. The exception to this rule is when other structural changes to the department or office occur, resulting in a split or merge of these units. In these cases, new RG collection numbers are assigned to the resulting new organizational unit(s).
See the “Assigning RG numbers” tab for guidance on how to generate new RG collection numbers and when to add accruals to university collections (which have COLL numbers).
Department splits and mergers
Whenever an existing department splits or merges with another department, new RG collections are created to represent the new department entities. In either case, the parent department RG collections are left alone to preserve the full context of the parent departments’ activities.
For departments that split
- The parent department's RG collection remains the same.
- New departments each get new RG collection numbers.
- Cross-reference changes in the historical note and related materials notes.
For departments that merge
- The parent departments’ RG collections remain the same.
- New department gets a new RG collection number.
- Cross-reference changes in the historical note and related materials notes.
A new RG collection created when a department splits or merges should be assigned a number that increments by one from the parent RG collection number.
Disambiguation and small record groups
Some RGs are artificial collections designed as a catch-all for units deemed too small to be assigned separate RG collection numbers. Notable examples are RG-10-030, university publications, and RG-14-001, student organizations, both of which contain materials either produced sporadically or by small groups that transfer small amounts of material to the archives. Best practice, however, is to preserve provenance by creating a separate RG collection for each discrete unit.
When an artificial RG collection exists for a record type, such as a student organization, when is a unit too small to receive its own RG collection?
- For new accessions, each unit gets its own RG collection.
- For existing materials, if the materials from that unit would fit in a half-size document box or less, it should be placed in the appropriate catch-all RG collection.
Deciphering RG numbers
Record group collection numbers are composed of two parts. The first is a two-digit number corresponding to university division or major university function (the RG), which allows the RG to be nested in a loose hierarchical structure based on division. The second part is a three-digit number that differentiates a unit from other units nested within that same top-level RG division.
Additionally, there are eleven general university collections that are mostly format-based; these are designated COLL numbers. Most COLL collections are legacy collections that are no longer accruing.
Record group divisions
- Governance
- President
- Academic Affairs
- Arts and Sciences
- Extension Education (School of Business and School of Education)
- Engineering
- School of Advanced International Studies
- Research Institutes and Centers
- Financial and Business Affairs
- Public Relations
- Development/Fundraising
- Alumni Affairs
- Student Services
- Student Organizations
- Associations and Clubs
- Evaluation and Planning
- Anniversary Celebrations
- Business Affairs
- Personnel Programs
University collections (COLL)
- Artifacts Collection
- Graphic and Pictorial Collection (includes photographic prints, negatives, slides, prints and drawings, and architectural records)
- Scrapbook Collection
- Special Events Collection (audiotapes and texts of special events such as lectures, symposia, commencement and commemoration)
Papers of Dr. Ferdinand Hamburger, Jr.(COLL-0005 has been renumbered as MS-0738)- Vertical File
- Hubble Space Telescope
- Hopkins Television
- Homewood Museum Restoration
- JHU Sports Films
- Homewood Photography negatives
- Johns Hopkins University campus protest collection
Incrementation for new RG numbers
When do we increment new RG collection numbers by 10 or by 1?
- If the unit receiving a new RG collection number is a wholly new unit within that division, i.e., not created from an existing parent unit, it should be given an RG collection number that increments by 10 from the last designated RG collection number in that division. For example, imagine that we receive an accession from a new student organization and that the last student organization to receive an RG collection number was designated RG-14-340. In this case, the new student organization would be designated RG-14-350.
- If the unit receiving a new RG collection number has split from or merged with another existing unit with an RG collection number, it should be given an RG collection number that increments by 1 from the parent RG collection number. For example, imagine that the Department of Hispanic and Italian Studies, RG-04-080, splits into two separate departments according to language. In that case, the new departments would receive new RG collection numbers RG-04-081 and RG-04-082. Add or update historical notes and related materials notes in all of these RG collections to indicate shared organizational history between these RG collections.
When should accruals be added to university collections (COLL)?
Several university collections are format-based generic JHU collections, containing materials associated with speeches, public events, and publications. New accessions of these types of materials can often conceivably be placed in either a generic collection or a more specific RG collection number.
Rules for when to process these materials into generic collections or keep them with their office of origin in an RG collection:
- Materials should stay with their office of origin.
- Random, one-off accessions of materials that get dropped off can go to general collections if that’s the best place for them.
- Do not add to COLL-0004 (Johns Hopkins University collection of university-related ceremonies, speeches, and public events) because most accessions of this type come from university communications and should be added to the appropriate RG collection.