When the glossary definition has been taken from another source, the source is noted in parentheses after the entry. A key to abbreviations is at the end of the glossary.

The best way for a novice to understand the theoretical underpinnings of arranging and describing a collection is to watch someone perform the various necessary tasks. Under the guidance of an archivist the novice can ask questions and even do some processing. You now have the chance to be a cyber-apprentice and look "over the shoulder" of a virtual archivist in a step-by-step review of the tasks involved in organizing and describing a collection.  If you haven't already, please read the section "What is processing."

access point
A name, keyword, index term, etc. by which a description may be searched, identified and retrieved. (ISAD(G) Glossary)

accession records
Records documenting additions to a collection, whether acquired by transfer
under a legally based procedure, or by deposit, purchase, gift, or bequest. ICA.  Donor agreements, transfer forms, record retention schedules, and disposal authorizations are all types of accession records.

acquisition information
Information about the source of the materials being described and the circumstances of the acquisition. (EAD Tag Library)

administrative history
See biographical narrative/ administrative history.

arrangement
Relates to the filing pattern (e.g. alphabetical, chronological, etc.) of materials within the unit described.  Distinguished from "organization," which relates to how materials have been subdivided into distinct units, such as series into subseries.

ASCII
American Standard Code for Information Interchange.  ASCII is the standard that designates a code for representing alphanumeric information (letters, numbers and punctuation) in computers.

authority file
Documentation of the authorized form of names or subject headings used in a catalog, inventory, or information retrieval system. (AAT)

bibliographic utility
A provider of bibiographic services such as a union catalog for centralized searching, shared cataloging, and collection resource sharing.

biographical narrative/ administrative history
Essay or chronology providing biographical information about the individual(s) or family, or historical information about the corporate body responsible for creating or assembling the materials being described. (EAD Tag Library)

catalog record
A descriptive tool used to provide, at a summary level, information about the origins, content and physical extent of materials.  For more information and an example, see "Catalog records in information systems" and "Example 1 Catalog record", in the chapter called "Archival Description".

conservation information
Information about the processes relating to the conservation of materials, including assessment, treatment, and use data.

container list
A type of finding aid that provides an outline of the organizational and intellectual structure of the materials, and enables the researcher to identify which storage boxes or microfilm reels might contain relevant materials.

content analysis
The process of analyzing the content of a collection in order to determine what information is significant enough to be included in a summary description.  For more information, see "Content Analysis", in the chapter called "Gathering and Analyzing Archival Information".

corporate records
Records generated by a corporate body, or organization or group, that are the direct result of administrative or organizational activity of the originating body (Adapted from APPM 1.0A)

data dictionary
A document specifying what information is to be entered into designated fields of a database, and sometimes prescribing rules governing form and order of entry.

description
The process of compiling and organizing information that has been extracted from the collection or gathered from external sources, into a form that will be useful for the user. Description also refers to the physical tool that is the result of the descriptive process, often a catalog record or finding aid.  For more information, see "Description: Conveying Information to Users", in the chapter called "Archival Description".

documentation
A broad range of activities that archivists undertake in order to create  descriptive tools that facilitate user discovery, establish the authenticity of their holdings, and satisfy various administrative needs.  For more information, see "What is Documentation", in the chapter called "Archival Documentation".

EAD
Encoded Archival Description is a standard for the encoding of electronic versions of
archival inventories and registers.  It defines the structural elements of a finding aid and their interrelationships. In short, EAD does for archival inventories and registers what MARC does for catalog records.  The EAD standard is embodied in a Document Type Definition (DTD) that conforms to the syntax of Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML).

finding aid
The broadest term to cover any description or means of reference made or received by an archives service in the course of establishing administrative or intellectual control over archival material. ISAD(G) Glossary   These are variously characterized as inventories, registers, and container lists. Some archivists consider catalog records a form of finding aid.
For more information and an example, see "Inventories/registers in information systems and Example 2. Inventory/register, in the chapter called "Archival Description"

fonds
The whole of the documents, regardless of form or medium, organically created and/or accumulated and used by a particular person, family, or corporate body in the course of that creator's activities and functions. ( ISAD(G) Glossary)  For more information, see "Principle of respect des fonds/provenance" in the chapter called "Archival Materials and Information".

HTML
Hypertext documents on the World Wide Web are created using the coding language Hyper Text Markup Language.  HTML allows designated words or blocks of text to be linked to other sections of the same document or to other files on the Internet.

inventories
See finding aids.

location information
The physical or logical location of the materials being described. (EAD Tag Library)

MARC
See USMARC.

multi-level description
The preparation of descriptions that are related to one another, in a part-to-whole relationship and that need complete identification of  both the parts and the comprehensive whole, in multiple descriptive records. (RAD Glossary)

name authority file
The authorized form of  personal, geographic or corporate name to be used in a catalog, inventory or information system.
 
OPAC
The On-line Public Access Catalog is the public interface through which an archives' users search for the materials they desire. The information made available to the patron varies from institution to institution, but this is where the public makes use of the descriptive documentation that the archivist has created for the repository's holdings.

organization
The manner in which materials have been subdivided into smaller units, such as record groups divided into series, and series into subseries. Distinguished from "arrangement," which relates to the filing pattern (e.g. alphabetical, chronological, etc.) of materials within the unit described.

original order
The archival principle asserting the importance of retaining the order and arrangement of a the materials in the collection as they were originally organized, in order to preserve evidence about how they were created.  For more information, see "Principle of original order", in the chapter called "Archival Materials and Information".

personal papers
The private documents of  an individual or family.  Documents might include correspondence, financial records, photographs, ephemera, etc. (Adapted from Duckett, Modern Manuscripts.)

processing
Gathering information about a collection, physically organizing and arranging the materials, and providing access through description. For more information, see "What is Processing", in the chapter called "Archival Processing".

provenance
See also respect des fonds. -- The person(s), family(ies), or corporate body(ies) that created and/or accumulated and used records, in the conduct of personal or business life.  An understanding of the context in which a collection was created, including the individuals who created the materials, the activities and functions that generated them, and the events surrounding their creation, is central to the interpretation of materials in archival collections.  In some contexts provenance is regarded as custodial history.  For more information, see "Principle of respect des fonds/provenance", in the chapter called "Archival Materials and Information".

record group
A body of organizationally related archives or records established on the basis of provenance with particular regard for the administrative history, the complexity, and the volume of the records and archives of the institution or organization involved. (APPM 1.0A)

registers
See finding aids

respect des fonds
See also provenance. -- The person(s), family(ies), or corporate body(ies) that created and/or accumulated and used records, in the conduct of personal or business life.  An understanding of the context in which a collection was created, including the individuals who created the materials, the activities and functions that generated them, and the events surrounding their creation, is central to the interpretation of materials in archival collections.  For more information, see "Principle of respect des fonds/provenance", in the chapter called "Archival Materials and Information".

restriction information
Information about either of two types of restrictions: on access and on use. Access restrictions govern physical access to the materials. They may be imposed by the repository, donor, legal statute, or government agency. Use restrictions govern what may be done with the materials after access has been granted, such as restrictions on reproduction, publication, and citation.

scope and content statement
Essay or abstract summarizing information about the scope and content of the materials being described, including the form and arrangement of the material and the names of organizations, individuals, events, places, and topics documented therein. (EAD Tag Library)

series
Documents arranged in accordance with a filing system or maintained as a unit because they result from the same accumulation or filing process, or the same activity; have a particular form; or because of some other relationship arising out of their creation, receipt, or use. A series is also known as a records series. (ISAD(G) Glossary)  For more information, see "Individual items in a collection...", in the chapter called "Archival Materials and Information".

SGML
Standard Generalized Markup Language is an international standard for the development of protocols for the electronic encoding of text.   SGML specifies the general syntax and notation for specific encoding schemes called Document Type Definitions (DTD).  A DTD defines  the common structural elements of a given class of documents (e.g. archival finding aids, literary texts, exhibition catalogs) and specifies the relationships among them.

statement of arrangement
Information on the arrangement of the materials, such as the principal characteristics of the internal structure, the physical or logical ordering or filing sequence of materials, and how materials have been treated by the archivists. (EAD Tag Library)

statement of condition
Description of the physical condition of the materials.

statement of extent
The quantity of materials, expressed as an item count, space occupied, or number of containers (boxes, drawers, folders) occupied.

statement of organization
Information on the organization of the materials, such as the logical and physical hierarchical grouping(s) into which they have been arranged (EAD Tag Library)

subject authority file
A list of the authorized subject/topical headings used in a catalog, inventory, or information retrieval system.

title
A word, phrase, character, or group of characters that names a unit of description. ISAD(G) Glossary.

USMARC
USMARC, commonly referred to as MARC, stands for Machine Readable Cataloging, a widely used communication standard for the interchange of archival and bibliographic information.

Z39.50
Z39.50 is an information retrieval protocol that supports communication among different information systems, making it possible for a user to search various systems without knowing the different search syntaxes employed.

Abbreviations used for sources

AAT
Art & Architecture Thesaurus, 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
http://www.ahip.getty.edu/aat_browser/

APPM
Hensen, Steven. Archives, Personal Papers, and Manuscripts: A Cataloging Manual for Archival Repositories, Historical Societies, and Manuscript Libraries, 2nd ed. Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 1990.

EAD Tag Library
Gilliland-Swetland, Anne J.  and Thomas A. La Porte editors. Encoded Archival Description Document Type Definition Tag Library (DTD), beta version, Technical Document No. 2. Chicago: Society of American Archivists and Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1996.

ISAD(G) Glossary
International Standard Archival Description (General) -Glossary Of Terms Associated With The General Rules. Paris: International Council on Archives, Ad Hoc Commission on Descriptive Standards, 1993.

RAD Glossary
Rules for Archival Description: Glossary. Ottawa: Canadian Council of Archives, 1993.