Description
Appraise, document, and secure newly acquired records and historically valuable materials through systematic accessioning. Create accession records, manage transfer and rights documentation, stabilize physical and born-digital content, and lay the foundation for future description and research.
- • Create and maintain accession registers and intake databases integrated with archival management systems.
- • Apply standardized accessioning workflows and collection-level classification to facilitate future access.
- • Authenticate and appraise new acquisitions at accession level to determine scope, value, and risks.
- • Provide initial collection-level information about recent accessions to staff and researchers as appropriate.
- • Lead and train staff or students assisting with intake, inventory, rehousing, and data entry.
- • Prepare accession documentation and baseline descriptions, including inventories, provenance, and donor or transfer records.
- • Stabilize and rehouse physical materials; capture and preserve born-digital content with imaging, fixity checks, and virus scanning.
- • Record rights, restrictions, and access conditions, enforcing legal and privacy requirements during intake.
- • Coordinate acquisition logistics with donors and records creators, including scheduling transfers and documenting chain of custody.
- • Research and document the origins, context, and significance of accessions to inform processing and use.
- • Collaborate with curators and processing archivists to determine retention, priorities, and transfer to processing units.
- • Track and report accession metrics, status, and backlogs; maintain accurate locations and barcodes.
- • Identify materials requiring immediate preservation actions or restrictions and prepare them for interim storage or quarantine.
- • Contribute to accessioning policies, procedures, and standards to ensure consistent practice.
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O*NET occupational data (work activities, skills, knowledge).
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This site includes information from O*NET by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. Career Clutch has modified some of this information for student readability. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Last reviewed: Jan 2026
