Introduction

Description is the process of taking what you have learned about a collection during arrangement and processing and translating it into a roadmap for collection users.

Without a good description the most historically valuable records will go unused and consequently will be useless--because users won’t know they exist and how to find them!

Good descriptions are also vital to ongoing management of your collections

In this lesson, we'll discuss what goes into a good description and the process you should follow. We'll cover catalogs and their contents, finding aids and their elements, and walk you through a practice exercise in creating a finding aid.

This lesson takes about 45 minutes to complete.

Description: The act of establishing intellectual control over records by identifying their contents, important subjects, and historical significance.