Digital finding aids provide the
user with just enough information to attract their attention, but the showpiece
of information for the items does not always aid the user in actual viewing or
touching the items. Also, it can be said that finding aids are a tough medium
to engage with as they vary and can run long or short, depending. Engagement
with the medium in some cases is complicated and ineffectual. However, the
record does attempt to provide information in a concise and helpful manner.
Looking at two finding aids from the Smithsonian's photography collection in
addition to engaging with archival academic writing on the finding aid, I will
evaluate it in its current form.
Using the finding aids from the Harriman Alaska Expedition Collection,
1899-1900 and Leon J. Cole Photograph
Collection, 1941, one begins to see the problems inherent in the finding
aid. The Harriman Alaska Expedition, for
example, provides a very limited summary of the collection - one sentence - and
instead spends time listing the various names connected with the project. The
names have importance and value, but the expedition appears more valued by the
content of the finding aid due to the people present and the event's purpose.
Finding aids are meant to attract users to the collection, so this particular
spin is not uncommon. However, the images themselves are not described or
explained. Particularly, the various places that they team visited. I found
this finding aid by a subject search of images on the Smithsonian's website,
using the word "Idaho". Nowhere in this finding aid does it mention
that state. In fact, if one were to read this finding aid, based on the title
and container list summary, which mentions the now politically incorrect word
"Eskimos," the user interested in the west at large would never
consider this collection helpful. The creator this finding aid saw value in
mentioning the figures associated with this expedition, the purpose of said
expedition and Alaska, which is great for those interested in these topics, but
what about those researchers interested in images of the west from this time
period who would overlook this collection based on the finding aid? The finding
aid then limits the proposed audience for this collection.
To make matters worse, Leon J. Cole
and his photographic collection is similar in that it also has a very direct
focus, which is Leon J. Cole himself. The finding aid spends a lot or more
accurately twice provides the biography of Cole. The photo album that is the
actual collection is almost secondary to the creator of it. The finding aid
does mention twice that the material found in the album is from Alaska in 1941.
However, when the user gets to the container list for Cole, which in the
Harriman Expedition listed at length the materials found with a short narrative
about them, there is only a two-word detail of "Photograph Album"(Smithsonian "Leon J. Cole
Photographic Collection, 1941"). The images themselves are not highlighted
or made important on the finding aid. There are just valued due to their
connection to Cole. The collection is about a photo album, but the contains of
the photos are nowhere discussed in detail.
The lack of comprehensive finding
aids limits a users interaction with the material. Michelle Light and Tom Hyry
in their article, "Colophons and Annotations: New Directions for the
Finding Aid" claim that one of two major problems with the finding aid is,
"although all archivists are taught that we must strive to be as objective
as possible when processing, finding aids present but one viewpoint on a
collection" (217). They personalize the process of putting together a
collection, claiming that every individual will make different decisions (Light
and Hyry 217). Based on the examples previously discussed, I completely agree.
If I were to process the Harriman Alaska
Expedition Collection, 1899-1900 or Leon
J. Cole Photograph Collection, 1941 collections, I would make sure to
mention more specifically the details of the images, while also emphasizing the
importance of the creators or the expedition. In order to combat this problem,
the authors suggest annotations to finding aids, so users can alert others to
the value they see in a collection (Light and Hyry 226). For example, I would
add a note to the Harriman Expedition as regards the other states covered in
the images, in order to fight the perception presented in the finding aid
currently.
While allowing archivists their
individuality, the finding aid does then limit the manner in which users engage
with it to those that are seeking what is listed and nothing beyond it. While
some users might do what I did to find the collections, not all will, and if
the finding aid is the only access point available, then some users might not
be able to use the contains to their advantage - a major flaw in the
fundamental idea of finding aids.
Bibliography:
Light, Michelle, and Tom Hyry. "Colophons and
Annotations: New Directions for the Finding Aid."
The American Archivist 65 (2002):
216-230. Print.
Smithsonian
Institution Archives, Record Unit 7244, Cole, Leon J, 1877-1948, Leon J. Cole
Photograph Collection
Smithsonian
Institution Archives, Record Unit 7243, Harriman Alaska Expeditions (1899),
Harriman Alaska Expedition Collection
URLs to the
finding aids used:
http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_217400?back=%2Fsearch%2Fsia_search_findingaids%2FHarriman%2520Alaska%2520Expedition
http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_217401?back=%2Fsearch%2Fsia_search_findingaids%2FHarriman%2520Alaska%2520Expedition
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