MPLP Ten Years Later: the Adventure of Being among the First

The Northwest Archival Processing Initiative (NWAPI) was the first consortium to implement Greene and Meissner’s “More Product, Less Process,” and its member institutions were among the earliest to adopt MPLP methods. Now, ten years after the close of this NHPRC-funded initiative, MPLP is a widely-recognized methodology that has been applied to many collections, but MPLP has also influenced archival functions other than processing. This article revisits the original eight NWAPI consortium participants to explore how successfully archivists that were trained in MPLP were able to institutionalize its processing methods over the last ten years, and how MPLP affected other areas of their archival practice. This article details the history of the NWAPI grant, reviews the MPLP literature to show its development over time, and analyzes survey results from the NWAPI institutions. It concludes with a recommendation to guide the future of MPLP

Shopping the Online Archives Megastore: A Content Analysis of Special Collection Libraries and Archives Websites Produced Through Large-Scale Digitization

This study is a content analysis examining websites of special collection libraries and archives supporting large-scale digitization initiatives to determine the kinds of information and functionalities available to online users. Large-scale digitization is characterized by aggregate-level selection and metadata of materials to be digitized. The analysis was conducted on a group of ten institutions identified as participating in large-scale digitization. The results demonstrate success in highlighting digitized materials on the website, but show a lack of consistency in the use of item-level and aggregate-level metadata, suggesting inconsistency in the definition of large-scale digitization.Master of Science in Library Scienc

Users' Perceptions on Searching, Locating, and Accessing Dispersed Materials in Archival Institutions

This study describes a semi-structured interviews of professional researchers located in the North Carolina area. This study evaluates the personal experiences and information seeking behaviors of researchers working with materials dispersed across multiple physical and digital locations. The survey was conducted to determine the strategies researchers use to identify and access all material relevant to their research questions, even if the materials are dispersed across different archival institutions.Master of Science in Library Scienc