Box listing 101
As part of the placement project I am doing at the John Rylands Research Institute and Library, I have been tasked to box list and catalogue the Terence Pepper Collection for the British Pop Archive. The collection mainly consists of magazines and periodicals with pop-cultural relevance from the post-war period to the present, e.g., fashion magazines like Petticoat and Honey and music magazines like Rolling Stone, Fabulous 208 and Smash Hits.
Below are a few things I have learned along the way that I would like to share with any future box listers/cataloguers out there. First I will very briefly describe what box listing means and why it is important.
In order to catalogue a collection it is useful to have a box list. A box list is an overview/inventory of a given archive/collection, that enables you to identify material, make assessments about its access and condition, and just generally to know about what the archive you are working with actually contains. You can of course catalogue every item in a collection from scratch, but it is quite a time-consuming process, so until you have the time to do so, the information from the box list is essential. The box listing I have been working on goes to individual item level, which means every single magazine in a box gets its own description. Box listing can also be done down to box or volume level, which provides more of a general overview. Just make sure you know what type of listing you are being tasked to do.
Many archives and libraries have a backlog and limited time or resources for cataloguing, so having a box list creates a realm of accessibility that is very important. In this way it is possible for curators to have an overview of what is in their collections/archives and answer general enquiries, even if the items are not fully catalogued. This opens up the collections/archives to not only the curators, but the public too.
Now, without any further ado, here are 8½ things I wish I had known about box listing before beginning this endeavour:
1. Are you sitting comfortably?
Make sure you have a set-up that makes sense and is the most comfortable for you. I am doing my work in the Modern Elsevier Reading Room at the Rylands, as it makes the most sense for the materials to be moved from storage to there. Reading rooms also have a nice atmosphere for working as there is peace and quiet, and they have all the appropriate equipment, such as trays and weights, if you need them. These rooms are temperature controlled, so make sure to bring a jumper for the cold days!
2. Make sure you have the correct spreadsheet at hand.
For the collection to eventually be transferred into the cataloguing system, everything must first be listed in something like an Excel spreadsheet or a Word document. You can use whichever writing program you prefer, just make sure it can create a table with columns. I use a template in Excel, which has the correct headings/descriptions already supplied by the curator. Make sure you have the right one available — nothing is worse than transferring work from one spreadsheet to another and having to check for mistakes! The most important headings to make sure you include are reference code, title, date(s), extent, and description/contents.
2.1 Make sure you have basic Excel skills.
If you are going to use Excel, make sure you know the basics. I had not used Excel properly for about 7 years. Therefore, there were some extremely basic things that I had to refresh. Thankfully, there are many guides online that can help if need be.
3. Have patience.
Box listing is repetitive work. There is a lot of copying, scrolling, and flicking through things for information. If you feel like you have been staring at the same textbox for several minutes, take a break, but have patience with the work and with yourself.
4. Make a system.
In continuation of point 3, there is a lot of repetitive scrolling and looking for information. What I found helpful was to make a system for the order of inputting the information. I started with the date and worked my way “back”, so to speak, to the title (see picture example below). This ensured that I could see if I was missing something and created a rhythm.
5. Be consistent.
This is something I still am working on, but it is good to be as consistent as possible. This entails writing the descriptions in more or less the same way all the time, including the same things (when possible), formatting dates the same way (XX/XX/XXXX) and just in general making the box list as readable as possible.
6. Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
If you come across a problem, for instance, you are unsure what something should be categorised as, don’t hesitate to ask around. In my case, I came across plenty of articles, posters, and pictures of disgraced personalities in television and music. I was unsure of how to record these people without drawing more attention to them than to anyone else I was recording, which was obviously not something that I wanted to do, so I asked a few people, talked to the curator, and we found a solution.
7. Trust yourself.
In cataloguing something like a magazine or any written media, it would take far too long to record every little detail. Therefore, you have to make some executive decisions on what to include in the description/content overview. Trust yourself in these instances and include what you know and what feels right. This can be tricky, but always think, that the more you record, the more accessible it will become, but if you record everything, readers might not be able to see the wood for the trees.
8. Enjoy finding hidden treasures!
Lastly, have fun with it and enjoy finding little things that make you laugh or question something. If you are doing the box listing, chances are not many people have had access to the archive/collection before you, so you have the chance to discover some amazing (and fun) things, so make sure to enjoy it as much as possible!
