70th chat, Monday November 14: MPLP (archival processing)
11am Pacific / noon Mountain / 1pm Central / 2pm Eastern
Moderated by @aliceprael
Storify (pdf, html) by @aliceprael
MPLP stands for More Product, Less Process and is sometimes referred to baseline processing. The acronym was introduced by Mark A. Greene and Dennis Meissner in the article “More Product, Less Process: Revamping Traditional Archival Processing”. MPLP asserts that archives should adhere to the following guidelines* for arrangement, description, and preservation in order to improve productivity and decrease backlogs of unprocessed material.
1) expedite getting collection materials into the hands of users
2) assure arrangement of materials adequate to user needs
3) take the minimal steps necessary to physically preserve collection materials
4) describe materials sufficient to promote use.
*all italics are from the original text
Suggested readings:
- The origin article of MPLP: Greene, Mark, and Dennis Meissner. “More Product, Less Process: Revamping Traditional Archival Processing.” The American Archivist 68.2 (2005): 208-63 http://www.archivists.org/prof-education/pre-readings/IMPLP/AA68.2.MeissnerGreene.pdf (or the TL;DR version from Wikipedia- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/More_Product,_Less_Process)
- Meissner, Dennis, and Mark A. Greene. “More Application While Less Appreciation: The Adopters and Antagonists of MPLP.” Journal of Archival Organization 8.3-4 (2010): 174-226. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15332748.2010.554069
- Razon, Rona. “Thoughts on Traditional Processing and MPLP….” ICFA, 2013. https://icfadumbartonoaks.wordpress.com/2012/12/10/thoughts-on-traditional-processing-and-mplp/
Discussion questions:
- Q1. What has your experience been with MPLP? How do you determine ‘sufficient’ description & ‘adequate’ arrangement for a collection?
- Q2. How does MPLP affect access to and accessibility of material?
- Q3. How does MPLP affect privacy issues? – does MPLP lead to increased risk?
- Q4. How does MPLP affect the work required from other staff (such as access services and digitization staff)?
- Q5. What do we lose with MPLP? What do we gain? How can we balance MPLP with traditional processing?