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Saturday April 12, 2025 8:30am - 9:30am MDT
In 2005, Greene and Meissner's article “More Product, Less Process” (MPLP) revolutionized archival practices by advocating for minimal arrangement and description to increase access and reduce staff labor. As MPLP reaches its 20th anniversary, this session examines its evolution and current relevance. How has our understanding of MPLP changed? Do minimal processing techniques align with digitization and reparative description efforts, or do they conflict with these initiatives? Is MPLP helping us make collections available to researchers more quickly? Are our backlogs smaller?

Each panelist will share perspectives on how MPLP is implemented at their repository before joining a discussion moderated by the session chair. Panelists hail from a variety of institution types ranging from museum to public library to academic settings. Discussion will touch on several relevant topics, including managing born-digital records; practical workflows for minimal accessioning and cataloging; iterative processing; the current relationship between MPLP and environmental preservation conditions; promoting inclusivity and accessibility through arrangement and description; archival advocacy; the slow archives movement; and evolving archival theory.

Through this roundtable, speakers will foster a dialogue about the legacy of MPLP and its impact on archival practice. This session will be valuable to any archival professional who has felt the inherent tension between doing fast work and doing quality work.
Speakers
avatar for Kathryn Hujda

Kathryn Hujda

Session Chair, Minnesota Historical Society
Kate Hujda (hwee dah or wee dah) is the Curator of Manuscripts at the Minnesota Historical Society. Prior to her current position, she was an Assistant Archivist/Curator with the University of Minnesota Libraries Archives and Special Collections working with performing arts and literary... Read More →
JJ

Jenna Jacobs

Hennepin County Library Archives
avatar for Derek Webb

Derek Webb

Head of Archives, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
I am a west Texan, former lone arranger, ALIer (class of 2017), certified archivist, current archives department head and records manager. I'm also, as it happens, the archivist for MAC! Talk to me about: management issues, oral histories, instruction and active learning, records... Read More →
BW

Brian Wilson

The Henry Ford
Saturday April 12, 2025 8:30am - 9:30am MDT
Orchestra (TBD)

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