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Archival Unit Update
Summary
The method Camera Operators use to choose records when creating digital folders is being updated in the DCam instructional materials.
Previously Camera Operators used an “archival unit” to define the metadata characteristics of a digital folder within a project listing. The new method for creating a folder consists of the Camera Operator selecting the smallest natural group of documents—not necessarily a group as the archive has organized it.
This document will define a Natural Group, Archival Unit, and Digital Folder and the way each term will be used in the camera capture process moving forward.
Definitions
Natural Group – A group of records that share basic metadata such as a time period, locality, or record type. Often the records are grouped this way by the archive or by a government agency, as when they are bound in volumes of books or probate packets. Think of natural groups as something that you might pick up with one hand like a book, like a single folder of death certificates, a single probate packet, or a single case file.
Archival Unit – A term for a basic group of documents that was organized by the archive but is not necessarily the smallest natural group upon which to define a digital folder in DCam.
Digital Folder – Within a Project Listing in DCam, Camera Operators create digital folders to store individual images of archive records. Folders are the fundamental digital group that FamilySearch uses to organize records within the image capture process. Missionary Readiness
Examples
Identifying the smallest natural group of records is the first step for a Camera Operator to create a digital folder. The table below shows specific examples of common record containers along with notes on whether they should be identified as natural groups.
| Container | Natural Group / Archival Unit |
| Individual papers | If they don’t belong to a larger group, as defined by metadata, they may constitute archival units. Check for other papers that individual papers might be grouped within terms of metadata, such as time period, locality, record type, or other criteria. For example, a box of letters to a governor may be a natural group of individual papers. |
| Probate packets | Because the documents are grouped naturally as a single case, they share many metadata characteristics. Because they are bound together, so create as small of a group as possible, they form the smallest natural group and so are a good choice on which to base the definition of a folder. |
| Case files | Because the documents are grouped naturally as a single case, they likely share many metadata characteristics. Like probate packets, case files likely form the smallest natural group and so are likely a good choice on which to base the definition of a folder. |
| Manila folders file folders | Do the contents constitute a good, natural group in terms of metadata such as time period, locality, or record type? Should they be combined with other folders to consolidate more records? Can they be divided into smaller natural groups? |
| File boxes | Are the file boxes grouping records that naturally belong together, based on metadata like time period, locality, and record type? Or, rather, are they used as receptacles to gather individual groups like probate packets or case files? That is, do the boxes form the smallest natural group? |
| File drawers File cabinets | Are the file drawers grouping records that naturally belong together based on metadata like time period, locality, and record type? Or, rather, are the drawers used as receptacles to gather file folders that would better be considered the smallest natural group? |
| Albums Books Catalogs Volumes | Each unit has been gathered and bound by the archive based on similarities of metadata such as time period, locality, or record type. Because they are bound together, so create as small of a group as possible, they form the smallest natural group and so are a good choice on which to base the definition of a folder. |
Details and Impact
This updated definition will affect the way that digital folders are created within projects and listings. For example, when creating new folders in the past, a box containing numerous probate packets was considered an acceptable archival unit and, therefore, the best way to provide a definition for one digital folder. Under the updated method, each probate packet within the file box—not the file box as a whole—is considered the smallest natural group and, therefore, the way by which to define a digital folder.
Going forward, Camera Operators should know that Natural groups are something that they might pick up with one hand like a book, like a single folder of death certificates, a single probate packet, or a single case file.
Natural groups are made up of records with a lot in common in terms of their metadata, such as time period, locality, and record type, among other possibilities. They may be comprised of a great many documents, but they can also be as small as one document.
The smallest natural group of records needs to be identified as the first step in creating a folder within a project listing.