Variations in inventory procedure

If/when the item of ephemera has both a bibliographic and item record you can complete full inventory.

Instructions on this page will cover the basic standard inventory procedure and variations for ephemera. Full standard inventory procedures can be found in full here.

These are the additional macros that will need to be added:

Bear in mind that some of these steps may have already been completed if you attached a new item record.

Location Check

Mark the item as found, missing or recheck.

If you come across a missing item, do everything you normally would with an item e.g. changing Ref No/shelfmark, adding location, add missing macro, change status etc but take these additional steps:

1. Add the old shelfmark as a former location e e.g. EPH5:25

2. Add a generic plastic wallet in place of the missing item with a note giving the shelfmark and including the word missing with the date. If the item has been digitised, add the image of the item to the wallet

3. Put the missing item in bold in the box list

Accession number

Add to the accession number field.

The majority of material was collected in the 1990s and 2000s so was not given an accession number. In this case put 'No number found'.

Physical Condition

Use the same letter system as the EPBs, although the emphasis may be slightly different.

Letter rating	Description
A	Pristine condition, like new
B	Good condition, slight signs of wear
C	Fair but minor dirt or stains
D	Dirt, tears, stains, brittle/vulnerable
E	Same as D, but multiple issues that make it unstable

There are also other conditions that should be noted, even if not in the macro:

• rust

Storage

Unsuitable housing or storage: folded, oversized, 3D, organic/chemical material, multiple items, format move

Set text	Description
Folded	for material where you cannot see the whole item without removing from the melinex sleeve. This includes items which are folded as well as small booklets
Oversized	for material which is too big for the melinex sleeve
3D	for material which was formerly 3D as well as items which are of a thickeness/depth which impacts other items in the box e.g. items above or below mold to the shape of the object
Organic/wet/chemical	anything wet (organic or inorganic, e.g. gels, perfumes, etc) will need rehousing and boxing. Dry materials are already in correct housing although some powders e.g. talcum powder, may contain things such as asbestos so will need raising with Collections Care.
Multiple items	where there are multiple separate pages which form part of the same item in one sleeve. Can also be used to note where there is a single melinex sleeve with 2/4 windows containing separate items (although aim to rehouse these as you go along)
Format move	when you think an item might be better suited/accessible in another part of the collection e.g. modern pamphlets, serials

*There is no macro for human remains, hazards or controlled substances (even though they will need rehousing/moving). Instead you should follow special procedures outlined below.*

Hazards

If you come across any potentially hazardous materials, contact Collections Care for advice. This includes items laced with hazardous/radioactive substances, sharp items (such as needles or pins), sealed packets, which may contain drugs or poisonous material, as well as any empty ones where they would have been in contact with the material inside. For examples, see the identified hazards appendix.

If an item is deemed hazardous, Collections Care will add labels, re-bag and seal the melinex sleeve or remove the item from the box altogether. Any hazardous item should be view by appointment, with a note saying it needs to be accessed via Conservation (see Access Conditions Statements for the exact wording). You should also add a general note in the item record explaining the hazard e.g. Hazard: may contain asbestos'.

Whenever a hazard is identified, inform the LE&E duty managers so the retrievals team know that the material is safe to handle within the sleeve and to not be alarmed when they see hazard or harmful labels on items or boxes.

Flagging evidence of human tissue

If you come across any human tissue, this needs to be added to the Human Remains spreadsheet.

Even though human hair and nails do not fall under current human remains policy, they still need to be flagged in case of changes in legislation. [link to human remains policy]

If you come across skin, bone or anatomical specimen add this to the spreadsheet above and flag immediately with the Culturally Sensitive Collections Liaison. It is likely the item will need to be moved to the human remains cupboard and may need a change in its physical access. This decision will be made by Collections Care but you will still need to update the record. See [link to access policy].

Flagging evidence of controlled substances

If you come across a controlled substance e.g. prescription drugs, flag this immediately with Collections Care (cc'ing in the Head of Collections Development, currently Jenny Shaw).

A list of the most common controlled substances can be found on this government site.

If the item is found to be a controlled substance, as Wellcome does not have a licence for this material, the record will need to be closed and made unavailable following the guidelines on managing access in the Sensitivity and Access Procedures. The item will be placed in a secure location in Conservation, with the location hierarchy to be added to the Current Location field, and prepared for disposal. An example record can be found with item EPH/303/8.

Even if the item is found not to be a controlled substance, it may still be a hazard and need to have a change in housing or to be viewed in Conservation only. Examples of how to handle and update access to hazardous materials can be found here.

Add copy specific (if applicable)

Add a macro if there is any provenance or marginalia.

Add location hierarchy

The location hierarchy should be added to the Current Location field.

The hierarchy should be in the following format:

[Building];[Room];[Type of storage];[Aisle];[Bay];[Shelf];[Box]

215 ; B11 (basement) ; MR (moveable racking) ; 161 ; 5 ; 1 ; Box 147 (box)

Add barcode

If there is not already a barcode on the item, add one using the barcode scanner.

Adding collecting information

If applicable, insert a general note starting with 'Collecting information:'. Information may include a date, donor/supplier and/or location. Write it as it appears on the item e.g. Collecting information: 6-8-94 = SRL = Tott Ct Rd.

Adding record creation information

If you have created the bibliographic and/or item record, add an additional macro.

Adding object number sticker

Write the full object number e.g. EPH/725/5 on the sticky label and attach to the top right-hand corner of the melinex sleeve. Make sure it is above the opening so the sticker does not obscure part of the object. You can also add slashes to existing labels so long as the number is clear.

Sensitivity

Potentially sensitive: … (content/metadata/imagery)

Content	Physically part of the item: Lettering or inscriptions in title 245 field Context of the item: Part of the background, circumstances or history of the item, which may be sensitive/distressing, e.g. abortions/miscarriages, freak shows, asylums. *Inherent in the item; cannot be removed from the item
Metadata	Cataloguing legacies: 520 descriptions – outdated language outdated subject headings *Can be altered as part of cataloguing/reconciliation project to tackle problematic language, descriptions, etc.
Imagery	Explicit/Graphic: If digitised, should the item have content advisory on website? Or if particularly distressing/offensive, removed from site?

Due to the wide scope of material, themes, issues, date ranges and collecting history of the ephemera collection, there is bound to be a range of complex, intertwining issues for some of the problematic areas of the collections.

It’s important that we’re able to be as clear and descriptive as possible in the content advisory, so staff/visitors/users know what to expect. A single item may include multiple issues which require flagging.

Similar to the Visual Material sensitivity guidelines and other institutions’ content advisories/warnings, below is a list of controlled terminology to copy and paste over to Sierra as appropriate.

Based on the list from University of Michigan, ‘An introduction to content warnings and trigger warnings’ :

*Child sexual abuse material* – must be flagged immediately to the Safeguarding team [currently Simon Bayliss and Toni Hardy] and must not be photographed. Guidance and procedure can be found here.

• Abuse/ Violence/ Sexual assault/ Incest

• Graphic drug use

• Self-harm/Suicide

• Eating disorders/ Body hatred/ Fat phobia

• Animal cruelty/ experimentation/ death/ remains

• Sexually explicit

• Human remains/ Death or dying

• Miscarriages/ Abortions

• Gore/ Bodily fluids

• Ableist

• Racist

• Hate directed at religious groups/ Islamophobic/ Antisemitic

• Homophobic/ Heterosexist (aimed at wider LGBTQIA+ groups)/ Transphobic

Any outdated subject headings should be deleted and not transferred across to new bibliographic records.

Examples:

• Potentially sensitive: ableist (content, metadata)

• Potentially sensitive: gore/bodily fluids (imagery)

• Potentially sensitive: miscarriages/abortion (content, imagery)

Restricting and closing items with personal data

Deciding whether or not to restrict or close an item is about managing risk. Always get a sense check from someone else in the team if you are unsure. The full access policy around personal data can be found here.

Questions you need to consider when you spot personal data:

• Is it over 100 years old? Unless the data could impact living relatives, this will not need to be restricted or closed.

• Is it a personal address? Unless addresses are associated with a sensitive or stigmatised topic/issue e.g. abortion campaigns, HIV/AIDS, personal addresses do not need to be closed or restricted.

• Does the personal data provide protected characteristics, medical history/notes or addresses linked to sensitive issues? If yes, these will likely need to be restricted or closed.

• Is it a medical prescription? If you can use it to diagnose a condition, or it wasn't donated by the person on the label this will need to be restricted or closed.

• Was it donated by Stephen Lowther? As the person putting the collection together, they were aware of the information they were adding to the collection. This makes the data low risk but may still need to be restricted or closed if it can be used to diagnose a medical condition, covers protected characteristics or references a sensitive or stigmatised topic.

If you find an item you need to restrict, follow the guidelines on managing access in the Sensitivity and Access Procedures. Here you will find guidance on when to restrict or close items, what fields need to be added on Sierra and how to document the change to access. How long you need to restrict or close the material for will depend on the age of the object and the type of data.

EPH/213/19 is an example of an ephemera item that was restricted because of a patient name on a prescription label. The record includes a 506 and 901 field on the bibliographic record and the item OPACMSG set to 'c Restricted'.

In terms of packaging, add a restricted label and a label with the date of when the item is restricted to to the top left corner of the melinex sleeve, along with a red dot.

For the box list, add the word RESTRICTED to the 500 field at the end of the inventory note.

Then in the top right-hand header add the word 'Restricted', along with the object numbers of the items in the box [Bold, 12]. Finally add half a red dot next to it.

Finally, add half a red dot to the outside of the box. This will flag to LE&E that there is a mix of open and restricted material in the box.