In a message dated 11/29/2004 3:46:51 PM Eastern Standard Time, Bogdan Popovici <[log in to unmask]> writes:

>Maybe a stupid question for English native speakers, but is there any
>difference between "inventory" and "finding aid"?
>

the following link to the SAA Glossary website may be of some help

http://www.archivists.org/glossary/term_details.asp?DefinitionKey=66

"Finding aid is a single document that places the materials in context by consolidating information about acquisition and processing; provenance, including administrative history or biographical note; scope of the collection, including size, subjects, media; organization and arrangement; and a an inventory of the series and the folders."

Inventory
http://www.archivists.org/glossary/term_details.asp?DefinitionKey=390
n. ~ 1. A finding aid that includes, at a minimum, a list of the series in a collection. – 2. Records management · The process of surveying the records in an office, typically at the series level.

of course a records inventory does much much more than just surveying the records at the series level. Volume, organization, location, media formats, business process, regulatory requirements, classification (confidential, private, etc) are gathered during the inventory. A good finding aid serves to describe the records for a researcher sot that they will know if the collection contains information germane to their research.

a finding aid can contain information gathered during the inventory

this is my view

pak
--
Peter A. Kurilecz CRM, CA
Richmond, Va
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