Archives and special collections are charged with collecting materials that document our society and its institutions as well as with the ongoing, responsible stewardship of these records. Yet many archives and special collections struggle to manage the volume of materials under their care.

The profession has made remarkable strides in the last two decades to develop thoughtful, rigorous methodologies to carry out cataloging and processing work in a more efficient manner. But this approach alone has only made a dent in backlogs.

This report shares the outcomes of the Collection Building and Operational Impacts Working Group efforts. It lays out the context and makes an argument for shared, informed decision-making in collection building activities, introduces a framework for how those collection decisions can be made, and offers advice and a tool suite to operationalise that framework.