This study aims to present ways to organizing the manuscripts of university archives in a systematic and effective way by analyzing the functions and activities of the university members.
The university archives and manuscripts are basically the university records of enduring value. While the archives are generally the administrative records, the manuscripts are non-administrative records. The manuscripts help describe comprehensive images of the university, which can't be covered only by the archives.
To preserve and utilize the archives and the manuscripts effectively, the records need to be organized systemically. The organization of the archives and the manuscripts is to arrange and describe the records through analysis and thereby capture intellectual, physical, and administrative control of them. Due to different features between the archives and the manuscripts, the university archives need separate organizing methods.
This study, thus, determines five levels of arrangement used to organize the university manuscripts: collection-group-series-file-item and suggests suitable descriptive elements.
According to the organizing methods which are demonstrated in this study, users could be provided with subject search. Second, it helps to preserve the records through the recognition of the physical condition and locational information in the records.
The systematic organization of the archives and the manuscripts is an essential work to achieve the mission of the university archives. Therefore, each university archives needs to try to develop the guideline of the organizing manuscripts for systematization.