Curating a High-Impact Document Room:
Ten Things We’re Glad We Did
“Everyone take out something to write
on. You will take notes.”
Jacqueline Andrews, Linda Greenow, Stephan J. Macaluso
State University of New York at New Paltz
Before we Begin…
• What % of your documents do you believe are
currently in print? Digital?
• List two or three items that are routinely collected
by campus departments or by your Provost’s
office.
• What comes into your mind when we say “student
work?” Who at your institution collects samples of
student work?
#1: We recognized the need for
documentation right from the self-study
design phase
#2: We had the right people on our
document room team
People who were…
• Empowered to
solicit documents
• Good at collecting
and organizing
documents
• Good at curating
spaces: vision!
Action Plan Question:
Name at least three (3) people
from your campus that should
be involved in the document
room.
Whom would you invite, and
why?
# 3: We decided what to keep in
print, and what to keep in digital
format
#4: We decided there would be a
digital collection, and a curated exhibit
space
Action Plan Question:
What is your model of a ‘document room’?
What objects represent your campus?
#5: We thought outside the 8 ½ x 11”
frame
Action Plan Question:
Which technologies/ online spaces are
you using to store campus documents
(Assessment? Planning? Student
work?)
Do you have an assessment
management system?
#6: We formed close bonds with the
accommodations team, the tech
team, and MS leadership
Action Plan Question:
If you think that you’ll have a physical
document room, where might that space
be?
Which features might you want it to have?
#7: We knew (well, pretty much)
who had which documents
Inventory of Documents for Self-Study Design, mapped to the Standards
IPEDS Data, Standards
1, 7, 8 14
Institutional Factbook,
Standards 1, 7, 8, 14
Student Evaluation of
Instruction Summary
Reports, Standards 10
& 11
Action Plan Question:
Name three (3) people at your
institution who can point out where
key documents are located.
#8: Organization and Description
• Dates (no more after…)
•Campus slang (lexicon?)
•Affirm which standard
•Tag the item
•Use folders: online and
physical
•You can describe too
much!
•Physical items must be in
one, and only one, place,
even if they apply to more
than one standard. No
duplicates!
#9: We had a timeline. We recommend a
24-month timeline to facilitate document
collection*
TIMELINE: Collection of Data and Documents Begins Very Early!
Collection of
Data and
Documents
Begins in
Year 1
Prepare
Inventory of
Documents
for SelfStudy
Design
ACADEMIC YEAR 1
Submit
Self-Study
Design in
Fall
Committees
Begin
Working
Self-Study
Report is
Drafted in
Summer
Committees
Develop
Reports
Reports
are due
ACADEMIC YEAR 2
Circulate
Self-Study
Report in
Fall
Team
Chair
Visits in
Fall
Commission
action on
accreditation
in June
Self-Study
Submitted
to MSCHE
in January
Team
Visit in
Spring
ACADEMIC YEAR 3
#10: Keep an Open Mind OR...“This will be
messy”
Thanks for listening!
• We hope we’ve helped you on your way to
a successful document room/catalog and
a very successful reaccreditation visit.
• If we can help, give us a jingle:
macaluss@newpaltz.edu
greenowl@newpaltz.edu
andrewsj@newpaltz.edu