Student Organization Records Transfer Program
Contents
Summary ................................................................................................................................................................. 2
Context ................................................................................................................................................................ 2
Student Records .................................................................................................................................................. 2
Workflow ............................................................................................................................................................ 2
Technology ......................................................................................................................................................... 3
Outreach .............................................................................................................................................................. 3
Records Transfer Form ........................................................................................................................................... 3
Year-in-Review ....................................................................................................................................................... 3
Autocrat................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Launch Autocrat.................................................................................................................................................. 4
Run Merge .......................................................................................................................................................... 4
How It Works .................................................................................................................................................. 5
Change Autocrat Settings ................................................................................................................................... 5
Fix Bugs .............................................................................................................................................................. 9
Autocrat glitches ............................................................................................................................................. 9
Does not automatically run merge when new forms are submitted ................................................................ 9
Printing Standards for Electronic Resources .......................................................................................................... 9
Summary
Context
Towson University Libraries Special Collections and Archives Department has collaborated with the
Coordinator of Student Organizations in the Office of Student Activities to create a records transfer program for
student organizations, starting Spring 2015. This program emerges during a convergence of campus trends and
Archives Department foci: the 150th Anniversary of the University, a 2020 University Strategic Plan
prioritizing diversity initiatives, and a Library Resident capstone project in the Archives that processes
historical records of student organizations. These trends inspired dialogue with the Coordinator of Student
Organizations, who used existing incentive-based funding infrastructure (the Tiger Stripes Program) to credit
student groups who donate records to the Archives.
Student Records
Students are required to submit two pieces to the Archives:
 Records Transfer Form
 Records
If meeting the Tiger Stripes Program requirements, students must submit
 Records Transfer Form
 Records: Constitution and Bylaws, Rosters, Minutes and Agendas
 Year-In-Review Form
Workflow
Student submissions are due at the end of the first week of May, but submissions may occur at any time. There
are four ways that students may submit records to the Archives:
 In-person
 Campus Mail
 Electronically using Google Drive
 Electronically using Dropbox
Step 1: Check to make sure the records match the Records Transfer Form. Then sign, scan,
and email RTFs.
Email the signed RTF to the student organization and CC: the Student Organization Coordinator.
Step 2: House records until the 2nd week of May.
Are the records physical or digital?
Digital
Physical
Print records and Year-In-Reviews starting the 2nd
week of April. Keep each organization’s records and
Year-In-Reviews together.
If online, print the Year-In-Reviews and keep with the
corresponding organization’s records in labeled
folders in a document box at the end of the Records of
Student Organizations (or keep on Felicity’s desk)
until the 2nd week of May
Step 3: 2nd Week of May, create and update accession record.
Student submissions are due for Tiger Stripes credit the first week of May, but there may be stragglers
submitting records after the due date. Create an accession record for student organization records for that
Spring season. Records submitted outside of Spring semester may have their own accession record.
Step 4: Process
Follow institutional processing guidelines and add to the Records of Student Organizations.
Technology
A Google-Sheets add-on called Autocrat enables automatic merging of form data into Google Docs that
populate annual folders. Read the section on Autocrat to learn how it works; how to populate new annual data;
and how to fix possible bugs.
Outreach
Outreach to student organizations at the 2015 Student Leadership Summit focused on providing access to
organizational memory and increasing the diversity of Archival holdings. The presentation and presentation
notes exist on SharePoint.
A meeting with A-LIST students in Spring 2015 produced further outreach materials, including a blog post
reminding students that their records are due; a list of contacts, events, and useful outreach methods; and a
catchy handout to distribute.
Records Transfer Form
The Records Transfer Form is a form that all students contributing records need to fill out either as a Google
form or in print.
The Google form exists here: http://goo.gl/forms/OIPJG44tDj
Submitting a form automatically creates a record in the Special Collections and Archives Google Drive folder:
Records of Student Organizations – Tiger Stripes Program – Completed Records Transfer Forms
– 2014-2015
The document will be named after the organization to facilitate easy discovery.
The print form exists as a .docx form in the Special Collections and Archives Google Drive folder:
Records of Student Organizations – Tiger Stripes Program – Completed Records Transfer Forms.
It also exists as a .docx and .pdf form in the SharePoint folder:
SpColl – Guidelines and Procedures – Student Organizations Records Transfer Program
Year-in-Review
The Year-in-Review is a form that students need to fill out either as a Google form or in print only if they are
applying for Tiger Stripes Program credit.
The Google form exists here: http://goo.gl/forms/yCMi6fG6y6
Submitting a form automatically creates a record in the Special Collections and Archives Google Drive folder:
Records of Student Organizations – Tiger Stripes Program – Completed Year in Review Forms –
2014-2015
The document will be named after the organization to facilitate easy discovery.
The print form exists as a .docx form in the Special Collections and Archives Google Drive folder:
Records of Student Organizations – Tiger Stripes Program – Completed Year in Review Forms.
It also exists as a .docx and .pdf form in the SharePoint folder:
SpColl – Guidelines and Procedures – Student Organizations Records Transfer Program
Print copies of the Year-in-Review will be archived with the student records of that year.
Autocrat
Autocrat is an add-on used in Google Sheets. It allows you to save settings for populating a Google Doc
template with data from a Google Sheets file. The process of populating the Doc with Sheets data is called a
merge. This is because autocrat merges the spreadsheet data with a Google Docs template. <<Tags>> in the
template link to specific spreadsheet columns, which tells autocrat which data in the spreadsheet belongs in
which part of the Google Doc.
Autocrat has some simple learning videos here: http://cloudlab.newvisions.org/add-ons/autocrat
I recommend watching them to learn how to create and edit merges.
Launch Autocrat
To launch autocrat, open the Google Sheets file. This is the spreadsheet containing the data you wish to use in
your Google Doc.
From the toolbar at the top, click Add-Ons, autocrat, then Launch.
You should already see a saved MERGE setting in the spreadsheet.
Example: The Student Organizations Records Transfer Form MERGE settings saved in the Records Transfer
Form (Responses) spreadsheet
Run Merge
The Run Merge button starts the process of inserting form responses into a Google Docs template, creating the
reports.
To run a merge:
Highlight the MERGE you would like to run.
Click the blue Run Merge button at the bottom of the screen.
Check the folder with your reports to make sure that the merge successfully created a Google Doc.
How It Works
Autocrat creates four columns in your spreadsheet: Merged Doc ID, Merged Doc URL, Link to merged Doc,
and Merge Status. When you run a merge, Autocrat checks to see if these columns are filled for each form
submission. If a column is empty, Autocrat knows to create a new report. It assigns a unique ID and link to the
report it creates.
Change Autocrat Settings
The most frequent setting change you’ll need to make will be changing the name of the folder you send the
forms to each year. This example will show you how to do that.
Launch Autocrat.
Highlight the MERGE you wish to edit.
Click the Edit Merge button at the bottom of the screen. This will open a dialogue box:
This screen will show you which column of your data is merged with which part of your Google Doc Template.
Click the Save button to continue to the Merge Settings.
Click on Advanced Settings to expand the options.
Locate the “Destination Folder” option. To delete the current folder, you will need to use the bottom scroll bar
to scroll all the way to the right, then click on the tiny x button.
NOTE: Due to a glitch, it will look as though the folder is still there, but once you click the x button, the folder
is deleted from autocrat MERGE settings.
Click the Add Folder button to find the new folder you would like to add your merged reports to.
Save your settings by scrolling right to the Save button.
Fix Bugs
Autocrat glitches
Every now and then, Autocrat will get glitch. One I’ve seen is that, when I click Edit Merge, it asks me to
choose a merge template when it should take me directly to the Map Tags screen. In cases like this, close
Autocrat and try launching it again.
Does not automatically run merge when new forms are submitted
The Records Transfer Form and Year-in-Review autocrat settings currently tell it to automatically run merges
when a new form is submitted. It doesn’t always work. In this case, launch autocrat and click Run Merge. It
will create reports for all forms that haven’t been merged yet.
Printing Standards for Electronic Resources
Click and print! No standards exist as of 3/11/2015.