Best way to catalogue the records of a small nonprofit.
May 13, 2010 2:34 PM Subscribe
What is the best way for me to catalog our organization's files?
I work for a small nonprofit. My day-to-day and computer files are well organized, but we've been around for 44 years and we three filing cabinets and about a dozen boxes full of unorganized stuff (newsletters, correspondence, meeting minutes, newspaper clippings, photographs, membership information, etc, etc). Other former board members have cheerily informed me that they have even more boxes in their respective basements - yay! There are also a few documents the board have asked about, so I'd like to have those things at my fingertips if need be (or be able to tell them we don't have whatever it is).
So I need a system to organize and catalog all this stuff, preferably a piece of software that's cheap and relatively easy to use (I'll be training summer staff to help). Or am I better off just setting up an excel spreadsheet? Any suggestions on how to make this go more smoothly? Thanks!
I work for a small nonprofit. My day-to-day and computer files are well organized, but we've been around for 44 years and we three filing cabinets and about a dozen boxes full of unorganized stuff (newsletters, correspondence, meeting minutes, newspaper clippings, photographs, membership information, etc, etc). Other former board members have cheerily informed me that they have even more boxes in their respective basements - yay! There are also a few documents the board have asked about, so I'd like to have those things at my fingertips if need be (or be able to tell them we don't have whatever it is).
So I need a system to organize and catalog all this stuff, preferably a piece of software that's cheap and relatively easy to use (I'll be training summer staff to help). Or am I better off just setting up an excel spreadsheet? Any suggestions on how to make this go more smoothly? Thanks!
Seconding the ScanSnap. Not super-cheap, but a fantastic scanner. Blew through a two-drawer file cabinet casually in a weekend.
posted by Wild_Eep at 3:55 PM on May 13, 2010
posted by Wild_Eep at 3:55 PM on May 13, 2010
Either scan or fie the actual things, doesn't matter much. What really matters is a naming convention that allows for a search meanaingful to, not you, but anyone unfamiliar with the system to find a single odd item fast. Example DATE/SOURCE/DETAIL 1/SUB DETAIL 2 / ETC. That would favor a search knowing a date or a source [Time, NBC.com etc] or a detail [ injury or death or birth or election or project name] Just filing is nothing, FINDING is the trick. I file for a major law firm all manner of things, actual papers, DVDs, maps, testimonies, all easy to find IF the detail that is likely to come up is part of the filing name structure.
posted by Freedomboy at 4:18 PM on May 13, 2010
posted by Freedomboy at 4:18 PM on May 13, 2010
Best answer: Cheap option is to scan to PDF, drop into a shared folder, catalogue in Excel, and hyperlink in Excel to the PDF. Metadata entered into Excel can be used to categorise and sort.
This is the cheap option used by company lawyers to manage contracts, and who can't afford a document management system.
Works like a charm.
(just gotta be careful about corruption of the spreadsheet if it is opened by multiple users at the same time)
posted by jannw at 12:14 AM on May 14, 2010
This is the cheap option used by company lawyers to manage contracts, and who can't afford a document management system.
Works like a charm.
(just gotta be careful about corruption of the spreadsheet if it is opened by multiple users at the same time)
posted by jannw at 12:14 AM on May 14, 2010
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posted by davcoo at 3:16 PM on May 13, 2010