Inventory
Know what is in the collection
Record formats, date ranges, physical locations, existing digital files, condition, known gaps, and permission questions.
Download inventory worksheet (CSV)School archives · A planning guide for librarians
Give Your School Archive a Clear Plan
Bring photographs, yearbooks, documents, and school stories into a plan your library team can use. Start with what you have, choose a priority collection, and decide how students, staff, and alumni will explore it.
Start with a collection, not a hardware decision. The planning tools below are free to use.
Begin with what you already have
Start With the Collections in Your Care
Give photographs, yearbooks, documents, and school stories a practical starting point. Use these blank worksheets with your library team; no demo or email is required.
Priorities
Choose a first collection
Consider who the collection serves, why it matters, and how much preparation it needs before you share it.
Download collection planner (CSV)Permissions & access
Decide what can be shared
Record sources, rights holders, permission evidence, sharing restrictions, intended audiences, and the person reviewing each decision.
Download access checklist (CSV)Ownership
Give the next steps an owner
Assign preparation, review, and ongoing updates. Keep a first collection manageable and leave room for your archive to grow.
Download team plan (CSV)Open the CSV files in your preferred spreadsheet application. These are planning worksheets, not an upload or scanning service.
Preview the inventory worksheet
- Collection & date range
- What is the collection called? Which years does it cover?
- Formats & locations
- Which materials are physical, already digital, or held by another department?
- Condition & gaps
- What needs attention? Which items or years are missing?
- Sources & permissions
- Where did each item come from? What can be shared, and with whom?
- Priority & next step
- Which collection comes first? Who will prepare and review it?
Collection decisions before display decisions
Decide What Your Archive Will Share
A useful digital archive starts with the context your library team already knows. Plan the material, the audience, and the first collection before deciding how it will appear.
Read the yearbook and photo archive guide- Collections
- Identify photographs, yearbooks, documents, and school-history materials to include.
- Context
- Gather titles, dates, descriptions, and source information so each item keeps its story.
- Access
- Identify the intended audience and confirm which materials can be shared.
- Priorities
- Choose a first collection and a manageable plan for adding more.
A school story, with its context intact
See an Archive Take Shape
At Sweetwater High School, teacher Sarah Davies describes gathering photographs and service records from the community for a veterans page honoring alumni who have served. That is a concrete place to begin: a defined collection, its contributors, and the stories it will share.
Sweetwater High School · Documented archive example
A collection built around people
- A clear subject: alumni military service.
- Community contributions: photographs and service records.
- School context: a veterans page within the school’s history.
Use the same planning questions for your own collection: who contributes, who reviews, and what context should stay with each item?
Make the plan useful after launch
Turn the Inventory Into Your Library Team’s Next Steps
Assign responsibilities, review permissions, gather existing digital files, and track the first collection. Keep the school’s preparation tasks separate from any services agreed for your project.
Review the staff workflow as well as the visitor experience. Watch the editor walkthrough, then use the current editing guide to see how your team can add an approved item and its supporting photographs.
What to review in the web editor
- Open a collection folder and review the available content types under Settings & Layouts → Add Content.
- For a person or team story, add its context in the Text → Description field.
- Add approved supporting photographs through the Media tab.
- Review the live preview alongside the editing panel. Changes auto-save.
Watch the editor walkthrough
Read the current editing guide
The walkthrough shows an earlier interface. Use the editing guide for current controls and review your own workflow during the archive demo.
Scanning, OCR, and archival preservation services are separate project questions. Confirm the scope before including them in your plan.
Explore the full platformFrom the school community
The People Behind the Archive
Sarah Davies, teacher at Sweetwater High School, shared how the school gathers alumni photographs and service records. Read her own account of the project.
Read Sarah Davies’s experience
I wanted to share our veterans page with you. I actually won teacher of the year last year for bringing this program to the high school and community. We put out Facebook posts every few months asking the community to send me photos and service records of their or family members military service. We are basically archiving every alumni who has served. I have been given entire classes that revolve around using “the board” as we call it. The possibilities are endless. It has been a way to categorize and archive the history of our school. We will celebrate our towns 150th birthday next year and we plan to take a mobile board downtown to showcase the history of our school for this celebration. I also recently was the featured speaker at a district wide school board meeting and was able to showcase “the board” to everyone and received so much positive feedback.
Sarah Davies · Teacher, Sweetwater High School
Bring your collection into the conversation
Explore an Archive Demo With Your Collection in Mind
Bring a sample collection, your inventory, and the questions your library team wants to answer. Walk through a digital archive example and discuss how your materials, context, and access goals could shape the experience.
Book an Archive DemoA clear plan. A manageable first collection.
Give Your Collections a Thoughtful Next Chapter
Start with a clear inventory and a first collection your team can manage. Then explore how your school’s photographs, yearbooks, and stories could come together in an archive demo.
Book an Archive Demo