OneNote as Evergreen Documentation: Building out a Collaborative Operations Manual in a Special Collections and Archives Unit

Abstract

Operations manuals document standard operating procedures (SOPs) and act as a
touchpoint for the regular work of staff. They are intended to make processes more
uniform, establish common understandings of how workflows advance, inform staff about
what policies apply in any given situation, and more. They also help ensure continuity
of practice when staff plan a departure or complement training when new staff join the
department for onboarding. When not included in the larger context of a manual, written
workflows, project documentation, and policies can easily become lost as procedural and
workflow documentation tends to be created in small pieces