Meaning & use
accessioning
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“accessioning” is a form of “accession”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
noununcountable
The process of formally recording a new item, such as a museum object, library book or lab sample, into a collection or system.
Grammar: Usually an uncountable noun for the process: accessioning takes a week.
Accessioning of the donated letters took the archive two months.
The lab's accessioning team labels every sample as it arrives.
Careful accessioning ensures that each artifact can be traced back to its donor.
verbtransitive or intransitive
The -ing form of accession: recording a new item formally into a collection or database.
Grammar: Used as a participle: they are accessioning the new samples.
Patterns
- accession something
The curator is accessioning a box of photographs this morning.
We were still accessioning specimens when the inspectors arrived.
Word forms
| base form | accession |
|---|---|
| third person singular | accessions |
| past tense | accessioned |
Common combinations
- sample accessioning
- Sample accessioning at the hospital lab is fully barcoded.
- accessioning process
- The accessioning process starts with a signed donation form.
- accessioning number
- Each object gets an accessioning number when it enters the museum.
- accessioning system
- The library replaced its old accessioning system with a digital one.
- begin accessioning
- Staff will begin accessioning the collection next week.
Synonyms and how they differ
- cataloging
- Cataloging describes items in detail for finding them later, while accessioning records legal receipt of them.
- registration
- Registration is a broader word for entering something on a list, not tied to collections.
- logging
- Logging is informal and can mean any record keeping, not only formal acquisition.
Opposites
Word family
- accession noun
- a new item added to a collection, or the act of joining or taking office
- accessioned adjective
- formally recorded into a collection
- deaccession verb
- to remove an item from a collection officially
- accessions noun
- new items added to a library or museum
Commonly confused: accessioning or accessing?
accessioning vs accessing
Accessing means getting to or using something, while accessioning means formally adding something to a collection.
Practice
Before the artifacts could go on display, the museum finished ___ them into its collection.
Choose one answer.
Accessioning means formally recording items as part of a collection. Accessing means reaching or opening something, which does not fit here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “accessioning”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.