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Speaking from Experience: Uses and Users of the Archival Record
Presentation for the World Bank Information Solutions Group
October 16, 2001
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Overview
• Changing tools and methods
• Changing customer
• Smithsonian Institution Archives approaches
• Suggestions for the World Bank Archives
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When I first entered the archival field . . .
• It was the olden days.
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Things were simpler, life was slower
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“The day of the curator as a scholarly hermit is past.”
Kenneth Duckett, Modern Manuscripts, 1975 (p. 270-271)
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What Archivists Do
• Identify/appraise
• Acquire
• Arrange and Describe
• Preserve
• Make Available
• . . . . If there’s time, Promote
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“Outreach” was not a known term for archives
• There was public education
• Or public service• Or public awareness
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Public Service consists of . . .
• Exhibits• Publications
– Repository Guides– Finding Aids– Microfilm publications– Circulars, brochures
• Tours• Friends Group
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Public Service . . . .
• Presentations
• Media exposure
• “It is sometimes difficult to determine whether the press release . . . is intended to serve its nominal function or to enhance the reputation of the curator.”
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Preferred Users
1. Scholarly researchers
2. Institutional staff
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Others/General Public
• Unfamiliar with archival processes
• Often arrive unprepared
• Need a lot of assistance
• Fewer psychic rewards
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Scholars, yes!
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In-house Staff, okay
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Others, do I have to ?. . .
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Questioning the status quo . . . .
Elsie Freeman, “In the Eye of the Beholder: Archives Administration from
the User’s Point of View” in The American Archivist, Spring 1984
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Misassumptions About Users
• That archivists are oriented toward users.
• That we know who our users are
• That we understand how research is done
• That we provide adequate help in doing it• Freeman, Spring 1984
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Freeman on Users . .
• “My proposition . . . would turn our administrative, descriptive, reference, and training practices upside down.”
• “. . . we must begin to think of archives administration as client-centered, not materials-centered.
• “We must . . . learn . . . who our users are; what kinds of projects they pursue, in what time frames, and under what sponsorship; and most importantly, how they approach records.” p.112
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Keeping Archives (Australia, 1987)
• User Education and Public Relations– Exhibitions– Publications– Publicity– Seminars and Workshops (convert novice users
into competent researchers)– Community Support Groups
• Friends and other fundraising mechanisms
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Managing Archives and Archival Institutions (1989)
• Chapter on Public Programs
• “Public programs are an essential element of a healthy archival program. The enormous effort expended to acquire, describe, and make resources available merits an equally strong commitment to facilitating use.” p. 227
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Subject Indexing for Archives (Bureau of Canadian Archivists,
1992)
• “Archivists increasingly must serve a heterogeneous clientele with diverse needs and expectations.” p. 23
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The American Archivist, Fall 1995
• The success of an archival program, of the archival profession, depends on the extent to which we can make our archives . . . into people’s archives. (Eric Ketelaar, p. 454)
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Uses and Users of Smithsonian Institution Archives
• What is the Smithsonian Institution
• About SI Archives
• Uses and Users
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Smithsonian Institution
• James Smithson’s bequest
• Founded August 1846
• Receives both Federal and trust funds
• Primarily a scientific institution for its first one hundred years
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Smithsonian Institution
• Largest cultural complex in the world– sixteen museums and the Zoo– Astrophysical Observatory (MA)– Tropical Research Center (Panama)– Environmental Research Ctr (Chesapeake Bay)– Center for Folk life and Cultural Studies
• Many other programs
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Smithsonian Institution Archives
• Documents the Institution through– 22,000 cu. ft. of records and personal papers– oral history program
• Provides services through– records management program– National Collections Program
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Staffing base of 27
• Archivists
• Archives Specialists
• Historians
• Conservators
• Collections Management Specialists
• Technicians
• Administrative staff
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Organizationally,
Consists of four subdivisions:– Archives– Institutional History– Technical Services– National Collections Program
• Reports to Chief Technology Officer
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SIA Tools for Service
• On-site assistance• Finding Aids/Guide• Specialized dbases• Website
• SIRIS• Reference• Loans for Exhibition
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Tools for Internal Service
• Fact checking• Exhibitions• In-depth research
• Publications– Annals
– Collection Statistics
• Guidance
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Tools for External Service
• Talks to outside groups
• Fellows• Methodology online
• Publications– Henry Papers
– Collection Highlights
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www.si.edu/archives
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Integrated Online Catalog
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Guidance
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SIA online exhibits
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SIA online exhibits
• Smithsonian Scrapbook
• This Day in Smithsonian History
• Expeditions: 150 Years of Smithsonian Research in Latin America
• Baird’s Dream: History of the Arts and Industries Building
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150 Years of Smithsonian Expeditions in Latin America
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Service to Archivists
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Service to Archivists
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SIA reference for FY 2000
• SI-related: 912 (466 on site)• Non-SI: 2,591 (335 on site)• E-mail : 1,737• From 1997, a major increase in non-SI users • (SIRIS searches in archives and manuscripts
database: approximately 60,000)
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Why New Users?
Technology
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How to add more new Users?
Technology
+
Knowledge
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Apply Technology to . . .
• Tools for accessing records– Finding aids– Links to other resources
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However,
– “In a world of electronic mail, computerized information databases, and the World Wide Web, a traditional finding aid leading to boxes and boxes of archival records appears both primitive and intimidating. . . .” Todd Welch in “Green Archivism . . . .” The American Archivist, Spring 1999, pp. 91-92
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Apply Technology to . . .
• Sets of records– Significant groups of documents– Illustrative examples of records– Cohesive collections
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Provide Access to Archival Knowledge
• Where institutional information is
• What the relationships are
• What the decision-making process is
• Who the knowledgeable parties are
• What the history is
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We must think in terms of institutional information
Not historical records
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We must simplify access to institutional information
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To do this right, we must . . .
• Clearly identify the intended user
• Create simple, clear methods of access
• Organize and present information, not pointers to raw materials
• Target key constituencies within or outside of your organization.
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For the World Bank Archives
• Lessons in development
• Role of records in nation building
• Topical conferences open to the public
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Bring people to the archivesBring archives to the people