Speaking from Experience: Uses and Users of the Archival Record

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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 theres 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

• Scholarly researchers
• 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 Users 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
  peoples 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 Smithsons 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
• Bairds 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