Speaking from Experience: Uses and Users of the Archival Record

Presentation for the World Bank Information Solutions Group

October 16, 2001

Overview

• Changing tools and methods• Changing customer• Smithsonian Institution Archives

approaches• Suggestions for the World Bank Archives

When I first entered the archival field . . .

• It was the olden days.

Things were simpler, life was slower

“The day of the curator as a scholarly hermit is past.”

Kenneth Duckett, Modern Manuscripts, 1975 (p. 270-271)

What Archivists Do

• Identify/appraise• Acquire• Arrange and Describe• Preserve• Make Available• . . . . If there’s time, Promote

“Outreach” was not a known term for archives

• There was public education

• Or public service• Or public awareness

Public Service consists of . . .

• Exhibits• Publications

– Repository Guides– Finding Aids– Microfilm publications– Circulars, brochures

• Tours• Friends Group

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.”

Preferred Users

1. Scholarly researchers

2. Institutional staff

Others/General Public

• Unfamiliar with archival processes• Often arrive unprepared• Need a lot of assistance• Fewer psychic rewards

Scholars, yes!

In-house Staff, okay

Others, do I have to ?. . .

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

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

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

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

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

Subject Indexing for Archives (Bureau of Canadian Archivists,

1992)

• “Archivists increasingly must serve a heterogeneous clientele with diverse needs and expectations.” p. 23

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)

Uses and Users of Smithsonian Institution Archives

• What is the Smithsonian Institution• About SI Archives• Uses and Users

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

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

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

Staffing base of 27

• Archivists• Archives Specialists• Historians• Conservators• Collections Management Specialists• Technicians• Administrative staff

Organizationally,

Consists of four subdivisions:– Archives– Institutional History– Technical Services– National Collections Program

• Reports to Chief Technology Officer

SIA Tools for Service

• On-site assistance• Finding Aids/Guide• Specialized dbases• Website

• SIRIS• Reference• Loans for Exhibition

Tools for Internal Service

• Fact checking• Exhibitions• In-depth research

• Publications– Annals– Collection Statistics

• Guidance

Tools for External Service

• Talks to outside groups

• Fellows• Methodology online

• Publications– Henry Papers– Collection Highlights

www.si.edu/archives

Integrated Online Catalog

Guidance

SIA online exhibits

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

150 Years of Smithsonian Expeditions in Latin America

Service to Archivists

Service to Archivists

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)

Why New Users?

Technology

How to add more new Users?

Technology+

Knowledge

Apply Technology to . . .

• Tools for accessing records– Finding aids– Links to other resources

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

Apply Technology to . . .

• Sets of records– Significant groups of documents– Illustrative examples of records– Cohesive collections

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

We must think in terms of institutional information

Not historical records

We must simplify access to institutional information

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.

For the World Bank Archives

• Lessons in development• Role of records in nation building• Topical conferences open to the public

Bring people to the archivesBring archives to the people