The Embedded Archivist, or How I Learned to Stop
Worrying and Love Change
By Jan Zastrow, Archivist, Office of Senator Harry Reid, U.S. Senate
Foreword
No doubt about it, the whole world has gone digital. Last week in the
Washington Post, writer Monica Hesse recommended text-messaging as the
best way to get your partner's attention! (“Text Is Cheap,” The Washington
Post, April 8, 2009, p. C1/C9.)
Digital has changed everything …
I am an archivist in the office of a U.S. senator, employed to ensure
documents of historical value are preserved for future research. This was
relatively easy in the world before email, websites, MS Word documents,
spreadsheets and databases. But now an archivist needs to be on the scene
almost at the point of creation of a record—at the veritable birth of a file!—in
order to ensure its preservation beyond the next Congress.
"Embedded" Archivists
I recently attended a Computers in Libraries conference and learned a new
term, “embedded.” The concept of an "embedded librarian” came from the
distance learning sphere, where librarians and faculty partner to serve online
students. I’m going a step farther: as curators of digital collections—whether
librarians, historians, archivists or IT professionals—we should be embedded
in the process. Our “collaboration with creators is essential to effective
curation of digital materials … Illustrations of such early partnerships include
the sustained conversations between expected donors of personal papers,
such as elected officials or authors, and curators to discuss and influence the
scope and organization of the materials to be deposited." (Association of
Research Libraries, Special Collections in ARL Libraries: A Discussion Report
from the ARL Working Group on Special Collections, March 2009, p. 26).
On Digital Preservation, e-Records Management and Expectations
Despite its convenient searchability and sexy paperless allure, digital
"preservation"—and here I mean digitizing documents or collections to
ensure their long-term durability—is actually the most fragile means of
saving a file. Platform changes and hardware/software upgrades make
migration of electronic formats obligatory every 3 to 5 years. Imagine having
to re-bind or re-photocopy every book and document on your library shelf
that frequently!
I blame the advent of the desktop PC, which ironically led to the easy
creation of electronic documents and at the same time diminished their
chance of being saved. Gone are the days of the centralized filing system
with its designated keeper of the approved Master File. Today's information117
savvy workforce saves their own files as they will, often without guidance on
file structure, naming convention or backup. And thanks to cheap computer
storage, the ability to "save everything" does away with the need to weed
out the junk—the personal emails, the redundant versions, the spam—and
actually appraise digital documents for their permanent historical value. The
expectations of digital customers are way up too. Social networking trends
and instant, ubiquitous tech tools lead Digital Natives to wonder why
everything’s not online.
Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes
These changes in how information is created, stored, backed up, accessed
and preserved should put archivists at the center of decision-making for the
entire organization: on systems, policies, hardware and software at least, not
to mention training and outreach (no more mousing around in dusty
corners!). "The dynamic nature of digital materials requires effective
partnership with others, especially including information technology
specialists" (ARL Report, 2009). Collaboration and teamwork are now
imperative in the digital environment. We are participating in project
groups—assisting, evaluating, advising, problem-solving, partnering. At long
last, we’re on the team …. how exciting!
Or is it? Many of us went into our professional fields thinking we'd be
sheltered from the hurly-burly concerns of the marketplace. We could focus
on lofty ideas, conduct research and work with objects—books, journals,
manuscripts, photographs, in a word, analog stuff. Yet now more than ever
we are in the People Business; digital information and its management has
thrust us into the very visible forefront of information technology, business
innovation, records management, collaborative relationships, “social
software,” you name it. How digital formats have rocked our world. Stressed?
Maybe just a little …
Here’s How I Manage
A few years ago I was asked to describe—“in 99 words or less”—my
techniques for dealing with change for a class of Special Library students. I
think these tips are still applicable for anyone who works in our profession:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
How to manage change?
Don't panic over the latest new (overwhelming) technology.
Remember, librarianship is the connecting of people to ideas; whether digital
or print, whether image, audio, video or 3D—format is irrelevant!
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
How to survive? Always try to:
• be easy to do business with
• be "can-do"
• embrace change (remember, Change = Opportunity)
• stay in front of the wave
• (and a new one) breathe
118
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
How to thrive?
Network, network, network, network ...
Read journals. Read websites. Read more. Share professional reading
tasks with colleagues.
Take continuing education/technology classes.
Attend conferences.
Talk to non-librarians [non-archivists, non-information professionals].
(Did I say to network?!?)
To quote Anne Caputo, 2009 President-Elect of Special Libraries Association,
we are the “information royalty”—or at least the cognoscenti—in this
Information Age (Keynote Address, “Creating the Future: Three Trends You
Can Ride to Career Success,” Spring Career Enhancement Day, Catholic
University of America, April 16, 2009). Change is constant, flexibility is
paramount, attitude is everything. So go forth and prosper. And if you don’t
like what tomorrow brings, don’t worry … it’ll change soon enough!