Fall 2012 presentation at MARAC on project management in archives.

1. The Embedded Archivist:
A CASE STUDY IN SUSTAINABILITY
Heather Isbell Schumacher, M.A., C.A.
Curator of Images
Delaware Historical Society

2. A gig economy
 31.7% of recent graduates from archives programs are employed
in temporary positions or ones based on a grant or project
 Shannon Lausch and Rebecca Goldman, survey, June 2012
 In 2009, 29% of job announcements were for temporary
positions (1-3 years). Of these temporary positions, half were 2
year projects, nearly half were 1 year or less, and only 5 were 3
years
 Dana Miller, SAA presentation on survey of job announcements, 2009

3. A gig economy
This raises some questions:
What impact do these short-term projects have on the
long-term sustainability of archival institutions?
How will knowledge be transferred from project staff
to permanent staff and future archivists?

4. Case Study:
Delaware Historical Society Online Cataloging Project
 2-year grant from IMLS
 Project team
 Project Manager: oversee project; also responsible for cataloging
published materials
 Project Catalogers: catalog manuscript and photograph collections
 Goals
 65% of library’s collections on OPAC, AskCaesar
 institute cataloging standards
 install reading room computers for catalog reference

5. About the Delaware Historical Society
 Includes museum, research library,
and 2 historic properties
 12 full-time, permanent staff
members
 Library staff—all there 15+ years
 Director of Library/Curator of
Manuscripts
 Curator of Images
 Curator of Printed Media
 Loss of full-time exhibits manager
in fall 2009 put pressure on library
staff to research and design all
exhibits—less time to devote to
cataloging

6. Issue: • DHS Photograph Collection
Retrieval  Inconsistent titles and no definitive order
within the series
Moving collections
to the OPAC • Vault collections
revealed  Boxes not well labeled
inefficiencies with  Had been grouped thematically, but difficult
existing retrieval to maintain this scheme over time
system.

7. Solutions
DHS Photograph
Vault collections
Collection
 Devised three-letter call  Created box numbering
number system system—collections
assigned an arbitrary box
 Consulted with the number that’s clearly
Curator of Images noted on the OPAC
 Received approval and
input from Curator of
Manuscripts

8. DHS vault

9. Issue: Created cataloging manual to
Cataloging standardize practices.
standards
 Communicated throughout and
documented standards once agreed
Each curator upon—at end of project, compiled notes
created practices into a manual
for their own
collections,
resulting in three  Can easily train interns and new staff
different on cataloging software, and provide for
procedures. consistency in the future

10. Issue: Created top-level only records for
Maximizing remaining collections.
public
access
 Give the public a better idea of our
overall holdings
Had to consider
post-project needs
in devising strategy
 Considered time constraints of the
for last six months library staff going forward
of grant.
Result: about 70% of these manuscript
collections will be available online at
the conclusion of the project

11. Issue: Held staff training on how to use
the OPAC.
Training
staff
 Makes better use of librarians’ time
DHS staff  As a small staff, it’s vital that we are all
members in other able to speak to the public with some
departments were
knowledge about all of our initiatives
unfamiliar with
how to use the
OPAC.

12. Conclusions
 Stay in touch with your project team.
 Address issues as they arise—our cataloging team met
regularly and used Yammer for quick conversations and
sharing information.
 Listen to the needs of the permanent staff.
 Sustainability hinges upon their buy-in and acceptance of any
changes made during the course of the project.
 Document, document, document.
 Record all of your efforts through monthly reports, meeting
minutes, etc.