As the Barbara Goldsmith Preservation and Conservation Department’s first Preservation Archivist, I feel the need to explain the origins of this position as it relates to Bobst, our main campus library, its archival repositories, and the broader changes occurring in the field of information science today. Preservation is a component in the training of most information professionals, as any one with an MLS, MLIS or MA with a concentration in archival studies may know. Within the academic library, the preservation department plays a key role in the maintenance of its circulating collection. It is not surprising, however, that a study done by Paula De Stefano and Tyler Walters published in 2007 in Library Trends found that the preservation departments of ARL libraries, on the whole, do not partner with their archival and special collections staff on the maintenance of their archival holdings. Given the findings of this study, the question remains: what type of preservation oversight exists in archival repositories in academic libraries? What type of preservation oversight exists for repositories that do not have a dedicated preservation department? Is there room in the budget, staff allocation, and built-in workflow for preservation and conservation? Is it assumed that it just happens? It would be hard to generalize about the answers to these questions across the profession given the variety of characteristics (size and funding, for example) of archival repositories. However, the recent adoption of minimal processing, which was introduced as a concept by Greene and Meissner in their 2005 American Archivist article, has brought preservation back into the fore. Implementation of new processing techniques provides a good segue for archivists to reconsider what preservation is and how they do it. I will address this topic in my next post.
But back to the origins of my position as a Preservation Archivist. As a result of NYU Libraries’ newly developed strategic plan, which mandates streamlined access to specialized material, the Preservation Department’s Conservation Lab changed their workflow to incorporate a higher percentage of archival material than ever before. Also at this time, the library administration and staff had acknowledged the emergence of and dependence on technology-based services that accommodate the expectations of today’s highly-connected researchers and the coming Google generation. Expanded access to electronic books through projects like the Hathi Trust and Google Books highlights the need for our library to turn to our specialized collections to emphasize its strengths as a research institution. Quickly, a new rationale and consensus emerged between curators, archivists and the administration for the creation of a professional position to oversee preservation management of unique material in both analog and digital formats.
My position paves a number of roads that intersect with various library departments while combining fields such as digital preservation, conservation and archival and preservation management. Currently, I am working on establishing guidelines for descriptive metadata and incorporating it into guidelines for the Archivists’ Toolkit and the digitization workflow with the digital library department. I also hold training sessions on mold education and general handling and care of primary source material, which I develop with our Conservation Librarian. And in the coming months, I will be doing a condition survey across all three archival repositories, with the help of graduate archives students, that will inform a more holistic archival preservation strategy for the library. What excites me the most about this position is that it highlights the changing role of the archivist from custodian to collaborator in the midst of a vastly changing landscape for information professionals and allied fields. I look forward to sharing more from the Preservation Department in the coming months, and I also look forward to hearing from you.
Jennifer Waxman
j.r.waxman@nyu.edu