Course:ARST573/Archival Advocacy

Archival advocacy seeks to persuade individuals or organizations to act on behalf of a program or institution through activities and actions consciously aimed at achieving this goal. The Society of American Archivists ("SAA") states that the purpose of archival advocacy is "[b]ecause archival records ensure the protection of citizens' rights, the accountability of organizations and governments, and the accessibility of historical information, the Society of American Archivists believes that the archival profession must take an active role in advocating for the public policies and resources necessary to ensure that these records are preserved and made accessible." Archival advocacy is largely connected to the Western archival tradition - although, this does not exclude or minimize the efforts of other archival institutions around the world - it is, correspondingly, the case that much of the output, and available research and literature are from North America, Europe, and Australia; and, hence, the Western focus of this article. Given, though, that many archival institutions around the world face similar challenges and issues in terms of funding and promotion, archival advocacy concepts and models can potentially be applied broadly and in various contexts and settings.

Archival advocacy is an important aspect of the archival practice and part of archivists' core work: as all types of archives are increasingly trying to promote their work to the public, navigate the digital environment, and fight for funding, archivists need to have a firm understanding of what archival advocacy entails and how to effectively carry out an advocacy agenda.

Description

Definitions

Similar to the general definition of advocacy, archival advocacy is a political process by an archival institution which aims to initiate change by influencing key players, stakeholders, and individuals within political, economic, and social systems and organizations, including archives themselves. Archivist and advocate Larry Hackman views advocacy as an "investment we make when we intentionally and strategically educate and engage individuals and organizations so they in turn will support our work."

Various institutions and archival associations have advocacy as part of their mandate and mission. The Canadian Council of Archives ("CCA") defines advocacy as "making contact to create an impact" by getting involved in social and political decision-making. The Association of Canadian Archivists in their formal advocacy statement refer to it as a commitment to "advocating on behalf of its members on matters affecting archivists and archives nationally and internationally." The National Archives of Japan's vision includes expanding opportunities to come "in contact with and develop an interest of the people in public archives through exhibitions and other activities," strengthening their "cooperation with relevant organizations, including local governments, research institutes, and academic societies," and widening their "circle of international exchanges with overseas archives and professionals." The International Council on Archives' ("ICA") Universal Declaration on Archives was adopted in 2011 by the 36th Session of the General Conference of UNESCO. The Universal Declaration serves as a basis for advocacy and promotion to support archives and the profession by providing useful advocacy talking points that can also be understood by non-archivists, and is a key pillar to ICA's outreach and advocacy strategy and has been endorsed by major archival associations around the world.

Connection to Archival Outreach

Archival advocacy is connected to archival outreach and there is some crossover between the two areas: they both share similar methods and goals of raising the profile of archives generally and ensuring the continued existence of archives, and speak to the role and purpose of archivists and how they convey this to those outside of the profession. In this regard, advocacy has a more expansive and generous role in the world of archives beyond influencing policy - archivists can be, and often are, advocates for fair and equitable access to data that are useful not only to decision-makers at every level but also to ordinary citizens. Furthermore, in contrast to advocacy, archival outreach is also defined as the "process of identifying and providing services to constituencies with needs relevant to the repository's mission, especially underserved groups, and tailoring services to meet those needs." Still, it is at times difficult to separate the two in terms of what they ultimately do for the profession's profile, infrastructure, and survival.

Purpose and Role

Archivist at Stockholms Stadsarkiv (Stockholm Municipal Archives) [Public Domain]

The purpose of archival advocacy can be manyfold, especially, when considered in conjunction with archival outreach. In this regard, archival advocacy can be seen as: actions to promote and draw more people to archives; increase accessibility; generate understanding and awareness of archives and the work of archivists among the general public, key decision-makers and other professionals; raise money and allocate more resources; bring about political and social change; give archivists a voice; and to emphasize the relevance of archives in society. More specifically, archival advocacy and related promotional activities target specific audiences the association or institution may wish to influence, and are carried out to:

• increase community awareness about archives and archivists;
• support the development and advancement of the archival profession; and
• improve communications and build cooperative alliances with kindred organisations, government, the public and business decision makers.

According to ICA, the overarching role of archival advocacy is to protect and ensure access to archives. The SAA sees advocacy as an important tool for improving "working conditions, maintaining wages and institutional budgets." It can be said that archival advocacy relates to all matters specifically impacting archives and archivists, and that represent the causes of archivists around the world.

The purpose of archival outreach, meanwhile, can be framed as a process leading an institution to reframe its mission, vision and goals to fit the present context; in turn, helping an institution to develop effective marketing plans and strategies for whatever programming that is itself developed in response to archival outreach assessments of a repository's constituencies and their needs.

Key players

Researchers at the National Archives (UK) [Public Domain]

Because archival advocacy targets specific individuals and organizations, it can be said that there are three identifiable groups as subjects for advocacy:

• "decision makers above us a level or two who have a high degree of formal authority over our operations and resources;"
• "other internal actors who make policies or decisions we must live with: the human resources department, the finance department, the legal department, the communications department, the IT department, the development office, the public relations and governmental affairs department;"
• "selected 'significant other' individuals and organizations outside the parent organization who have existing or high potential influence with any of those key internal actors who affect the archives:" well-known public figure, philanthropist, media personality, prominent individual or organization whose records are held in archives, major beneficiaries of outputs from research in the archives, former board members, private donor, client or a partner of the parent organization.

Archives can benefit substantially from advocacy, if archivists purposely target these groups by thinking "actively and creatively to identify individuals and organizations inside and beyond the archives service's parent entity whose influence can help the archives obtain more of what is needed. Act opportunistically to develop relationships with individuals and organizations to increase the archive's influence with decision makers."

Activities

Before engaging in any advocacy activities, archivists need to consider two points: first, that "the whole organizational infrastructure of the archives should be seen as an object for advocacy;" and second, being "clear on its present mission and condition and, just as much, on its vision for what it needs to become." By fully considering both these aspects, an archives can establish a proper advocacy agenda that will encompass: highest priorities, necessary resources, and a timeline of short-term and long-term goals.

Types

There are various ways to carry out an archival advocacy agenda. Some of the more pertinent strategies include:

• keep a core case statement describing the archive's mission, holdings, operations, services, benefits, and, significantly, "the present position of the service and its larger vision for the future and suggest what the gap between the two implies about what will be necessary for the archival institution to achieve its vision"
• tailored tours
• presentations
• receptions
• press releases
• lectures
• open houses
• exhibits
• social media
• personal one-to-one meetings
• special events for small groups
• developing allies
• utilize advisory and oversight bodies
• collaborate with expert consultants
• make use of good news and bad news
• conditional funding offers

BAnQ, in Montreal, Poirier Project making available Conrad Poirier's photographs on Wikimedia Commons [Public Domain]

Archives 2.0

Archives 2.0 is a popular concept referring to an approach to archival practice that promotes openness, transparency, flexibility, user centeredness, and embraces technology as a method to share collections, interact with users, and improve internal efficiency. Archives 2.0 was brought about by changes in technology, such as social media and ways people use the Web, which, in turn, have changed the way archivists work, for example, increased collaboration, experimentation, and lobbying. In terms of advocacy, Archives 2.0 offers opportunities to advocate and showcase the value of the archival profession through technology and innovative practices, including inviting user participation and making digital collections, exhibits, presentations, and tours available through social media platforms; using metrics to measure and improve archivists' work; and collaborations with other professions, like libraries and museums. Archives 2.0 has changed the way the profession is carried out and presented to others, including how archivists perform outreach and advocate for themselves.

Examples

The following are examples of actual archival advocacy activities - ranging from publications and online collections to collaborations and legislative lobbying:

Legendary DJ Afrika Bambaataa (left) [Public Domain]

• Oregon Archives Crawl and Sacramento Archives Crawl (see above video)
• Documenting Ferguson and StoryCorps
• American Archives Month and Arkivens Dag (Archives Day)
• Better Off Forgetting?: Essays on Archives, Public Policy, and Collective Memory (edited by Cheryl Avery and Mona Holmlund)
• Government Information Act - Bill 5 (2015)
• Leading in the Digital World: Opportunities for Canada's Memory Institutions (by Council of Canadian Academies)
• Ryerson University Archives brochure
• New York State Archives' New York Archives magazine
• Library and Archives Canada podcast
• The National Archives press releases
• Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives building funding project
• Smithsonian Wikipedia edit-a-thon
• DJ Afrika Bambaataa as a visiting scholar at the Cornell University Hip Hop Collection

Challenges and Issues

Teaching Advocacy in Archival Programs

Graduate archival education programs, in both North America and worldwide, have evolved greatly from the latter half of the twentieth century and onwards; whereas many programs generally stressed archival descriptive practices and reference services (still considered by many as the core activities for at least entry-level archivists), now many also orient students to functions such as advocacy and outreach. However, archival advocacy is not found in the most recent SAA professional glossary and the professional literature on advocacy for archives as individual programmes is still developing.

While there are archival programs that have elective courses on advocacy (for example, see the iSchool @ UBC and Faculty of Information at UT), archival advocacy is not a significant or formal part of core archival curriculums at many major schools and institutions; advocacy courses of this kind have traditionally been exceedingly rare in North America. The kinds of advocacy activities that archivists engage in are also hardly ever listed as reasons why students apply to graduate archival education programs. This creates a challenge for archival educators in determining how to introduce students to and equip them for the realities of the profession.

Finding a Voice

Archivists are generally not known for being outspoken or politically active, rather often being described as "introverted, somewhat ordinary, isolated, impartial, passive, mild mannered, quiet, territorial, dusty, musty, mousy, and bookworms." Even though archivists may not see themselves as fitting this portrayal, these have been the common stereotypes affecting the profession from the outside, often adversely, for a long time. The 1984 Levy Report by the SAA notes that archivists "are viewed as quiet professionals, carrying out an admired but practically frivilous activity. Resource allocators do not value archives in a pragmatic, daily sense. Personal characteristics attributed to archivists compound the problem." The fact that archivists often appear to have very limited influence with the decision makers who have the greatest authority over them is an ongoing issue. Conversely, influence, through advocacy, is a commodity many archives seem to value the least.

Defining and Contextualizing the Profession

Other stereotypes and misconceptions affecting the profession and archivists ability to advocate are the unfamiliarity, inaccessibility, and irrelevance of archives. Archives can be unfamiliar places for most people, and archival work is often viewed as remote from people's daily concerns and community issues. These issues stem mainly from misinformation or a lack of understanding by those outside the profession of what archives are and do, and how important archives are to societal infrastructures. If people and organizations archivists are advocating to do not understand or misunderstand the profession, then it will be difficult to get them to support us. It is important for archivists to educate the public about what it means to be an archivist and the role archives serve in society, in doing so, "an archives service should seek to create in the minds of core internal decision makers a sense that the 'world is watching' the service, or that at least a small but significant part of the world is watching, a part that those responsible for making decisions affecting the service care about". For now, archives are not yet understood well enough and supported strongly enough by society to be able to advocate as effectively as it should be done.

Cutbacks

While public and private funding to archives can range significantly, it is not uncommon for many archives, both inside and outside of North America, to experience cutbacks (even to already minimal funding), and face hesitation and opposition from resource allocators when asking for increased funding and resources. This poses a challenge to advocacy agendas, especially, under the pressure of technological advancements, increasingly limited government funding, and changes in users and their perception of archives. Even major institutions experience significant cuts; in the case of Library and Archives Canada ("LAC"), since 2010, due to federal budget cuts and other legislative measures, the LAC has notably had to close many of its libraries and archives, let go of staff, implement acquisition freezes and other restrictive acquisition policies, and reduce services including accessibility to collections.

Cutbacks to archival programs and institutions are tied in with other issues, like the ones discussed above. Hence, it is important that decision makers and key players need to understand, respect, and support archivists before they are willing to part with their resources. In the face of fiscal pressures and increasing competition for private and public funding, archives need to demonstrate their value on both organizational and individual levels to ensure archival advocacy agendas can be carried out properly, which in turn will ensure the continued existence and operations of archives. Conversely, tight budget restraints and steep cuts in archival budgets have forced archives to change, but at times in ways that have revealed new valuable roles for archives. Like many other cultural organizations, archives are often not a top priority or seen as a luxury, meaning archives have to compete for an ever shrinking funding pie.

Tips and Guidelines

Many professional archival associations and groups recognize the importance of advocacy to the survival and success of archives, and have published and created various advocacy resources to assist archivists with planning, implementing, and sustaining advocacy agendas. In 2006, ICA issued guidelines covering advocacy and promotion activities for archivists and record managers. Included in these guidelines are tips on how to develop an elevator pitch, getting media attention, and the following "Golden Rules of Advocacy":

• Be proud and assertive
• Seize opportunities for promotion
• Show patience and flexibility with the public
• Use plain language
• Have a clear message
• Use the media
• Define your audience
• Think of others as partners
• Define one goal at a time
• Remain professional but use humor
• Recruit assistance from allied professions
• Tell what you have to offer to users
• Offer your help to the public

For further archival advocacy guides and resources, please see the External Links section below.

Notable Archival Advocates

Sir Arthur G. Doughty [Public Domain]

Brewster Kahle [Public Domain]

This is a small selection and short list of notable archival advocates who have contributed to the growth, prominence, and public image of the profession:

• Paul Conway, archivist and academic, has made major contributions to the literature on archival users and use;

• Terry Cook, archivist and archival studies scholar, he was the first person to be elected to the Royal Society of Canada for contributions to archival science;

• Sir Arthur George Doughty, former Dominion Archivist for Canada, developed "total archives" concept and advanced Canadian historiography;

• Verne Harris, archivist, former director of the South African History Archive - documenting the struggles against apartheid and for justice in post-apartheid South Africa - and archivist for the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory;

• Brewster Kahle, digital librarian and advocate of universal access to knowledge, founded the Internet Archive;

• Margaret Cross Norton, archivist and librarian, co-founded the SAA;

• Celia Sánchez, archivist and political revolutionary, archived many documents of the Cuban Revolution.

See Also

• Archives and Power

• Archives and Genocide

• Archives and Repatriation

• Archives and Repressive Regimes

• Archives and War

• Business and Corporate Archives

• First Nations Archives

• LGBTQ Archives

• Postcolonial Archives

External Links

• Archives & Records Association UK & Ireland Advocacy Toolkit

• CCA Advocacy Awareness Kit

• ICA Brochure on Advocacy

• SAA Advocacy Agenda

• SAA "A Year of Living Dangerously for Archives"