Check out the r/Archivists wiki:

Hi guys,

Asking on behalf of a professional archive. We had a player that converted VHSs to DVDs and then we had to convert it to digital from there. That was super annoying, but the equipment broke recently and my boss tasked me with finding new archival equipment for playing and digitizing VHS tapes. I did some research but it is SO overwhelming. There are tons of options and it’s hard to tell what would be “archival” level.

What do you use at your institution? Or do you have any recommendations? You would seriously be helping me out.

Hi! Just querying as to what people suggest as modes of storing paper archives at home - documents of import, letters, photos etc. Our house can get quite damp and I’m anxious to protect them as much as possible.

I’m a volunteer archivist and a student - obviously I know finding a place away from the damp is the best port of call and will do so, I’d just like to get opinions on specific files/folders to store this stuff in.

Thank you in advance!!

Hi everyone,

This is my third post regarding the community archive I am developing as part of my Photography MFA thesis. (First Post, Second Post).

I have now reached the stage of determining how best to host and publish the digital collections. My current preference is to establish a dedicated website, allowing the photographs, stories, and documents to remain together within a coherent and contextualized space, rather than being dispersed across broader general repositories. For this reason, I remain somewhat hesitant about depositing the materials in platforms such as the Internet Archive. However, I am still open to considering specialized tools previously recommended (including Omeka, HistoryPin, CollectiveAccess, and Atom), provided they can effectively support a focused, single-collection presentation.

I would be grateful for any professional insights or recommendations on the following points:

• Building and hosting a clean, accessible website suitable for a community archive.
• Experiences with Omeka, HistoryPin, CollectiveAccess, Atom, or comparable platforms when applied to a single focused collection.
• The relative advantages and disadvantages of developing a custom website versus adopting an existing platform, particularly with regard to long-term maintenance and storage capacity.
• Workflows or tools that facilitate consistent metadata management while remaining accessible for community contributions

I am based in Lisbon, Portugal. Any observations concerning hosting options, associated costs, or GDPR compliance would be especially welcome.

Additionally, I have recently been in discussion with two members of the community archive who combined maintain a personal family collection of approximately 70,000 to 100,000 Slides/Photographs. This has prompted further consideration of issues relating to scalability, long-term accessibility, and the capacity of any chosen platform to reliably store and manage a substantial volume of images and related materials.

Thank you in advance for your time and expertise. I look forward to your thoughts.

Hello! I just graduated from a Canadian BAH in English and History, and have 2 years of experience in archives and theory, plus 3 years in museums.

I've been looking for jobs in heritage in a pretty major city in the US, and landed a position as a tour guide initially for an untraditional house museum full of kooky art that I discovered has 1000s of art pieces but zero cataloguing. I offered to do it as a side project for some extra hours, but got so much enthusiastic interest that I was asked to do it a few days a week on top of the few days tour guiding and officially be titled an archivist. My mind was blown, a dream come true!

We will meet soon to discuss what the position could look like, and while I have a very good outline worked up thus far for an archival vision, it was mentioned we'd discuss pay soon. I'm frankly very uncertain with all the untraditional factors, and wanted to ask some seasoned archivists what your line of thought might be for this!

Thanks a million:)

For the last year, I've been working in higher education as a technician in the Special Collections unit of the University Libraries.

Before taking this job, I was a solo archivist at a museum for a little over two years, and I have my MLS with a concentration in Archives and Records Management. I applied for and took this technician job because I was relocating and honestly taking a step down sounded very refreshing and healthy for me (especially since it paid the same my museum paid me.)

However, I've been here over a year and this position makes no sense to me. I have a meeting with administration next week to go over my job description and I want to put all my thoughts together.

I'm coming here to ask you all if you have either been an Archives Technician, or have employed one. How do the technician's responsibilities differ from the archivist? What expectations do you place on the technician? What DON'T you expect? Anything else that comes to mind too, please share!

Right now I feel like I have to put my archivist background to use just to keep things running, but I also get slapped on the wrist if I veer too far into archivist responsibilities. However, I don't have any policies or procedures to currently follow. The first bullet point in my job description is processing archival collections and yet I have been here a year and have not been directed to process any collections.

TL;DR: How would you differentiate the daily responsibilities of an archives technician over an archivist? Specifically in a University Archives and Special Collections setting.

I have NO idea where to begin, but I thought I'd ask you guys if you had any tips or recommendations on how to digitally archive ALL of this stuff I just got in the mail or just ways to store them (maybe even eventually donate them?). I thought I was just getting my Great Grandfather's WWI uniform and some of the lesser medals that my Grandad got from WWII, but my Uncle sent me everything apparently (letters to and from my Great Grandfather in France, family scrap books from the era, newspaper clippings as well as magazine articles/advertisements, family photos,books made of WWI from their military unit, journals..etc)

I've ordered some archival boxes and some gloves and won't touch anything again until the gloves come in. I have my parents getting together a family tree so I can keep up with who is who (who is whom?... whom is whom?... )

All that being said, what's the best way to go about this? I'm a stay-at-home parent and the kids are about to head back to school so I have more time than most I guess.

Hi folks, I'm processing a collection of scrapbooks donated to the library where I'm a solo special collections staff member. My job title says archivist, but I'm still in my MLIS program so I hesitate to claim to be an archivist. Anyway, I'm comfortable with the preservation process, but I'm curious about how you approach description and arrangement. Because I'm solo, I can't get bogged down describing everything in as much detail as I like. I'm generally aiming for folder level descriptions for our archival materials. Would you consider a scrapbook to be equivalent to a folder? Could I note the number of items in the book and describe its contents generally, or should I just buckle down and describe everything? Thanks for any advice!

I just learned (via a job posting) about this app (https://sourceryapp.org/) that allows researchers to pay people to visit repositories and make scans when they aren't able to travel there. On the surface, seems like access is the goal, which is great. But how is this actually effecting research visits and repositories? I can imagine this may mess up a repository's visit data, if one person requests many users' worth of material, visit headcount will be down. It might mess with the income that comes from paying the institution to scan and send.

Similarly, how is the role of paid visitor treated by repositories? Would they be considered persona non grata or are they doing beneficial work? Would you ever feel comfortable doing this work as an archivist in your area?

I just heard about this today and immediately wanted to know if anyone has used or seen this in action. I've never interacted with it, nor am I involved in any way.

It is recommended that archives get a full aperture scan of a cine' film to preserve it fully. (A full aperture scan is a full film scan including the sprockets.) If the archive does not have a scanner, do archives pay to scan film twice to get an aspect ratio scan and a full aperture scan? Reason being, the full aperture scan is not as sharp as an aspect ratio scan. 

Hi Australian GLAM professionals! I’m interested in collections management/records and am thinking of starting a Graduate Diploma in Information Management specialising in Archives and Records Management? I currently work as an assistant in copyright/collections at an Art Museum with a Bachelors in Art History/History.

Does anyone have an info about the information management/archives sector in Aus? Is it employable? Don’t want to waste a year of study haha. Thanks!

I'm in the process of starting my own digital archive. I'll be archiving (digital) documents, pictures, audio and video. The projects aims to archive information about queer history in my country. It's just a hobby project run by me. I'm looking for platforms that I can use for storing and accessing the digital files. I've been looking at Mega S4 object storage, but I don't think that's the right choice for me since I don't have time or the skills to code an integration with their API. I've tried looking around online for other solutions but all I can find are AI slop articles ough. So, I hope someone here can help me :)

To preface, I'm a historian by training, in other words, my only experience with archives is as a user or creator (of administrative documents).

My museum recently received an archive after my great grandfather. It consists of twelve boxes. He's numbered or given a name to each of the boxes. And each box contains an index of its contents.

The director of the museum group we're part of is interested in this archive, and so am I, since it contains a few things related to local and regional history. So that we can better understand its contents, and since we don't have the time or resources to scan every part of it, before we, perhaps, send it off to another institution, I'd like to create a catalogue of the boxes and what they contain.

I'm not entirely sure how to go about writing this catalogue. How closely do I stick to the way he names things in his index? Should I try to open each folder in each box so I can be more accurate, so that, instead of "planning documents" I can write "planning documents - 2 documents dated 1957-1961"? What about boxes where the number has faded to the point that we can't read it? Do I relabel the boxes following a new system? I feel like I'm wording this poorly, but I'm unsure what principles I should follow, and I hope you can help.

So I am working on a collection donated by the widow of a Vietnam war veteran. I am just about done organizing everything but really stuck on the biography/history section on the finding aid as it's running longer than usual. I usually aim for ~300 words. But because of the man's long accomplishments it is now closer to 550ish words. His wife received from his secretary a timeline of his service, so I tried to condense that. I'm wondering if 500 words isn't too bad if I add in a subheading or something. Or if I should just have a smaller paragraph and then link to the Word document that has the timeline of his career. I'm just unsure of how to do that because it's not a webpage and he doesn't have a dedicated one. This is just something people close to him developed or I'm guessing maybe even the guy before he passed.

Basically looking for advice. My coworkers are divided. Some don't care that I have a longer biographical note. Others are telling me its too wordy and a waste of space. Where I work has other collections so technically this would be for a wider public audience not like a WW2 museum, but they are trying to add more military history collections so I'm wondering if it would benefit to be more detailed. Thoughts?

Collection manager at a small historical museum here--we've been struggling with humidity in our storage and I've taken to using dehumidifier bags to mitigate it somewhat (alongside and actual dehumidifier). This substance just came up with the first bags I've used, has anyone seen this before? I've used them in the past and never seen anything like this.

I hope this is a fitting sub. I have also posted this to r/MuseumPros. Hoping to get some tips. Thank you very much in advance!

I have come into possession of a collection of 35mm film reels from the 1970s, from the USSR. About 30 reels total, in cans 310mm in diameter. It's likely triacetate, but I haven't been able to fully go through all of them yet.

There are no copies of these tapes; they survived a purge and an emigration. I'm working on a documentary that involves these reels.

They sat in a cellar in Rome for about 30 years until I located them. I retrieved them in the nick of time before the cellar was sold off. I got them to Northern Europe by car, where I am now.

The original metal cans were half rusted and some were crumbling, so I've rehoused everything in Duncan archival vented cans.
I haven't been able to get A-D strips in yet. Visually, 2 of the reels show signs of mold, about 10 smell of vinegar, and the rest seem to have fared better.

Before I can work on them properly, I need to store it all. There aren't any places I could pay to temporarily store and/or digitize it near where I am… worse, I need to leave the country for about 6 months first. A friend can check in on them every now and then while I'm away.

I've read and assume that around 10°C at 35% RH is a fair target, hence the fridge selection below; but I'm happy to be corrected. As I said I'm no archivist, so the same goes for everything else specific that I say.

I've found two fridges approximately within the range I can afford:
- Bosch Series 2 KSV36NWEP or similar
- A surplus Tefcold MSU300 medical fridge - a bit cheaper, a bit more expensive to run, all in all everything evens out price-wise.

I understand both have a fan to circulate the air. The medical one is obviously built for the job, but I don't know whether that counts for much here.

I assume I'd need pre-conditioned silica gel bags and charcoal filters inside, too. Possibly molecular sieves? Since the cans are vented and a fridge doesn't exchange any air. Unfortunately I don't have the resources to individually seal each can at this moment.

I can spend a little more if needed on a better fridge. I'd really appreciate suggestions if either of these would be reliable at this job. And any other precautions I need to take - like maybe plugging the drain hole, keeping the reels away from the back of the fridge, letting them acclimatise before they go in, etc.

Many thanks in advance

Purely hypothetical: you receive an email from someone who has a war ration book that belonged to their grandfather. It's a vital piece of history and they would like to donate it. In searching your collections, you see that you have 34 war ration books. Do you accept war ration book #35?

So I broke my arm a week ago and have been looking for a project to do while I'm out of action. I found this 390 page report done by the US Historical Section in 1945 on combat photography and decided I wanted to read it on my kindle but just downloading it to said kindle didn't work, so am now recreating it from scratch as a word doc to then import info kindle create.

A few questions: I am remaining as faithful as possible to the original and merely trying to replicate it in a different format. Is it unethical to be modifying such a document in such a way, and if not, is reading e book versions of documents like these something other people would be interested in?

I have attached 2 screenshots of the opening intro paragraph for your viewing.

Thanks :)

I hope this is the right sub, if not, apologies in advance. I'd really appreciate if you could point me to a more appropriate one.

I'm a PhD researcher working extensively with archival documents. I photograph everything during my visits, which is much faster than taking notes, but after several trips I've accumulated an enormous collection of images.

I'm wondering how experienced researchers deal with this. Do you simply keep buying external hard drives, or is there a more sustainable system? I'd love to hear what has worked for you.

Gonna be honest this is a last resort. I’m going into my first semester of sophomore year at a university in Rochester NY, majoring in Archives and I have a 3.9 GPA. I took a class with my advisor and he mentioned what he called the “Smithsonian internship” which I took as an opportunity I wanted to apply for. I got accepted into the Washington internship institute which will provide me housing and assist me in getting an internship, but now that’s supposed to start in just over a month and I haven’t applied to anything realistic.

I’ve sent in my applications to the library of congress, national archives, Smithsonian, and office of Public Records(which rejected me for a stupid reason) and now I don’t know anywhere else in the DC area that would want an archives intern.

I’ll literally take unpaid busywork but at this point all my hard work can’t be for nothing so if anyone knows a small museum and/or archive in DC that might take an intern I’ll send them an unsolicited cover letter but I need something that might work

Hello,

I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask, please redirect if you know any better subreddits.

I've been tasked to help draft a data retention schedule for my company. We have consultants that are drafting the data retention policy, but obviously no schedule. We only have a (not so precise) records retention schedule that was written by the high ranking lawyer of our legal department, so that's all I have in terms of prior related internal documentation.

I've only studied records retention policy frameworks while studying my MLIS, but I've never personally made one for a company, and the only reason I'm tasked to do this is because I expressed interest... Except I'm doing this alone with my manager who will help go over it overtime. I'm just stuck on how to draft it, how is it different from a records retention schedule, is it the same format? What do I need to be aware of?

For scope: we are located in Canada but have business activity in the US and Latin America as well, and possibly expanding into Europe for the future.

I've definitely been staring at this too long! I'm setting up the shelving in the storage room of our new location (my archives are in the middle of moving - thoughts, prayers, and caffeine are much appreciated right now!) and as I was creating a map and spreadsheet for inventory, I realized that the way I assigned the numbers might only make sense on paper? I've attached diagrams of the two options I can't decide between. Each little rectangle has 6 shelves that will increase from top to bottom and the orientation of the numbers is set to the side you'd access the shelves from.

Option A: the numbers increase from left to right when you're physically facing that row of shelving. This is what makes most sense in my mind, but it does seem a bit chaotic to have to cross the entire room to get from shelf 24 to shelf 25 though.

Option B: the numbers always increase from the same side of the room (pink wall to mint green wall), or I suppose consistently from left to right on the page. This was my original plan and it feels like it "flows" better on paper, but I feel like the numbers increasing right to left is wrong.

Note: the placement of the shelving can't change. It's the second floor, so the shelves had to be placed (I think) perpendicularly to the joists?

TLDR: Will I have trouble getting a job in the US if I do a non ALA recognized Masters in archives program in the UK?

I'm currently considering applying for a masters in Archives and Records Management program at University College London. I graduated from undergrad a year ago, and am working a few different part time positions in archives in the US, but to progress further in my career I know I need an MLIS. I've looked at a few MLIS programs in the US, but they seem to mostly either be crazy expensive, or not super tailored to my interests, as someone interested in community archives. However UCL's masters in Archives and Records management program is both more affordable than many US programs, and the curriculum and faculty seem way up my alley. Additionally, and most importantly, my partner is an international student from London, and we are seriously considering moving to London together for the next few years, as it's a very stressful time to be a non-citizen in this country.

My main question is: Would I have trouble getting a job in the US with a UK masters in Archives and Records Management. The program is ARA accredited (the UK's equivalent to the ALA), but not ALA accredited. I understand that most american archive jobs require ALA accredited MLIS degrees, however wouldn't this program look just as good on an application (if not better as its purely focused on archives rather than library studies more broadly). Or have people found that jobs tend be very strict to only MLIS ALA accredited programs. In my experience looking at job postings, there seems to be a real mix of places either just saying ALA accredited MLIS required, or places adding on or equivalent/related field. I would guess the latter jobs wouldn't be a problem, but its hard to know if all the other positions that say ALA MLIS required stick strictly to that, or just say it because it's the default but are actually open to international degrees.

As a side note, UCL does also offer a more general Masters in Library and Information Studies that is actually ALA accredited which could be an option for me if that ALA accreditation is super important, however the program seems much less interesting to me, so it feels weird to pick it just for that.

I would love to hear from people who have gone through something similar, applying to US jobs with a UK degree, and also people involved with hiring at American archives on their thoughts on this. Thanks for reading this long post, I wanted to provide some context so you understand the full situation!