Archives, both grand and practical, are part of a longstanding story of human knowledge and experience. Archivists and key stakeholders at repositories should re-envision and revitalize special collections programming in the archives.

In online marketing, thought leaders suggest ways to reuse and repurpose content. For example, a popular blog post can be repurposed into an updated post, a series of social media posts, an infographic, or an expanded e-book.

Archival repositories may never fully compete with the services offered by community centers and the extensive outreach efforts provided by libraries, museums, and art centers.

However, they can become active partners with such institutions to ensure that the needs and expectations of their communities are met and exceeded.

One of my passions within my profession is finding ways to demonstrate the value—both in the literal and figurative sense—of archival labor. This, understandably, has been a challenge because few people understand what archivists do.

The richness and creative potential of archival material is limitless. As the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed archival access, archivists can enhance online collections by adapting and repurposing content to release the untapped potential of records of enduring value.

In large organizations, archivists and records managers—individuals with specific expertise— handle access management, privacy protection, and systems security related to documents and files.

Sometimes these areas are combined, but from a theoretical perspective, information management and security professionals are the ones who implement the requirements for access and privacy controls.

Government archives were the most significant component of the profession until the 1970s when the number of academic archives increased. Since then, every survey of archives and archivists has indicated that colleges and universities have the largest contingent of archivists in the United States.

Calvin Coolidge once said, “The chief business of the American people is business.” This is true in many respects, but business has not traditionally received much archival attention.

The public records tradition realizes that government authorities are the creators and keepers of records, which takes place at all levels of government. There is also the assumption of public access and accountability—that records exist to be used by citizens.

Few ideas about strategy, goals, and operations for archives result in unanimous agreement. One idea that does? Support the archives program. Support must come from peers as well as those in leadership positions within the organization.