For some institutions, serving artists is a core component of their identity. For example, the Wallace Library at Juilliard serves musicians, the Harry Ransom Center serves writers, and the National Gallery of Art Library serves visual artists.

Archivists organize collections through appraisal, accessioning, processing, and preserving the materials. The goal is to provide access to the materials.

Collections arise out of an organization’s operations which are no longer in use and will not undergo further intentional modification other than preservation once they have been accessioned.

People may come to the archives as part of their creative process to expand upon or enhance a current project with archival research.

Policies for recordkeeping need to articulate several areas, including purpose, definitions, roles and responsibilities, and the functional areas of managing records that the organization needs to implement.

All organizations produce records, but the role that records play in organizational processes is not always recognized.

Many archival programs have crafted opportunities to welcome community members who might not have thought about coming in before. The wider the user base of the archives, the better the awareness will be of the archival repository, especially if it has a local focus.

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.