Ranting and Raving

It may have been the result of 6+ hours sweating (well, not literally) over a despised Annotated Bibliography Assignment regarding Privacy Issues and Access Within the Archival profession (blecccccchh) or it may have been too many wide-eyed Twitter-besotted encomiums to salvation-through-mass-technology. Maybe I was just going into the low blood sugar zone. Whatever the reason, the result was the same - my required weekly posting on a topic of our instructor's choosing turned into something involving a rant. One that chose a nearly Luddite path, and will no doubt seem incomprehensible to my fellow classmates. The topic was mundane - simply this -

With ever-growing decreases in funding for libraries and archives, what can the archival profession do to better position itself? What concrete steps could archivists take to better promote and publicize their profession (not necessarily specific institutions or collections)?

Not exactly the riddle of the sphinx, but not unapproachable. But as I read the earnest responses from my fellow library and archival enthusiasts - responses that seemed to suggest that "being proactive," "networking," "utilizing Flickr widgets," and posting YouTube tours online might bring the shuddering hordes crashing enthusiastically into the archive profession - I felt a need to rain on some meandering parades. And so, before my common sense got the better of me, I mounted the soapbox and blatted forth:

As a defiantly old-fashioned Gen-Xer, I remain rather cynical about the ways certain professions attempt to maintain their "edge" or continue to stay vibrant in an era of plunging spending and decreasing literacy. I'm not at all convinced that the archival path to salvation lies in YouTube or Twitter, and must admit to sometimes cringing with embarrassment when I see certain professions trying to embrace youthful tools in the hopes they'll immediately become relevant. Others have mentioned library blogs, but I wonder how many people are truly reading these blogs? Like Scott mentioned earlier, the simple existence of a blog (like his and like mine) is not enough to guarantee a higher profile. People must be interested in the information first - one rarely discovers things through a blog, they merely discover blogs through their interests. I'm not sure if the audience for YouTube and the audience for archives are one and the same. Having said that - I adore YouTube (I'm not that old-fashioned) and I'm interested in archives, so clearly the market exists. But I'm not sure if the audience unaware of archives and just waiting for the right YouTube video to bring them into the flock really exists. But that may just be the cynicism talking.

It's difficult to watch a profession one loves experience a personality crisis. One hopes for increased visibility while also secretly praying that the profession doesn't give up too much of what makes it special in the process. And too often, it's exactly that which makes something special that damns it to a lower visibility tier. Public relations does seem to have a potential in recalibrating the role of archives within our society, and I think good word of mouth can do wonders for any struggling business, non-profit or not. My own recommendation would be for the archival profession to actually worry less about networking and starting a video blog and focus more on setting up collections that clearly reflect a specific community. Wherever the current recession may take us, there has been a disdain for the local, the unique and the non-chain over the past few decades that may have finally reached an end. If archives can continue to strengthen their community ties - if collections can reflect the lives of the individuals surrounding them - there at least will be one audience that continues to care. Whether this will be enough to keep archives competitive in a brutal marketplace that remains suspicious of anything involving freely transmitted ideas....who can say?

I'm not sure if this will ignite furious discussion or simply go unnoticed (our bibliography assignment is due tomorrow and the discussion forum closes within twenty-four hours). But I had to vent a little spleen. If my instructor has a sense of humor or a weakness for irony, I think I'll get a decent grade.