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Post #10: How Can We Promote Diversity and Cordialness In Archival Spaces?

 

In the article What’s Wrong with Digital Stewardship: Evaluating the Organization of Digital Preservation Programs from Practitioners’ Perspectives (2020), a study conducted in 2018 unveiled certain issues that archival practitioners found to be hindering the staffing and efficiency of their program’s digital preservation methods. Amongst the thoughts expressed by the participants via interview were concerns about microaggressions, prejudice, and misogyny within their work environments.[1] Though incidents of misogynistic and prejudice behavior are found in a multitude of career pathways, many archives and special collection practitioners today push for diversity of staff within their work and research spaces. In one of these interviews, an anonymous participant pointed out a negative factor of the nature of tenure. The participant stated that due to the tenured status of the practitioner they work with, when they hear said staff member making misogynistic comments towards others, nothing substantial occurs to stop this behavior.[2]

This fairly recent comment is quite disheartening in terms of creating a welcoming and productive archival environment for both staff members and researchers. What can be done to effectively mitigate the culture of senior staff members who resort to harsh treatment of less experienced archivist due to racist, misogynistic, and prejudice behavior? In recent years, and in a myriad of careers, employees of institutions and companies are required to attend meetings and complete online modules that promote comfortable and inclusive work environments, but are these activities truly enough? Will the archival realm as well as other historic spheres take further action to diminish the realities of hostile behavior stemming from privileged and or tenured staff? If archives are to continue engaging more inclusive communities, they themselves might be successful in drawing them in by establishing both open access to a variety of material whilst displaying friendly, diverse, and educational workings amongst their coworkers.


[1] Blumenthal, Karl-Rainer; Griesinger, Peggy; Kim, Julia Y.; Peltzman, Shira; and Steeves, Vicky (2020)

What’s Wrong with Digital Stewardship: Evaluating the Organization of Digital Preservation Programs

from Practitioners’ Perspectives, Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies: Vol. 7, Article 13.

Available at: https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/jcas/vol7/iss1/13, 17.

[2] Ibid., What’s Wrong With Digital Stewardship, 17.

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