Invisible Interdependencies: Unveiling Hidden Labor in Collection Management

Ramirez, Lizeth; O'Riordan, Meaghan; Davis, Rosemary K.J.; Wisner, Melanie; White, Angela; Jones, Jasmine; Ott, Elizabeth

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Invisible Interdependencies: Unveiling Hidden Labor in Collection Management

Ramirez, Lizeth; O'Riordan, Meaghan; Davis, Rosemary K.J.; Wisner, Melanie; White, Angela; Jones, Jasmine; Ott, Elizabeth

URI: http://hdl.handle.net/11213/18020

Date: 2021-06-10

Abstract:

Using the functions of accessioning, acquisitions, and appraisal as critical lenses, this panel examines the complex ways that organizations build relationships, develop effective workflows for access to collection material in all formats, and meet the needs of multiple entities, including those in leadership roles.

Description:

Whether collection management is the responsibility of one or many, crucial elements of this labor are often misunderstood or completely invisible. Using the functions of accessioning, acquisitions, and appraisal as critical lenses, this panel examines the complex ways that organizations build relationships, develop effective workflows for access to collection material in all formats, and meet the needs of multiple entities, including those in leadership roles. We will present a series of lightning talks that bring visibility to the specific kinds of labor involved in collection management and explore how each speaker is actively striving to improve workflows through greater transparency about and advocacy for our interdependent roles. These lightning talks will kick start thoughtful conversations about how to care for collections through more collaborative approaches which take into account every facet of our work. Speakers will address the types of physical, intellectual, and emotional labor that make collection management possible, including: · Shepherding collections through different phases of acquisitions and accessioning · Balancing acquisition, discovery, and access priorities against local factors, including availability of labor, physical space, funding, and other institutional resources · Using appraisal to effectively aid in making decisions about arrangement and description, stewardship priorities, and selection · Determining, documenting, and implementing collection management workflows · Coping mechanisms we employ to address the specific stresses that arise from this labor · Collaboratively developing workflows to improve efficiency, clarity, and communication Moreover, we’ll ask: How does power function in the relationships that develop during this work? How do we define where our individual contributions - often undifferentiated and underappreciated - begin and end? When some work is in service to others, how do professional and paraprofessional hierarchies determine our sense of value and impact? We seek to elevate and expose the “magical” infrastructure that is both tested and often erased by the decision to acquire. Unveiling how repositories define and navigate the tangled power dynamics that make access to collections possible is crucial to developing professional practices rooted in transparency and mutual trust. Ultimately, this panel explores possibilities for making stronger connections between curatorial, administrative, and technical services priorities within a more visible, intentionally interdependent collection management program.

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