An archive is not a library and does not operate like one, even if it is housed inside a library – and many are – and even if the archive is part of a library’s organization.  Libraries deal mainly with current mass-produced pieces of information; books, magazines, videos, etc.  These materials circulate; they are loaned out to whoever wants to borrow them.  Just pick it off the shelf and check it out.  The call numbers are assigned by either the Library of Congress or a commercial organization in Ohio and are used by thousands of libraries across the country.  This is all standardized, uniform, so that a book usually has the same call number everywhere a patron visits.

Archives collect, house, protect, organize, catalog and make available for research those items no longer used for their original purpose.  One Houston archive has, among other treasures, over 125,000 architectural drawings of buildings, generally in the Houston area.  Many of these buildings no longer exist.  Some were ordinary office buildings, others were skyscrapers, and one is a monument.  Everything in an archive is one of a kind, unique, special, and irreplaceable.  Nothing circulates.  No one can borrow items because everything is special.  Stolen or destroyed items are gone forever.  One cannot go to another archive and find items that were in the first archive. 

Archives have security requirements that are tedious to patrons but necessary to protect items so that future generations can experience them.  Almost all archives require patrons to present valid identification and register.  Personal baggage (even purses) must be stowed away to reduce the chance of theft.  The use of pencils is required because ink causes permanent damage.  Only one collection may be viewed at a time so items are not intermingled and disorganized. 

Even before a patron can view anything, an archivist must process the materials.  Rusty metal paperclips and staples are removed from papers, which are then organized in a manner making it easier for researchers to find the information being sought.  These papers are protected by placing them in folders and putting the folders into boxes so they can be delivered to researchers.  All of this arranging, describing and indexing is listed in a document called a finding aid.  Finding aids vary in length because collections can vary in size from a single folder to thousands of boxes.  Processing can take a great deal of time.

Retrieving items from an archive also takes time.  There are no standardized call numbers like those on the spine of a book in a library because everything is unique.  Collections can range in size so an archivist has to work with a patron and the written documentation to determine the correct box, locate the box in the stacks, which is out of public access, and deliver the box to the patron.

Different archives have different requirements for retrieving collections.  The National Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. pulls items from their stacks only three times a day.  Requests made after 3 pm are deferred until the next day.  The National Archives requires that any items to be pulled on a Saturday must be requested on Friday.  Researchers wanting to see architectural drawings at The University of Texas at Austin must give notice two days in advance so the archives can retrieve the roll of drawings and flatten them by humidification.  Again, archives are different than libraries.  Items are not immediately accessible and the process takes time.  Be prepared to wait.  Prepare yourself by contacting the archives ahead of your visit, learn their requirements, and state your needs so they can be met.  Archivists want to help patrons find what is requested but not everything can be done as fast as would be preferred.  Call ahead and the archivists will work with you.

Rev. November, 2008