Archival metrics, such as research requests and event attendance figures, provide useful data but fail to fully capture the impact of primary sources on academic, professional, and personal projects. As a result, they fall short in communicating archival significance to stakeholders.
Why Traditional Archival Metrics Are Not Enough
Usage-based metrics equate engagement with value. One can assume that a collection’s high use by researchers indicates relevance. However, these metrics alone do not clarify how archival materials contribute to broader goals such as research productivity or student success.
Financial approaches, including cost-per-use and cost-avoidance analyses, provide quantifiable insights. These methods are especially useful in budget discussions, where archivists must demonstrate efficiency to decision-makers. Financial metrics have inherent limitations, however. For example, many services provided by archives lack direct market equivalents, making it difficult to assign monetary value to them (and it seems quite odd to do so, anyway). Moreover, overreliance on financial frameworks in a neoliberal environment risks obscuring the broader mission of memory institutions.
Impact-Based Value Emphasizes Outcomes
Impact-based assessment provides a more comprehensive understanding of value. Rather than focusing solely on inputs or outputs, this approach emphasizes outcomes. Capturing impact requires incorporating qualitative evidence alongside quantitative data. User testimonials and case studies provide context and illustrate how services influence real-world outcomes. These forms of evidence make the abstract concept of value more tangible.
The economic concept of value on investment (VOI) offers a useful framework for articulating impact. In the context of archival collections and services, VOI refers to the broad, intangible benefits that archives provide. While return on investment (ROI) focuses on measurable revenue, VOI captures the cultural, educational, historical, and societal impact of preserving and providing access to records.
Archives and manuscripts support research, inform public policy, strengthen organizational memory, and foster community identity by safeguarding evidence of the past. They enhance institutional reputation, enable innovation through historical insight, and create opportunities for engagement through exhibitions, publications, and digital access. Their true value lies in their enduring contribution to collective knowledge.
This perspective aligns with the mission-driven nature of archives, allowing institutions to demonstrate both tangible and intangible contributions.
Connecting Archival Services to Outcomes
Astute stakeholders tie the value of archives to services rather than collections alone. Expertise, instruction, and research support are central to this viewpoint because collections require context provided by information professionals.
Archivists facilitate access, guide interpretation, and enable users to apply information effectively. This service-oriented model reflects broader cultural changes. As access to information becomes more widespread, the ability to navigate and use that information becomes the primary source of value.
VOI encourages institutions to develop more nuanced assessment strategies. Metrics, such as collection size or circulation statistics, fail to capture the depth of engagement or the quality of outcomes. In contrast, VOI emphasizes indicators such as research impact and instructional effectiveness. Documenting these indicators requires a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches, including testimonials and longitudinal tracking of use.
Archives can document these outcomes through a combination of:
- Usage and engagement data
- User testimonials and feedback
- Case studies showing how collections supported specific projects
- Evidence of archival materials cited in publications, exhibitions, or reports
- Longitudinal tracking that reveals how users and institutions benefit over time
Using VOI to Strengthen Archival Advocacy
Articulating VOI can also strengthen advocacy efforts. Administrators and funders expect evidence of influence in competitive, resource-constrained environments. By framing services in terms of outcomes, such as supporting grant-funded research or enhancing student learning, archives can position themselves as essential infrastructure.
VOI shifts the conversation from what archives hold to what archives enable. It foregrounds archivists’ roles as mediators of information and highlights how archival services generate knowledge and contribute to institutional and societal goals. This alignment strengthens their strategic position and ensures continued support.
Aligning Archival Value with Institutional Priorities
Demonstrating value also requires alignment with organizational mandates. Whether the focus is on research output or community engagement, archivists must clearly articulate how their work advances those priorities.
A comprehensive approach combines numbers with narratives, efficiency with impact, and financial accountability with mission-driven outcomes. By adopting this framework, archives can communicate their necessity through ongoing assessment practices and by translating archival work into language that resonates with administrators and funders.
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