The archival profession is characterized by dedication to public memory, cultural preservation, and service. However, beneath this noble mission lies a troubling reality: the increasing reliance on gig and contract labor.
As institutions seek to do more with fewer resources, contingent labor has become an unsustainable norm in many archival workplaces. This trend not only exacerbates precarity for individual workers but also reshapes the profession’s culture, raising urgent questions about ethics, equity, and the future of archival work.
The Growth of Contingent Labor
Contract positions in archives are nothing new, but their proliferation in recent years reflects broader shifts in higher education, cultural heritage institutions, and the nonprofit sector. As permanent staff lines are frozen or eliminated, institutions increasingly use project-based funding, grant cycles, and short-term contracts to fulfill core archival functions. From processing collections to digitization projects, metadata remediation, and digital preservation planning, much of the labor that sustains archives is done today by workers who lack job security, benefits, or a path to permanence.
This shift is often justified as a financial necessity. However, the normalization of temporary work arrangements undermines the stability of both workers and institutions. When archives depend on short-term contracts, institutional memory is lost, continuity suffers, and long-term planning becomes difficult. Moreover, the practice often results in a two-tiered workforce—where a small group of permanent employees oversee operations while contract workers carry out the bulk of the labor under less favorable conditions.
Precarity as a Structural Feature of Archival Work
For many early-career archivists, gig work is not a stepping stone; it is the only available path. Newly minted graduates often cobble together multiple part-time positions, freelance contracts, and term-limited fellowships to remain in the field. This precarity is economic and emotional: it erodes confidence, delays life decisions, and creates chronic professional instability.
The effects are especially acute for those without personal wealth or financial safety nets. Archival labor is often underpaid, and contract workers are rarely offered health insurance, retirement contributions, or paid leave. The result is a profession that struggles with diversity and inclusion, not because of a lack of interest or talent, but because the working conditions make it hard for many to stay.
The Erosion of Professional Identity and Culture
The rise of gig work also reshapes how archivists see themselves and each other. Building collegial relationships, sharing knowledge, and fostering a shared professional identity is harder in workplaces where staff turnover is high and contracts are short. Temporary workers may not be included in departmental meetings, decision-making processes, or institutional planning. They may not even be listed on the staff directory
This marginalization can create a sense of invisibility. Archivists doing essential work may be excluded from conversations determining their repositories’ future. Moreover, while professional organizations have made strides in addressing contingent labor—through conference sessions, advocacy toolkits, and mentorship programs—contract workers are often treated as peripheral to the profession rather than central to its operations.
Moreover, the precarity of gig work changes the calculus of professional development. Contract workers may hesitate to invest in continuing education or join professional associations, uncertain if they will remain in the field long enough to see a return. Institutions that fail to invest in their contingent workers reinforce a cycle of under-recognition, where those doing the work are systematically denied the means to advance.
Moving Toward a More Equitable Archival Labor System
Addressing precarity in archives requires empathy and structural change. Institutions must examine their reliance on temporary labor and consider whether core functions are being outsourced to workers without full employment protection. Funders must rethink the constraints of project-based grants, which often fund work without supporting the people doing it over the long term. Professional organizations must continue to advocate for fair labor practices, including equitable pay, benefits, and opportunities for advancement.
Importantly, permanent staff and supervisors have a role to play. Ethical leadership in archives means recognizing the contributions of all workers, advocating for their inclusion, and pushing back against exploitative labor norms. Where conversion of contract roles to permanent ones is not immediately possible, supervisors can still ensure that contract workers are invited to meetings, acknowledged in reports, credited in publications, and given opportunities to gain professional experience.
Reimagining the Archival Workplace
Building a more just archival labor system means committing to fair employment practices, challenging assumptions about resource scarcity, and advocating for policies centered on dignity and stability. It also means acknowledging that the future of archives depends not just on what we preserve but on how we care for the people who preserve it.
Gig work may be part of the current landscape but must not be the foundation for the future. Ethical archival practice begins with ethical labor practice, which starts with the courage to imagine something better.
Gig work undermines the scholar/archivist paradigm. During my career I have seen gig [grant funded] workers with profound subject knowledge, but with little in the way of archival skills do remarkable work. When the situation is reversed, there is sometimes the problem of poor description and the inability to perceive items or larger units of information that are of great importance.