Hierarchies, Humanities, and Human Resources: Migrating Archival Collections in Times of Austerity

Abstract

This case study discusses a project to migrate a variety of legacy metadata formats and management systems into a consolidated new platform, ArchivesSpace. In 2018 the Archives and Special Collections of the College of Staten Island (CSI) Library, City University of New York (CUNY) began a project to replace outdated systems which would increase consistency in metadata creation and provide improved web access for users. Folder-level descriptive data was housed in a flat-file database system with select digitized images. Most collection and series level data were in narrative documents with minimal metadata, generally in PDF and HTML formats. The project migrated all data to a locally-hosted instance of ArchivesSpace. This migration case study not only provides a useful, practical example that can help others in similar situations, it also sheds light on larger questions in archives: the role of automation and manual work in data creation/migration; the definition of professional tasks; professional time costs versus administrative staff work; the difficulties of standardized metadata creation and management with high staff turnover caused by a climate of austerity; and the importance of preservation of rich descriptive data for the future of libraries and research in diverse fields.