Archivists’ golden egg: environmental sustainability practices of archives

James Faulkner · Liuxing Lu · Jiangping Chen

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Digital and Traditional Archives Management Information Science and Libraries Conservation Techniques and Studies

Abstract

Purpose Archivists are charged with the preservation of their collections by reducing deterioration because of temperature, relative humidity, atmospheric pollutants and other factors. The methods archivists use to preserve their collections may have a negative impact on the environment. This paper aims to identify factors for building environmentally sustainable archives to help guide archival environmental sustainability practices. Design/methodology/approach This paper identifies factors through a literature review, and conducts a content analysis of the websites of seven national/state archives. The analysis focuses on the policy statements of these archives. Findings The authors found that the literature lists 31 factors under 7 categories: electricity, facilities, water, exhibitions, pollution, collection practices and education and outreach. The content analysis of the policy documents or statements demonstrated that archives applied and addressed mostly “resource-related” efforts to protect the environment, such as factors related to electricity, facilities, water and pollution. However, factors related to “work-related” efforts, such as exhibitions, collection practices and education and outreach, were ignored. Practical implications This study can provide insights to archivists on current implementation and help to guide their further environmental sustainability practices. Originality/value Little is known regarding archivists’ implementation of environmentally sustainable practices. This study focuses on identifying factors for environmental sustainability of archives addressed by literature and existing archives, trying to find the gap between literature and practice.

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References

2002Content Analysis in Mass Communication: Assessment and Reporting of Intercoder Reliability 2017Critical Archival Studies: An Introduction 2019Toward Environmentally Sustainable Digital Preservation 2011Beyond “green buildings:” exploring the effects of Jevons’ Paradox on the sustainability of archival practices 2012The Green Archivist: A Primer for Adopting Affordable, Environmentally Sustainable, and Socially Responsible Archival Management Practices 2008The Green Library Movement: An Overview of Green Library Literature and Actions from 1979 to the Future of Green Libraries

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