Introduction

Thank you for participating in this survey!


This is a small but important step in self-study for the archival profession. Assessment of our holdings is important in the action of mindful collection. Please only return one survey per archival institution. Feel free to distribute widely to other professionals and listservs. The final result will be published/presented professionally.



We are asking that you make some numerical estimates of percentages of your collections that were created by or about marginalized communities. Please do your best to estimate this. It is critical that we look at this problem both on a qualitative level (how broad and how well identified), as well as a quantitative level (how much and when).


Please note that individual institutional information will not be distributed. The intent is to analyze these completed surveys for industry trends and not to analyze an institution.


Definitions:


Marginalized Communities – Includes groups of people that have been historically and disproportionately left out of positions of power and excluded from archival collecting. For the purposes of this limited survey, we are specifying assessment of the following groups: Black or African-Americans, Indigenous People*, Latinos and Hispanics, people identifying as having a disability, and LGBTQIA+.


*Note: Indigenous People include First People of North America, Pacific Islanders, Maori, Native Hawaiian, Native Alaskan, and Sami/Saami communities.



Majority Marginalized Collections are defined as regarding or created by marginalized communities. For this survey, we are defining this as a collection that is 60% or more created or about a traditionally underserved community.



DEIA - Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access – A value system to create equal access for traditionally underrepresented communities. See SAA statement here: SAA Statement on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion | Society of American Archivists


The survey should take less than 15 minutes to fill out.


Due date was August 30, 2024.
Extended to October 11, 2024!



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* 1. Select your type of archive

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* 2. Approximately, how many linear feet are in your entire institutional collection? (Include numerals only)

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* 3. Numerically, how many collections do you have that contain a majority of
content regarding or created by, marginalized communities?  (If unknown, please estimate to the best of your knowledge).

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* 4. What percentage of your entire collection (as identified in Question 3) contain a majority of content regarding or created by, marginalized communities? (For instance, if you have five collections from marginalized communities and your institution holds twenty collections, it is 20% of your collection).

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* 5. For collections that you have identified as holding majority marginalized content, what percentage, in volume, of your entire collection does this represent? For instance, if you estimate that you have ten one-foot boxes of this content and you hold 10,000 linear feet of content, then your institution houses .1% of underrepresented content. If unknown, please estimate to the best of your knowledge.

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* 6. Of the material that you have designated as majority marginalized community content, when was the first collection accepted?

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* 7. Of the material that you have designated as majority marginalized community content, when was the bulk of this content collected? (If there are various definitive times of growth pick all that apply).

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* 8. Of the material that you have designated as majority marginalized community content, please approximate what percentage of that content may be categorized by each group. As an example, if 70% of your collections were designated as being created by marginalized people, what percentage of the content was Black or African-American, Indigenous People, etc.

  25% or Under of Marginalized Collections 26% to 50% of Marginalized Collections 51% to 75% of Marginalized Collections 76% to 100% of Marginalized Collections
Black or African-American
Indigenous People
Latino and Hispanic
LGBTQ+
People identifying as having a disability

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* 9. Of the collections that are broadly defined as marginalized community content in Question 8, has your organization made an attempt to define the specific people, region, or native nation in any of the collections?

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* 10. What percentage of communities within this percentage of marginalized collections  have you reached out to?  For example, if you have twelve collections created or about marginalized communities and you reached out to three of the collection communities, your answer would be to 25%.

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* 11. Do you agree with the provided definition of marginalized communities (as defined at the beginning of this survey)?

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* 12. From the definition provided of marginalized communities, are there additional groups that you suggest be included (as defined at the beginning of this survey)?

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* 13. Do you think that your institution has done all that it could to diversify its collections?

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* 14. What action would you like to see your institution take to better diversify your collections?

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* 15. If you answered Question 14 (previous question), what resources would you need, in order to accomplish these actions? (Check all that apply).  If you did not answer Question 14, skip to question 16.

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* 16. Has your organization reached out to marginalized communities?

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* 17. Does your institution have plans to reach out to marginalized communities?

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* 18. If Yes to 16 or 17 (previous two questions), then what is the primary purpose for reaching out to marginalized communities?  Check all that apply.

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* 19. What percentage of full-time staff do you have that identify as belonging to a marginalized community (as defined at the beginning of this survey)?

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* 20. What percentage of part-time staff do you have that identify as belonging to a marginalized community (as defined at the beginning of this survey)?

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* 21. Has your institution made an effort to diversify its employee base?

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* 22. What efforts have been made to diversify the employee base? Check all that apply.

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* 23. What percentage of volunteers do you have that identify as belonging to an marginalized community (as defined at the beginning of this survey)?

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* 24. Has your institution made an effort to diversify its volunteer base?

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* 25. What efforts have been made to diversify the volunteer base? Check all that apply.

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* 26. Does your archives have a stated mission with regard to DEIA?

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* 27. Please paste your collecting scope (if you have one).

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* 28. Please add any additional comments for future surveys or ways to improve the gathering of this content.

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