Longer-term management - Archives sector

Processing, storing and cataloguing

Using and displaying items sensitively

Marking significant milestones

Reviewing the situation

You will need to continue to keep abreast of the situation. It might be helpful to revisit your initial evaluation and the decisions made in the first few days and weeks.

Depending on the event, collecting activities may initially be very intensive. In the very early days you may need to be very responsive to factors like the weather and subsequent or related events. As time goes on, continue to consider how people’s responses to the event are changing, the use of resources (people, space, finance), lessons you have learned so far, and capacity, wellbeing and ethical considerations. At some point you will move from the immediate response, stop rapid response collecting, and move into a phase of dealing with what has been collected.

You may need to change a course of action as a result of your review, plan to stop doing something, or consider what business as usual will mean in the short and medium term. You could consider ‘natural’ resetting or end points, such as the end of a protest, a public memorial event, or the end of a calendar/academic year. This does not necessarily mean that the event and related collecting activities are ‘over’, but may mark a different phase of your response.
Featured case study: University of Stirling

You may find it helpful to review resources (see ‘Potential help and resources‘) in the light of your experience. If you need to fundraise, make sure that this does not compete with or detract from other fundraising activities, for example, for people affected by the event.

As well as the issues below, you may need to continue to consider:

the different wishes and needs of the people involved, and how you will engage with them
how to communicate your actions and plans relating to the collection
how you brief and induct future staff or volunteers who are new to the collection

Remember that even at a greater distance of time from an event, this work may impact on those who carry it out – see ‘Managing wellbeing‘. People, including staff and volunteers, may continue to experience a range of emotions in relation to the event. Engaging with a rapid response collection might not suit everyone, but for those it does, it might be a powerful and helpful experience. Remember that not everyone will feel the same way, and that this might vary from day to day.

Processing, storing and cataloguing

If you have not already done this, you may need to document your decisions, develop selection or appraisal criteria, dispose of materials, or take conservation or preservation measures as part of processing a rapid response collection. ‘The first few weeks‘ section of this guidance has more on this.

You may need to develop longer-term plans for processing and storing materials. This may become part of business as usual, or additional resources such as people, space and finance may be needed. You may need to make a business case for internal investment or application for external funding, or to reprioritise other work over a significant period of time. For example, Virginia Tech had a dedicated programme of work for three years. Your rapid response collecting may also give greater impetus and profile to other strategic objectives such as digital preservation or organisational recordkeeping.
Featured case study: Manchester Together Archive

You could also consider whether and how the collection will grow and be used. Archives have developed oral history projects or additional collecting areas, received transfers of Public Records or donations and deposits from individuals and organisations. For example, staff at the Orange County Regional History Center, Florida, conducted more than 200 oral histories which are now part of its collection.
Featured case study: Lancaster University

Remember that processing work or additional collecting may have an impact on the people who carry it out. So, you may need to allow additional flexibility or longer timescales when planning projects, for example. Appropriate support should be provided: you may find ARA’s health and wellbeing guidance helpful.

Using and displaying items sensitively

As with any collection, you should consider how to protect information which identifies living individuals when material is being used. This might include obscuring identifying information when you digitise. See guidance from The National Archives, including the Data Protection legislation toolkit which can assist with dealing with data protection issues arising from collections.

Some content from rapid response collecting could be emotionally upsetting. People may respond differently to material depending on what else is going on in their lives, as well as their own levels of emotional resilience, cultural background and life experiences. Using a content warning or content note, sometimes called a trigger warning, gives people information and enables them to choose whether to engage with content. It is important that these are framed in ways that normalise different responses – such as “some material could be emotionally upsetting” rather than “this material is traumatic”.

You may need to continue to consult with people that have been affected, including bereaved people, about ways in which material is made available in general to other people, and to them specifically. People affected by an event may wish to be in separate spaces, or have private visits to view or use items. People might request to take items away, or you might decide to invite them to do so (for example, items dedicated to a specific individual or in a sealed envelope addressed to them). You should document the transfer of these items, and consider keeping a copy. ‘Engaging with people who have been affected’, on this page, has further advice on this.

You may undertake digitisation or dissemination of all or selected items in the collection. This might also include displaying or exhibiting them. You should engage with relevant stakeholders and communities, including people who have been affected, about the scope, aims and content of exhibitions and whether any restrictions on copying their content should be in place.

Featured case studies: West Sussex Record Office and Manchester Together Archive

You should consider how to make material accessible in an ethical way. This may include considering how:

You will respect people’s safety, privacy, dignity and rights.
Potential harm to people will be minimised.
You are aware of and set aside your own biases and opinions.
You will meet any statutory obligations. For example, if your archive is a public authority, information in and about material might only be closed if a Freedom of Information Act (2000) exemption applies. You may need to seek specialist advice about closing or withholding material from access.

‘Is collecting suitable?‘ provides more information about ethical considerations.
Featured case studies: Lancaster University and University of Stirling

Marking significant milestones

Significant milestones may include events such as anniversaries, as well as the completion of a phase of an enquiry or the conclusion of criminal proceedings. Continue to monitor events and be aware that there may be heightened interest in a rapid response collection around them. It may be appropriate to link milestones in the processing of a collection with such milestone events, but do not draw focus or detract from the wider marking of the milestone. Such milestones might also bring back memories about the event for staff and volunteers that were involved in the rapid response activity. You should support your staff/volunteers and exercise self-care too.
Featured case study: West Sussex Record Office

The content of the collection may support how the event is remembered, including the creation of any permanent memorial and other legacy activities. Sometimes the collection may play an active role in supporting the people affected by the event, or engaging people with a campaign or issue. You should ensure that your efforts are coordinated.
Featured case study: Lancaster University

Bear in mind the limitations of the collection you hold: consider who is (not) represented, what is communicated via the collection, and the stories that could be told. Rapid response collections are usually a limited snapshot of responses to an event.
Featured case study: University of Leeds

Engaging with those affected

Remember that all individuals are different, and may have different views about the scope, aims and outcomes of any rapid response collecting. They might be indifferent to it, or their interest might grow or decline over time. They will have different experiences and backgrounds, and relate differently to the events and to other people involved. See ‘Who is involved?’, on the ‘Initial evaluation‘ page.

Following events in which people have been injured or killed you may engage with survivors and bereaved people. This might take place at different stages of the rapid response activity, and initially through Family Liaison Officers. This may continue over time (for example, at anniversaries).

Be aware that people affected by an event may wish to be in separate spaces, or have private visits to view or use items from your rapid response collecting. People might request to take items away, or you might invite them to do this (for example, items dedicated to a specific individual or in a sealed envelope addressed to them).

Bereaved people should be able to have memorial items which are directed to specific individuals if they want them. Such items may need to be stored and managed separately from general items, sometimes over a period of time. People’s wishes may vary: some may not want items immediately, or ever. You may need to be sensitive in how transfers of items are handled in the future, as people’s circumstances change. You should therefore carefully document items and keep a record of any communications alongside them, not relying on the memory or the email account of any one individual currently working in the service.
Featured case study: Manchester Together Archive

You should carefully consider how you engage with people. Engagement with people that have experienced a direct trauma may lead to secondary trauma for others. This might depend on the type, length and intensity of the interaction. You should acknowledge this risk and put in place support mechanisms for everyone involved. Where possible, you might identify a small team that will lead on this engagement.

Learning for the future

Depending on the event, you may find it helpful to review the lessons learned. You may need to update or change existing policies and procedures. You may have developed new relationships and partnerships as part of your rapid response collecting that you draw on in future. You may want to contribute to wider networks and learning in the sector, perhaps to a future edition of this guidance.

The international Network of Spontaneous Memorials brings together individuals and organisations involved in creating, documenting and using archives of spontaneous memorials.

The Society of American Archivists Crisis, Disaster, and Tragedy Response Working Group undertakes a range of activity and publishes a range of resources.

Commemorating your rapid response collecting, celebrating resilience, mourning or other ways of processing your emotional responses can be helpful. This may happen on a wider scale outside the archive, but it could be important to do this yourself, depending on the event.