n.archival resources received by a repository but not yet processedLeahy 1940, 36This objective [an orderly program for transfers to the central archives] is properly overshadowed for the present and probably for some time to come by the great backlog of federal records long noncurrent and so poorly provided for prior to the establishment of the National Archives.Nuermberger 1941, 261The most pressing problem still remains the reduction of a constant and increasing backlog of unworked materials.Grover 1951, 10Secondly, the staff at some point in its development should cease to be hard-pressed and preoccupied by the sheer physical aspects of work incident to the large-scale accessioning of records. Inevitably, during the decade 1937 to 1947, this was the largest task confronting the National Archives. We had to appraise, select, and accession the backlog of 150 years of Federal records.Berner 1964, 403When librarians undertake the task of administering manuscript collections they are inclined to consider manuscripts as if they were publications or, more precisely, books. Thus librarians tend to choose and catalog individual items, trying to represent each item chosen with a separate catalog card description. This practice continues in the face of mounting backlogs.Sahli 1981, 16Let’s not underestimate the extent of the problem. Archival description is a cornerstone activity of our profession, for without adequate user access to materials there is little sense in saving them. . . . Unprocessed backlogs certainly don’t help solve the problem, nor do acquisition policies that permit repositories to acquire more materials than they can adequately process. Too often, regardless of the level, description takes a back seat, although one isn’t always sure to what.Desnoyers 1982, 7[B]y processing all collections to the ideal standard level, we cannot keep up with the collections we have on hand or with the new collections coming in. The result tends to be a small number of beautifully processed collections available for use and an extensive backlog of collections that are closed while they wait to be processed.Slotkin and Lynch 1982, 155Few repositories seem to have resources sufficient to keep up with their growing backlog by processing as intensively or as extensively as is necessary.Abraham, Balzarini, and Frantilla 1985, 35In recent years approximately 445 cubic feet per year has been accessioned while only about 177 cubic feet per year has been processed. Consequently, for the past few years, the backlog has been growing at about 260 cubic feet per year.Miller 1990, 45All repositories have a backlog of accessioned records awaiting full arrangement and description. This is mainly the result of the bulk and complexity of modern records combined with limited insititutional [sic] resources. The larger the backlog, the more complete should be the information gathered during accessioning, for it will long serve as the basic physical, administrative, and intellectual control over the records.Greene and Meissner 2005, 208–209Put very simply, processing is not keeping up with acquisitions and has not been for decades, resulting in massive backlogs of inaccessible collections at repositories across the country (and across all types of archival institutions). It should be dismaying to realize that our profession has been struggling with backlogs for at least sixty years.Greene and Meissner 2005, 212Backlogs are no longer (if they ever have been) merely an abstract concern. These large backlogs are hurting the archival profession in the eyes of our researchers and resource allocators. The authors’ survey found that at 51% of repositories, researchers, donors, and/or resource allocators had become upset because of backlogs. Thirty-five percent of repositories had at least donors (if not also others) unhappy for the same reason. Sometimes this manifested itself in complaints that a donor’s collection had not yet been processed, and sometimes the backlogs caused a potential donor second thoughts about donating a collection.Weideman 2006, 275If we were ever going to reduce the backlog, we acknowledged that it simply was not possible to do arrangement and description down to and within the folder level, which we had all been trained to do and had been doing for as far back as any of us could remember. We instituted what we call “minimum standards”—the minimum level of arrangement and description that would meet the needs of researchers to locate specific boxes of materials (and sometimes specific folders) and meet the expectations of donors. . . . We began to apply these standards to all processing projects in the department, not only to backlog collections, and used them flexibly across and within collections.Weideman 2006, 276During the accessioning process, whenever possible, we arrange and describe the materials, including the creation of the finding aid, so that they are ready for research use and never enter our backlog.McCrea 2006, 284Mark Greene and Dennis Meissner shared the results of their research on processing backlogs at the 2004 conference of the Society of American Archivists. Only a few months earlier, I had started a project to manage the backlog at the archives at the University of Montana. At that time, I defined as “backlog” any collection that had been in the archives for more than twelve months and had not been arranged and described in a traditional finding aid. By this definition, in early 2004, the backlog at the University of Montana archives comprised over one-quarter of our total holdings.Fisher 2006, 73Ultimately, the advantage for the archives is that the documentary record is more accessible—fully described and user-ready on arrival—rather than simply added to a growing backlog of unprocessed, inaccessible records.Miller 2013, 522Most of us have not eliminated processing backlogs, let alone met the rising expectations of the digital age.Santamaria 2015, 2Despite these reminders, however, processing backlogs remain a persistent problem for archives and special collections both large and small. These backlogs consist of collections material that is not described in finding aids, catalog records, or other online forms, which leaves the material essentially hidden from the public.Jones and Shein 2021, 31Institutions define their “backlogs” of archival materials differently. These materials may be completely “hidden” (undiscoverable online), may be in a physical state of disarray or fragility that renders them unusable until processed, may be under-described to varying degrees, or any combination of the above. Regardless of nuances in definition or terminology, the common denominator is that the institution has identified these collections as not being adequately discoverable and/or accessible to the communities they serve.Trace 2022, 75There is a considerable interval between the time archival material are accessioned, processed, and made accessible for research. It is in this space that what archivists euphemistically call ‘the backlog’ comes into existence. What the backlog interrupts is the distribution and consumption end of the research process. As a concept and a reality, the backlog is a critical point of failure, carrying with it an ongoing and prevailing sense that ‘deferred maintenance’ has become the norm in the archive.Trace 2022, 77In the USA, the backlog is as ubiquitous as it is extensive. In the mid-2000s, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) estimated its backlog at over 1 million cubic feet of records.Jaillant 2022, 534Few institutions can afford to employ the full complement of archivists necessary to catalog large paper collections, let alone digital collections with petabytes of materials. This results in cataloging backlogs and inaccessible archives. Too often, only neatly cataloged records are made available to users, and uncataloged collections with potentially sensitive/private materials languish in storage.Sweetser et al. 2023, 177If institutions are unwilling to scale down collecting, they must be willing to scale up advocacy work for additional positions and resources to address backlogs.Reijerkerk and Reed 2023, 572Archives have historically dealt with a dearth of unprocessed and underprocessed backlogs that inhibit discoverability and access as these collections are hidden from researcher online searches.adj.in an unprocessed stateJones 2003, 15While statistics show steady and dramatic growth in the use of special collections by diverse groups of users, the status of the backlogged “hidden collections” has not changed. Such hidden resources mean that scholarly projects may well be missing some crucial information that could affect research results and the very nature of the project.Miller 2013, 521This article explores the idea of coupling robust collection-level descriptions to mass digitization and optical character recognition to provide full-text search of unprocessed and backlogged modern collections, bypassing archival processing and the creation of finding aids.Meissner and Greene 2016, 220Because, ultimately, what good is preserving every item if our researchers cannot find or gain access to the many backlogged collections that will inevitably pile up while awaiting Phillips’s approach to preservation?Anderson-Zorn 2019, 560With grant funding, they were able to launch their university archives with staff dedicated to the task of processing backlogged collections, acquiring new materials, and working with multiple partners on centennial celebration activities.
Notes
A backlog connotes materials that have been in a pending status for some time rather than temporarily. The term backlog can often qualify the nature of work to be done; for example, materials in need of treatment might be described as a “preservation backlog.”
