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.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.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.Miller 2013, 522Most of us have not eliminated processing backlogs, let alone met the rising expectations of the digital age.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.
Notes
A backlog connotes materials that have been in a pending status for some time. Backlog is often qualified to indicate the nature of work to be done; for example, materials needing treatment might be described as a “preservation backlog.”
