Moving Archives: The Experiences of Eleven Archivists edited byJohn Newman and Walter Jones (2002)

Earlier this year I moved my office, processing area, and supplies up from the basement of the library to a recently vacated space on the third floor, and my repository of archival boxes, books, and what not is going to be moving up to a matching room sometime this year. I thought that instead of trying to figure all that box moving by myself, I'd get some hints from the archivists featured in Moving Archives: The Experiences of Eleven Archivists edited by John Newman and Walter Jones (2002).

This book is a series of case studies written by archivists who managed large archival moves during their careers. In most cases their moves were very very very large, and between buildings (or across state lines) and not the kind of smaller move inside a single building that I'm contemplating. The case studies were all very readable, and some went into much more detail than others. I would have liked to see something in addition to the case studies -- maybe check lists or some distilled advice pulled out of the narratives. Still, there were some pieces of advice that are universal to any move, and I think I extracted some tidbits that will help me make my small-scale move as smooth as possible. Definitely recommended if you are planning an archival move and can easily get your hands on it.