Assessing the State of Archives and Archives Workers in the California State University

Abstract

This article presents findings from an environmental scan of archival work at California State University (CSU), the largest public university system in the United States. Using an online survey to collect qualitative and quantitative data, the researchers were able to create a snapshot of the current state of the archives across the CSU system\u27s campuses. This included information about staffing, compensation, collections, duties and responsibilities, and budgets, as well as challenges. While all of the archival workers are part of the same university system, there were many differences in staffing levels, staff and faculty ranks, budgets, and duties assigned to the workers across the different campuses. These differences and challenges suggest that more research is needed to create better equity and opportunities for collaboration across the university system. This research will be of interest to other archival workers in large, geographically dispersed university systems, and archives workers across the western US in academic and other institutions