Abstract
This paper presents preliminary findings from an exploratory, qualitative case study bounded by the city of Philadelphia. The case study brings the literature on information work (IW) to bear for the first time on archives and special collections repositories. Empirical interview data on archivists’ information work at five medical history collections, pre- and post- pandemic onset, suggests that institutional and personal conditions surrounding COVID-19 prompted archivists to change their information work tasks in phases, first shifting office tasks to remote work under quarantine, then to hybrid work contexts. We explore an information work model including work purposes, work tasks, and work roles. The model shows how tasks of collection management, reference services, and outreach constitute the context and purpose for archivists’ information work. The paper details how hybrid work tasks and hybrid work contexts emerged.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
- 2.
- 3.
- 4.
The special collections repositories in the case study include archives, manuscripts, rare books, medical materiel, and records in multiple format types. I refer to case study participants as archivists because archival science applies to information work in these settings.
References
National academies of sciences, engineering, and medicine, exploring lessons learned from a century of outbreaks: readiness for 2030. In: Proceedings of a Workshop, p. 25391. National Academies Press, Washington, D.C. (2019)
Miller, M.A., Viboud, C., Balinska, M., Simonsen, L.: The signature features of influenza pandemics—implications for policy. N Engl. J. Med. 360(25), 2595–2598 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp0903906
Greenberg, S.J.: Resilience, relevance, remembering: history in the time of coronavirus. JMLA 108(3) (2020). https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2020.986
Huvila, l.: Work and work roles: a context of tasks. J. Documentation 64(6), 797–815 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1108/00220410810912406
Cox, M.: An exploration of the practice approach and its place in information science. J. Inf. Sci. 38(2), 176–188 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1177/0165551511435881
Savolainen, R.: Information behavior and information practice: reviewing the “umbrella concepts” of information-seeking studies. Libr. Quart. 77(2), 109–132 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1086/517840
Huvila, l.: How a museum knows? structures, work roles, and infrastructures of information work. J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci. Tech. 64(7), 1375–1387 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.22852
Hogan, T.P., Palmer, C.L.: “Information work” and chronic illness: Interpreting results from a nationwide survey of people living with HIV/AIDS. Proc. Am. Soc. Info. Sci. Tech. 42(1), n/a-n/a (2006). https://doi.org/10.1002/meet.14504201150
Strauss, A., Corbin, J.: Managing chronic illness at home: three lines of work. Qual. Sociol. 8(3), 224–247 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00989485
Fulton, C., Henefer, J.: Information practice. In: Bates, M.J., Maack, M.N. (eds.) Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences, 3rd edn., pp. 2162–2171. CRC Press (2018)
Lloyd, A.: Learning to put out the red stuff: becoming information literate through discursive practice. Libr. Quart. 77(2), 181–198 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1086/517844
Lloyd, A.: Informing practice: information experiences of ambulance officers in training and on‐road practice. J. Documentation 65(3), 396–419 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1108/00220410910952401
Lloyd, A.: Framing information literacy as information practice: site ontology and practice theory. J. Documentation 66(2), 245–258 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1108/00220411011023643
Wenger, E.: Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1998)
Wenger, E., McDermott, R.A., Snyder, W.: Cultivating Communities of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge. Harvard Business School Press, Boston (2002)
Byström, K., Hansen, P.: Conceptual framework for tasks in information studies. J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci. 56(10), 1050–1061 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.20197
Veinot, T.C.: “The eyes of the power company”: workplace information practices of a vault inspector. Libr. Quart. 77(2), 157–179 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1086/517842
McKenzie, P.J.: A model of information practices in accounts of everyday-life information seeking. J. Documentation 59(1), 19–40 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1108/00220410310457993
Byström, K., Lloyd, A.: Practice theory and work task performance: how are they related and how can they contribute to a study of information practices. Proc. Am. Soc. Info. Sci. Tech. 49(1), 1–5 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1002/meet.14504901252
Star, S.L., Strauss, A.: Layers of silence, arenas of voice: the ecology of visible and invisible work. Comput. Support. Coop. Work 8(1–2), 9–30 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1008651105359
Lincoln, Y.S., Guba, E.G.: Naturalistic Inquiry. SAGE Publications, Beverly Hills (1985)
Mellon, A.: Naturalistic Inquiry for Library Science: Methods and Applications for Research, Evaluation, and Teaching. Greenwood Press, New York (1990)
Miles, M.B., Huberman, A.M., Saldaña, J.: Qualitative Data Analysis: A Methods Sourcebook, 4th edn. SAGE Publications, Los Angeles (2020)
Charmaz,K.: Constructing Grounded Theory, 2nd edn. SAGE Publications, London, Thousand Oaks (2014)
Rubin, H., Rubin, I.: Qualitative Interviewing: The Art of Hearing Data, 2nd edn. SAGE Publications, Thousand Oaks (2005)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Garwood, D.A., Poole, A.H. (2021). Case Study on COVID-19 and Archivists’ Information Work. In: Toeppe, K., Yan, H., Chu, S.K.W. (eds) Diversity, Divergence, Dialogue. iConference 2021. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12646. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71305-8_29
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71305-8_29
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-71304-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-71305-8
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)