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Abstract
Selecting appropriate technical tools for archival work is vital to improving the quality and experience of archivists’ work. Airtable is a cloud-based software that combines features of traditional spreadsheets and databases for more robust ways of compiling, organizing, and understanding data. Through five case studies, the authors demonstrate the positive impact that choosing Airtable has had on their institutions. They have created more productive workflows, automated cumbersome manual processes, and improved communication between teams. By recounting their practical applications of Airtable, the authors hope to inspire others to consider how the right tool could markedly improve their work lives.
DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 While the information in this case study is from O’Riordan’s tenure at Emory University, 2016–2022, she is now the Archivist for the Moravian Church in America, Southern Province.
2 Meaghan O’Riordan, “Airtable,” review of Airtable, The American Archivist Reviews Portal, October 27, 2020, https://reviews.americanarchivist.org/2020/10/27/airtable/.
3 This list constitutes a sampling of articles and presentations by the authors of this paper: Jolene Beiser, “The Many Uses of Airtable for Collection Management at UCI’s Special Collections & Archives” (PowerPoint presentation, UC Libraries Forum 2021: Leading with Innovation, Stronger through Collaboration, virtual, October 26–29, 2021, https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8w83t2g6); Katherine Dirk and Jessica Maddox, “Archives and Airtable: Using Cloud-based Tools for Archival Survey and Workflow Management,” Practical Tools for Archives no. 9 (May 2018), https://ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/76869; Weatherly Stephan and Rachel Searcy, “ArchivesSpace and Airtable for Improved Workflow Management” (Webinar, Society of California Archivists, virtual, December 11, 2019, https://calarchivists.org/event-3625825); Meaghan O’Riordan, “Threat Level ArchivesSpace: (Secret) Agent Cleanup” (Webinar, ArchivesSpace, virtual, April 29, 2020, https://archivesspace.org/archives/6296).
4 Max Eckard, Making Tools Work for You: Building and Maintaining an Integrated Technical Ecosystem for Digital Archives and Libraries (Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2020), ix.
5 Katherine Dirk and Jessica Maddox, “Archives and Airtable: Using Cloud-based Tools for Archival Survey and Workflow Management,” Practical Technology for Archives no. 9 (2018), https://ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/76869.
6 Elvia Arroyo-Ramírez et al., “‘Tell Us About Your Digital Archives Workstation’: A Survey and Case Study,” Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies 5, no. 1 (2018).
7 Rose Buchanan and Stephanie Luke, “Microreviews,” The American Archivist Reviews Portal, Society of American Archivists, July 6, 2023, accessed August 20, 2023, https://reviews.americanarchivist.org/2023/07/06/microreviews/.
8 About Us, “Mission,” Airtable, accessed January 17, 2023, https://www.airtable.com/about.
9 About Us, “What We Do,” Airtable, accessed January 17, 2023, https://www.airtable.com/about.
10 “Glossary of Airtable terminology,” Airtable, accessed January 17, 2023, https://support.airtable.com/docs/glossary-of-airtable-terminology.
11 At the time of writing, users can choose which application they would like as their contact method. UCI SCA currently uses Outlook and Slack, but Airtable can integrate with Google products as well. Airtable also has a function called Automations that allows the system to send an email to anyone once specified triggers are completed.
12 Dirk and Maddox, “Archives and Airtable: Using Cloud-based Tools for Archival Survey and Workflow Management.”.
13 Automated Storage and Retrieval System or ASRS, more affectionately known as MARS for the Mathewson Automated Retrieval System named after the building, is a high-density storage system that was originally adapted from systems used by the automotive manufacturing industry. The University Libraries MARS system consists of six aisles with a combined 25,584 storage bins. Each bin is 2 × 4 ft and ranges in depth from 8 to 18 inches. SCUA has access to two of the six aisles and primarily utilizes 12-inch-deep storage bins for archival boxes. We store the equivalent of four cubic feet in each bin.
14 Box types are coded with a letter system in Caiasoft with “S” referring to a document case, SX to a slim document case, and BB a record storage box. All other box types are assigned V.
15 There is a high confidence level that those 43 contains do not exist.
16 “Rollup field overview,” Airtable, accessed January 17, 2023, https://support.airtable.com/docs/rollup-field-overview.
17 “Lookup field overview,” Airtable, accessed January 17, 2023, https://support.airtable.com/docs/lookup-field-overview.
18 Since the creation of this field and syntax, Airtable has made it easier to create conditional formulas and multiple “If, then” statements are no longer needed for a formula like this.
19 At the time of revision in August 2023, the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration at the Rose Library was underway to the point where ArchivesSpace-created finding aids are available online.
20 Archival Collections Management, “airtable-stats,” GitHub, revised September 9, 2021, accessed August 15, 2023, https://github.com/nyu-acm/airtable_stats.
21 The Digitization Workflow Group consists of representation from the digitization/preservation, copyright, and metadata units.
22 As mentioned in the introduction, Airtable has a free version, but also paid versions of the software. The Pro version contains a 50,000-record limit per base.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Meaghan O’Riordan
Meaghan O’Riordan is the Archivist for the Moravian Church in America, Southern Province. She started in this role in August 2022. From 2016 to 2022, she was the Accessioning Archivist for the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives & Rare Book Library at Emory University. She earned her Masters in Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and also holds a Masters in Theological Studies from the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. Meaghan is the chair of the IMLS grant-funded national working group to develop best practices for archival accessioning and the founder and chair of the Airtable for Archives Community of Practice.
Jolene Beiser
Jolene Beiser is the Collections Archivist for Special Collections & Archives at the University of California, Irvine where she steers archival technical services work on the Southeast Asian Archive, Orange County regional history collections, University archives collections and more. She works with curators to coordinate new acquisitions and prioritize accessioning, processing, and digital preservation work. Previously she worked as the Project Archivist for the Cornell Hip Hop Collection and as an Archivist at Pacifica Radio Archives. She received her MLIS from UCLA and also holds a Masters degree in Psychology from Hunter College of the City University of New York.
Jessica Maddox
Jessica Maddox is the Collections Management Archivist for the University of Nevada, Reno Special Collections and University Archives Department. Her duties include creating accession and collection records for all legacy and new acquisitions as well as managing the physical storage space of the department. She received her MLIS from San Jose State University in 2015 and Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Nevada, Reno in 2010. While an undergraduate, she attended summer classes at the National University of Ireland, Galway in 2007.
Simon O’Riordan
Simon O'Riordan is the Head of Metadata Services for the Emory University Libraries at Emory University. His duties include creating and reviewing metadata for digitized special collections material prior to ingest into the Emory Digital Library, a Samvera-based digital repository. He received his MSLS from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2014, a MA in History at Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada in 2010, as well as a double BA in History and Theology from Seattle University in 2009.
Rachel Searcy
Rachel Searcy is the Accessioning Archivist and an ArchivesSpace administrator at New York University Libraries. Previously, Rachel held positions focused on processing, metadata, and digitization at NYU's Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, and the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. She holds an MS in Library and Information Science with a concentration in Archives Management and an MA in History from Simmons College (now Simmons University), as well as a BA in English and History and a Certificate in Celtic Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.