, The Lone Arranger: Succeeding in a Small Repository, Chicago, Illinois, Society of American Archivists, 2012. iv + 155 pp. ISBN 1 931666 41 5. US$69.95
The cover of this book is quite attractive. It shows a black mask, some old photographs and letters and a pair of white cotton gloves. What stood out for me was the word ‘succeeding’ in the title. This is very encouraging, because from my experience, working in a small repository as a lone arranger can be a real struggle.
The author calls these situations challenging, and, accurately, this theme appears throughout the text. There are seven chapters in this book, each with a humorous title (for example, chapter 5 ‘Where do I put all of this stuff and keep it safe?’) and a serious title (‘Facilities management and disaster planning’). Other chapters cover administration and management, collections management, information technology issues, fundamental archival programs, reference and outreach, and budgeting and financing. There are also two appendices of selected readings and a resources guide.
Each chapter is well set out and easy to read. There are key terms in the side margins and case studies and examples in highlighted blocks of text written by archivists. The key terms in the introduction are ‘Lone arranger: an individual who is the sole staff of an archives’ (p. 1). Christina Zamon expands on this definition in the introduction, covering wide possibilities – voluntary, full-time, part-time, qualified, unqualified and with or without sidekicks (as in the Lone Ranger – a legendary renegade fighting crime and injustice, complete with his sidekick companion, Tonto, and his horse, Silver).
These wide possibilities tie in with the target audience and aim of the book. The target audience is both experienced archivists and novices and, I assume, anyone in-between. This is quite an ambitious angle to take as the aim of the book, which is ‘to provide information and knowledge that an archivist could apply to a religious, academic, corporate, government, library, museum, or historical setting’ (back cover). In other words, it is a basic practical guide encouraging best archival procedures, no matter what situation the lone arranger is in.
Zamon is well qualified to write such a book. She has been an archivist since 2005, with a library and archive background in a variety of roles, including being a lone arranger. She has chaired the Society of American Archivists Lone Arrangers Roundtable group for two years. She is also the co-founder of the Lone Arrangers social networking site on Ning and, more recently, on Big Tent.
Some of Zamon’s terminology is unfamiliar, even strange, for example, her description of small archives as ‘lone arranger shops’ (p. 1) or ‘small shops’ (p. 3). A minor criticism: I did find that there was a lack of detail in some chapters. There could have been just a little more information. Although, as Zamon admits, it was impossible to provide information for every situation which unfolds, and lone arrangers themselves must decide what to do. Fair enough.
There were two chapters which were particularly relevant to my situation at present: chapter 3 on digitisation and chapter 7 on fundraising. These seemed quite comprehensive. Zamon encourages archivists to get their IT department on-board through consultations and to network with colleagues, so as to save time and resources. Of course, proper planning is essential for examining feasibility and desired outcomes for any digitising program. With regard to funding, I was amused to read ‘fundraising can be as simple as your run-of-the-mill used book sale’ (p. 118). Then I remembered that I had actually done this a couple of years ago. It did not raise a great deal of money, but it did provide interaction with potential clients and created a little extra space.
Anyone who has put in for a grant will know that it is very time consuming, and there are often strict conditions to be followed. But Zamon suggests getting management involved, working collaboratively with other departments and being positive about what you want to achieve. The other important hint was to be proactive with advocacy for your archives. Often the more powerful and higher profile departments in an organisation will grab many of the resources available. If archivists are able to cultivate donors to fund projects or to promote what they can do for an organisation, then more resources may come their way.
The Lone Arranger: Succeeding in a Small Repository does achieve its aims of being a useful tool for lone archivists of many persuasions. So with this trusty book by our side, we ‘renegades’ can venture forward confidently. It’s ‘Hi-ho (Silver) and away!’
© 2012, Desley Soden