Economic Impact of Government Archives

Elizabeth Yakel

Economic Impact of Government Archives

Journal of Korean Society of Archives and Records Management
Abbr : JRMASK
2012, 12(3), pp.155~176
Publisher : Korean Society of Archives and Records Management
Research Area : Interdisciplinary Studies > Library and Information Science > Archival Studies / Conservation

Elizabeth Yakel ¹

¹University of Michigan

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Economic impact analyses have not been widely conducted in archives. This article reports on a two parallel surveys in the US and Canada to assess the economic impact of government archives (state, provincial, territorial, county, and municipal). The surveys utilize indirect measures of economic impact. Responses from 2,534 people in 66 archives were analyzed. Findings indicate that archives were the primary reason that respondents visited an area and that visitors exhibit specific patterns of visiting the archives in conjunction with other cultural organizations in an area. Furthermore, while many respondents used local eateries, fewer rented lodgings or spent money on theater or sporting events. As a result, the archives participating in this survey did have a modest impact on local economies. The article concludes by discussing three major questions about the evaluation of the economic impact of archives which were raised by the findings: 1) Are indirect measures the most appropriate means of assessing economic impact in archives or should archives employ direct measures as used by public libraries? 2) How should government archives formulate their value proposition and should those value propositions focus on other aspects of archives’ impact, such as the social impact, to demonstrate archives’ important role in society? and 3) Since visitors exhibited distinct visitation patterns, should archives work more with these other aligned organizations and work on larger forms of collective impact that benefit the entire cultural heritage sector in an area?

KEYWORDS

economic impact, government archives, archival metrics

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

[report] Association of College and Research Libraries / 2010 / Value of Academic Libraries: A Comprehensive Research Review and Report / Association of College and Research Libraries

[web] Association of King County Historical Organizations (AKCHO) / The Impact of Historical Organizations in King County Public Benefit Survey Results / http://www.akcho.org/pdf/AKCHOSurvey.pdf

[web] Baron, Daniel D. / 2005 / South Carolina Public Library Economic Impact Study / School of Library and Information Science / http://www.libsci.sc.edu/SCEIS/final%20report%2026%20january.pdf

[web] Berk / 2007 / Providing for Knowledge, Growth and Prosperity: A Benefit Study of the San Francisco Public Library / http://sfpl.org/pdf/news/benefitstudy2007.pdf

[web] Buehler, Daniel / 2001 / The Economic Impact of Oregon’s Nonprofit Arts Sector / Western States Arts Federation / http://www.oregonartscommission.org/sites/www.oregonartscommission.org/files/westaf.pdf

[other] Carmichael, David / 2009 / Heritage Tourism is a Peach in Georgia / Archival Outlook : 6~

[web] Carnegie Mellon Center for Economic Development (CED) / 2006 / Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh: Community Impact and Benefits / http://www.clpgh.org/about/economicimpact/

[journal] Cohen, Randy / 2003 / Arts and Economic Prosperity: The Economic Impact of Nonprofit Arts Organizations and Their Audiences / Journal of Arts, Management, Law, and Society 33(1) : 17~31

[journal] Cook, Terry / 1990 / Viewing the World Upside Down: Reflections on the Theoretical Underpinnings of Archival Public Programming / Archivaria 31 : 123~134

[journal] Duff, Wendy / 2008 / Archival Orientation for Undergraduate Students: An Exploratory Study of Impact / American Archivist 71 : 499~529

[book] Dupont, Christian / 2011 / ‘What’s So Special about Special Collections?’ Or, Assessing the Value Special Collections Bring to Academic Libraries, In Proceedings of the 2010 Library Assessment Conference: Building Effective, Practical, Sustainable Assessment, October 24-27, Baltimore, MD / Association of College and Research Libraries : 417~424

[journal] Frechtling, Douglas C. / 2006 / An Assessment of Visitor Expenditure Methods and Models / Journal of Travel Research 45(1) : 26~35

[web] Free Government Information / 2011 / FGI response to Ithaka draft values proposition for the FDLP / http://freegovinfo.info/node/3207#value

[other] Georgia Archives / 2007 / Out of State Visitors Survey

[web] Griffiths, Jose-Marie / 2004 / Taxpayer Return on Investment in Florida Public Libraries: Summary Report / http://dlis.dos.state.fl.us/bld/roi/pdfs/ROISummaryReport.pdf

[journal] Heinlen, Emily / 2007 / Genealogy and the Economic Drain on Ireland: Unintended Consequences / First Monday 12(1)

[report] Housewright, Ross / 2011 / Ithaka S+R, Modeling a Sustainable Future for the United States Federal Depository Library Program’s Network of Libraries in the 21st Century: Final Report of Ithaka S+R to the Government Printing Office

[web] Kamer, Pearl M. / 2005 / Placing an Economic Value on the Services of Public Libraries in Suffolk County / http://scls.suffolk.lib.ny.us/pdf/librarystudy.pdf

[journal] Kania, John / 2011 / Collective Impact / Stanford Social Innovation Review 49

[journal] Krause, Magia G. / 2010 / Undergraduates in the Archives: Using an Assessment Rubric to Measure Learning / American Archivist 72(2) : 507~534

[web] Lynch, Robert L. / 2005 / Arts & Economic Prosperity Ⅲ: The Economic Impact of Nonprofit Arts and Culture Organizations and Their Audiences, Americans for the Arts / http://artsusa.org/pdf/information_services/research/services/economic_impact/aepiii/national_report.pdf

[journal] Mak, James / 1977 / How to and How Not to Measure Visitor Expenditures / Journal of Travel Research 16 : 1~4

[book] Moore, Mark H. / 1995 / Creating Public Value: Strategic Management in Government / Harvard University Press

[web] NorthStar Economics, Inc. / 2008 / The Economic Contribution of Wisconsin Public Libraries to the Economy of Wisconsin / http://pld.dpi.wi.gov/files/pld/pdf/wilibraryimpact.pdf

[journal] Oakleaf, Megan / 2011 / Are They Learning? Are We? Learning Outcomes and the Academic Library / Library Quarterly 81(1) : 61~82

[web] / http://www.oanda.com/currency/historical-rates/ / http://www.oanda.com/currency/historical-rates/

[web] Public Services Quality Group of the National Council on Archives / Survey of Visitors to UK Archives, Croydon, UK: PSQG: 62 and 185 / http://www.archives.org.uk/publications/other-useful-publications.html

[journal] Pung, Caroline / 2004 / Measuring the Economic Impact of the British Library / New Review of Academic Librarianship 10(1) : 79~102

[report] Stynes, Daniel J. / 2010 / Economic Benefits to Local Communities from National Park Visitation and Payroll, 2010 / National Park Service

[web] Vermont. Department of Libraries / 2007 / The Economic Value of Vermont's Public Libraries 2006-2007 / http://libraries.vermont.gov/sites/libraries/files/misc/plvalue06-07.pdf

[web] Vodicka, Michael / 2011 / Ancestry.com Profiting from the Past / Forbes / http://blogs.forbes.com/zacks/2011/06/09/ancestry-com-profiting-from-the-past/

KJCKorea
Journal Central

Journal of Korean Society of Archives and Records Management 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 0.81