Archiving for the future: the archivist as researcher

There has always been a strong argument for broad and deep collaboration between the research and data archiving communities. This paper argues that one of these forms of engagement—the archivist as active researcher—is an increasingly valuable element for modern data archives. In this paper, I examine several phases of archival processing, from pre-ingest to enabling access to preserved materials. Within each of the phases, I argue that closer linkages between archives and the research community can be enabled by supporting active researchers within the archive, and that the institutional strength of the archive, including its standing in the wider community, can only benefit as a result. In two areas, gaining researchers‟ trust to handle issues of confidentiality and developing materials to promote reuse, archivist-researcher skills seem to have the greatest benefits. Despite these apparent benefits, the practice is still rather limited. The paper discusses selected reasons for this and then argues that recent changes may be weakening these barriers and increasing the opportunities for archivists as research scholars