Why UX research needs archivists
I’m an archivist. I’ve sifted through manuscripts, examined old photographs, and discovered incredibly rare letters stuffed in an old book. Yes, just like in the movies.
I’ve also stared down hundreds of boxes of archival material, with the challenge of creating an organizational system that could be deployed quickly and accurately. Much less glamorous, for sure — but these are the nuts and bolts of archival practice.
Librarians vs. Archivists
I went to library school not to become a librarian, but an archivist. While there is some overlap, librarians and archivists operate from very different theoretical backgrounds. Rather than create a detailed description of a single book, like a catalog librarian might do, archivists evaluate an entire collection of material, describing it accurately, evaluating the significance of the material, and creating a system of organization. The current practice in the archival community is called “MPLP” — or, “more product, less process.” In other words, archivists make this all happen as quickly as possible.
Archival processing requires efficient research skills, a constant stream of critical thinking, flexible planning, and most importantly: the ability to zero in on the right questions to ask the people who will use the information in the future (aka, the users).
What archivists can do for a UX Research Team
Research creates valuable insights. Unless those insights are preserved in some way, they are lost over time. Or perhaps, these insights evolve and are absorbed into practice. Reviewing a timeline of such evolution seems vital to a team’s future research direction. It also allows a team to avoid repeating research studies, and locate possible gaps in their research. Archivists can also create maps of the research that has been conducted across teams. Different parts of an organization may not know “what everyone else is doing.” Organizations can get a bird’s eye view of their research path, and strategize about future directions. An archivist can provide much more than an organizational system for a team’s research studies — they can be an integral part of a UX team.
Archivists are trained to look to the past for evidence, and to provide organization and accuracy in the present. All with the overarching goal of informing the future. User research teams need this perspective, to keep their work informed and intentional.
Who knows what insights an archivist might uncover in your team’s research repository?
