Comments on: White House budget cuts Save America’s Treasures and Preserve America grant programs, NARA and NHPRC avoid major hits http://www.archivesnext.com/?p=994 well, what will come next? Wed, 01 Sep 2010 06:12:58 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: When Budget Cuts Hit Home « Preservation in Mississippi http://www.archivesnext.com/?p=994&cpage=1#comment-82496 When Budget Cuts Hit Home « Preservation in Mississippi Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:25:06 +0000 http://www.archivesnext.com/?p=994#comment-82496 [...] of the notion–and if so, why are we in such straits and how can we regain our momentum? The ArchivesNext blog muses that this “metrics” argument may be just the first in a new wave of cuts to the [...] [...] of the notion–and if so, why are we in such straits and how can we regain our momentum? The ArchivesNext blog muses that this “metrics” argument may be just the first in a new wave of cuts to the [...]

]]> By: Kate T. http://www.archivesnext.com/?p=994&cpage=1#comment-80679 Kate T. Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:52:46 +0000 http://www.archivesnext.com/?p=994#comment-80679 Christie, Exactly. Archives will needed to combine the hard work of assembling coalitions for advocacy with the hard work of assembling cold hard facts to demonstrate their value. General FYI- for more info on NARA budget see this article from NCH: http://historycoalition.org/2010/02/02/national-archives-nhprc-fy-11-proposed-budgets/ Christie,

Exactly. Archives will needed to combine the hard work of assembling coalitions for advocacy with the hard work of assembling cold hard facts to demonstrate their value.

General FYI- for more info on NARA budget see this article from NCH:
http://historycoalition.org/2010/02/02/national-archives-nhprc-fy-11-proposed-budgets/

]]> By: Christie http://www.archivesnext.com/?p=994&cpage=1#comment-80664 Christie Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:56:36 +0000 http://www.archivesnext.com/?p=994#comment-80664 The most interesting part of this story is not that funds for humanities are being cut (what else is new?), but reason being given: lack of metrics. Whether this reason is real or a subterfuge, I think it verifies a trend toward being required to quantify our worth in number format that many of us have already experienced. I will be interested to see if, in this environment, archivists begin to use standardized tools like those developed under the Archival Metrics project (http://archivalmetrics.cms.si.umich.edu/) so that administrators/funders aren't able to use the "lack of metrics" reason to cut funding in the future. The most interesting part of this story is not that funds for humanities are being cut (what else is new?), but reason being given: lack of metrics. Whether this reason is real or a subterfuge, I think it verifies a trend toward being required to quantify our worth in number format that many of us have already experienced. I will be interested to see if, in this environment, archivists begin to use standardized tools like those developed under the Archival Metrics project (http://archivalmetrics.cms.si.umich.edu/) so that administrators/funders aren’t able to use the “lack of metrics” reason to cut funding in the future.

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