COVID-19 Contingencies: Disaster Management in Small Academic Archives

COVID-19 has created workplace changes that have reverberated around almost every conceivable American profession, not excluding positions in archives. This research explores the impact of COVID-19 on small academic archives and the effectiveness of business continuity planning and disaster management in mitigating those effects. Thus, the research questions are as follows: What disaster management strategies have small academic archives employed in response to COVID-19, and what implications do these responses have for future archival disaster management strategies? This study employs a qualitative thematic analysis methodology, whereby liberal arts college archives and special collections (selected from the Oberlin Group of Libraries) answer a survey and participate in a voluntary follow-up interview about their COVID-19 responses. Data gathered from surveys and interviews will be coded to evaluate key themes. This may serve as a starting point for other similar explorations of cultural heritage institutions' disaster management strategies in the wake of COVID-19.