Latest Standard Revisions - Call for Public Comment

The members of the Technical Subcommittee on Archival Facilities Guidelines seek public comment on its proposed revisions to the Archival and Special Collections Facilities Standards. 

Last published in 2009, the committee has worked diligently over the last several years - navigating numerous unforeseen circumstances - to update and revise the entire standard. This has been a mammoth undertaking, and we're excited to finally share the draft for public review! 

Here are a few highlights of our approach and rationale: 

• A complete organizational overhaul, including the merging of sections and increased use of bullet points (instead of narrative prose) to improve readability and help users cite specific sections. The draft also features more charts and tables. 
• A complete rethinking of the usage of "must" and "should" to create more flexibility and allowances, especially for smaller Archives. 
• A complete overhaul and rethinking of the previous "prohibited materials" section.
• Increased allowances for more sustainable approaches. 
• The inclusion of more types of spaces in the "Functional Spaces" section.
• Addition of language addressing standards related to CyberSecurity.
• And much more! 

Each section is uploaded as separate PDFs to help you review each individually. Please provide your feedback using this Microsoft Form. Please complete and submit a separate Form for each section. Your feedback is important and will be fully reviewed by the TS-AFG membership. 

The deadline for feedback is October 31.