Beneficial Shocks: The Place of Processing-Cost Analysis in Archival Administration

Abstract

Although the importance of an accurate knowledge of processing (and other) financial and temporal costs have often been nominally stated in archival literature, serious discussions or case studies have been rare. Of those, most have advocated cost analysis for appraisal or management advantages. The development of an ongoing processing-cost analysis at the Billy Graham Center Archives suggests that the latter are particularly beneficial. The archival profession would benefit from greater comparison of costs between similar types of institutions and from the regular reporting of statistics.