As I discuss in response to question three, I believe the strength of an archive’s radicality is in its ability to build relationships and movements in the community. I believe there are many people who very much love and feel comfortable in the reading rooms of more traditional archival repositories—many who even get a thrill out of how “official” the procedures are to view items. When I was an undergraduate visiting the special collections for the first time, I remember how that sense of importance surrounding the reading room excited me; in fact, it was one of the reasons I wanted to be an archivist. However, I believe those same rules and procedures are often intimidating to many users and can discourage them from visiting archives, even when they may benefit from the materials. From my experience, radical archives have more extensive programming outside the archives, often in more community settings, which can introduce new audiences to archives or archival materials for the first time. For example, an institutional archive may have some exhibitions, but they are often limited to spaces within the institution, and cannot travel extensively—especially to community venues such as public libraries, community centers, or book fairs.
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