TYPES AND LEVELS OF MEMBERSHIP

ArchivesSpace membership is available for individual organizations and two types of membership are in place: General members and Educational Program members. (A Charter membership drive occurred from April-July, 2013, and resulted in 54 Charter Members, who are noted on the current list of ArchivesSpace members. The option for Charter membership, and its associated benefits, is no longer available, though, for historical purposes, you can view the ArchivesSpace Charter Membership Flyer.)

  1. General Membership: Enrollment of General members began in September 2013 near the time ArchivesSpace 1.0 was released.  Information about the benefits of General membership is available on our Member Benefits page.
  2. Educational Program Membership: A fee-free membership category established at the end of 2013, it is intended to support teaching of ArchivesSpace within library and archives educational programs. More information is available on the Educational Program Membership page.

Membership Levels

Membership is distributed across five levels and corresponding fees which apply to academic and non-academic archives alike.  The levels are designed to allow of all kinds of archival repositories—academic, public library, museum, corporate, government—to participate in the ArchivesSpace community.

Academic Institutions and Public Libraries:

The ArchivesSpace classification system for institutions of higher education is based on the widely used JSTOR and Artstor classification systems.

ArchivesSpace Membership Level

JSTOR or Artstor Classification

Annual Membership Fee

Very Small Very small; Community Colleges medium, small, very small $300
Small Small $1,000
Medium Medium I & II $3,000
Large Large $5,000
Very Large Very Large I & II $7,500

Free-Standing or Non-Academic Archives:

The ArchivesSpace classification system for free-standing archives or archives within non-academic institutions mirrors the Artstor museum subscription pricing categories.

A policy change was approved by the ArchivesSpace Governance Board to revise the FTE thresholds for free-standing and non-academic archives as of the 2018/2019 membership term. The revised chart below takes effect July 1, 2018.

JSTOR or Artstor Classification

Total FTE Staff
(only for those without a JSTOR or Artstor Classification)

ArchivesSpace Membership Level

Annual Membership Fee

Very Small 0-50 Very Small $300
Small 51-150 Small $1,000
Medium 151-300 Medium $3,000
Large 301-400 Large $5,000
Very Large 401+ Very Large $7,500

FTE thresholds apply to the organization as a whole, not only the archives. For non-cultural heritage institutions (for example, the department of records and archives within a local government or the library of a orchestra), however, these levels apply to the part of the institution responsible for the cultural heritage mission. Please inquire as to level in such cases. The intent is to reflect institutional capacity for information management and cultural heritage, not just archives capacity, in a way that is on par with how JSTOR and Artstor classifications are derived for academic institutions, museums, public libraries, and other types of institutions that typically have them.

To enroll as an ArchivesSpace member or ask questions about membership, please contact the ArchivesSpace Program at ArchivesSpaceHome@lyrasis.org.