ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how routine yet critical tasks, such as maintaining order and supporting the infrastructural backbone of collections management, are integral to staff’s everyday practices. These tasks, carried out by employees whose official roles do not encompass their full contributions, are essential to the institution’s operations. The chapter also looks at the challenges of balancing these emergent tasks with other responsibilities, reflecting the difficulties of managing digital transformation in memory institutions. Through the lens of infrastructure studies, it highlights the vital role of background work in sustaining the daily operations of memory institutions and their long-term goals of better aligning with the expanded infrastructure.
