Archival Science Commons^™

Retaining Opportunities, Completing Key Projects With Remote Student Employees During Covid-19, Henry M. Handley, Kayla Harris

Marian Library Faculty Publications

As the field of higher education began furloughs and layoffs to alleviate COVID-19 budget concerns, cultural heritage workers were directed to clearly demonstrate how their work contributes to institutions’ educational missions. Although physical library and archival collections were deemed inaccessible and less critical during the pandemic than ebooks, electronic journals, and digitized special collections, the two special collections projects considered in this case study demonstrate the value of continuing collections management work remotely and the relevance of student employees and other contingent workers in libraries and archives. The projects—one an inventory and bibliography of books acquired from a defunct religious …

Review Of Memory Lab Network Resources, Annie E. Tummino, Tomasz Gubernat, Jeanie Pai

Publications and Research

Review of Memory Lab Network resources for American Archivist Reviews, a portal which highlights websites, digital collections, and technologies that have an impact on the archives profession. The authors review the resources published by the Memory Lab Network and discuss their own work building a Memory Lab at the Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library of Queens College, CUNY.

Commemorating A Legacy Of Dissent: Revisiting Campus Activism 1968-1970, Annie E. Tummino

Publications and Research

On the heels of the student revolt at Columbia in 1968, Queens College students launched their own militant actions and demands for change on campus. Using primary source materials from the Benjamin Rosenthal Library’s Special Collections and Archives, the presentation covers the New Left and Anti-War movements, as well as an uprising led by Black and Puerto Rican students influenced by the ideologies of Black Power and self-determination. The role of archives in preserving activist history and educating current and future generations is also touched on.

Review Of Do Archives Have Value?, Luciana Duranti

Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies

This book is about the value of archives in all of its connotations: value as evidence, memory, culture, source for a variety of practical purposes, and, most interestingly, value as means of financial gain for corporations. Each chapter emphasizes values in a variety of contexts: from Malawi, Australia, and the United Kingdom, to India, Hong Kong and Japan. In the process of discussing such values, several authors explain how archives came to be accumulated and preserved in their countries and how these processes have determined the value, as well as the worth, of their archives today. Though the chapters are …

Perspectives And Practices: Archival Processing Metrics Survey Findings, Cyndi Shein, Sarah R. Jones, Tammi Kim, Karla Irwin

Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies

Professional literature and case studies demonstrate that processing metrics are valuable in advocating for resources, informing priorities, supporting grant proposals, and predicting costs for collection storage and care. This article analyzes responses to an archival processing metrics survey that gathered perspectives and practices from archivists working in a variety of repository types. The findings describe how archivists collect processing metrics in different ways, what data points they view as essential, and how they use certain data points to serve specific purposes. The findings indicate that although most respondents acknowledge the value of processing metrics, the majority of them still do …

Fogler Library: The University Archive, Matthew Revitt

UMaine Video

Archivist Matthew Revitt takes viewers on a tour of the university archives which chronical the history of the University of Maine from its founding to the present day. This video was originally filmed and published during the COVID-19 Pandemic as part of the 2020 UMaine Virtual Homecoming. This video introduces viewers to the resources available through the University Archive at Fogler Library.

Review Of Developing And Maintaining Practical Archives: A How-To-Do-It Manual, Katie Ferrante

Journal of Western Archives

Review of Developing and Maintaining Practical Archives: A How-To-Do-It Manual (third edition).

Privacy, Ethics, And Access In Digital Libraries, Kelley Rowan, Rebecca Bakker

Works of the FIU Libraries

This presentation shares privacy challenges that librarians in the Digital Collections Center at FIU have encountered when working with the creators of content in the institutional repository and digital collections. The presenters share a brief history of privacy laws and the ethical concerns inherent in the juxtaposition between access and privacy. This presentation suggests possible solutions for other digital librarians concerned about privacy and take down requests.

The Concept Of Natureculture Document: A Conceptual Exploration Of Seeds, Embodied Information, And Unconventional Records, Marc Kosciejew

Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies

Seedbanks, or so-called archival arks of the apocalypse, are addressing accelerating anthropocentric alterations to the environment by collecting, storing, and preserving seeds. These are specialized archival repositories that approach, frame, and use seeds as documents for agricultural and scientific research, classification and preservation work, and various other archival and administrative purposes. Seedbanks indeed are archives of unconventional records.

This article introduces the concept of natureculture document as a framing device in which to help analyze the documentary status of objects that are not necessarily or usually considered as documents or having documentary characteristics. This concept, coupled with its interdisciplinary theoretical …

Documenting A Pandemic: Covid-19 Community History Project, Daardi Sizemore Mixon

Library Services Publications

Welcome to the presentation, “Documenting a Pandemic: COVID-19 Community History Project” at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

My name is Daardi Sizemore Mixon and I’m the University Archivist at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

While I am presenting today, this project (and presentation) would not be possible without the work of my colleagues, Adam Smith, Heidi Southworth, and Anne Stenzel. My presentation today is based on one we provided to our University Administration earlier this summer.

Today, I will be providing an overview of our project; a little about our project management; some project outcomes; and some final thoughts on the project.

Review Of Defining A Discipline: Archival Research And Practice In The Twenty-First Century: Essays In Honor Of Richard J. Cox, Dylan Mcdonald

Journal of Western Archives

Review of Defining a Discipline: Archival Research and Practice in the Twenty-First Century: Essays in Honor of Richard J. Cox.

Teaching Undergraduates With Primary Sources 2020 Research Study Report, Jay-Marie Bravent, Deirdre Scaggs, Matthew Strandmark, Danielle Gabbard

Library Reports and White Papers

This report presents the findings of an exploratory examination of the pedagogical practices of social sciences and humanities instructors who teach undergraduates with primary sources at the University of Kentucky (UK). Conducted in December 2019 and January 2020 by a research team from the University of Kentucky Libraries Special Collections Research Center, the study reveals areas of success within existing programs and services, the benefits and drawbacks of teaching with digitized primary sources, as well as inherent pedagogical challenges to overcome. A list of recommendations based on the findings seeks to address these challenges and concludes the report. As part …

Big Data: Managing Large Scale Metadata Projects In A Teleworked Environment, Rachel S. Evans, Mary Miller, Kathleen Carter, Kelley Ansley

Presentations

Beginning in March of 2020, Mary Miller and Kathleen Carter coordinated the work of over 100 University of Georgia Libraries students, faculty, and staff on remote metadata projects for the Brown Media Archives. The great majority of these UGA employees were not catalogers, were not familiar with metadata concepts, and had never visited the Brown Media Archives. Yet, in a four-month period, they successfully completed a quantity of work that would have taken Brown Media two and a half years to accomplish at regular staffing levels. Miller and Carter will share what they got right, what they got wrong and …

Review Of Feminist Histories And Digital Media, Biz Gallo

Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies

The edited volume, Feminist Histories and Digital Media, sets out to explore the ways in which the field has grown and changed since the advent of the first reminist archival research projects 20 years ago. Intended as a signpost by the editors for future research in the field, the volume succeeds in informing, inspiring, and inciting researchers to move forward with using digital archives in feminist scholarship.

Born-Digital Preservation: The Art Of Archiving Photos With Script And Batch Processing, Rachel S. Evans, Leslie Grove, Sharon Bradley

Articles, Chapters and Online Publications

With our IT department preparing to upgrade the University of Georgia’s Alexander Campbell King Law Library (UGA Law Library) website from Drupal 7 to 8 this fall, a web developer, an archivist, and a librarian teamed up a year ago to make plans for preserving thousands of born-digital images. We wanted to harvest photographs housed only in web-based photo galleries on the law school website and import them into our repository’s collection. The problem? There were five types of online photo galleries, and our current repository did not include appropriate categories for all of the photographs. The solution? Expand our …

Institutional Repository And Archives Partnerships And Futures, Elizabeth James, Lindsey M. Harper, Lori Thompson, Gretchen R. Beach

Librarian Research

A reality of dwindling resources in archives, as well as in higher education more broadly, is that the ability to purchase and maintain a specialized archives management and content management software is often out of reach. For Marshall University Special Collections, the solution to make finding aids and other digital archival materials accessible online required evaluating software already available at the university. Marshall Digital Scholar (MDS), an instance of the bepress institutional repository software, was chosen for its immediate availability, robust discovery services within the repository and through outside search engines, statistic tracking capability, metadata flexibility, support for multiple file …

Return To Work Planning: Covid-19 Re-Opening And The Uncertain "New Normal", Jay-Marie Bravent

Library Presentations

Jay-Marie Bravent discusses the University of Kentucky Libraries Special Collections Research Center's plans for fall instruction and public services.

Kicking & Streaming! Enhancing Digitally-Born Oral History Collections In Digital Commons, Autumn Johnson

Digital Commons Southeastern User Group 2020

Oral history collections pose unique challenges for archival institutions. Making these important histories available to researchers is often impeded by complex issues of access, privacy rights, and media obsolescence. These challenges are magnified when histories are digitally-born. Not only do they face the same issues as their analog counterparts, but digital materials have their own unique preservation and access issues with which archivists are still struggling to identify best practices. Digital Commons offers archivists a platform for sharing digitally-born oral histories that mitigate many of these complex issues. Not only does the platform allow for the consolidation of files from …

Review Of Arranging And Describing Archives And Manuscripts, Cory L. Nimer

Journal of Western Archives

A review of Arranging and Describing Archives and Manuscripts, by Dennis Meissner.

From Power To Partner: Harnessing Institutional Digital Collections For Community Archives Projects, Annie Benefiel

Conference Proceedings

Archival professional dialogue increasingly includes discussion of the power and responsibility of archivists to challenge outdated modes of collection development that focus on documenting the history of the privileged. While these discussions can be uncomfortable for some, the energy they spark is undeniable. In this presentation an archivist and digital collections librarian in a mid-sized university discusses how she has leveraged her power and privilege to develop a more inclusive digital collection development policy, which empowers collaboration and aims to diversify the perspectives present in the library's digital primary sources. The presentation covers the development of a new policy as …

Polaroids From Heaven: Experiential Learning With Special Collections, Jillian M. Ewalt

Marian Library Faculty Presentations

This presentation covers an experiential learning collaboration between the Marian Library and the course Alternative Photography at the University of Dayton. Instructors developed a series of hands-on sessions in which students interacted with the Marian Apparitions photograph collection to inform the image-making process.

Cunningham Collection Finding Aid: Container List, Christiane M J Hennequin

ACER historical documents

This document provides background information to the Finding Aid to the Cunningham Collection. Dr Kenneth Stewart Cunningham (1890 – 1976) was a leading Australian educationalist and educational researcher who was instrumental in the creation and development of the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). After his death in 1976, Dr Cunningham’s daughter, Lesley Cunningham, became the custodian of her father’s personal papers. Much of this material was donated to the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) by Lesley Cunningham a few years before her death.

Cunningham Collection Finding Aid: Box 9506, Christiane M J Hennequin

ACER historical documents

This is a finding aid to the first box accessioned as part of the Cunningham Collection. The collection contains papers, documents, photographs, films, and ephemera pertaining to Dr Cunningham’s personal and professional life, as well as a few items from his wife, Ella, and daughter, Lesley. The collections items range from personal and professional correspondence and records (such as memberships to various organisations), a large album of French photographic postcards from the WWI period, several passports (including one United Nations diplomatic passport), a selection of pocket diaries, travel diaries, address books, notebooks, notes/memos, some publications (including Dr Cunningham’s Columbia University …

Bingo! Engaging History Of Science Students With Primary Sources, Leigh Rupinski

Scholarly Papers and Articles

This case study examines the process of creating an interactive and engaging lesson plan for the History of Science course, HSC 201: The Scientific Revolution. History of Science students tend to be undergraduates majoring in science or medical related fields, rather than the humanities, who need to fulfill an intensive writing or general education requirement. For most, if not all of them, this session would be the first time they experienced hands-on interaction with historical resources. Accordingly, the archivist sought to create a less traditional lesson plan that would foster a sense of fun and interest in the materials.

Chain Of Custody: Access And Control Of State Archival Records In Public-Private Partnerships, Sarah E. Carlson

Provenance, Journal of the Society of Georgia Archivists

As I write this, Ancestry.com is a central party in a lawsuit with the organization Reclaim The Records, citing that it, a private corporation, received preferential priority and access to public records before individual patrons of the public in Freedom of Information requests for genealogical records.^[i] Concern that public records may move into private hands demarcates an increasingly digital realm of record-keeping and public history. As companies and the public jockey for access to records in a race for access – one open and the other annexed behind a paywall – the blatant corruption is alarming. Yet, public records …

Using Captions And Controlled Vocabulary To Describe Visual Materials As An Alternative To Digitization, Eric Willey

Provenance, Journal of the Society of Georgia Archivists

This article describes an Illinois State University Research Grant funded project which created newspaper style captions and controlled vocabulary terms for visual materials. These materials were not intended to be digitized, and a guide separate from the finding was created including that metadata to improve access. The collection described consisted of materials donated by Lois Lenski, who donated her collection to institutions across the United States. Student workers were hired with grant funds to provide the metadata, and difficulties, successes, and outcomes encountered during the project are described..^[1]

^[1] Eric Willey, et al. “Guide to the Graphic, Scrapbook, and …

Archon To Aspace: Adventures In Archives Migration, Adam Stephen Guy Smith, Heidi J. Southworth, Tom Tran, Daniel Vang

Library Services Publications

In August 2018, the University Archives and Southern Minnesota Historical Center at Minnesota State University, Mankato decided to migrate our finding aids and collection information from a hidden ARCHON database to a publicly available ArchivesSpace instance. This time sensitive decision was made with no budget available and in the midst of both a library system migration (Aleph to Alma/Primo) and an entire University website migration that affected us more than we initially thought. Three migrations is no big deal, right? This session will talk about our migration from design to implementation to “Oops! Where did that go?” We will share …

Review Of Reappraisal And Deaccessioning In Archives And Special Collections, Alexis Adkins

Journal of Western Archives

Review of Reappraisal and Deaccessioning in Archives and Special Collections edited by Laura Uglean Jackson.

On-The-Job Information Literacy: A Case Study Of Student Employees At Purdue University Archives And Special Collections, Tracy Grimm, Neal Harmeyer

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

This chapter presents Purdue Archives and Special Collections as a case study in growing an organizational culture committed to teaching information literacy parallel to classroom learning through student worker experiential learning. While student employment or internships may not traditionally be considered co-curricular activities, Purdue University Archives and Special Collections provides an environment not only for students to gain pre-professional experience but also expertise, confidence, and competence in information; for many students, this preparation has resulted in careers in museums, archives, libraries, and cultural heritage institutions. The result is a new approach to student employment: one designed to establish an environment …

Mary, Queen Of Style: Documenting Catholic Modest Fashion In Special Collections, Jillian M. Ewalt

Marian Library Faculty Presentations

In postwar America, Catholic teenage girls found themselves at the center of a debate. Everyone, it seemed, had a different opinion about what kind of clothing they should wear. Two modest fashion movements emerged that aimed to solve this problem. Supply the Demand for the Supply (SDS) was a lay initiative founded by teenage girls in the Midwest that quickly spread into a national Catholic youth movement. Meanwhile, the Marilyke Crusade, orchestrated by parish priest Father Bernard Kunkel and the Purity Crusade of Mary Immaculate, promulgated and sold modest clothing based on a particular brand of fear-mongering, Fatima-centric Marian devotion. …