Archival Science Commons^™

The Death Of Professor Jones: Ghosts And Memory In A Small University Archives, Erin Dix

disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory

The following is a true story of hauntings, literal and figurative, at a small liberal arts college in the Midwest. It is the tale of Haunted Lawrence: a walking tour of the Lawrence University campus featuring historical stories of the ghostly and unexplained, designed and led by staff in the University Archives for the past ten years. Perennially popular with the campus community, the tour has grown to plague the university archivist. This essay is an attempt to exorcise her personal Haunted Lawrence demons.

Subjectivity And Methodology In The Arch‘I’Ve, Elizabeth J. Vincelette

disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory

This article explores methodologies from the fields of library archival science, human geography, composition and rhetoric, and established editorial practices in English studies. By elaborating on the role of a researcher’s subjectivity in archival creation, this work expands the conversation regarding methodology and archives, especially how archives present us with new ways of seeing and making narratives during the editorial decision-making involved in their creation. Writing about my own experience, I privilege the researcher’s point of view with a narrative about my construction of a digital archive. With archival research, we should promote the revelation of methods and methodology to …

Seeking Glimpses: Reflections On Doing Archival Work, Alex Hanson, Stephanie Jones, Thomas Passwater, Noah Wilson

disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory

This article explores the role of archival research in understanding and generating social histories from the perspectives of four different doctoral students as they reflect on their archival research experiences. We argue that archival research is complex, subjective, contextual, and at times, incomplete. Our various perspectives address ideas of privilege, representation, what it means to remember (or forget), how archives are constituted and reconstituted, and where we can make meaning in archival spaces. This article demonstrates that although archival research has had a presence in Composition and Rhetoric for some time, that presence is continually shifting, and even when embarking …

Queering The Archive: Transforming The Archival Process, Lizeth Zepeda

disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory

The purpose of this work is to recognize the lack of queer of color lens within the archival profession that determines the appraisal, preservation, and impeding access. Queering the archive transforms the institution with possibilities of inclusivity for social justice and the rewriting of histories. Traditionally, the archival institution has reaffirmed hegemonic power structures by erasing and ignoring histories of marginalized communities. A way to disrupt this is to queer these archival institutions to confront these power dynamics and make interventions against the racist, sexist, classist and heterosexist structures that maintain them. Thus, this paper focuses on how processing through …

Exploring The American Archivist: Corpus Analysis Tools And The Professional Literature, J. Gordon Daines Iii, Cory L. Nimer, Jacob R. Lee

Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies

The literature of a professional community provides insights into what members of that community value and underscores key professional issues. Periodic analyses of professional literature are an important way for these communities to identify trends that deserve further exploration. This article introduces the use of corpus analysis tools such as Voyant Tools and discusses their value in performing periodic analyses of professional literature. As an example, it presents a limited study examining the use of the term “theory” in the American Archivist.

Remembering The Church In The Wildwood: The Archival Processing And Digitization Of The Martinsville Baptist Church Collection, Allison N. Grimes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Martinsville Baptist Church was founded in 1912 in a rural farming community on State Highway 7 in eastern Nacogdoches County. The church was founded during a revival being held in the community of Martinsville and has been in continuous operation ever since. The church grew throughout its lifetime, reaching record attendance and membership numbers between 1950 and 1980. Since the early 2000s, church attendance and membership has been in decline. This thesis outlines the history of Martinsville Baptist Church and explains conservation measures taken during the archival processing and digitization of records in the Martinsville Baptist Church Collection.

Making Do With What You've Got: Improving Your Collections Storage Now, Adam Stephen Guy Smith, Heather Hoagland

Library Services Publications

Don’t wait until that inventory grant money comes through, get started improving your collection storage today using things you have right now or can get without breaking the bank or begging the board! Come ready to share your ideas as well as learn from your presenters and colleagues in this informal discussion-style session. Attendees will leave the session with easily implemented and inexpensive ideas for storing, displaying, and rehousing objects of all shapes, sizes and materials.

Migratory Patterns In Irs: Contentdm, Digital Commons And Flying The Coop, Michele Gibney, Kristin Laughtin-Dunker, Elizabeth Chance

Digital Initiatives Symposium

What is the importance of institutional history and special collections in a digital environment? Should these pieces of history have their own digital platform or be merged with the institutional repository? What role do repositories play in the institutional environment? What impact do digital historical collections have on the stakeholder contingent as well as the global community? The speakers will discuss the rationale behind migrating collections from CONTENTdm to institutional repositories (all using bepress’s Digital Commons platform). Reasons range from subscription costs to file format concerns to increased search optimization. The migratory act will be covered in terms of method …

Making The Most Of Student Workers: Creative Approaches To Staffing, Kathleen Spring

Faculty & Staff Presentations

When considering and launching an institutional repository, staffing is often the first question on people’s minds. Many libraries are eager to embark on this project but are anxious they’ll need to hire someone to take the wheel. The good news is many institutions have come up with creative staffing solutions that ensure repository growth and development with far less than 1 FTE. In this presentation, Kathleen Spring shares how she manages Linfield College's institutional repository with the vital contributions of student workers. She discusses some of the carefully designed workflows that meet Linfield’s repository needs and talks about how other …

The Changing Landscape Of Digitization And Preservation, Sharon Bradley

Presentations

Digitization and the preservation of digitized materials presents many complex legal questions, like ownership, copyright, and conflicting laws. Digital materials may be subject to many levels of legal restrictions like copying, storage, access, and modification of content. The speaker will probably confuse things even more by talking about some issues that are coming over the hill including legally enforceable duties of stewardship, loss of academic scholarship and legal authority, and arguments against strict enforcement of copyright law. It’s also time to move from collaborations, because they’re good idea, to legally established partnerships, because they have teeth.

Overcoming Legacy Processing In Photographic Collections Through Collaboration And Digital Technologies., Terri Holtze, Rachel I. Howard, Randy Kuehn, Rebecca Pattillo, Elizabeth E. Reilly

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

In the 1960s, a Louisville photography studio began donating its negatives, prints, and invoices to the University of Louisville Photographic Archives. The Caufield & Shook Collection remains a significant primary source for local history and a prime candidate for digitization. Unfortunately, on its receipt non-archivists processed the collection with little documentation of original order or organizational decision making. Additionally, workflow choices were determined largely by the desire to maximize student labor. In 2017, the Digital Initiatives Librarian worked with in-house application developers and archives staff to create a workflow that has significantly sped up the process of making this valuable …

Nevada Digital Newspaper Project: Chronicling America, Cory Lampert, Marina Georgieva, Yvonne Wilk

Library Faculty Presentations

This presentation was delivered at the Clark County Nevada Genealogy Society
meeting and is a part of a bigger genealogy event.

This presentation introduced the UNLV Special Collections and Archives, the Nevada Digital Newspaper Project and Chronicling America database to genealogy researchers.

The presentation was followed up by a demo of the redesigned NvDNP website as
well as a thorough Chronicling America demo.

A Change Would Do You Good: Transforming Archives With Cross-Sector Perspectives, Kayla Harris

Marian Library Faculty Presentations

The various “sectors” of archives and related professions, whether functional or institutional, increasingly diverge from each other in priorities, strategies, and constituencies. For the archivist or records manager changing positions across sectors, however, an opportunity exists to bring skills and insights learned in previous field(s) to transform the work being done in these new places. Cross-sector experiences also give archivists and records managers an opportunity to reflect on how their transitions have transformed their outlook on the profession as a whole, and their role within it. In this lightning round session, eight archivists will share how prior experience in a …

Nineteenth-Century Depictions Of Disabilities And Modern Metadata: A Consideration Of Material In The P. T. Barnum Digital Collection, Meghan R. Rinn

Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies

The Library of Congress subject headings have been examined in the past for their classification of subjects relating to race, gender, and sexuality. Overlooked is subject headings that relate to disabilities. In the course of creating records for the archival and object material that form the P.T. Barnum Digital Collection, the project discovered the imperfections of the Library of Congress subject headings, and the need to develop standards and protocols for the material. This resulted in a balance of language that respects the preferences of living communities and their best practices, and the existing language in the Library of Congress, …

Decentering Whiteness In The Public Policy Archive, Megan M. Mummey

Library Presentations

No abstract provided.

Archives Preppers: It's Not The End Of The World As We Know It! How To Survive An Anniversary Through Digital Projects, Daardi Sizemore, Heidi J. Southworth, Anne Stenzel

Library Services Publications

Preparing for a university anniversary is no easy feat! From in-house research to anticipating researcher needs, digital collections at Minnesota State University, Mankato have been invaluable as we begin celebrating the sesquicentennial of the university. In this lightning-round-style session, University Archives staff will present on current digital projects that have been instrumental as we embark on the 150th anniversary of the University. Topics will include: prioritizing digitization projects, digital collections and social media, use of institutional repository to present university publications, collaborations with campus departments, maximizing student involvement, and so much more.

Establishing A Shared Vision For An Integrated Approach To Collections And Scholarly Communications, Annie Bélanger, Sarah Beaubien, Annie Benefiel, Jacklyn A. Rander, Matt Ruen, Leigh Rupinski, Matt Schultz

Library Reports and Communication

Over the past decade, the University Libraries' Digital Collections have grown from an assemblage of discrete projects into two distinct programs that curate, manage, and publish digitized and born-digital materials online for educational and scholarly uses by Grand Valley State University's community and the wider public.

As these collections have grown, the support for creating, sharing, and preserving these materials has expanded from the Special Collections & University Archives into Systems and Technology Services, Knowledge Access and Resource Management Services, and Scholarly Communications, which manages the Libraries' other Digital Collection program, consisting of the Institutional Repository (IR) and a suite …

James Madison University Special Collections, Kate Morris, Tiffany Cole

Libraries

This newsletter article summarizes highlights from manuscript and archival collections recently acquired by James Madison University Special Collections. Includes images and references to collections likely to be of interest to genealogical researchers of families located in the central Shenandoah Valley. Collections highlighted include the Blackley family papers, the Heatwole family papers, and the Henkel family papers. Includes information about other repositories and resources in Harrisonburg, Virginia with genealogical holdings.

Effective Archival Instruction When Embeddedness Won’T Work, Greg Johnson, Jennifer Ford

The Primary Source

Over the past few years the standard “one shot” archives instruction session has been overshadowed in archival literature by a focus on the importance of embedded archivists, as well as emphasis on multiple guided instruction sessions for classes. These innovative techniques offer many advantages but this paper argues that the “one shot” model still holds relevance, especially for small institutions with limited staff sizes. Work on such sessions over the course of a decade have resulted in changes made to this model at the University of Mississippi, and this article discusses these changes and offers both lessons learned and examines …

Puerto Rico’S Archival Traditions In A Colonial Context, Marisol Ramos, Joel A. Blanco

Published Works

This chapter examines the historical antecedents of recordkeeping and archives in Puerto Rico, during both Spanish and U.S. colonial rules. It also explores the history and current issues of the Archivo General de Puerto Rico (General Archive of Puerto Rico). This historical analysis is made within the context of colonialism, examining the effects of Puerto Rico’s colonial status (during the Spanish colonial period and the current period under United States colonial management) on the mission and work of the AGPR. We argue that while the Archivo General was created to address the chaotic management of government records, its founding reflected …

Review Of The Book Archival Arrangement And Description: Analog To Digital, By L. Hamill, Kate N. Morris

Libraries

No abstract provided.

Biz Of The Digital - Exploratory Evolution: Using Participatory Change To Rethink And Reorganize Digital Collections Services, Annie Benefiel, Jacklyn A. Rander, Matt Ruen, Leigh Leigh Rupinski,

Scholarship and Professional Work

Change is the only constant in digital collections work. Evolving technologies, resources, and needs require a constant flexibility in not only what work is done, but how and by whom. Over the course of the 2017-2018 academic year, Grand Valley State University Libraries held a series of facilitated conversations to analyze the workflows, organizational structure, and overall support for the management of digital collections and repositories. This article summarizes the facilitation process and highlights areas of opportunity, aspirations, and future directions.

Eating In The Archives? A Review Of Archival Outreach And Engagement Through Food History, Kara Flynn

Provenance, Journal of the Society of Georgia Archivists

For decades now, archivists have been working to make archival spaces more approachable and accessible, especially through archival outreach endeavors. Utilizing food history as archival outreach is a growing trend among archival institutions, as evidenced by the increasing numbers of events, exhibits, and online resources being offered. Food history provides the opportunity to build archival outreach and engagement opportunities by utilizing materials often already in archival collections. These materials open up dialogue and engagement with community members about something they are familiar with, even if they have never stepped foot in the archives. This article will review archival outreach events, …

Articulating Digital Archival Practice Within Writing Program Administration: A Theoretical Framework, Amanda Girard

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Throughout Writing Program Administration scholarship there has been a clear call for archivization and archival work. This dissertation project takes an interdisciplinary approach to digital archival practices for Writing Program Administrators to consider and employ in their home institutions. While I recognize that WPAs are not typically identified as “archivists,” I situate the digital archive within the digital humanities as an interdisciplinary, collaborative project and offer suggestions that lead to recommendations for making an institutional archive. I review archival practice in order to justify the digital archive as an appropriate vehicle for WPAs’ work. Further, I argue that the digital …

State-It: Connecting Students To The Archives, Kayla Siddell, Katie Sutrina-Haney

Faculty and Staff Publications

The University Archives Department at Indiana State University (ISU) assists faculty, students, and the public by providing access to and preservation of primary resources and ISU history. Despite the resources and services available, archival holdings are often underused and receive few donations from students and student organizations. These students are often unaware of the function and uses of the archives. To address these concerns, Special Collections staff have created a website utilizing the Omeka platform called STATE-IT to engage students with the University Archives. This site houses digital archival materials, digital exhibits, and oral histories. STATE-IT also provides a quick …

Archiving Constituent Services Data Of The U.S. Congress, Danielle Emerling, John Caldwell, Hope Bibens, Natalie Bond, Alison White

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

The Society of American Archivists Congressional Papers Section formed the CSS/CMS Task Force in August 2016 to study the issue of constituent correspondence management systems, and this report addresses the ongoing development and use of constituent services data in Congress; the vendors, systems, and functionality; and the obstacles faced by collecting repositories. It provides an overview of research conducted with analog constituent correspondence and the vast potential for research with constituent data. The report recommends a vested advocacy coalition to support management guidelines in member offices, in commercial vendors working with congressional offices, and in collecting repositories, and it calls …

Center For Teaching & Learning + Scott Memorial Library: Academic Year 2016/2017, Liz Mikita

Annual Reports & Administrative Documents

Contents:

• About Us
• Staff Highlights
• Milestones
• Metrics
• Programs & Exhibits

Looking Forward To Look Back: Digital Preservation Planning, Jennifer Brancato, Kayla Harris

Marian Library Faculty Presentations

Digital information resources are a vitally important and increasingly large component of academic libraries’ collection and preservation responsibilities. This includes content converted to and originating from digital form (born-digital). Preserving digital material, such as social media and websites, is essential for ensuring that future generations know everyone’s story, especially those groups which have been historically underrepresented in official records. This presentation will detail the steps undertaken by a digital preservation task force to first assess the weaknesses in current practice, and then develop a plan to implement a digital preservation policy and workflow. As part of the project, the task …

Open-Source Opens Doors: A Case Study On Extending Archivesspace Code At Unlv Libraries, Cyndi Shein, Carol Ou, Karla Irwin, Carlos Lemus

Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Libraries is in its third year of implementing the open-source archival collection management application ArchivesSpace, and is sharing UNLV-developed code that extends ArchivesSpace’s built-in functions. The case study demonstrates how adopting and building upon community-created code and developing original local code is improving critical workflows that support creating collection descriptions, cleaning up metadata, and disseminating finding aids that are easier for researchers to comprehend. UNLV discusses how using an open-source application has opened up opportunities for cross-departmental collaboration, moving UNLV further down the path toward full implementation and closer to the goal of …

2017 Annual Report Of The Work In Imsa’S Archives, Marti Guarin, Christian D. Nokkentved

Archives' Annual Report

The IMSA Archives, housed in the Leto M. Furnas Information Resource Center, serves to collect and preserve materials relating to the history and ethos of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy and the activities of its students, faculty and staff. Our collection includes materials about IMSA’s establishment, led by Dr. Leon Lederman and Governor James Thompson; the Academy's development since 1986; its ideas and programs; partnership programs for educators and schools state- and nationwide; and the lives of its students, alumni, and staff.