Archival Science Commons^™

How Accessible Are European Public Archives? An Assessment Of The Compliance With The Council Of Europe Recommendation R(2000)13 On A European Policy On Access To Archives, Michael Friedewald, Ivan Szekely, Murat Karaboga

Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies

This paper takes as its starting point the lessons learned from the second pan-European study on access to archives conducted 20 years after the first one – with the understanding that these results may also provide global lessons. The principal aim of the study was to assess the European archives' compliance with the Council of Europe Recommendation No. R(2000)13 on a European policy on access to archives, which was adopted in July 2000 and was the first international norm in this field. Although the overall access situation in Europe has significantly improved over the past 20 years, several practices still …

A Review Of Strategies For Describing Offensive Archival Materials, Leah Minadeo

Reuther Library Scholarly Publications

As archivists concede that neutrality is impossible and non-action itself constitutes action, it follows that to treat reasonably offensive records as any other record is to apply an interpretation that they are innocuous, unremarkable, and uncontroversial. Archivists may perceive the stakes of describing these materials as particularly high, but they lack a comprehensive set of descriptive strategies to apply to these records. As a result, existing practices are likely to be local or ad hoc. This research aims to identify and explore descriptive strategies archivists use which serve to construct (or concede) the meaning that certain historical materials are potentially …

This Be The Beloved Curse: Learning To Love Ever-Evolving Born-Digital Description, Ruth E. Bryan, Megan M. Mummey, Andrew Mcdonnell

Library Presentations

The title of the presentation, “This be the beloved curse” is taken from Philip Larkin’s poem “This be the curse.” In it, Larkin describes the cycle of life where children are messed up by their parents, who, with the best intentions, “...fill you with the faults they had/and add some extra, just for you.” He goes on to explain, though, that our parents, in their turn, were equally messed up “...by fools in old-style hats and coats…”, handing on what Larkin terms “misery” from one generation to another.

As archivists, and especially as archivists working with digital formats, our “beloved …

Review Of Building Representative Community Archives: Inclusive Strategies In Practice, Louis Knecht

Journal of Western Archives

Review of Building Representative Community Archives: Inclusive Strategies in Practice.

Beyond Efficiency: An Impact Assessment Of The Uc Guidelines For Efficient Processing, Laurel Mcphee, Kate Dundon, Courtney Dean, Elvia Arroyo-Ramírez, Audra Eagle Yun

Journal of Western Archives

The Guidelines for Efficient Archival Processing in the University of California Libraries established shared principles and recommendations for increased processing efficiency in archives and special collections in the UC system. Since its publication in 2012, the Guidelines has become an influential resource for archival workflows nationwide. In this paper, the authors evaluate the Guidelines' impact over time on backlogs, collection management policy, and day-to-day archival practices across the UC libraries by assessing collections, processing practices, and staffing levels.

Processing Priorities, Researcher Use, And Programmatic Improvement, Megan M. Mummey

Library Presentations

No abstract provided.

Using Description To Unify School Of Music Recordings And Programs, Treshani Perera, Ruth E. Bryan

Library Presentations

Acknowledging that existing collection management practices and policies are no longer adequate takes courage. Acting on this takes time and patience. This can be especially true when tradition and inertia maintain a status quo that does not serve the interests of the collections or users. The presenters discuss their approach to unifying University of Kentucky School of Music concert recordings and programs housed in the University Archives and the Fine Arts Library. They will cover collection acquisition and description decisions, including their decision to create an archival collection guide in ArchivesSpace and a collection-level MARC record providing two access pathways …

Building A Roadmap For Web Archiving: Organizational Sustainability In An American Research University Library, Ruth E. Bryan, Emily B. Collier

Library Presentations

The presenters, archivists in an academic university Library, launched a web archiving program for a public university in the United States in 2018 with a three-year Archive-it contract. In the first six years of the web archiving program, we have laid the groundwork for an ongoing web archiving program through robust documentation built in anticipation of potential loss of resources, especially personnel. In this presentation, we report on a sustainability review of the program using a practical framework and a conceptual framework. The practical framework is the University of Pittsburg's Socio-Technical Sustainability Roadmap (https://sites.haa.pitt.edu/sustainabilityroadmap/). The conceptual framework is Kristin R. …

Will Our Future Selves Thank Us? An Examination Of Born-Digital Curation Practices At The University Of Kentucky Libraries, Megan M. Mummey, Andrew Mcdonnell, Emily B. Collier, Sarah Dorpinghaus, Ruth E. Bryan

Library Presentations

Cultural heritage resources are increasingly being produced and distributed digitally yet the world of physical materials has not declined. Can you realign current resources to meet future collection needs while at the same time continuing with existing collection needs? Analog-based archival theory and practice is still relevant, but born-digital formats make acquisition, appraisal, resource allocation, collection management, and external relationships much more challenging. These challenges range from monetary and environmental costs to resource allocation to social media technology woes to campus-wide IT relationships.

In this presentation, University of Kentucky archivists share practical tips, tools, and mental frameworks to identify gaps, …

Physical Preservation Of 35 Mm Slides: Methods And Standards, Julia Meier

SLIS Connecting

With 35 mm slides being such a widely popular format throughout the 20th century, it is no wonder why they hold a great deal of history from that era within their tiny frames. As pieces of history, 35 mm slides are valuable documentary materials, and to keep the history they contain alive, they must be physically preserved. The purpose of this content analysis study was to gather and determine physical preservation methods and standards for the preservation of 35 mm slides from peer-reviewed journals and other published sources from 1980-2021.

Making Love Easier: Automating Communication For Better Relationship Building For Web Archives, Emily Collier

2024 R&I Day

Starting in Fall of 2023, Ruth Bryan and Emily Collier began researching sustainability for the Web Archiving Program, which led them to building communication channels with the University of Kentucky Office of Public Relations and Marketing Web Content Development group. By tightening this channel, we hope to initiate the archival mindset right at the moment of content creation, as well as limit gaps in our web archives collection as the PR team is directly involved in monitoring sites that go live and expire. Part of this tightening of communication has been finding ways to automate alerts when changes are made …

Review Of Decolonial Archival Futures, Rachel A. Ernst

Journal of Western Archives

Review of Decolonial Archival Futures by Krista McCracken and Skylee-Storm Hogan-Stacey.

What Is A Lesbian Document? Platforming Archival Description, Documents, And History In Sweden, Rachel Pierce

Proceedings from the Document Academy

As Joanna Drucker (2014) convincingly argues, “Most information visualizations are acts of interpretation masquerading as presentation" (p. 10). This article investigates the visuality and built-in argumentations of the Alvin interface for digitized Swedish cultural heritage, focusing on how the platform defines a document and the effects this definition has on the accessibility and interconnectedness of documents related to lesbian and feminist histories. This paper addresses how (failed) systematization and an emphasis on large quantities of documents and metadata breathes new life into outdated historiographies and renders documents and information related to feminist and lesbian histories and connections between these histories …

Cent Ans, Cent Opportunités, Cent Défis: Le Centenaire De L’Université Américaine Au Caire Et Le Rôle Des Archives De L’Université Comme Médiatrices De Mémoire (100 Years, 100 Opportunities, 100 Challenges: The American University In Cairo’S Centennial And Its University Archives As Mediator Of Memory), Stephen Urgola

Faculty Journal Articles

Throughout 2019 and 2020 the American University in Cairo (AUC) celebrated the centennial of its founding, supported extensively by AUC’s University Archives. This paper explores the opportunities that emerge for an archives playing the role of shaper of identity and memory when its parent organization reaches a major milestone, but also the challenges involved in such a commemoration. Beyond outlining the University Archives’ contributions to AUC’s 100th anniversary (including events, on-campus and online exhibitions and displays, and publications like magazines and a book) the paper will indicate how the run-up to such a commemoration can shape an archives’ program, for …

Establishing A Museum At Washington State School For The Blind, Robert J. Schimelpfenig

Humboldt Journal of Social Relations

The Washington State School for the Blind (WSSB) contains archival collections that document over 100 years of school history and student life. These histories are preserved in scrapbooks, news clippings, photographs, and an assortment of bygone assistive technologies that demonstrate the evolution of blind education and its impact on students. As many of these objects have lingered for years in storage, collections from one of the oldest schools for the blind in the Western United States remain hidden. WSSB and the Washington State University (WSU) Vancouver Library have agreed to work together in partnership to establish a museum and archives. …

Use Of Social Media In Public Archives: Perspectives About Ghana’S Readiness And Perceived Challenges., Reuben Saah, Samuel Abban, Esther White

Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies

The study explored the readiness and challenges of social media adoption at the Public Records and Archives Administration Department (PRAAD) in Ghana and was guided by the Iacovou, Charalambos L., Izak Benbasat, and Albert S. Dexter model of Electronic Data Interchange adoption. Using the qualitative approach, 13 participants drawn from the Archives Division were interviewed to explore their perspectives. The results showed that besides the participants high understanding and awareness of the benefits of social media adoption, clients were interested to engage PRAAD on social media. However, PRAAD’s readiness to adopt and effectively use social media was inadequate due to …

Will Our Future Selves Thank Us? An Examination Of Born-Digital Curation Practices At The University Of Kentucky Libraries, Sarah Dorpinghaus, Ruth E. Bryan, Megan M. Mummey, Emily B. Collier

Library Presentations

University of Kentucky archivists share practical tips, tools, and mental frameworks to identify gaps, pitfalls, and opportunities in stewarding born-digital collections. Topics include managing a shifting digital preservation landscape, instituting comprehensive appraisal practices while considering environmental impact, curating born-digital and web-based university records, and aligning resources with future collection needs.

The Archival Advocate (Fall 2023), David Owings

Archives and Special Collections Newsletter

Inside this issue:

• Celebrating Student Research
• Letter from the Director
• Highlights
• Isabel Patterson
• Student Research Continued
• Found in the Archives
• Rare Book Corner

Review Of Fundraising For Impact, Meredith R. Evans Ph.D

Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies

In Fundraising for Impact, Kathryn K. Matthew uses soundbites from more than 100 interviews she conducted with practitioners from libraries, archives and museums from around the world to share ways they increased their funding. This work emphasizes frameworks that help reveal an institution's value and the impact of community, partnerships, investing and fundraising.

Making Hay While The Sun Shines: Answering The Urgency In Audiovisual Preservation, Benjamin Harry

Journal of Western Archives

Many twentieth-century audiovisual formats are becoming obsolete and/or the physical carriers are deteriorating, warranting the need to digitize this content as soon as possible. Balancing efficiency and urgency with digitization and digital storage resources is a challenging endeavor. This article documents the efforts of the L. Tom Perry Special Collections (LTPSC) at Brigham Young University to begin a systematic effort to digitize audiovisual content found in manuscript collections.

Providing Risk Of The Environment’S Changing Climate Threats For Galleries, Libraries, Archives, & Museums (Protecct-Glam) Data File, Edward Benoit Iii, Jill Trepanier, Jennifer Vanos, Haley Moore, Kaitlyn Bailey, Emily Fisher, Annie Waddell, Mandy Hatman, Mary Sidwell, Symonne Russell, Virginia Seger, Paige Boutte, Amanda Latta, Zoe Mohammad, Kyriel Felton, Erin Deliman, Breanna Benson-Pearce, Wendy Johnson, Allyson Russell, Baillie Pretzer, Christopher Reeder, Melissa Mcconnell, Lisa Dahlke, Kaitlynn Melear, Lillian Bodi, Savannah T. Lyle, Zach Lannes, Gwen L. Wells, Benjamin A. Teincuff, Jason M. Straight, Tiffany Rockwell, Shane T. Manthei, Jennifer L. Benner, Jane Fiegel, Amanda Lima, Elizabeth Rininger, Caroline Melinger, Deborah Metz-Andrews, Meryl Roepke, Karen Isaac, Mallory Collins

School of Information Studies Datasets

The data file was created as part of the IMLS-funded project, PROTECCT-GLAM: Risk of The Environment’s Changing Climate Threats for Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums in an effort to gather the identities and georeferences of all galleries, libraries, archives, and museums located within the United States.

The data file includes 22,388 archives, 21,189 libraries, and 29,781 museums.

Mcgovern Historical Center Collections, Matt Richardson

TMC Library Newsletter (2015-)

The team at the McGovern Historical Center has been working its way through collections new and old and has posted several updated descriptions online.

Key Elements Of A File Format Strategy, Tyler Thorsted

Faculty Publications

Within the Digital Preservation Community there are many references to policies on file formats, acceptable file formats, preservation policies and strategies, risk matrices, and action plans. All have the intention of defining and describing file formats and guiding decisions on which formats to preserve how, and when. My team and I originally created a File Format Action Plan, which was later migrated from OneNote to Confluence and then included more strategic plans for hundreds of file formats. This paper explores which key elements should be included in an effective file format strategy and the different ways such data can be …

Data On Deck: A Case Study Of A Historic Undersea Film And Video Digitization Project, Karen Urbec Mlis, Ca, Audrey Mickle Mlis, Lisa Raymond

Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies

In 2021, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Data Library and Archives (DLA), a part of the MBLWHOI (Marine Biological Laboratory Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) Library, received a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) Recordings at Risk (RAR) program to catalog, digitize, preserve, and make available historic films and videos of Alvin, the first-of-its-kind manned submersible vessel that has shown us more of the deep ocean than had ever been possible and transformed our understanding of life on Earth.

These moving images have not been accessible to researchers and were far past the intended life cycle …

Preserving Family Artifacts, Ruth E. Bryan

Library Presentations

The Casey County Library is hosting a talk about “Preserving Family Artifacts” on Saturday July 15, 2023 at 11:00 am-Noon. Anyone interested in learning how to care for important family papers, photographs, sound and film recordings, digital information, and books and Bibles are welcome to attend. Ruth E. Bryan, the University Archivist for the University of Kentucky Library’s Special Collections Research Center, will be sharing key steps to keep your family treasures safe for future generations.

Archeota, Spring/Summer 2023, Sabrina Gunn, Taliyah Shaver, Beth Gonzalez, Laura Dowell, Katie Burns, Cybele Garcia Kohel

Archeota

Archeota is a platform for SJSU iSchool students to contribute to the archival conversation. It is written BY students, FOR students. It provides substantive content on archival concerns and issues and promotes professional development in the field of archival studies. Archeota upholds the core values of the archival profession.

Contents:

The Center for Sacramento History: A Reflection on the Importance of Internships By Sabrina Gunn

Preservation Through Computer Games: Fighting Censorship by Using Minecraft By Taliyah Shaver

Meet the New 2023-2024 Archeota and SAASC Team

Farewell to Our Spring 2023 Graduates: Interviews With SAA Student Chapter Leaders

The Sidedoor Podcast: …

Will Our Future Selves Thank Us? An Examination Of Born-Digital Curation Practices At Ukl, Megan M. Mummey, Sarah Dorpinghaus, Ruth Bryan, Emily Collier

Library Presentations

Cultural heritage resources are increasingly being produced and distributed digitally yet the world of physical materials has not declined. Analog-based archival theory and practice is still relevant, but born-digital formats make acquisition, appraisal, resource allocation, collection management, and external relationships much more challenging. During this session, four archivists and librarians from the University of Kentucky Libraries (UKL) will share their current challenges and successes working with different aspects of born-digital stewardship. They will share practical tips, tools, policies, and mental frameworks to help attendees identify gaps, pitfalls, and opportunities in digital stewardship at their own institutions. Sarah Dorpinghaus will provide …

Storyville: A Study Of Artifacts, Martha Quinn Fentress

SLIS Connecting

Operating from 1897 to 1917, sixteen blocks from the French Quarter district of New Orleans, Louisiana, several buildings were created to establish a legal red light district known as “Storyville.” The area was named after its creator, Alderman Sidney Story, who enacted the applicable ordinances and helped to establish the district. The creation of Storyville was meant to bring regulation to the sex trade and organized crime. The creation of the sixteen blocks of the district was influenced by a diverse range of experiences, ranging from cheap "cribs," vibrant music halls, saloons, and lavish mansions filled with "top dollar" ladies. …

A Collection Analysis Of The Tana Hoban Papers In The De Grummond Children’S Literature Collection, Constance Martin

SLIS Connecting

The de Grummond holdings of Tana Hoban’s work contain items she donated from 1982 to 1991 as well as copies of her books received from other donors. These materials include correspondence; biographical materials; her diaries; and some of her work as a commercial photographer, including photos and advertisements. There are also promotional items for her books and items related to a 1973 educational filmstrip series for which Hoban served on the creative development team (Brown, 2021; (“Tana Hoban Papers,” n.d.). Copies of physical books are augmented by book dummies she created for books that were published later and some that …

Ask An Archivist: Preserve Your Story, Raegan Stearns

LWLC Faculty Research

"Ask an Archivist: Preserve Your Story" is a workshop presented by Raegan C. Stearns, University Archivist, on the basics of caring for physical and digital objects.  It is directed towards family historians and offers introductory preservation tips. "Ask an Archivist: Preserve Your Story" was presented on May 11, 2023 at the Montgomery Interpretive Center on Alabama State University's campus as part of the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail's Preservation Workshop Academy.