Category: Books

SAA Book Publishing Survey Results

Last spring the Publications Board conducted a survey to assess members’ needs to strategize the future of publications. This survey assessed topics of interest, as well as how members want to receive and read books. The latest issue of Archival Outlook has an article describing the results of the survey. About 1,600 people responded, and the results are quite interesting. SAA book publications are important not just to advance the profession, but to help fund the organization. As the article states, “Books published by SAA help our members increase their sum of professional knowledge and to partake in a shared vision for archival practice.”

Ebooks have been a bit slow to take off in the profession, but is likely to grow over the next few years; more than half indicated they prefer print but close to half predicted they would access an ebook in the future. Personally, I like both. Ebooks allow me to search and sometimes I find it easier to use them when I’m writing. I can copy/paste quotes, and also don’t need to balance a book and my laptop while reclining comfortably on my couch. However, I still like seeing them on my bookshelf and find it easier to quick grab a book to look something up or hand it to an intern or staff member to read.

More than half indicated interest in a subscription model, which I’m intrigued by. I like the idea of being able to search across publications and easily access literature. For me it would serve a dual purpose: quickly finding multiple sources for answers, as well as the ability to read/review books prior to purchasing. And, of course, fewer books to check out from the library or order through interlibrary loan.

As a current book author, I constantly think about what information archivists need to grow in their jobs and how my book will be used. Reference, access and outreach ranked 5th out of the 10 topics assessed. However, my interpretation is that topics ranked higher – digital records/digitization, arrangement and description, preservation and conservation – all lead to access. While my book will not go in-depth about those areas, I discuss them in relation to reference and access.

I look forward to seeing how SAA publications evolve and develop based on this survey.

New/Recent Books

In my ongoing quest to know about every book and journal published (which I know won’t happen, but I’ll still dream), I came across a publisher I hadn’t heard of.

Mission Bell Media is library-focused, but they publish about topics that are potentially relevant to archivists working in libraries. They have a leadership series that is topic specific, including African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic-American, Sports, and a Glossary. I have not seen these in person, but they seem to be reference guides with multiple entries.

I’m more intrigued by their Peak Series, which has an forthcoming book about library academic publishing and writing.

If anyone has heard about or looked at/read them, let me know!

SAA Preservation Publication Award

from the SAA website:

Preserving Our Heritage: Perspectives from Antiquity to the Digital Age by Michele V. Cloonan (ALA Neal-Schuman/Facet) is the recipient of the Society of American Archivists’ Preservation Publication Award. Established in 1993, the award recognizes and acknowledges the author or editor of an outstanding published work related to archives preservation and, through this acknowledgment, encourages outstanding achievement by others.

Read the full announcement.

Also, ALA is offering $10 off if you use the code PHPA16 (limited time only).

SAA’s One Book, One Profession

In the past few years, SAA has done more to engage members in reading. Primarily, brown bag sessions at the conference to discuss a particular article or book. Now they’re taking it one step further with One Book, One Profession.

As a former Publications Board member, there’s always discussion on how to promote books and hear about members’ likes and needs. It’s a tough task, as we all have different ways of using literature: keeping up, enjoyment, teaching, professional development, etc. I know others in the past have tried to start archives book clubs, though I have no idea about their success.

I’m very interested in this program and how it is used and developed. You can read the whole outline, but here are a few highlights:

I encourage people to participate and if you do, please share your experience on this blog.

SAA Publishing Adopts Permalink

Catching up on my reading today,  I read Chris Prom and Anthony Cocciolo’s article in Archival Outlook “Permalink Service Adopted by SAA’s Book Publishing Program.”

I’m sure we’ve all been frustrated at times when we find a web link in an article or citation, click on it, and don’t find what we need. When I was editor of Provenance, I spent a lot of time double checking the links authors provided to make sure they worked, and searching for an updated link if they didn’t.

As a current SAA author, I’m pleased that I’ll be able to use this resource. As I write about reference and access, I constantly look at a variety of institutions’ websites for ideas and examples. I also read many books and articles that reference no longer existing websites or content. I use Zotero and sometimes (not always) remember to save a PDF of what I looked at, both for my reference and in case someone would ask me later. Now I’ll have a way to save those references for SAA to keep!

New Catalog from Rowman & Littlefield

As I noted last week, I am trying to keep up to date more with book releases. Rowman & Littlefield released a new catalog. The bulk of the books are for museums, but there’s some archives in there as well. Note that it’s not all new books, but some new and others released within the past couple of years. Happy browsing!

New/Recent Books

This blog is about publishing, but much of the focus so far has been about journals. That fills a gap, as the journals provide reviews about books. I don’t plan on turning this blog into one for book reviews, but I want to provide information about books.

As I’ve thought about this, I realize the challenges of keeping up with what books come out and when. Recently I subscribed to email lists and RSS feeds from a few publishers. Also, my own research for my book leads me to discover more. So here’s a few that I learned of recently. This is not an endorsement of the quality of contents, just for information. Mostly, it’s a way for me to try to keep up-to-date on what’s out there.

Some of these are strictly archives-focused, some are a bit peripheral. I haven’t decided exact parameters for what I’ll include going forward, so there will be overlap with journal reviews. Most are very recent, though some are a few years old. Not all are “scholarly” (the focus of this blog), but I also think it’s important to showcase the broader world of books related to archives. And if you know of others, please send them my way. I hope you find this helpful.

Fostering Family History Services: A Guide for Librarians, Archivists, and Volunteers. Rhonda L. Clark and Nicole Wedemeyer Miller. Libraries Unlimited, 2016.

Paper: Paging Through History. Mark Kurlansky. W.W. Norton & Co., forthcoming.

Just My Type: A Book About Fonts. Simon Garfield. Gotham/Penguin, 2012.

On Paper: The Everything of Its Two-Thousand Years History. Nichoals A. Basbanes. Vintage, 2014.

Paper: An Elegy. Ian Sansom. HarperCollins, 2015.

The Victorian Internet: The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Century’s On-line Pioneers. Tom Standage. Bloomsbury, 2014.

Sports History in the Digital Era. Edited by Gary Osmond and Murray G. Phillips. University of Illinois Press, 2015.

Practical Tips for Facilitating Research. Moira J. Bent. Facet Publishing, 2016.

AASLH’s “Interpreting LGBT History” Wins 2016 NCPH Book Award

Read more on the AASLH blog: http://blogs.aaslh.org/aaslhs-interpreting-lgbt-history-wins-2016-ncph-book-award/.

Purchase the book: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780759123724.

“Interpreting History” Series: https://rowman.com/Action/SERIES/RL/RLINTERP/Museum-Studies-Interpreting-History.

Help SAA Shape Future Publications

The SAA Publications Board needs you! Take this 10-minute survey about your book reading preferences and help shape the future of book publishing at SAA. Submit your responses today (https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/saabooks), and enter your name in the drawing to win a new iPad with complimentary digital access to three SAA books.

As a former member of the Publications Board, I know your voice is important. Publishing is changing and evolving, and knowing how both members and non-members would like to access is important to the development of SAA publishing. Please share your opinion!

New Book: Latinos in Libraries, Museums, and Archives

From the Rowman and Littlefield website:

Latinos in Libraries, Museums, and Archives: Cultural Competence in Action! An Asset-Based Approach
Patricia Montiel-Overall; Annabelle Villaescusa Nuñez, Verónica Reyes Escudero

Written by three experienced LIS professionals, Latinos in Libraries, Museums, and Archives demonstrates the meaning of cultural competence in the everyday work in libraries, archives, museums, and special collections with Latino populations. The authors focus on their areas of expertise including academic, school, public libraries, health sciences, archives, and special collections to show the importance of understanding how cultural competence effects the day-to-day communication, relationship building, and information provision with Latinos. They acknowledge the role of both tacit and explicit knowledge in their work, and discuss ways in which cultural competence is integral to successful delivery of services to, communication with, and relationship building with Latino communities.