SAA Recap

Attending SAA is one of my favorite things. Seeing old friends, making new, hearing about projects and accomplishments, and seeing the excitement of archivists for our profession. And this year, it was great to go back to Atlanta where my publishing activities officially started.

First, I want to say thank you to those of you who told me this blog is helpful and that you read it. I’ve been doing this for just over a year and one of my upcoming goals is to do more to market it and gain more readership. So please help spread the word! I’m also hoping to get more contributors, so if you’re interested in sharing your experience or know someone who has something to say, let me know.

There were several opportunities at SAA to talk about publishing. I went to the SAA Toast to Authors, hung out at the bookstore, and attended the Write Away! breakfast. And, of course, there were many conversations in between.

I’ve attended the Write Away! breakfast since 2011. I always enjoy seeing the new faces interested in publishing, the ideas and accomplishments of SAA, and talking with people about writing. I talked to my table about the Reference and Access book and received some good tips and ideas of content. Some were already in my plans, which was helpful to know that I’m on the right track, and some were new ideas.

One question directed at SAA was how do archivists know what are topics of interest or what others are working on where they may want contributors or co-authors? I’ve had this or similar discussions several times over the past few years, and I think it’s time we start figuring it out. I have some ideas: an email discussion group, Google spreadsheet to find ideas and collaborators, live Twitter chats, and using this blog. Please post any ideas in the comments. Talking to each other will help advance writing and publishing!

Tribute to Brenda Banks

I was saddened to hear about the passing of Brenda S. Banks. In an indirect way, she affected my interest in publishing. In 2009, I was working at the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History in downtown Atlanta. At the time, she was teaching “Administration and Use of Historical Archives” at Georgia State University in the Heritage Preservation Program. When she decided to not teach anymore, she called my colleagues to see if they were interested. Due to other commitments, neither of them could do it so they asked me. With only a couple weeks before the semester started, I agreed.

I used her syllabus and spoke to her about the class. I was excited to teach, even though I hadn’t taught before. This was 5 years after I finished library school and because at the time I was working on my PhD, I did not do much to keep up with archival literature. Teaching the class forced me, in a good way, to examine the literature and read much that I hadn’t read before. I taught the class three times and it helped me become an adjunct in the Master of Archival Studies at Clayton State University.

Naturally, it was much different reading, interpreting, and analyzing the literature as a professor than as a student, especially with several years of practical experience. With every class I taught since, I look for a wide variety of books and articles to incorporate into a syllabus to provide students with a breadth of resources. I spent hours researching and reading books and articles and gained a familiarity with specific resources plus ways to research different topics both within archival literature as well as related professions.

Teaching was one avenue that led to my interest in publishing. The knowledge of resources helped me while editor of Provenance, in that I frequently recommended literature for authors to read to help with their articles. It also proved beneficial while on the SAA Publications Board to again recommend resources to authors, but also understand gaps and needs in archival literature. And it continues to help as I write the reference book.

So thank you Brenda, for your role in leading me down this path.

ACA Archivaria Prizes

from the Association of Canadian Archivists website:

At the Awards Luncheon, Jennifer Douglas, Archivaria General Editor and Catherine Bailey, former General Editor announced the winners of these prizes:

Raymond Frogner was awarded the W. Kaye Lamb Prize for his article “Lord, Save Us from the Et Cetera of the Notary”: Archival Appraisal, Local Custom, and Colonial Law which appears in Archivaria #79

Tom Nesmith was awarded the Hugh Taylor Award for his article Toward the Archival Stage in the History of Knowledge which appears in Archivaria #80

Grant Hurley was awarded the Gordon Dodds prize for his article, Community Archives, Community Clouds: Enabling Digital Preservation for Small Archives published in Archivaria #81

Recent Issue: IASA Journal

IASA Journal No 46, May 2016
International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives

Download articles (IASA members only)
  1. Editorial and President’s Letter
  2. IASA’s Travel Award Program
    Bertram Lyons, IASA Editor, USA
  3. Legacy Collections, their Value and their Accessibility
    Grace Koch, Visiting Senior Research Fellow, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
  4. Unearthing the Underground, Databasing the Avant-Garde, and Mapping the Independent Media Community
    Lindsay Kistler Mattock, The University of Iowa, USA
    Kara Wentworth, The University of Iowa, USA
  5. Too Good to be Forgotten: The Copyright Dichotomy and the Public-Sector Audiovisual Archive
    Claudy Op den Kamp, Swinburne Law School, Australia
  6. Securing Audio Transfer
    Sebastian Gabler, NOA Audio Solutions, Austria
  7. Quality Management for Preservation of Analogue and Digital Video Tape
    Sebastian Gabler, NOA GmbH, Austria
  8. Ghosts on the Wire
    Leslie McCartney, University of Alaska Fairbanks, USA
  9. Journey of Big Bertha Webster
    JA Pryse, Oklahoma Historical Society, USA
  10. IASA Research Grant Report: A Study on the Changing Prices of Audiovisual Digitization, 2006–2015
    Rebecca Chandler, AVPreserve, USA

New Issue: American Archivist

reposted from A&A:

The Spring/Summer issue of The American Archivist is here! Features include a special section on digitizing archives with unique collaborators as well as Kathleen D. Roe’s 2015 presidential address, “Why Archives?” Should we be documenting smell as an essential characteristic? What is the personal and social impact of community archives? How do we process and digitize a scrapbook? What makes a description “honest”? Explore these questions and more in the digital edition: http://americanarchivist.org/toc/aarc/79/1.

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: Archives Short Fiction Contest

While I started this blog to focus on scholarly publishing, I’m deviating to encourage people to write fiction. Now in Year 2, the fiction contest is a fun and different way to write about archives. This was formulated when I was still on the Publications Board, and I was glad to see so many entries last year. Read the details and have fun writing!

Going to SAA? Opportunities to Talk about Publishing

Every year, there are opportunities to talk to SAA staff and editors about publishing. Speaking from experience, taking the initiative to speak to them can bring opportunities. At the very least, you’ll make a new connection and learn more about publishing with SAA. As I wrote a year ago, it was the SAA Write Away! breakfast that started my involvement with SAA publishing. That was five years ago and I’m still involved. And if you recognize names of authors, editors, or anyone else associated with publishing, I encourage you to introduce yourself and start a conversation.

As a former editor, I truly enjoy talking to anyone about publishing. I see everyone as a potential author and I want to motivate people to write and help them reach their potential. If you see me at SAA, I will gladly talk to you about writing a journal article, a book, or anything else about publishing. And if we don’t have time to chat at SAA, please follow up and we can schedule a time to talk. Truly, this goes for anytime, non just at or around SAA.

So go forth and converse about publishing and writing!

SAA Bookstore Hours:
8:30-5pm, Wednesday;
7:30-5:30 Thursday
7:00-5:00 Friday
8:00-10:00 Saturday

Thursday, August 4
One Book, One Profession Discussion: 12:15-1:30 Brown Bag
American Archivist Article Discussion: 12:15-1:30 Brown Bag
Toast to SAA Authors: 3:15-3:45

Friday, August 5
Write Away! Breakfast: 8:00-9:00
Office Hours, American Archivist, Publications Board, Dictionary Working Group: 12:30-1:30

 

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.

New Issue: Archival Issues

reposted from A&A:

MAC members and subscribers to Archival Issues: Journal of the Midwest Archives Conference will soon have 100 pages of new summer reading delivered to their postal mail boxes. (For those who can’t wait, the new issue is available online at the MAC website).

Four articles in AI 37:2 cover a wide range of professional topics including ethics, education, university records management, and opportunities for archival outreach in the digital era.

Elizabeth Joffrion (Western Washington University) and Lexie Tom (Northwest Indian College) analyze two decades of collaboration between the University Library’s special collections and the Lummi Nation.

JoyEllen Freeman (Kennesaw State University) reports on the Archive-It K–12 Web Archiving Program, a partnership between the Library of Congress and the Internet Archive’s Archive-It.

Cliff Hight and James W. Smith (both Kansas State University) used a pilot records survey project in the Office of the Provost to reinvigorate records and information management efforts in their University Archives.

Jacquelyn Slater Reese, University of Oklahoma Libraries, draws technical and managerial lessons from a grant funded crowdsourcing transcription project.

Ten book reviews round out AI 37:2.

Archival Issues welcomes submissions at all times.  Send manuscripts and inquiries to editorial board chair Alexandra A. Orchard: alexandra@wayne.edu