Call for Volunteers: Volunteers needed to introduce topics at the Metadata and Digital Object Section annual meeting

The Metadata and Digital Object Section will hold its annual meeting virtually on Thursday, June 15th from 11am to 12:30pm CT (mark your calendars now!).  In addition to a business meeting, we are planning a program that will include breakout discussion groups on three topics that members have expressed interest in during recent mailing list discussions and focus groups:

  • Challenges with mass description of digital objects
  • What kind of metadata do we create about provenance?
  • Metadata about potentially harmful material in digital collections

We are looking for volunteers who would be willing to give an informal, five-minute introduction to each topic and help facilitate the breakout room discussions (there will also be a steering committee member to help with the latter).  The idea for the 5-minute presentations  is to introduce the topic and raise a few of the major questions that could be asked in the breakout session for that topic, to give people an idea of what might be discussed.  

If you have an idea for a different topic you think would be of interest and that you’d be willing to introduce, we are also interested in hearing about that. 

Please email Lara Friedman-Shedlov (ldfs@umn.edu) by May 1st.

CFP: Association of Registrars and Collection Managers

November 7-10, 2023 Montreal, Quebec, Canada

ARCS welcomes registrars, collections specialists, and all those who work within our field to Montreal, Quebec, Canada for educational sessions, networking events, and a chance to meet colleagues from around the world. 

Important Dates

  • March 20, 2023 – Request for Proposals Opens
  • April 21, 2023 – Session Proposals are due. 
  • Late Spring 2023 – Registration fee structure to be announced
  • November 7-10, 2023-Conference

Looking for inspiration for the upcoming request for proposals? Take a look at the scheduled from our 2022 Virtual Conference

Call for Proposals

The past three years have profoundly impacted our field and demonstrated the need to evolve and adapt our practices. This journey reaffirmed our resilience and taught us to positively channel the momentum created from this time of reflection and growth. We are now catalysts and agents of change within our own institutions and the greater field, using our momentum to create a more just future. Momentum encourages us to find new ways to partner with communities, create more accessibility, and reduce our carbon footprint while still stewarding collections. Sustaining momentum is challenging but necessary to move forward, creating new pathways for effective, smarter, and more resourceful solutions. 

ARCS invites you to submit proposals and join an international discussion about the collections field for the 2023 Conference, Momentum, to be held in Montreal Canada on November 7th-10th. Sessions may address any aspect of your work. Proposals must be submitted no later than 11:59 PM EST, April 21, 2023. To learn more about submitting a session proposal please view the guidelines. Please contact Conference@arcsinfo.org if you have any questions.  

Please view the 2023 Proposal Submission Guidelines before submitting your proposal.

CFP: Collection Stewardship in the Age of Finite Resources, Journal of Western Archives

The Journal of Western Archives (JWA) is seeking submissions for an upcoming special issue on the following topic: Collection stewardship in the age of finite resources.

Articles for this special issue could be on any of the following subjects:

  • Reappraisal    
  • Deaccessioning
  • Donor relations and managing their expectations
  • Changing collecting scopes and policies – from collecting anything to being more selective
  • Managing/reimagining collection space
  • Innovations in collections management

Types of works considered:

  • Research articles
  • Case studies
  • Work-in-progress articles

If you are interested in contributing to this special issue, please submit a draft through the JWA website at: digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/…. Submissions received before October 1st, 2023, will be considered for publication in this special issue, which will be published on the JWA website in early 2024.  If you have any questions, please contact JWA managing editor, Ryan Lee at ryan_lee@byu.edu.

Journal of Western Archives is a peer reviewed, open access, online journal, that gives archivists, manuscript curators, and graduate students in the American West a place to publish on topics of particular interest and relevance to them. To learn more about the journal and our policies and submission guidelines, please take a moment and visit the JWA website at: digitalcommons.usu.edu/westernarchives.

Call for Participation in Research Study – Service Learning in Archives

As part of a graduate thesis, I am conducting a survey to explore the use of service-learning (SL) in archives. 

SL is defined as “a course-based, credit-bearing educational experience in which students participate in an organized service activity that meets identified community needs and reflects on the service activity in such a way as to gain further understanding of course content, a broader appreciation of the discipline, and an enhanced sense of civic responsibility” (Bringle & Hatcher, 1995). 

This survey will collect data on both archivists who have participated in SL projects using archives and those who have not participated in SL projects using archives to understand more about SL in the archival community. This short, anonymous online survey is expected to take ten minutes to complete. Your participation is voluntary. If you do not wish to participate in this survey, do not submit a response. By clicking the “Submit” button at the end of the survey, you are indicating that you voluntarily consent to participate. 

An Institutional Review Board responsible for human subjects research at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania reviewed this research project and found it to be acceptable, according to applicable state and federal regulations and University policies designed to protect the rights and welfare of participants in research.

Your survey responses will be kept confidential. Any part of the research that is reported or published will not contain any identifiable information. If you have any questions about the survey, please contact Elizabeth M. Scott at escott8@esu.edu.

Please click on the following link to participate in the survey: 

https://corexmsc96kb2vfcb7vm.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bph6iWZQvC4ekoS

The survey will be available until May 5, 2023.

Thank you for your time and consideration. 

Sincerely,

Elizabeth M. Scott, MLS, CA

Archivist and Special Collections Librarian/Assistant Professor

Professional and Digital Media Writing Program, Candidate

East Stroudsburg University

escott8@esu.edu

CFP: Oral History Network of Ireland Annual Conference 2023

The Oral History Network of Ireland (OHNI) is pleased to announce its 2023 conference on the theme of ‘Oral History: Power and Resistance’. At every stage of the process, oral history projects may be impacted by and engage with issues of power and resistance. Oral histories offer unique insights into the operations of power and resistance in our societies in the past and present. This is not confined to issues of political power and resistance but can include everything from power dynamics within personal relationships, to understanding minority-majority group experiences. Who exercises power, how it is used and how it can be leveraged are key questions for oral historians. Similarly, what is resistance, what forms it takes and how it may or may not effect social change are questions that have been explored with the assistance of oral histories. Power and resistance are also considerations at every level in the creation of an oral history – whose stories are told, how they’re told, the power (or lack thereof) exercised by interviewees and interviewers, and the purpose of oral history itself.

The conference will take place at Dooley’s Hotel, Waterford on Friday 16th and Saturday 17th June 2023.

We are delighted to welcome Graham Smith, Professor of Oral History at Newcastle University, as the keynote speaker. His research interests include public history and environmental oral history, with a particular focus on how people remember in groups, as well as the history of family and the history of medicine. He helped to establish the Oral History Unit and Collective at Newcastle in 2017. A long-time trade union activist, Graham is the joint editor of the Historians for History blog and the editor of the four-volume collection Oral History, published by Routledge in 2017 as part of their Critical Concepts in Historical Studies series.

Call for Papers

Conference contributions are welcome in a range of formats:

  • Standard conference papers (20 minutes)
  • 10-minute presentations for our ‘Moments’ panels, focusing on outstanding or memorable individuals, experiences, and/or incidents that influenced or changed the way the presenter practices oral history. Contributions showcasing new projects on the conference theme at an early stage of development are also welcome here.
  • Posters and visual presentations

We welcome proposals on any topic related to oral history, particularly those that take an imaginative approach to the conference theme of ‘Power and Resistance’. Potential topics could include (but are not limited to):

  • Power dynamics in the interview
  • Oral history and marginalised voices
  • Elite oral histories
  • Uncovering the operation of power in organisations and institutions
  • Abuses of power
  • Resistance and adaptation
  • Power, resistance and trauma
  • History from above and below
  • Power, resistance and the archive
  • Oral history and empowerment

To propose a paper, please submit an abstract (of not more than 250 words) along with your name, the name of your group, organisation or institution, and your email address to info@oralhistorynetworkireland.ie before Friday 28th April 2023. All proposals must demonstrate a clear engagement with oral history and/or personal testimony and we actively encourage the use of audio or video clips. The conference committee’s decision on successful abstracts will be communicated to potential presenters in May 2023. Information regarding registration for the conference will be posted in the coming weeks.

For further information, please see our website (https://oralhistorynetworkireland.ie/2023-conference) or the PDF of the call for papers (https://oralhistorynetworkireland.ie/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/CFP2023.pdf). Questions may be directed to info@oralhistorynetworkireland.ie.  

New Issue: Archives and Records

Archives and Records, 44 (2023)
Special Issue: New Professional and Student Research

Articles

Establishing special collections literacy for undergraduate students: an investigation into benefits and barriers of access
Joanna Baines

The ghosts of old readers: social media, representation and gender in the information sector
Gabrielle Bex

Preserving Ancient Egyptian cultural heritage: an examination of the role of egyptological archives
Alix Robinson

Grave concerns: the state of public cemetery records management in South Africa
Marie-Louise Rouget

Engagement with decolonizing archival practices in the UK archives sector: a survey of archives workers’ attitudes
Flore Janssen

‘It’s good for them to feel stretched’: collaborative volunteer projects at the Staffordshire Record Office
Helen Houghton-Foster

Re-animation and interrogation: Irish visual and performing artists’ encounters with the archive
Jennifer Branigan

Book Reviews

Records of the Jesus Guild in St Paul’s Cathedral, c.1450-1550: an edition of Oxford, Bodleian MS Tanner 221, and associated material
edited by Elizabeth A. New, Woodbridge, The Boydell Press for the London Record Society, 2022, xvi + 311 pp., £60 (hardback), ISBN 978-0-90095-262-3 (London Record Society Publications, Volume LVI)
Anthony Smith

Sustainable Enterprise Strategies for Optimizing Digital Stewardship: A Guide for Libraries, Archives, and Museums
by Angela Fritz, Lanham, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2021, xv, 95 pp, £30 (paperback) ISBN 978-1-5381-4286-8
Rachel MacGregor

Trinity College Library Dublin: a descriptive catalogue of manuscripts containing Middle English and some Old English
by John Scattergood, Niamh Pattwell and Emma Williams, Four Courts Press, 2021, xxxvii + 367 pp., €55 (hardback),ISBN 978-1-84682-852-2
Jade Godsall

Manuscripts in the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: Cultures and connections
edited by Claire Breay and Joanna Story, with Eleanor Jackson, Dublin, Four Courts Press, 2021, xviii + 242 pp., €65 (hardback), ISBN 978-1-84682-866-9
Richard Wragg

Economic considerations for libraries, archives and museums
edited by Lorraine A. Stuart, Thomas F. R. Clareson and Joyce Ray, Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY, Routledge, 2022, 238 pp., £29.59 (eBook), ISBN 978-1-003-03710-1
Louise Ray

New/Recent Publications

Articles

Sunil Tyagi, “Preservation and conservation of indigenous manuscripts,” IFLA Journal, 49 no. 1 (2023): 143–156.

Ana Roeschley, “Symbiosis or friction: Understanding participant motivations for information sharing and institutional goals in participatory archive initiatives,” Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 2023.

Naiman, J.P., Williams, P.K.G. & Goodman, A. “The digitization of historical astrophysical literature with highly localized figures and figure captions.” International Journal of Digital Libraries (2023).

dos Santos, E.A., Peroni, S. & Mucheroni, M.L. “Referencing behaviours across disciplines: publication types and common metadata for defining bibliographic references.” 

Naiman, J.P., Williams, P.K.G. & Goodman, A. “The digitization of historical astrophysical literature with highly localized figures and figure captions.” International Journal of Digital Libraries (2023).

Books

Virginie Rey. Mediating Museums: Exhibiting Material Culture in Tunisia (1881–2016). Studies in the History and Society of the Maghrib Series. Leiden: Brill, 2019

CFP: Hip Hop Archives

At the age 50, Hip Hop is finally understood as an essential facet of world-wide culture, with wide-ranging influence on our shared world. The continued lack of hip hop documents in traditional archives indicates both a lack of interest in, or understanding of that impact, as well as the inherent ephemerality of the five pillars of hip hop, leaving interested archivists without a path for documentation.

Taking Mark V. Campbell’s assertion that archival presentations of hip hop “signal the continued importance of the culture’s fifth element: knowledge” which “indicate[s] an ‘archival state of mind’ with increased attentiveness to the preservation of hip-hop culture through lived, embodied and affective practices” pathways to documentation do exist, and can be replicated in traditional archival settings.

This special issue of the Journal of Archival Organization will focus on the efforts of creators, collectors, activists, scholars, archivists, and polymaths that can guide and inspire the collecting, study and celebration of hip hop in all of its forms. We welcome original research articles, review articles, and critical essays that examine the intersection of hip-hop and archives.

Free event: Navigating the IRB Process with the Society of American Archivists Committee on Research Data and Assessment

Navigating the IRB Process with the Society of American Archivists Committee on Research Data and Assessment

  • What: This is a 1-hour panel discussion about the process of getting approval from an institutional review board (IRB) for research on the archival field and related topics.
  • When: Monday, April 17, 2023, 2:00 pm-3:00 pm CDT. A recording of the event will be made available online for those unable to attend.
  • Registration (limited to 500 attendees): https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwrcuqsrjMvGtbnunBAqQqZNVFdVv9sbhrX

The Society of American Archivists Committee on Research, Data and Assessment (CORDA)  is excited to present a free, one-hour panel discussion on navigating the IRB process for research on the archives and library professions. The process of seeking approval from an IRB is often perceived as a barrier to undertaking research that may contribute valuable knowledge to our field. With this discussion, we hope to answer the following questions:

  • What is an institutional review board and why do they exist?
  • Which types of research require approval from an IRB?
  • How does the IRB process look at different types of institutions?
  • What are some common mistakes people make when submitting their research to an IRB?

While the above questions are meant to guide the conversation, our goal is for this to primarily be an opportunity for attendees to get their questions answered by other professionals who have been through the process, as well as people responsible for reviewing research proposals. 

We are grateful to the panelists who agreed to participate in this event:

  • Susan Askren, Research Compliance Office, Smithsonian Institution
  • Adam Bailey, Senior IRB Manager, Social & Behavioral (Non-Medical) IRB, Stanford University Research Compliance Office
  • Amanda Hawk, Public Services Manager for Distinctive Collections, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Margaret Hoogland, Margaret A. Hoogland, Clinical Medical Librarian, University of Toledo

As part of its mission, CORDA seeks to make the research process accessible to archival professionals, academic researchers, SAA group members, and others. We hope you will join us for this event!

Call for Participation: Digitization + AI for Archives and Documentary Heritage Materials – Survey

You are invited to participate in an English-language survey aiming to measure the current scope of digitization projects and programs across institutions. Thank you for taking the time to consider participating in the survey.

We are a team of researchers from archival, librarianship, and information management backgrounds investigating the intersection of digitization and artificial intelligence (AI). This research is part of the study Model for AI-assisted Digitization of Archives and Documentary Heritage Materials, part of the multi-national, interdisciplinary project InterPARES Trust AI (2021–2026).  ITrustAI aims to design, develop, and leverage AI to support the ongoing availability and accessibility of trustworthy public records. 

Our target audience for this survey are professionals in any role or position (including consultants) working in institutions with archival and documentary heritage holdings or collections. No prior experience with artificial intelligence or digitization is needed to participate in the survey. 

Our main goals are:

1) To understand the current state of digitization within organizations;

2) To understand whether or not organizations are using artificial intelligence in digitization projects, and if so, in what ways;

3) To understand the drivers and barriers, challenges and opportunities for organizations in relation to both digitization and AI.

This questionnaire consists of 50 questions and will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. Your responses can be saved if you cannot complete the survey in one sitting. All responses will be de-identified and analyzed in aggregate form.

Through the study, we aim to encourage sustainable digitization projects for access and long term preservation of archives and documentary heritage materials; investigate the impact of digitization efforts on the broader archival and documentary heritage landscape; and learn from organizations that are using AIin their digitization-related activities. Anonymized survey results and other findings from the study will be shared. Your responses are very appreciated.

To participate, please submit your answers by May 1st, 2023. For questions or comments, please contact: e.sengsavang@unesco.org.

Link to the survey: Survey on Digitization and AI

Thank you for your time and participation!

Sincerely,

Model for AI-Assisted Digitization study team:

Eng Sengsavang, UNESCO Archives (study lead)

Hrvoje Stancic, University of Zagreb

Marta Riess, International Atomic Energy Agency

Adam Jansen, Hawaii State Archives

Shadreck Bayane, University of South Africa

Marina de Souza, University of British Columbia (GAA)

Kailey Fukushima, University of British Columbia (GAA)

Zeljko Trubusic, University of Zagreb (GAA)