You are invited to participate in a research project being conducted by L. Tom Perry Special Collections in the Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University.  The purpose of this research is to gain a better understanding of how Special Collections repositories are using reappraisal and deaccessioning as a tool to better manage their collections and align their collecting ambitions with their stewardship capacity. If you choose to participate, you will be asked to complete an anonymous web-based survey. The survey should take no more than 15 minutes. The survey will not collect any identifiable information, and no one will be able to connect your responses to you. Your anonymity is further protected by using an implied consent on the survey. Please print this invitation for future reference. You may answer any and all questions on the survey or decline to participate. Reminder emails will be sent to non-responders to encourage participation. If you do not wish to participate and do not want to receive these reminders, please click on the link and answer “no” to the first question. However, we hope that you will take a moment to share your experience with us.

Consent will be asked in the first question on the survey: “Having read the invitation, are you willing to participate in the survey?”  Yes or No.

The survey is available at https://byu.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_50YQ6cWl9vEgbaK, and will be available until July 24, 2026. If you have any questions about the study, please contact Cory Nimer or J. Gordon Daines III at cory_nimer@byu.edu or gordon_daines@byu.edu, or at 801-422-6091. If you have questions or concerns about your rights as a research participant, you can call the BYU Human Research Protections Program at 801-422-1461 or BYU.HRPP@byu.edu. Please reference IRB ID# IRB2026-157.

Sincerely,

Cory Nimer

J. Gordon Daines III

Invitation to Participate in Survey on Records Management Practices in Higher Education

We invite you to participate in a brief online survey examining current records management practices within higher education. This study seeks input from professional librarians, archivists, records managers, and higher education personnel who work with or support institutional records. Your insights will help our research team better understand how institutions manage records today. The resulting landscape study report will help identify opportunities for strengthening practices across the field. A PDF version of the survey is available upon request.

The survey should take approximately 20–30 minutes to complete. Participation is completely voluntary, and no identifying personal information will be collected. You may access the survey here: https://iastate.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1KYESrhu6IcN7dc. The survey will remain open until August 1, 2026.

We hope you will consider contributing to this project. Your participation will help provide a clearer understanding of records management across higher education and support ongoing improvements in the field. Please feel free to share this invitation with colleagues who may be interested.

For any questions about this survey, please contact Victoria Eastes, (254) 519-5499, veastes@tamuct.edu or Jane LaBarbara, (304) 293-0352, jane.labarbara@mail.wvu.edu.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

What Are You Letting Go of and Why is That Still a Win? Highlighting Successes in Digital Preservation

Our names are Marcella Lees (Digital Archivist at the Art Institute of Chicago Archives) and Lisa Lawlis (Assistant Archivist at Western University) and we are conducting a study titled “What Are You Letting Go of and Why is That Still a Win? Highlighting Successes in Digital Preservation.” The purpose of this study is to identify what parts of best practice in digital preservation are being let go of in pursuit of “good” practice and what metrics are being used to measure success at small to mid-sized institutions across North America.

Our larger goal is that by sharing the results of this study we can empower smaller institutions to dive into digital preservation now rather than waiting for everything to perfect and to celebrate the digital preservation work that is being done currently.

If you are involved with digital preservation or your responsibilities include the stewardship of digital records (either digitized or born digital), we would like to invite you to take part in this survey. You can access the survey here:

https://uwo.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cO1F6krZGmUlLYW

The survey is expected to take 5-10 minutes and consists of 10 questions. Your name will not be attached to your responses. The survey will be open until September 30th.

If you need an alternative format or have any questions, please email mlees@artic.edu or llawlis@uwo.ca.

Thank you,
Marcella and Lisa

After you secured your first professional library position, what did you wish you had learned in library school? What did you not learn that would have been helpful when starting out in the profession?
 
Please consider taking part in the survey What I Did Not Learn in Library School. The survey is located at surveys.csus.edu/jfe/form/SV_eIG9QGd2z7LiKPQ. The survey will remain open until June 30, 2026.
 
In 2016, a research team comprised of Sarah Allison, Adam Heien, and Caitlin Wells conducted a survey to better understand how professional development, library school curriculum, and mentorship could improve the library profession. This data was preserved and not published. Ten years later, a second research team, led by Sarah Allison, will compare the 2016 and 2026 data to analyze what has changed and what has stayed the same. 
 
The survey is open to anyone who has received their MLIS or a similar degree who works or has worked in an academic, public, and/or special library with a focus on special collections and archives. Your participation is voluntary, and there are no risks associated with taking this survey. Additionally, your responses will remain anonymous, and any result will be reported in aggregate.
 
If you have any questions about the survey, please contact Sarah Allison at sarah.allison@csus.edu.
 
Thank you very much for your consideration.

Sincerely,
Sarah Allison, Head, Gerth Special Collections & University Archives, Sacramento State University 
Diane Dias De Fazio, Library Services Manager for Rare Books, Special Collections & Collections Care, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
Evan N. Miller, Digital Preservation and Digital Collections Archivist, Ruth Lilly Special Collections and Archives, Indiana University Indianapolis

I am an Ed.D student at the University of North Georgia, and I am writing to invite you to participate in my research study:

Title of the Study: Credentialism in Higher Education: A Study of Archival Careers
Study Number: 2026-031
Principal Investigator: Allison Galloup, Higher Education Leadership and Practice
Faculty Advisor: Michael Lanford, michael.lanford@ung.edu

The purpose of this study is to investigate the social and cultural implications of the increase in number of archivists who enter the field through library and information science programs. Participants considered for this study are archivists currently employed at a higher education institution who hold a terminal degree (MLS/MLIS or MA, or a combination of these degrees).

The research will be conducted in two parts:

1.  Brief responses (no more than 500 words) to two questions related to your archival education and career as an academic archivist.
2. A 60-75 minute interview during which you will be asked about your training and preparation for becoming an archivist, your experiences as an archivist, and your relationships with other archivists and librarians.

For the interview, I will ask for your permission to record and transcribe the conversation for the purposes of data analysis. Your initial written responses will also be included in data analysis.

Confidentiality will be maintained throughout the process. The interviews, transcripts, and written responses will be de-identified. During the data analysis process, you will be given the opportunity to review, edit, and offer clarification of the transcripts of your interview.

Participation in this study is voluntary. You may request to leave the study and have any data relating to your participation deleted at any time. The risks involved are no greater than those you would encounter in daily activities. There is no compensation for participating in the study. However, you may find contributing to the larger conversation around graduate archival education fulfilling.

If you are interested in participating, please visit Credentialism in Higher Education: A Case Study of Archival Careers.

For questions about this study, you can call or email the principal investigator, Allison Galloup, at 678-717-3656 or allison.galloup@ung.edu or the faculty advisor, Michael Lanford, at michael.lanford@ung.edu. 

For questions about being a research participant, please contact the chair of the Institutional Review Board (irbchair@ung.edu) or the Research Integrity Officer (research-integrity@ung.edu).

Dear Colleagues,

I’m recruiting academic librarians and archivists to take an online survey about acquiring primary source material on conspiracy theories for research use. Your participation in this research project is completely voluntary. You must be at least 18 years old and be employed at an academic library or a special collections library/archive.

Your participation will take about 20 minutes. You will be asked to complete an online survey on your personal views. More detailed information on the procedures can be found on the survey website.

There are no risks or discomforts related to the study and subjects will not be paid. Possible benefits to the subjects and others include research and publications that can be used by librarians and archivists for decision-making in the workplace. Your alternative to participating in this research study is not to participate.

For questions or more information on this study, contact Kate Stewart, University of Kansas Libraries, at kate.stewart@ku.edu or 785-864-3339. The University of Kansas does not discriminate in any employment practice, education program or educational activity.

To take this survey and learn more about it, click on this link: kusurvey.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0ePquzLVsiJewaa

The survey will be open until April 20th, 2026. Thank you for your time!

Hello,

I am a graduate student in the Library Science Program at East Carolina University, and I am conducting a research study to explore collaborations that occur between community archives and traditional archival institutions. State, academic, and museum archives are increasingly interested in collaborating with community archives to help preserve and manage community archives’ records. There is evidence that community archives and traditional archival institutions manage, use and relate to archival records differently and these differences may affect the relationship dynamics during the collaborations.

I am inviting anyone who is a staff or volunteer of a community archive in the United States that has worked collaboratively with a state, academic, museum or other traditional archival institution to complete a brief survey asking about your experiences during the collaborative project. You must be 18 years of age or older to participate.

The survey will remain open until an adequate number of responses have been collected. Click here for the survey. Thank you for considering to participate in this study. Please direct any questions about the study to Sarah West (wests08@students.ecu.edu). 

Sarah West (she/her/hers)

College of Education, Department of Interdisciplinary Professionals, Library Science Program

East Carolina University