I am conducting a survey regarding the work experience of people with dual roles as archivists and librarians and I was wondering if you would send out the link to your members? I am also open to suggestions for other places to place the call. I am a long-time librarian recently moving into archives so I am very likely oblivious to the best spots to generate some interaction on the archival side.

https://uidaho.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8uo3HsmEwmyQgRv

Thank you for considering this request!

Robert

Robert Perret
He/him/his
Special Collections and Archives, Reference
University of Idaho Library
208-885-6631
rperret@uidaho.edu

A Study into Environmental Sustainability and Archival Practice

I am Georgina Robinson, an Archives and Records Management MA student at University College London currently undertaking dissertation research to explore environmental sustainability within archival practice. My aim is to quantify levels of awareness and action in the UK. This investigation will form the basis of my dissertation and the results may be published as an article to encourage further discussion on this topic.

For the purpose of this study:

• Those involved in archival practice are taken to be anyone (aged 18 or over) whose work involves the care and curation of archives, records or data, e.g. archivists, records managers, conservators or digital curators.
• The practice of environmental sustainability is to ensure that the needs of today’s population are met without jeopardizing the ability of future generations to meet their needs. This is done through responsible interaction with the environment to avoid depletion or degradation of natural resources.

If you are interested, please follow or share this link to the online questionnaire: https://opinio.ucl.ac.uk/s?s=67873

There are 17 questions it total, which should take about 10 minutes to complete. The closing date for responses is the 22^nd June 2020.

If you have any questions please contact me on georgina.robinson.18[at]ucl.ac.uk

Background to this study

In archival discourse, the term ‘sustainability’ has mostly been used in relation to the sustainability of running an archive service. This may seem understandable in a sector where many are subject to financial and practical limitations in their work. This study aims to explore whether costs are ever a contributing or motivating factor in the implementation of environmental sustainability. An example would be the assertion that decreasing energy consumption in an archive will save money and reduce fossil fuel consumption.

Although environmental sustainability has been less frequently explored in archival theory, significant literature exists on how to be a ‘Green’ Archivist[1] or how to build a ‘Green’ Archive.[2]

This project, however, seeks to explore current awareness of our environmental impact and what cultural heritage professionals in the UK are doing about it. Interest in this study has already shown that there is significant concern about the issue of Climate Change and desire to act upon it from within the Archive sector. In part this may have been accelerated by the recent waves of environmental awareness seen over the world with climate strikes and protests.

This is true in US as well as in the UK and Europe. Over the last couple of years, we have seen an increasing level of discussion on this issue from archive professionals in the US. Detailed papers, such as Harvard Library’s Toward Environmentally Sustainable Digital Preservation[3] and Ben Goldman’s It’s Not Easy Being Green(e): Digital Preservation in the Age of Climate Change[4] detail the impact of Digital Preservation and what Archivists can do to alter theory and practices to better reduce their collection’s toll on the environment.

The common theme of these studies is whether we, as archivists, records managers or conservators, have a duty to mitigate the impact of our work on the environment? Do we have any power in the struggle for Climate Justice? Why should we care?

I would like to hear about your experiences, thoughts and opinions on this issue. I am looking for UK based archivists, record managers and conservation professionals who are willing to participate in this study. Any support with this will be greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards,
Georgina Robinson

Department of Information Studies
University College London

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/georgina-robinson-90160bb1

Twitter: @georginarobin

[1] Heidi N. Abbey, The Green Archivist: a primer for adopting affordable, environmentally sustainable, and socially responsible archival management practices,
Archival Issues, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 91-115, 2012

[2] IFLA PAC, Library & Archives Facing the Challenges of Sustainable Development, International Preservation News, No 44, 2008.

[3] Keith L. Pendergrass, Walker Sampson, Tim Walsh, and Laura Alagna, “Toward Environmentally Sustainable Digital Preservation”, The American Archivist 82 (1): 165–206, 2019.

[4] Benjamin Goldman, “It’s Not Easy Being Green(e): Digital Preservation in the Age of Climate Change,” in Archival Values: Essays in Honor of Mark Greene, Society of American Archivists, 2019.

Image from page 141 of “The Canadian field-naturalist” (1919). Cortesy of Internet Archive Book Images.

Dear All, I am currently undertaking a dissertation research about: “Archives and Refugees: An investigation on mainstream and community archives and other projects and their relationship with refugee records”.I compiled a questionnaire and would be happy, if everybody who is working with refugee records or with projects that record the heritage of refugees could take part in my survey. The questionnaire can be found here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd7vv_ecp8jo8f9D1BpdsxVCVr8XhSdXm-fhf9aO0W_95OXCg/viewform?usp=sf_linkI would love to gather as many different responses as possible! Any support with this is massively appreciated.Thank you in advance and stay safe!

Elisa Schlarp

Dear All,

Please consider participating in the following brief survey that seeks to understand the public attitude about information during a public health emergency.

Link to survey: http://sjudlis.com/covid19survey/

This is the final call for participation – the survey closes on Thursday, June 4. Feel free to pass on the survey link to anybody who may be interested in filling this out.

Thank you for considering participation in this research project.

Best,

Rajesh

—

Hello all,

I am currently enrolled at Queens College at the City University of New York where I am finishing my MLS. For my thesis, I am conducting survey research about the range of decolonizing strategies that non-tribal archival institutions adopt across the United States and their respective successes and limitations. I would like to contact as many archivists as possible to participate in the survey.

I am attaching a link to the survey here for anyone that would care to participate! Also if you know of any colleagues that this survey applies to and might want to participate, please feel free to share it. It should take approximately 20-30 minutes to complete and all information will be completely anonymous. Your participation will be greatly appreciated! Feel free to message me if you have any questions.

forms.office.com/Pages/…

Best,
Kuba Pieczarski
Brooklyn NY

Good afternoon,

We hope that everyone is safe and well. We would like to invite you to participate in our research study titled, “Workload in Special Collections public services librarianship: challenges, feelings, and impact.” This study defines public services as reference, instruction, and outreach.

In 2019, the PI and Co-PI conducted a research project entitled on “A content and comparative analysis of job advertisements for Special Collections professionals using ACRL RBMS Guidelines” in order to 1) analyze and compare skilled level public services special collections job advertisements and 2) identify responsibilities that exceeded public services to further the discussion on burnout. The key findings revealed that there was a significant amount of additional work, and the work-work conflict framework is a lens through which we should view this problem (Warren & Scoulas, in press). From the results of the study conducted by Warren and Scoulas, we can conclude that overworked professionals will eventually experience burnout. The current study is designed to follow up on the previous study by conducting a survey of Special Collections librarians who work in academic libraries in the United States.

The goal of this study is 1) to identify duties that exceed position descriptions, 2) to explore how Special Collection librarians, feel about and manage their additional duties and 3) to examine the impact of the additional duties on work/life balance and productivity.

If you are 1) a special collections librarian (rare book librarian, outreach archivist, etc.) in public services in a U.S. academic institution, and 2) a special collections librarian who has had to manage duties outside of your official job description for 3 or more years, you are eligible to participate in this study.

This survey should take you less than 10 minutes to complete. You will be asked questions about your academic background, responsibilities, challenges, and support you receive in performing your daily tasks. Your decision to participate in this study is voluntary and you have the right to terminate your participation at any time. You may skip any questions you do not wish to answer. If you have questions about this project, you may contact the Principal Investigator, Kellee E. Warren, Special Collections Librarian, UIC at kwarre4@uic.edu.

This research has been reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board, which is a committee that works to protect your rights and welfare.  If you have questions or concerns about your rights as a research subject you may contact (anonymously if you wish) the Institutional Review Board at 1-866-789-6215 or uicirb@uic.edu.

Click here to access the survey:

Thank you for participating in our survey. If you would like to enter our lottery for a $25 gift card, please include your contact information at the conclusion of the survey.

Principal Investigator:

Kellee Warren, MLIS

Assistant Professor and Special Collections Librarian

University of Illinois at Chicago, University Library

kwarre4@uic.edu

 

Co-Investigator:Jung Mi Scoulas, PhD

Clinical Assistant Professor and Assessment Coordinator

University of Illinois at Chicago, University Library

 

Research Protocol: # 2020-0365

Dear All,
As part of a research project for the Management of Archives and Special Collections course at Pratt Institute School of Information, I am conducting a survey on web and PDF accessibility considerations in Archives and Special Collections.

Web Accessibility Survey 
Submissions will be anonymous. The survey is 9 questions and will take about 10 minutes.

If you are able and willing, please complete the survey by Monday, April 27th.
Thanks in advance for your participation, please reach out if you have any questions (hwang63@pratt.edu)

Be well,
Hilary
——————————
—
Hilary Wang |
MSLIS Graduate Student
(She/her/hers)
PRATT INSTITUTE
hwang63@pratt.edu

Hello all,

You are invited to take a brief survey as part of my research study designed to learn more about the uses of web archives in scholarly research:

https://forms.gle/r4PRi5eCXxGTKyDo7

Participation in this study is voluntary, and will involve 10-15 minutes to complete the survey with questions about your familiarity with, current/potential uses of, and obstacles to using web archives in research. Whether or not you’ve ever used a web archive, your participation is welcome.

There are no known risks associated with your participation in this research beyond those of everyday life. Although you will receive no direct benefits, this research may help the investigator (Mary Bakija, Pratt Institute School of Information/New York Art Resources Consortium (NYARC) Web Archiving Fellow) understand the current and/or potential uses of web archives in research.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Thank you,
Mary

——————————
Mary Bakija
MSLIS Candidate, Pratt Institute School of Information
NYARC Web Archiving Fellow
mbakija@pratt.edu
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