SAA Privacy & Confidentiality section is hosting a panel Q&A exploring managing access restrictions in archives. Open to anyone, even non-SAA members, this panel is adapted from a session at Archives*Records 2024 for those who couldn’t join. 

A key tenet of archival work is providing access to the records we manage. Yet this is not always a straightforward process. This panel will ask archivists at York University, University of Colorado Boulder, and Minnesota Historical Society to discuss navigating legacy access restrictions, including the process of undertaking an institutional review of access restrictions and lessons learned, the digital repatriation of records, reimagining the role of record subjects in determining access to culturally sensitive records, and how to enact best practices for future acquisitions. There will be planned questions from a panel moderator followed by an opportunity with Q&A on the topic of managing access and access restrictions from the panelists.

Event will be on November 20th at 12:30pm Eastern time. Please register in advance to receive the zoom information. 

Panelists: 

Jennifer Grant is an archivist at the Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections, part of York University Libraries. In this role, she works collaboratively in a small team to manage the university's private and institutional archival records, both digital and analog. She previously worked as an assistant archivist in the Corporate Records and Archives department of the Law Society of Ontario. Jennifer's current research is focused on labour issues in academic archives. 

Her case study uses three examples that illustrate problematic legacy decision-making about access restrictions on private records in a university archives, this talk will examine strategies for mitigating negative impacts, including workarounds and other solutions, and discuss new and better ways forward to manage access restrictions.

Kate Hujda is the Curator of Manuscripts at the Minnesota Historical Society, one of the largest regional historical societies in the United States. As Curator, Hujda acquires collections and works collaboratively across the institution and within communities to ensure public access and use. Her graduate degree is in music history, and she has worked with a number of artists and arts organizations as an archivist, historian, and curator. 

Her case study will reflect on an ethnography collection with a problematic use restriction and efforts to remove barriers to access and use for the native communities documented in the collection.

Ashlyn Velte is the Senior Processing Archivist at University of Colorado Boulder Libraries. She is responsible for project and collection management, processing, and student supervision. Her research has focused on digital preservation and ethical access to archival collections. 

Her case study will focus on a practical model for tracking collections for access restrictions review for collections with PPII, cultural sensitivity, health data, and classified information. 

Please share widely with your contacts! If you would like an anonymous question of the panelists in advance pleaseuse this form. “