News & announcements

Northwest Archivists, Inc. is offering a $6,000 stipend for one graduate student (or recent graduate) to receive an Archivist-in-Residence opportunity. The purpose of this residency is three-fold: 1. To offer upcoming and new professionals with paid career development opportunities to apply knowledge in archives, libraries, museums, or a related field; 2. To teach new archivists how to accurately calculate the value of their education, experience, and overall value as an archivist; and 3. To provide an opportunity for archival organizations to work toward the long term goal of eliminating unpaid work within the field. The residency may last up to 12 weeks to be completed by the end of the current calendar year. The resident will receive a one-year complimentary membership to Northwest Archivists. 

For more information and to apply: http://northwestarchivists.org/archivistinresidence/

The NWA Paid Internship Committee would like to thank NWA membership and our Platinum-level sponsors: Shellinger Research and Rachael Cristine Consulting; and our Gold-level sponsors: Hollinger Metal Edge, Lucidea, Permanent.org, and Atlas Systems! We would also like to thank our Bronze-level sponsor: Northeast Document Conservation Center.

Thank you,

The NWA Paid Internship Exploratory Committee
Rachael Cristine Woody, Rachael Cristine Consulting LLC (Chair, Oregon)
Laura Cray, Oregon Historical Society (Oregon)
Sara Piasecki, National Park Service (Alaska)
Rachel Thomas, George Fox University (Oregon)
Kathryn Kramer, K.M. Kramer Consulting (Montana)
Erin Passehl Stoddart, Michigan State University Libraries (Michigan)

Northwest Archivists is excited to share that the #ACENSUSII #ArchivesAdminSurvey is now live!! This is a select nationwide survey of senior archives administrators. It aims to gather information about institutional characteristics, resources, strategic directions, and diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) from every archival institution in the US.

You should take this survey if you can respond to questions about staffing, budgets and allocation of resources, organizational strategy, changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and DEIA issues. If not, please forward this link, https://surveys.ithaka.org/jfe/form/SV_51lOc8RUMhKPsHA?Source=NWA, to the person in your institution who can best respond to these questions.

A*CENSUS II findings will be shared widely with the profession, and the more people who participate, the stronger the data and resulting action will be. Your story. Our future.

The Archives Administrators Survey is funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (https://www.facebook.com/USIMLS/) and was collaboratively developed by the Society of American Archivists (https://www.facebook.com/archivists/), Ithaka S+R (https://sr.ithaka.org/), and the A*CENSUS II working group.

You do not need to be a member of SAA to participate. The survey will take about 30 minutes to complete; however, you may save and return to your response before submitting.: https://surveys.ithaka.org/jfe/form/SV_51lOc8RUMhKPsHA?Source=NWA

If you have questions about the survey or require technical assistance, please contact Ithaka S+R by sending an email to surveys@ithaka.org.

The survey will be open Monday February 28 - April 8.

Book review opportunity for the Journal of Western Archives!

This announcement initially went out on 2/15. The books will be distributed on a first come first serve basis.

The Journal of Western Archives has the following books for review:

Advancing Preservation for Archives and Manuscripts by Elizabeth Joffrion and Michele V. Cloonan

Engagement in the Digital Era edited by Nicole J. Milano and Christopher J. Prom

“All Shook Up”: The Archival Legacy of Terry Cook edited by Tom Nesmith, Greg Bak, and Joan M. Schwartz

Defining A Discipline: Archival Research and Practice in the Twenty-First Century: Essays in Honor of Richard J. Cox edited by Jeannette A. Bastian and Elizabeth Yakel

Making Your Tools Work for You: Building and Maintaining an Integrated Technical Ecosystem for Digital Archives and Libraries by Max Eckard

Archival Accessioning edited by Audra Eagle Yun

If you are interested in reviewing one of these books, please contact Gordon Daines at gordon_daines@byu.edu.

Gordon Daines

Director and Book Review Editor, Journal of Western Archives

A gentle reminder that this survey will be closed after March 15. We really value your input in this process. -Robert

Hello,

We are looking at options for the 2023 NWA conference and may be considering sites other than Alaska next year, due to the high cost of deposits to ensure a conference site and the continuing uncertainty around travel. We would like to hear from you before we make any big decisions. 

Please respond to our survey here.

We are also hoping to get more people engaged with the conference planning process, for this and future conferences. This survey is a great hopping on point if you would like to become more involved with this part of NWA. We appreciate your feedback and welcome you to join our future conference commmittees. Please feel free to contact us with any questions!

Robert Perret

Vice-President NWA

The Best Practices Exchange (BPE) Program Committee invites submissions of session proposals for the 2022 conference to be held at the Tennessee State Library and Archives, in Nashville, Tennessee, on Monday, September 26 - Wednesday, September 28, 2022.

Learn more and apply here: https://forms.gle/i3mgbM2H292bnScV7

Deadline for proposals is Friday, April 29, 2022 (midnight CST).

https://bpexchange.wordpress.com/

“SAA stands with Don’t Shoot PDX, an arts and education organization that promotes social justice and civic participation in Portland, Oregon, in its campaign to reclaim the Albina Arts Center as a resource for the Black community. SAA advocates for archives—including community archives—in the preservation and access of records of enduring value. SAA encourages Don’t Shoot PDX to use its voice to continue the legacy of community-driven archives, arts, and education in the Black neighborhoods of North and Northeast Portland." 

SAA's full statement can be found here. Please read Don't Shoot PDX's full campaign here. 

Please help us plan next year's NWA conference by taking this short survey!

We are looking at options for the 2023 NWA conference and may be considering sites other than Alaska next year, due to the high cost of deposits to ensure a conference site and the continuing uncertainty around travel. We would like to hear from you before we make any big decisions.

Please respond to our survey here: https://docs.google.com/.../1FAIpQLSeaqsf6YxjC5e.../viewform

We are also hoping to get more people engaged with the conference planning process, for this and future conferences. This survey is a great hopping on point if you would like to become more involved with this part of NWA. We appreciate your feedback and welcome you to join our future conference committees. Please feel free to contact us with any questions!

The Society of American Archivists’ subcommittees for Awards for Excellence: Contributions to the Archives Profession invite nominations for their 2022 awards. Brief descriptions are provided below. Click on the links for additional information about the criteria and process for each award. 

If you have nominated a project or person who was not selected for an award in a recent cycle, and you feel their work is still timely and relevant, we encourage you to resubmit the nomination.

Distinguished Service Award: Recognizes an archival institution, education program, nonprofit organization, or government organization that has provided outstanding service to its public and has made an exemplary contribution to the archives profession.

Eligibility: Any archival institution, archival organization, records center, or manuscript repository, archival education program, or nonprofit or government organization providing service or support to the archives community in North America.

nomination form

Sister M. Claude Lane, O.P., Memorial Award: Recognizes an individual who has made a significant contribution to the field of religious archives.

Eligibility: individual archivists only.

nomination form

Spotlight Award: Recognizes the contributions of individuals who work for the good of the archives profession and of archival collections, and whose work would not typically receive public recognition.

Eligibility: An individual archivist or a group of up to five archivists who have collaborated on a project. Preference is given to archivists working in smaller repositories, especially those without institutional support for professional activities.

nomination form

Diversity Award: Recognizes an individual, group, or institution for outstanding contributions in advancing diversity within the archives profession, SAA, or the archival record. Nominees will have demonstrated significant achievement in the form of activism, education, outreach, publication, service, or other initiatives in the archives field. The award is given based on the long-term impact on improving and promoting diversity as defined in the SAA Statement on Diversity and Inclusion.

Eligibility: An individual, group, or organization.

nomination form

Archival Innovator Award: Recognizes an archivist, a group of archivists, a repository, or an organization that demonstrates the greatest overall current impact on the profession or their communities.

Eligibility: The work should be undertaken within the past three years—it need not be completed, but it must be sufficiently advanced to demonstrate results.

nomination form

Mark A. Greene Emerging Leader Award: Celebrates and encourages early-career archivists who have completed archival work of broad merit, demonstrated significant promise of leadership, and/or performed commendable service to the archives profession. The award is given based on the total experience of the awardee, including knowledge, leadership, participation, and/or achievements in the profession.

Eligibility: Nominees must be SAA members with more than two years and less than ten years of professional archives experience.

nomination form

Deadline: February 28, 2022

The application period for SAA's 2020 Josephine Forman Scholarship is now open!

The purpose of the Josephine Forman Scholarship is to provide financial support to minority students pursuing graduate education in archival science, to encourage students to pursue a career as an archivist, and to promote the diversification of the American archives profession. The scholarship is given to applicants who demonstrate excellent potential for scholastic and personal achievement and who manifest a commitment both to the archives profession and to advancing diversity concerns within it.

The recipient of the award will receive a scholarship of $10,000. Awardees also may be invited to attend the annual meeting of the General Commission on Archives and History and/or the Quadrennial Historical Convocation, with funding provided by GCAH. Also included is complimentary registration to the SAA Annual Meeting in the year in which the scholarship is received.

Eligibility:

• The applicant must be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States.
• The applicant must be of American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, or Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander descent.
• The applicant must be currently enrolled in a graduate program or a multi-course program in archival administration or have applied to such a program for the next academic year.
• The applicant shall have completed no more than half of the credit requirements toward her/his graduate degree at the time of the award (i.e., June 1).
• The applicant must be enrolled in a graduate program and begin school no later than September 1 or the fall semester/quarter immediately following the award. 
• Applicants may have full-time or part-time status. 

For more details and application information please visit: http://www2.archivists.org/governance/handbook/section12-forman

The deadline to apply is February 28, 2021.

Thank you to everyone who has already submitted a proposal! As we start to look at them and put a schedule together, the Programming Committee just wanted to give everyone one last chance to participate. Hey, we get it, deadlines sneak up on us or calendar reminders pop up too late, or maybe you've had great idea for a second session. Now you have until Friday February 11th to submit your proposal!

If you need a refresher on the details, it is below. If you have any questions about the format or process, feel free to email me, Amy Thompson, at amyjo@uidaho.edu. For everyone who has already submitted or plans to now, we will reach out to you to confirm by Friday, February 18.

The 2022 Northwest Archivists Annual Meeting will be held online May 2-6, 2022

DEADLINE for submission is extended to Friday, February 11.

Submit your proposal using this online submission form: https://docs.google.com/.../1FAIpQLSeTU7G9h9OaHB.../viewform

Theme: Not to be Forgotten: the resiliency and sustainability of archives to preserve untold stories

Keynote Speaker: tbd

In looking back at 2020 and 2021, it becomes clearer than ever that we need to continue our efforts to collect and protect the complete historical record. The 2022 Program Committee seeks session, paper, and poster proposals on all aspects of archival practice, theory, and research in support of the theme Not to be Forgotten: the resiliency and sustainability of archives to preserve untold stories. Relevant topics could include building community connections or overcoming societal, economic, or environmental changes or barriers, and we are particularly interested on proposals connected to the theme that feature:

- Collaboration and community-building

- Response to environmental changes or disaster mitigation

- Outreach and engagement

- Accessibility

- Education and mentorship

- Advocacy

- Diversity

- Collection preservation or management

- Innovation in archival stewardship

We welcome proposals from anyone involved in archives or information professions: archival employees or volunteers, community organizers, historians, records managers, researchers, creators and donors, museum or historical society employees or volunteers, cultural heritage employees or volunteers, or academics. We especially encourage BIPOC and members from traditionally marginalized communities to share your perspectives with us. Presenters do not need to be members of NWA, but must be registered for the conference.

The 2022 conference will once again be fully online, May 2nd – 6th. We encourage fully synchronous (live) sessions in any of the following formats:

- Traditional: An open session with 2-3 papers of about 15 minutes each and a comment and discussion period after the papers. Papers submitted by individuals will be grouped by theme where possible.

- Panel Discussion: An open session with a panel of 3-4 individuals informally discussing a variety of theories or perspectives on the given topic.

- Virtual Poster Session: Focused visual and textual presentation on applied archival research, technology, or process as case study. Participation guidelines forthcoming.

- Moderated Round table: An open discussion anchored by brief, 5-7 minute presentations. Active participation encouraged.

- Lightning Talks: A fast-paced open session with many concise presentations delivered under a tight time limit.

- Moderated Breakout Rooms: Small discussion rooms of 3-4 individuals based on a shared topic or reading.

- Tours: In order to support camaraderie in an online environment, short (around 5 minutes) pre-recorded tours of participants' archival facilities or spaces will also be accepted in addition to session ideas above.

Live Q&A will accompany each session. Live sessions will not be recorded for post-conference viewing. Registration costs are

- Members $50

- Non-members $100

- Student/hardship $25

Deadline for submission is January 28, 2022. Want to connect with others to share ideas or collaborate on a session? You can do so here!

Please contact Amy Thompson, Program Committee Chair, with any questions or concerns.