News & announcements

Hello!

My name is Rosemary K. J. Davis and I’m the Accessioning Archivist at Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. I’m collaborating with Meaghan O’Riordan, Accessioning Archivist at Emory’s Rose Library, on a long-term research project focused on archival accessioning. We’re interested in making accessioning work more visible in every way, primarily by illuminating the sorts of labor and relationships required in order to steward archival collections during the initial phases of acquisition and accessioning. We want to ground our research in the firsthand experiences of people directly involved in this work.

To that end, we have crafted a survey that collects information and experiences related to the intellectual, emotional, and physical labors involved in archival accessioning.

https://yalesurvey.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0Vza9JzfyNvQSZ7 

Developing a better understanding of how repositories define and navigate accessioning is crucial to performing special collections stewardship that is rooted in transparency and mutual trust between all parties, and ultimately results in richer archival description, faster processing of materials, and greater access for researchers. What’s more, raising the visibility of individuals performing accessioning work will hopefully contribute to the creation of an empathetic and engaged community of practice, while also making this work's value more readily apparent throughout archival profession.

This survey will be open through December 20, 2019.

We encourage you to give yourself plenty of time to give specific and thoughtful answers. We’re interested in collecting information about the nuts and bolts of accessioning work, but we also want to hear about how this work is valued, how individuals navigate the complexities involved in their work, and how a more supportive community of practice might emerge.

Thank you all for your time and feel free to reach out to us with questions: accessioningresearch@gmail.com. 

All best,

Rosemary K. J. Davis

Accessioning Archivist

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University

Meaghan O’Riordan

Accessioning Archivist

Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library

Northwest Archivists, Inc. is pleased to announce the opening of the Archivist-in-Residence application! Please read on for more information about this important pilot program and for links to residency criteria and application.

Problem: Unpaid internships have become a problem in our profession. They serve as a barrier to entry into our field, especially along the lines of race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, and class, contributing to an imbalance in our profession. Unless an individual is willing and able to work without compensation, they are deemed unqualified for even entry level work in the field. 

Second Problem: Many institutions in the Pacific NW rely on internships to complete project work. While some do have the resources to fund internships, many others do not. Many archival programs would like to invest in the next generation of professionals through training programs and internships but are severely limited by their budgets.  

Solution: NWA will set the example for how we can combat unethical practices, support interns, and assist under-resourced institutions though the Archivist-in-Residence program.

Northwest Archivists, Inc. is offering a $5,000 stipend for one graduate student (or recent graduate within two years) to receive an Archivist-in-Residence opportunity. The purpose of this residency is two-fold:  1. To offer upcoming and new professionals with paid career development opportunities to apply knowledge in archives, libraries, museums, or a related field; and 2. 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 during the summer months.The resident will receive a one-year complimentary membership to Northwest Archivists.

This is a unique experience for a new professional to develop a project based on their goals and skills and work directly with an organization to determine the project’s scope, goals, and outcomes. The Archivist-in-Residence will be managed by an on-site supervisor assigned by the host organization, though the resident may interact and work under the temporary direction of a number of other employees depending on the scope of the project.

Please read the Archivist-in-Residence criteria document for more information on resident, host organization, and proposed project requirements. More program details can be found here and application here.

The NWA Paid Internship Committee would like to thank NWA membership and our Gold-level sponsors for their support of the Archivist-in-Residence program.

NWA Member Publishes Copyright Article!

Oregon Historical Society's Dana Miller (Collections Management Librarian) and University of Nevada, Reno's Teresa Auch Schultz co-wrote an article for the Journal of Copyright in Education and Librarianship titled "Academic Special Collections and the Myths of Copyright". Dana and Teresa (and some excellent panelists) presented on this topic at SAA in Austin. Access the article via https://www.jcel-pub.org/jcel/issue/view/1501.

Montana Historical Society Photograph Archivist – Closes November 24, 2019

Photograph Archivist

Montana Historical Society

Helena, MT

$31,312.00 - $35,360.00  Annually

This is a full-time, permanent position to arrange, preserve, describe, catalog and provide access to the still and moving image collections at the MHS Research Center.  The Photograph Archivist is responsible for evaluating, arranging, describing, and providing access to a wide variety of still and moving images, responding to inquiries about the materials in the Photograph Archives’ collection, and is responsible for the care of existing collections and the assessment and acquisition of new collections.

Education/Experience:  This position requires skills and abilities typically acquired through a Bachelor's degree in history, American studies, or a related field and the completion of a Master's degree in Library Science, history, photograph or moving image preservation or a related field.

Please visit this website for a full description of the position and to apply.

Contact:  Molly Kruckenberg, MHS Research Center Manager, mkruckenberg@mt.gov. 

Editing as Activism: Edit-A-Thon to Correct Systemic Bias in Wikipedia

Date: Saturday, November 2, 2019

Time: 9 AM-1 PM

Location: University of Washington Libraries Research Commons, Allen Library South

RSVP form: bit.ly/2nZQL9f 

Facebook event: bit.ly/30FdS6h 

• Help address the systematic biases relating to gender, race, and social class that lead to underrepresentation of topics, people, and organizations on Wikipedia! 
• Editors of all levels of experience welcome! 
• Edit and create pages that improve Wikipedia's coverage of historically marginalized communities with an emphasis on labor history found in the Labor Archives of Washington. 
• Novice editors encouraged to attend an advance online tutorial that will be available to registrants. Support for beginners will be available onsite! 
• For experts, we will also have specialized help for working with Wikidata.
• Bring your laptops and power cords. A limited number of laptops will be available for loan. 
• We will share a list of books, articles, and archival finding aids to edit with or editors can bring their own. A list of suggested entries and archival collections to add will be provided. We will help teach new editors how to edit at this workshop! 
• All are welcome; this event is geared towards University of Washington student, faculty, and community members. 
• Light refreshments will be served.

Special Collections Friends and Family Open House

When: Wednesday October 23^rd, 5:30-7:30

Where: University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections Reading Room (Allen Library South Basement)

What: Join us for a unique opportunity to visit Special Collections at the University of Washington Libraries at an Open House in honor of October's National Archives Month! Learn about some of the major collecting areas in Special Collections, see a selection of unique and rare materials up close, meet librarians and archival staff, take a tour of the current exhibit, and get a behind-the-scenes look at how archives work. Light snacks will be provided and kids are welcome to attend!  

More information here.

Thomas Internship in Archival Processing

University of Oregon Libraries

Special Collections and University Archives

12-20 hrs/wk at $16/hr.

Link to application portal: https://library.uoregon.edu/admnpers/thomasintern

The University of Oregon Special Collections and University Archives is offering a paid internship to graduate students currently enrolled in a Library and Information Science or Public History program.

The Special Collections and University Archives at the University of Oregon is the largest historical repository in the State of Oregon. The collections include over 200,000 monographs, 21,000 linear feet of personal papers and organizational records, 19,000 linear feet of University Archives, 400,000 photographs, 5,000 architectural drawings, 5,000 original drawings and illustrations, and over 20,000 broadsides, pamphlets, autographs, and pieces of ephemera. Among the most notable holdings are the Ken Kesey papers, Abigail Scott Duniway papers, Senator Wayne Morse papers, Paul Wiener papers, James Ivory papers, Ursula Le Guin papers, Doris Ulmann photographs, works by authors and illustrators of children's literature, and the Major Lee Moorhouse photographs of Native Americans. The rare book collection contains the earliest titles printed in Oregon, modern fine press publications, Asian art books collected by Gertrude Bass Warner, pulp fiction and magazines, miniature books, Victorian-era English literature and historical novels, and a children’s literature collection.

The Thomas Intern will serve an instrumental role in increasing the accessibility of Special Collections and University Archives holdings related to the history of journalism and publishing in the Pacific Northwest. Under the supervision of the Lead Processing Archivist, the intern will be assigned a minimum of three collections of increasing size and complexity over the course of the internship period. The project will culminate in the intern independently managing a midsize processing project. They will be responsible for processing archival collections in a variety of formats using professional standards and best practices, including “More Product, Less Process” processing techniques. The Thomas Intern will become familiar with standard workflows related to all operations of Special Collections and University Archives technical services work, particularly processing and circulation.

This individual will learn to utilize ArchivesSpace and Oxygen XML Editor to create online DACS compliant, EAD finding aids. The intern will also become familiar SCUA workflows for ExLibris Alma/Primo, and learn to edit records to prepare processed collections for circulation to patrons.

Technical services duties will include:

• Surveying, inventorying, and researching collections before processing

• Physical rehousing and basic preservation of collection materials

• Physical and intellectual arrangement of collection material

• Metadata remediation and creation in ArchivesSpace, including the creation of accession records, resource records, and descriptive finding aids

• Editing EAD finding aids using Oxygen XML Editor and uploading them to Archives West

• Barcoding collections, and editing records in ExLibris Alma/Primo to prepare materials for circulation

• Other duties as assigned

The Thomas Intern will also be required to provide reference services in the Special Collections and University Archives reading room two hours a week, and may serve additional public services hours on the registration desk as needed.

Hours and Salary Range: This position is part-time, temporary (for the duration of enrollment, plus a quarter past graduation) averaging 12-20 hours per week. Graduate Student Interns may work full-time if not enrolled in course work during an interim summer session or quarter past grad. $16.00 hourly, with sick time. This position is not benefits eligible.

Qualifications:

• Current enrollment in an ALA accredited graduate program for Library and Information Science or Public History masters or PhD program

• Specific degree emphasis on archives management or strong interest in the archival profession

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills

• Ability to progress toward goals in an environment with many competing priorities and projects

• Strong computer skills and a willingness to learn new applications and programs

• Strong attention to detail

• Ability to work independently or in groups

How to Apply:

To be eligible, students must be enrolled in a graduate program for the upcoming term of appointment for a minimum of 9 graduate credit hours toward the degree throughout the term.

Please submit by mail or email a cover letter and resume to:

Alexandra Bisio

Special Collections & University Archives

University of Oregon Libraries

1501 Kincaid Street

Eugene, OR 97403-1299

bisio@uoregon.edu

Free | registration: http://bit.ly/2mL6cAS

RIGHTS & RECORDS

WEBINAR SERIES

October 14, 2019

2:00pm CDT

This year as part of Indigenous Peoples' Day, join the National Native American Boarding School (NABS) Healing Coalition at 2pm Central Time for the webinar "Digital Access to Dispersed Records: A Look at Native American Boarding School Records," sponsored by the SAA Native American Archivists and Human Rights Archives Sections! This live webcast will discuss NABS’s initiative to identify and collect nationally dispersed Native American boarding school records discovered in various institutions including libraries, state/federal archives, universities, and colleges, and how to implement digital access to these vital records.

Digital Access to Dispersed Records:

A Look at Native American Boarding School Records

Guest Presenters

Christine Diindiisi McCleave, enrolled citizen of Turtle Mountain Ojibwe Nation & Executive Director of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition

Dr. Rose Miron, Director of the D’Arcy McNickle Center for American Indian and Indigenous Studies at the Newberry Library in Chicago a collaboration between Human Rights Archives & Native American Archives Sections of the Society of American Archivist and the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition

Hello All! 

Happy Archives Month!

We wanted to let you know we are trying something new to celebrate Archives Month this year. We are hosting an art contest called PDX ReMIX. It started on 9/16 and will close on 10/15. We would love help getting the word out to everyone, including your creative friends, co-workers, neighbors, family, students, etc. 

What it is: 

We’ve got the photos; you have the imagination. We want you to create something new out of something old, and we encourage you to have some fun with it.  There are 12 historical photos to work with and you can use as many of the images as you want into your art.

How it works:

Anyone can participate, including students. To start your artwork, you choose from 12 preselected photos from our historical collections (available in Efiles)  The work can be almost* anything - redaction poetry, GIFs, collages, coloring pages, creative writing, memes, or other creative interventions. Its art, so get creative! Each person can submit up to 3 works based on those pre-selected images.

A panel of local judges will select winners based on creativity and originality of the entry. Prizes will be awarded for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places for both adult and youth categories. There is also a People’s Choice award.

Go to the submission page for more details and a link to the pre-selected images.

Timing

Contest Opens – Monday, September 16th (8 AM)

Contest Closes – Tuesday, October 15th (5PM)

Judging – Wednesday, October 16th to October, Wednesday October 30th

Results Announced – Thursday, October 31st

Mary Hansen
Reference Archivist

She/Her/Hers
City of Portland Archives & Records Center
503.865.4103
http://www.portlandoregon.gov/archives
efiles.portlandoregon.gov

twitter: @PDXArchives

Heather Wolfe, Curator of Manuscripts at the Folger Shakespeare Library, will present "Special Collections as Humanities and Science Lab:  Getting Students Excited about Primary Sources"

Heather Wolfe is Curator of Manuscripts at the Folger Shakespeare Library. She received an MLIS from UCLA and a PhD from the University of Cambridge. She is currently principal investigator of Early Modern Manuscripts Online (emmo.folger.edu), co-principal investigator of Shakespeare’s World (shakespearesworld.org), curator of Shakespeare Documented (shakespearedocumented.org) and is co-director of the multi-year, $1.5 million research project Before 'Farm to Table': Early Modern Foodways and Cultures, a Mellon initiative in collaborative research at the Folger Institute of the Folger Shakespeare Library. Her first book, Elizabeth Cary, Lady Falkland: Life and Letters (2000) received the Josephine Roberts Scholarly Edition Award from the Society for the Study of Early Modern Women. She has written widely on the intersections between manuscript and print culture in early modern England, and also edited The Trevelyon Miscellany of 1608 (2007), The Literary Career and Legacy of Elizabeth Cary (2007), and, with Alan Stewart, Letterwriting in Renaissance England (2004). Her most recent research explores the social circulation of writing paper and blank books. Her essay “The Material Culture of Record-Keeping in Early Modern England,” co-written with Peter Stallybrass, received the 2019 Archival History Article Award from the Society of American Archivists.  

A reception will follow the lecture.  For parking and transportation information, please see https://www.lclark.edu/visit/directions/

Sincerely,

Elaine Hirsch

Associate Director

Watzek Library

Lewis & Clark