Hive Mind #2 – Spring Cleaning recap

This post comes courtesy of Steering Committee member Holly Rose McGee. Other members currently on the I&A Steering Committee include: Danielle Simpkins, Burkely Hermann, Caitlin Rizzo, Sheridan Sayles, Liz Call, and Claire Gordon.

It’s April and spring cleaning is top of mind, both in our homes and perhaps in our collections. The Hive Mind gathered in mid-April to discuss Deaccessioning and Reappraisal. The conversation was led by SAA Issues & Advocacy Vice Chair Liz Call and Steering Committee member Sheridan Sayles. Our two main conversation points were “Successful strategies for building Reappraisal and Deaccessioning workflows” and “Advocacy around deaccessioning, both internally and externally, and success stories.” It was another great meeting of minds and transfer of ideas and experiences, and there were requests for the resources mentioned by the group. I have tried to condense the main takeaways and shared links in this post. Please feel free to add to the conversation in the comments below.

Challenges:

• Wanting to deaccession something that was actively acquired by previous staff but no longer fits the collection. Especially tricky if it is from a donor and wasn’t a purchased acquisition.
• When co-workers give pushback and are not onboard with deaccessioning or reappraisal.
• In state institutions, accessioned items become State property. Makes deaccessioning more complex.
• Tracking down heirs of donors, if the original donor is deceased or no longer accessible.
• People dumpster diving and re-donating items or questioning the repository on why the item was thrown away

Tools and things that help:

• Language for accessioning something found in the collection but that has no paper trail within the Archives: FIC – “Found In Collection”
• Having a collection policy
• Reviewing incompletely processed collections (can help weed collections that are out of scope, and a fully processed collection may free up shelf space)

Disposal: A challenge that has its own problems. Here are some helpful ways to work with it.

• In the case of books, even rare books, start with a WorldCat search, just to see what’s out there in libraries.
• Also check free, digitized repositories online such as Hathi, Google, the Internet Archive, and the Getty Portal.
• Reach out to other departments within your institution: perhaps it doesn’t fit your collection policy but might be of use elsewhere. For instance, weeded books from circulation might be of interest to the Rare Books department. Or published books in an archival collection could be passed to Circulation.
• Research if other institutions hold the copyright and therefore have it in their collection so you can let yours go (example: VHS tapes of Riverdance held by an archive not associated with the creation of it.)
• Reach out to other institutions who might have an interest in the material you are deaccessioning. Keep copies of the “reach out” communications in the control files, which should also include the final disposition of the item.
• Some larger institutions have a department that handles destruction/disposal that you can contact before taking any action yourself.
• Stamp things like books with a WITHDRAWN stamp, even before disposing.
• Document the item being deaccessioned. Might want to take a digital photo or scan of the item to keep in the control files.
• Some institutions are permitted to put their deaccessioned rare books up for bid, provided that they don’t have any institutional markings in them.
• Disposal specifically of plaques:
  • Cover them with googly eyes and duct tape to avoid people fishing them out of the garbage and re-donating them
  • Disassemble, send metal pieces to a metal recycling facility, give wood to people who can reuse it.
  • Someone found a local trophy shop that would recycle and reuse old plaques

Good practices:

• Use the SAA Guidelines for Reappraisal and Deaccessioning. Elizabeth Russell of the SAA Technical Subcommittee on Reappraisal and Deaccessioning joined the conversation and said that committee is responsible for maintaining the guidelines and making revisions as needed. She said that if you use the guidelines during a project, to please feel free to contact the committee members with feedback.
• Go to your administration for support with reappraisal and deaccessioning.
• Revisit or create the Collection Development Policy: Include the things you don’t accept, so donors won’t be surprised when these things are deaccessioned/returned to them, especially plaques.
• Work interdepartmentally on guidelines for the repository, so that everyone is on the same page.
• Be clear and transparent in the Deed of Gift and make it a topic of discussion with the donor. Make sure donors understand this before the transaction is complete. Include an option where if the institution decides not to keep something, the donor can choose to have it returned or discarded. Also include in the language that if no living donors or heirs are reached or in the absence of a deed of gift agreement, that the archivist will use their best professional judgement to deaccession appropriately.
• When returning an item to a donor, make it a certified letter with return receipt.

Feelings:

• Overwhelm!
• The politics of trashcans in academic campuses
• PLAQUES! We could probably do an entire session on them.
• New motto (courtesy of Liz Call): I am not a dusty closet!

Links!

Resources:

https://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/GuidelinesForReappraisalDeaccessioning_2017.pdf

https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538116005/Reappraisal-and-Deaccessioning-in-Archives-and-Special-Collections

https://cdn.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/Deaccessioning-and-disposal-guide.pdf

https://rbml.acrl.org/index.php/rbml/article/viewFile/138/138

 

Further topical reading:

https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/whitney-museum-american-art-edward-hopper-deaccession-1234664840/

https://www.semshred.com/data-destruction-and-the-environment/

 

Free digitized collections online:

https://www.hathitrust.org/

https://books.google.com/

https://archive.org/

https://portal.getty.edu/

 

It was a fabulous discussion, and we had a great turn-out, from people well-versed in deaccessioning to those who have never even considered it. Participants ranged from students to Lone Arrangers to archivists within sprawling institutions and corporate repositories. At the end of the meeting, we discussed the possibility of a theme for the next Hive Mind meet-up: the environmental impact of Digital Archives as well as that of deaccessioning both physical and digital collections. For example, magnetic tapes can be recycled for base elements but there is no repurposing use for CD-ROMs. Interested? Join us for the next Hive Mind!

April 26, 2023May 12, 2024 by issuesandadvocacy Categories: Hive Mind, News from I&ATags: academia, appraisal, books, compact disks, deaccessioning, deeds of gift, donations, donors, dumpsters, environmental degradation, environmental sustainability, Googlization, government property, HathiTrust, Internet Archive, lone arrangers, magnetic tapes, reappraisal, videotapes, WorldCat 1 Comment

Steering Shares: Centering BIPOC Voices

Steering Shares are an opportunity to find out more about the I&A Steering Committee. This post comes courtesy of the past-chair of the I&A committee, Courtney Dean, the head of the Center for Primary Research and Training in UCLA Library Special Collections.

Following the deluge of organizational statements issued in support of racial justice (see this excellent list compiled by Project STAND), many archival institutions are rushing to embark upon antiracist work including description or redescripiton projects and new collecting efforts. While it’s extremely heartening to see mainstream institutions finally reconsider the treatment of BIPOC materials, staff, and communities we serve, rather than repeatedly issuing hollow commitments to EDI, I can’t help but think of a comment made during the recent Workplace Racial Equity Symposium: this urgency is in and of itself a product of white supremacy. So then, how do we ensure that we’re not simply dashing off bespoke projects that appease administrators but do little to enact lasting systemic change? Perhaps we should start by doing our homework.

The inimitable Dorthy Berry recently tweeted, “A new rule for archivists/librarians: before you ask anyone else about how to curate/describe/interpret historical materials related to African American history or racism, first you have to read even a single article about the genre/topic at hand.” I would add to this, take a look around your own institution before scrambling to acquire new collections. What voices and stories may be hidden in your holdings, silenced or erased through past descriptive practices, or lingering in your backlog? What reparative relationships with donors and communities can be made? 

When looking outside your own institution, consider who has been doing this work, probably unrecognized, and most likely unpaid, for years. Does your well-resourced institution really need to complete with existing community archives or reinvent the wheel when it comes to community-centered description? Are there ways to support this work that doesn’t include “hoovering up” materials? Can community members be compensated for their guidance? (Spoiler: NO, YES, YES.) 

I’ve found the following handful of readings and resources extremely helpful when conceptualizing ways that my own work, and the role I hold in my institution, can aid, rather than hinder, the dismantling of white supremacy in the archives. Oftentimes this may mean giving time and space to BIPOC colleagues and student workers to do the work they’ve long been advocating for, and taking their lead in determining the best ways I can support these efforts.

Call to Action: Archiving State-Sanctioned Violence Against Black People by Zakiya Collier

The Blackivists’ Five Tips for Organizers, Protestors, and Anyone Documenting Movements by The Blackivists

The Blackivists’ Five Tips for Donating Your Materials by The Blackivists

We Already Are by Yusef Omowale

Confronting Our Failure of Care Around the Legacies of Marginalized People in the Archives by Bergis Jules

Supporting our colleagues: Black archives, libraries, museums, and related organizations Google sheet created by the AWE Fund Organizing Committee

Black Excellence in LIS collaborative syllabus created by T-Kay Sangwand 

Archives for Black Lives in Philadelphia Anti-Racist Description Resources by Archives for Black Lives in Philadelphia’s Anti-Racist Description Working Group

SAA Community Reflection on Black Lives and Archives

Struggling to Breathe: Covid-19, Protest, and the LIS Response by Amelia N. Gibson, Renate Chancellor, Nicole A. Cooke, Sarah Park Dahlen, Beth Patin, and Yasmeen Shorish

July 14, 2020June 23, 2022 by issuesandadvocacy Categories: Steering ShareTags: anti-racism, archival description, archives profession, BIPOC, Black history, COVID-19, donors, Google Workspace, Googlization, Project STAND, redescription, reparative processing, SAA, state violence, White supremacy, Whiteness Leave a comment

Archivists on the Issues: Intellectual Access to Archives

Archivists on the Issues is a forum for archivists to discuss the issues we are facing today. Today’s post comes from regular writer for I&A’s blog, Lindy Smith, Reference Archivist at Bowling Green State University’s Music Library and Bill Schurk Sound Archives.

In my final post on access and accessibility in archives, I am examining intellectual access. By this, I mean the language, theory, practices, and other non-physical barriers that exist in archives. Once a patron has navigated the obstacles of digital access and physical access that I discussed in my previous posts, they finally make it to our reading rooms either in person or virtually and want to use our collections. What gets in the way of this process?

Description can often get in the way, sometimes through its absence and sometimes through its presence. When description is non-existent or not online or not accessible or too minimal to be useful, it is detrimental to access. This is not news to anyone. But sometimes seemingly great description can also be a barrier to access. Say you have an important, highly used collection and you decide to write a DACs-compliant EAD finding aid at the item level, post it online with excellent SEO and cross list it in all appropriate union catalogs. It is a thing of beauty. It has extensive notes, a detailed inventory, and follows archival standards. It is easy to find. If you know where to look.

But then you have an ESL patron who speaks limited English and cannot read it all. Or a seventh grader working on a History Day project who has a middle school reading level and does not understand some of the terminology. Or a patron who is completely unfamiliar with archival description and does not understand the complicated series structure or how to use the detailed information you have painstakingly input. Based on my experience in various reading rooms, these kinds of casual patrons make up a significant portion of our users.

There’s something to be said for gaining familiarity with the systems in place, but for the patron who only wants to make one visit to see something for personal reasons or the student using it for one class, or the patron who is frustrated by a first visit and never comes back, our systems are exclusionary. We cannot write description for everyone, but it is important to recognize that language, reading level, structure, jargon, and many other factors can hinder access for some users.

Many of these issues can be mitigated with good reference help, but this leads to another question I think about often: how do we determine an appropriate balance of labor between patrons and archivists? How much do we require them to do and how much are we willing to do for them? What is policy mandated and what is grey area? What can we change to improve the patron experience? Obviously, patrons need to take the first step to make contact. They need to provide information about the subject of their interest or the items they’d like to request. They need to adhere to any established policies regarding registration information, payment for reproduction, collection handling, etc. Archivists have to respond to requests, pull requested materials, and explain necessary paperwork and policies.

But between this is a whole world of negotiation, personal preference, and available resources. How much time do (can) we spend with a single patron? Where do we draw the line? I like to think that we should be willing to take more on ourselves as the gatekeepers to make things easier and more pleasant for our patrons, but that is not fair when so many of us are already overloaded with work. On the other hand, it is not fair to put all of the work on our users, especially when it is our policies that are creating extra work for everyone.

Many archives have policies regarding remote research time, but what about patrons who require additional assistance with finding aids or computers or microfilm readers or handling fragile collections or the photocopier? How do we ensure smooth hand offs to other archivists when schedules require that multiple staff members be involved? How do we enforce policies that require official ID cards when we are trying to reach out to user groups that may not possess them? How do we respond to concerns about patron confidentiality when we are storing information about patrons and their research topics? How do we reassure patrons who feel targeted by security policies that require surveillance?

How might we rethink our policies and procedures to make things easier for everyone involved? While it is not a magic bullet or a possibility for everyone, there is something to be said for tapping into aspects of industry or libraries that are already familiar to our patrons. Along these lines, there are some technological solutions to help streamline the reading room experience. The biggest and best known in Aeon, which is a great product, but prohibitively expensive for most of us. Other archives have come up with in-house solutions using existing free products, like Trello or Google Forms.

At my institution, we have been working with our web developer, access services department, and catalogers to come up with a solution that allows us to treat special collections materials like ordinary library materials. Briefly, our web developer came up with a button that is enabled in our catalog on materials that have the Lib[rary] Use Only status that allows users to request items for future use. It generates a form that collects name and contact information as well as the date they would like to use the item(s) that is emailed to the appropriate collection. Patrons can also request items on site without scheduling them ahead of time. We use the emails as pull slips and place the items on our hold shelf. When the patrons arrive, we set up a courtesy card in our ILS (Integrated Library System- we use Sierra) that allows them to use only special collections materials (a proper courtesy card with ordinary borrowing privileges has an associated fee but a special collections card is free). We then check the materials out to their account while they’re using it on site and check it back in once they’ve finished. We explain at the time of checkout that they are not allowed to leave our floor with the items and we have not had any issues with this. The one drawback is that we do not yet have all of our special collections in the catalog, which is where our fabulous catalogers come in to create records. We are also in the process of implementing ArchivesSpace and are hoping that our developer will be able to create a similar request feature for use there. All special collections will eventually be represented in both places.

Obviously, a solution like this is only available to archives with access to an ILS and some developer time. If you are interested, our web developer has made the request button code available on GitHub. But if you think outside the box, you may be able to come up with your won solution with the resources available to you. Libraries have been using similar systems for decades to track use and it is past time for archives to do the same.

My posts here have been much more question-based than answer-filled, but these are important issues with lots of room for discussion. I look forward to continuing that discussion with any of you who are interested and hope you will take the opportunity to use some of these questions to help examine your own work.

August 8, 2018June 24, 2022 by issuesandadvocacy Categories: Archivists on the IssuesTags: archival description, archival theory, archives security, digital access, digitization, emails, gatekeeping, Googlization, intellectual access, patrons, physical access, reproduction, surveillance, technology, terminology Leave a comment

News Highlights, 2018 April

The I&A News Monitoring Research Team has compiled this list of recent news stories relating to archives, archivists, archival issues, and archival representations. This list was curated by SAA Issues & Advocacy News Monitoring Team, which includes Dana Bronson, Rachel Cohen, Samantha Cross, Shaun Hayes, and Beth Nevarez; it is managed by Steve Duckworth. More links and information are available in this month’s Google doc.

Acquisition, Preservation, & Access

• How Photographer Dustin Pittman Built a Historical Pop Archive You’ve Never Seen https://www.forbes.com/sites/roytelmontero/2018/04/30/how-photographer-dustin-pittman-built-a-historical-pop-archive-youve-never-seen/#88d218e74d60
• Archive Rewinds Home Movies to Illustrate South Side History https://www.wbez.org/shows/wbez-news/archive-rewinds-home-movies-to-illuminate-south-side-history/99be96e9-2527-4c90-b1fd-99d8ab5bdd8d

Archival Finds & Stories

• The Secret Archive that Documented Life in the Warsaw Ghetto https://www.history.com/news/holocaust-warsaw-ghetto-uprising-ringelblum-archive
• Nazi Plans for Total Destruction of Warsaw Found on Ebay https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/04/12/nazi-plans-total-destruction-warsaw-found-ebay/
• Scenes Unseen: The Summer of ’78 https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/04/27/nyregion/newyork-parks-photos.html
• Rediscovered memories on forgotten rolls of film: The Lost Rolls America project displays its trove http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-cm-lost-rolls-america20180409-story.html

Digital Archives, Technology, & the Web

• Kilgore digitizing city cemeteries with Longview’s help https://www.news-journal.com/news/local/kilgore-digitizing-city-cemeteries-with-longview-s-help/article_0560d30a-4a56-11e8-a9fe-87177973cf9f.html
• Billionaire Peter Thiel Agrees to Not Buy Gawker After Funding Site’s Demise https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/billionaire-peter-thiel-agrees-not-to-buy-gawker_us_5ae099d7e4b07560f397fff5

Exhibits & Museums

• The Power of Pictures: Viewing History Through America’s Library https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/13/lens/viewing-history-through-pictures-america-library-congress.html
• How Latin America was Built, Before Modernism Came Along https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/18/arts/design/metropolis-in-latin-america-review-americas-society.html
• U.K. Museum Offers Ethiopia Long-Term Loan of Looted Treasures https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/04/arts/design/v-and-a-ethiopian-treasure.html
• French Museum Discovers More than Half Its Collection is Forged https://www.npr.org/2018/04/29/606919098/french-museum-discovers-more-than-half-its-collection-is-forged; https://www.cnn.com/style/article/french-museum-half-paintings-fake-intl/index.html

Human & Civil Rights, Equality, & Health

• They thought Georgetown University’s missing slaves Were ‘lost’. The truth was closer to home than anyone knew https://wapo.st/2r7ZGmj?tid=ss_mail&utm_term=.00448d5dc6a6
• The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, which honors over 4,000 victims of lynching in America, opened on April 26, 2018 in Montgomery, Alabama (multiple reports, see full news list for more)
  • A Lynching Museum Is Opening. The Country Has Never Seen Anything Like It https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/25/us/lynching-memorial-alabama.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur
  • Memorial to Victims of Lynching Forces Reckoning On America’s Racist Legacies https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/memorial-lynching-reckoning_us_5ae22f8fe4b04aa23f212c2e
  • Fearless Ida B. Wells honored by new lynching museum for fighting racial terror https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/04/26/fearless-ida-b-wells-honored-by-new-lynching-memorial-for-fighting-racial-terror/?utm_term=.26e94605e913
• Holocaust Remembrance Day, April 11, 2018 (multiple related reports, see full news list for more):
  • As American Awareness Fades, Holocaust Museum Refreshes the Story https://www.npr.org/2018/04/23/604398292/as-american-awareness-fades-holocaust-museum-refreshes-the-story
  • Holocaust museum project debunks myth that Americans weren’t aware of the plight of Jews in Nazi Germany https://www.dallasnews.com/news/from-the-archives/2018/04/25/notion-americans-didnt-understand-threat-hitler-posed-myth
• Building Museum Exhibit Chronicles Scourge of Evictions, Homelessness https://www.npr.org/2018/04/23/604854312/building-museum-exhibit-chronicles-scourge-of-evictions-homelessness

Security & Privacy

• Those ancient artifacts that were illegally smuggled to Hobby Lobby are headed home to Iraq https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/02/us/iraq-artifacts-return-hobby-lobby/index.html
• Lost and found: Incredible works discovered https://www.cnn.com/style/gallery/lost-and-found-paintings/index.html

May 21, 2018December 5, 2022 by issuesandadvocacy Categories: Research PostTags: Black history, digital access, digitization, films, genealogy, Google Workspace, Googlization, Holocaust history, human rights, Iraqi history, memorials, museums, News Highlights, photography, repatriation, Research Teams, stolen artifacts, U.S. history Leave a comment

News Highlights 2018 February

The I&A News Monitoring Research Team has compiled this list of recent news stories regarding topics of relevance to archives and archivists. This list was curated by SAA Issues & Advocacy News Monitoring Team, which includes Dana Bronson, Rachel Cohen, Samantha Cross, Shaun Hayes, Ryan Leimkuehler, Beth Nevarez, and Chloé Pascual; it is managed by Steve Duckworth.

View the full list of news stories online.

Acquisition, Preservation, & Access

1. Sir Isaac Newton’s groundbreaking papers to become UNESCO heritage, https://www.zmescience.com/science/physics/isaac-newton-unesco-heritage-01122017/
2. Trump Officials Want to Charge More Money to Access Public Records—Despite Fewer Requests, https://gizmodo.com/trump-officials-want-to-charge-more-money-to-access-pub-1822974323
3. UC Berkeley Uses Optical Scanning to Recover Indigenous Voices from Wax Cylinders, https://hyperallergic.com/397995/wax-cylinder-optical-scanning-uc-berkeley/

Archival Finds & Stories

1. George Washington’s hair found inside New York library book, https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2018/02/15/George-Washingtons-hair-found-inside-New-York-library-book/4491518717744/
2. In Switzerland, dismay as papers on secret Cold War army vanish, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-swiss-paramilitary/in-switzerland-dismay-as-papers-on-secret-cold-war-army-vanish-idUSKBN1FR1OQ
3. Oldest ‘tattoo art’ discovered on Ancient Egyptian mummies, https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/02/health/egyptian-mummy-tattoos-duplicate-2/index.html

Climate & Emergency Preparedness

1. Vermont Agency Denies Environmentalists Access to Runoff Rules Draft, https://www.sevendaysvt.com/OffMessage/archives/2018/02/13/vermont-agency-denies-environmentalists-access-to-runoff-rules-draft

Digital Archives, Technology, & the Web

1. How Google Has Quietly Revolutionized Document Editing, https://slate.com/technology/2018/02/google-docs-have-quietly-revolutionized-document-editing.html

Exhibits & Museums

1. ‘Access+Ability’ exhibit showcases designs for, and by, those with disabilities, https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/21/health/disability-design-cooper-hewitt-new-york/index.html
2. ‘Blank Panther’ raises difficult questions in museum community, http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/movies/bs-fe-black-panther-museums-20180227-story.html

Human & Civil Rights, Equality, & Health

1. 10 lesser-known Black History Month sites across America, https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/black-history-month-sites-america/index.html
2. One Syrian’s brave moment, https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2018/02/03/one-syrians-brave-moment.cnn
3. Polish minister backs call for ‘Polocaust’ museum, https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/21/europe/poland-minister-backs-polocaust-museum-intl/index.html
4. Rewriting Canada’s Memory Banks: Archivists ‘Decolonize’ Collections, http://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/rewriting-canadas-memory-banks-archivists-decolonize-collections

Security & Privacy

1. Lost and found: Incredible works discovered, https://www.cnn.com/style/gallery/lost-and-found-art-gallery/index.html
2. Stolen work by famed painter Degas found in bus, https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/23/world/stolen-degas-painting-found-bus-intl/index.html
3. Man Accused of Breaking Off Terra-Cotta Warrior’s Thumb for Souvenir, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/michael-rohana-terra-cotta-warrior-thumb_us_5a8b2fd9e4b0117adf70ea06

March 13, 2018June 24, 2022 by issuesandadvocacy Categories: Research PostTags: accessibility, climate change, decolonizing archives, digital access, digitization, disabilities, Egyptian history, Google Workspace, Googlization, Holocaust history, Indigenous people, internet, libraries, memory institutions, memory work, military history, museum security, museums, News Highlights, privacy, public records laws, record restrictions, Research Teams, stolen artifacts, technology, U.S. history 1 Comment

News Highlights, 2018 January

The I&A News Monitoring Research Team has compiled this list of recent news stories regarding topics of relevance to archives and archivists. View the full list of news stories online.

Acquisition, Preservation, & Access

1. “Former Defense Secretary Rumsfeld Thought War on Terror Would Be Easily Won” (FOIA and the National Security Archive)
   https://www.npr.org/2018/01/30/581930133/former-defense-secretary-rumsfeld-thought-war-on-terror-would-be-easily-won
2. “Inside the Battle for Arthur Miller’s Archive”
   https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/09/arts/arthur-miller-archive-ransom-center.html
3. “White House intends to destroy data from voter fraud commission”
   https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/10/politics/voter-fraud-commission-data/index.html
4. “How a Library Handles a Rare and Deadly Book of Wallpaper Samples”
   https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/shadows-from-the-walls-of-death-book

Archival Finds & Stories

1. “They spoke out against immigrants. So she unearthed their own immigrant ancestors”
   https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/24/us/immigration-resistance-genealogy-jennifer-mendelsohn-trnd/index.html
2. “The Forgotten History of Black Women Protesting Sexual Assault”
   https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-forgotten-history-of-black-women-protesting-sexual_us_5a4e29dee4b0d86c803c7c42

Digital Archives, Technology, & the Web

1. “Saving Gawker and Alt-Weeklies from Deletion.”
   https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/01/business/media/gawker-archives-press-freedom.html
2. “Google App Goes Viral Making an Art Out of Matching Faces to Paintings”
   https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/01/15/578151195/google-app-goes-viral-making-an-art-out-of-matching-faces-to-paintings

Exhibits & Museums

1. “A Diary from a Gulag Meets Evil with Lightness”
   https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/03/arts/design/gulag-museum-moscow-diary.html
2. “Haslla Art World: Part museum, part hotel”
   https://www.cnn.com/videos/travel/2018/01/31/haslla-art-world-gangwon-south-korea.cnn
3. “Super Bowl tourists will see Holocaust photo exhibit at Minneapolis airport”
   https://forward.com/news/breaking-news/392996/super-bowl-tourists-will-see-holocaust-photo-exhibit-at-minneapolis-airport/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Main

Human & Civil Rights, Equality, & Health

1. “How to Save the Memories of the Egyptian Revolution”
   https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/01/an-internet-archive-rekindles-the-egyptian-revolutions-spirit/551489/
2. “‘There Are Higher Laws’: Inside the Archives of an Illegal Abortion Network”
   https://splinternews.com/there-are-higher-laws-inside-the-archives-of-an-illega-1822280179
3. “Archives chronicle decades of Baha’i persecution in Iran”
   http://www.newscenter1.tv/story/37305919/archives-chronicle-decades-of-bahai-persecution-in-iran
4. “‘They’ve been invisible’: Seattle professor studies role of black grandmothers in society”
   https://www.seattletimes.com/life/lifestyle/theyve-been-invisible-seattle-professor-studies-role-of-black-grandmothers-in-society/
5. Trump Administration Skews Terror Data to Justify Anti-Muslim Travel Ban
   https://theintercept.com/2018/01/16/trump-administration-skews-terror-data-to-justify-anti-muslim-travel-ban/
6. “The Troubling Origins of the Skeletons in a New York Museum” (Thousands of Herero people died in a genocide. Why are Herero skulls in the American Museum of Natural History?)
   https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-troubling-origins-of-the-skeletons-in-a-new-york-museum
7. “‘Solicitor-client privilege’ keeping 98-year-old document on sick First Nations children under wraps”
   http://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/archives-secret-document-indigenous-children-removal-hospital-1.4513267

Security & Privacy

1. “The Art of Crime”
   https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-art-of-crime_us_5a5e7a28e4b0c40b3e59752e
2. “Historian Pleads Guilty to Theft of Government Records from the National Archives”
   http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/167977

The Profession

1. “Curating Band-Aids, Both Modern and Vintage”
   https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/19/jobs/curating-band-aids-modern-vintage.html

February 21, 2018March 14, 2023 by issuesandadvocacy Categories: Research PostTags: archives profession, Black history, discrimination, Egyptian history, genealogy, Google Workspace, Googlization, government archives, Holocaust history, human rights, Indigenous people, internet, invisibility, Iran, museums, Muslim ban, NARA, National Security Archive, News Highlights, news media, preservation, record destruction, Research Teams, sexual violence, social justice, stolen artifacts, U.S. history 1 Comment

Archivists on the Issues: Digital Accessibility in the Archives

Archivists on the Issues is a forum for archivists to discuss the issues we are facing today. Today’s post comes from a new regular writer for I&A’s blog, Lindy Smith, Reference Archivist at Bowling Green State University’s Music Library and Bill Schurk Sound Archives.

Archivists spend a lot of time discussing, working on, and agonizing over outreach. We want people to know we exist and are doing the important work of providing access to documents, objects, and files that tell the stories of history. But once we meet that elusive goal of getting people to interact with us, what are we doing to make sure that experience is open to all potential users equally? By focusing on getting people in the door or clicking like, we may overlook the different abilities, experiences, and expectations our patrons bring to these interactions.

In this first of three posts, I will discuss improving digital access. I’m not an expert in this area, but I take accessibility very seriously and am working to educate myself and improve. My library has recently formed a task force to examine all our digital properties; being involved in that work has been a great learning experience. I’ve only scratched the surface in the great literature out there. I encourage you to do your own research and start making small changes locally. They can make a huge difference for users as well as increase potential audiences. We may have a tendency to think primarily of issues facing computer users with visual impairments, but the A11y Project reminds us that there are four categories to consider in making content accessible: visual, auditory, motor, and cognitive.

Existing standards can help prioritize changes. First is Section 508, a 1998 amendment to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. If you work for the federal government, you’re probably familiar with this as it’s required for all federal agencies to meet these requirements. Some state and government institutions also require that employees meet these standards when creating web content. The other major standard is Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0) from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), a body that sets global standards for web content. Section 508 was updated earlier this year to better address new technology, WCAG 2.0, and other global standards.

Websites

Your collection’s website can be a great place to start since websites are a relatively finite and static collection of pages. Many of the principles applied to your website can be carried over into other digital content.

If your archives is part of a larger institution, your local IT and accessibility services departments can be great allies in making these improvements and they may be able to provide additional information and training based on local infrastructure. Chances are they’ll be delighted to help you be proactive in setting up good, accessible websites rather than reactively making changes when someone makes a complaint.  If you’re a lone arranger or working in a small archives, you can find lots of helpful information online and there may also be local resources in your community that you can take advantage of.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, there are tools like Siteimprove or WebAIM’s WAVE that can help you identify potential accessibility issues on web pages. They scan pages for situations that look like they might cause problems for your users so you can review them and make fixes as necessary.

Additional Resources

• Introduction to Web Accessibility (W3C)
• How to Meet WCAG 2.0 (W3C)
• Accessibility Basics (usability.gov)
• The A11Y Project

Social Media

Most of us use social media accounts for outreach and it is often the first point of contact, so content should be available to anyone who is interested. Social media also is often very current, so you can add in accessible options going forward without having to go back and fix past posts.

Each platform approaches accessibility differently and offers different tools. Take time to explore the options available and decide what makes sense for your content. If you never post videos, for example, you don’t need to worry about captions. If you post photos of documents, find out how to add alt text. Make sure your blog posts conform to best practices for general web content.

The following are links to accessibility information for some popular platforms:

• Facebook Accessibility
• Twitter Accessibility
• Google Accessibility [includes YouTube]
• Improving Accessibility on Flickr

You’ll notice some glaring omissions in the list above. Not all platforms offer good accessibility options or documentation, which is important to keep in mind when deciding which services to use for your archives. Broader guidelines and tips are in the additional resources directly below.

Additional Resources

• Create Accessible Video and Social Media (Section508.gov)
• How to Be More Accessible on Social Media (Siteimprove)
• Improving the Accessibility of Social Media in Government (DigitalGov.gov)

Finding Aids

Many archives have collection descriptions online. This makes collections much more easily findable online and is a laudable goal, but the description also should be accessible to researchers who rely on assistive technologies like screen readers to navigate the virtual world. Finding aids can be tricky because they use a variety of formats and platforms: simple PDFs embedded in websites, HTML or EAD documents posted with style sheets, open source or proprietary software templates. Each presents opportunities and challenges.

In a 2013 study, Kristina L. Southwell and Jacquelyn Slater tested the accessibility of randomly selected online finding aids from ARL member libraries. The formats varied, but overall almost every finding aid had at least a few accessibility errors. Southwell and Slater’s article is highly recommended reading, as it offers specific examples of issues and the problems they cause for users. Perhaps things have improved in the five years since this study was published, but likely there are still many finding aids that inaccessible out there.

If you’re curious, do some research on the platform that your archives is using and look for documentation on their accessibility efforts or test your finding aids the way you would other web pages. You can search for a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT), which resources marketed to libraries and archives may provide, to help you make your assessment.

Additional Resources

• Southwell, Kristina L. & Slater, Jacquelyn (2013). An Evaluation of Finding Aid Accessibility for Screen Readers. Information Technology and Libraries, 32(3), 34-46.  https://doi.org/10.6017/ital.v32i3.3423

Digital Collections and Exhibits

Digital collections and online exhibits have a lot in common with other websites, but they also have unique issues. They have a higher concentration of images, digitized documents, and A/V files, which can require more mediation to be fully accessible. These items should have, respectively, detailed descriptions, searchable transcripts or OCR-created text, and captions or transcripts. In addition to digital objects, also consider the accessibility of the metadata that describes the objects and the platform that pulls it all together. As with social media platforms and collection management tools, take the time to research the accessibility documentation available from the platform you use for sharing your digital collections.

Tammy Stitz and Shelly Blundell developed a helpful rubric to help assess the accessibility of your digital collections. They draw on various standards, including Section 508 and WCAG 2.0, to help you make high impact changes. For example, audio content would ideally have sign language interpretation and synchronized captions, but if you’re only able to manage a transcript, that’s acceptable.

Additional Resources

• Accessibility Statement (Omeka)
• Digital Commons Accessibility Statement (bepress)
• OCLC Accessibility Statement
• Southwell, K. L. & Slater, J. (2012). Accessibility of digital special collections using screen readers. Library Hi Tech, 30(3), 457-471. https://doi.org/10.1108/07378831211266609
• Walker, W. & Keenan, T. M. (2015). Do You Hear What I See? Assessing Accessibility of Digital Commons and CONTENTdm. Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship, 27(2), 69. https://doi.org/10.1080/1941126X.2015.1029395

Email Reference

Writing this post, I started with a list of all the ways that we digitally interact with our users; email correspondence was the only option that I had not previously considered accessibility. And why not? It’s the most personal, and accessibility should be just as much of a concern there as anywhere. Basic email text can be approached largely like any web content. I recommend knowing enough about your email client and its necessary features. Both Outlook and Gmail, two major email providers, have websites that offer assistance to make email accessible.

In addition to email’s text, think about what your links and attachments to those emails. When you share digitized content with your patrons via email, is it accessible? I have to confess, this isn’t something I had previously taken into consideration, but it’s worth a few small steps to try to increase accessibility. Even running quick OCR on PDFs or including brief descriptions of requested images is helpful.

If you have a good solution for this or are taking similar measures in your own work, I’d be interested to hear about it.

Additional Resources

• Google Accessibility – Products and Features
• Make your Outlook email accessible (Microsoft)
• The Ultimate Guide to Accessible Emails (litmus)

Challenge: Make One Change

Many commonly discussed accessibility issues are focused on improving user experience using assistive technologies. This can seem abstract, so I encourage you to try it out. One commonly used assistive technology is a screen reader; your computer likely has one pre-installed (VoiceOver for Mac, Narrator for PC). If not, a variety of free programs and YouTube videos demonstrate how to use a screen reader. Turn it on and try it on some of your web content. You’ll soon understand why meeting accessibility criteria is so important. As an added bonus, many changes that improve accessibility also improve all users’ experience and can improve sites’ search engine optimization (SEO) as well. Everyone benefits from accessible websites!

Some problems may be difficult to fix or completely out of your control, but if you start by making a few simple but high impact changes, you can make a big difference for users. Create new workflows with accessibility in mind so it becomes an integral part of what you’re doing, instead of an afterthought. Develop good habits going forward and clean up previous work as you go. Be proactive in policies, instead of reactive. Add accessibility features to your list of criteria for new tools.

My challenge to all of you is to choose one thing, large or small, that will improve user accessibility this week. Maybe you sign up for web accessibility training locally, or start adding alt text to new blog images, or set up a department meeting to brainstorm a plan to improve your finding aids’ accessibility. Every little bit helps and makes it easier for larger audiences to access your content.

February 19, 2018June 24, 2022 by issuesandadvocacy Categories: Archivists on the IssuesTags: accessibility, archival description, digital access, digitization, emails, Google Workspace, Googlization, lone arrangers, outreach, patrons, social media 3 Comments

What Can Archivists Do about Concerns Regarding Federal Climate and Environmental Data?

Archivists on the Issues is a forum for archivists to discuss the issues we are facing today. If you have an issue you would like to write about for this blog series or a previous post that you would like to respond to, please email archivesissues@gmail.com. Please note that opinions expressed in Archivists on the Issues posts do not indicate an official stance of SAA or the Issues and Advocacy Roundtable.

This post is by Eira Tansey, University of Cincinnati and a leader in the Project Archivists Responding to Climate Change (Project ARCC).

Shortly after the US election results, many who rely on federal climate and environmental data became very concerned about the continuing public availability of this data in the new administration. I am among this group myself, as my research partners from Penn State and I use data sets from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to map climate change risks to American archival repositories. In the past few weeks, institutions such as the University of Toronto and the Penn Environmental Humanities Lab began to organize hackathons in order to seed the End of Term Web Archive project with climate and environmental webpages, and determine ways to effectively copy large data sets. The issue gained steam over the weekend when climate journalist and meteorologist Eric Holthaus began tweeting about it, and has gained major news coverage with stories in the Washington Post and Vice.

As a leader within Project ARCC (Archivists Responding to Climate Change), I had reached out to individuals at Toronto and Penn to get more information about their projects as soon as I heard about them, including the role of librarians and archivists in their efforts. Representatives from the University of Toronto and Penn joined last night’s monthly Project ARCC conference call to update us on their efforts.

Things are moving very swiftly on all fronts, so additional posts will be forthcoming as information and efforts are updated.

What is already in place?

Fellows from the Penn Environmental Humanities Lab began raising the issue of vulnerable environmental data with a hackathon earlier this month. The Lab is now quickly organizing on many of the issues associated with downloading and distributing the work of copying the many data sets scientists rely on. You can read their initial vision here, their preliminary take on how not all data sets may be equally vulnerable, and yesterday’s update regarding their taking over the initial crowdsourced spreadsheet that Eric Holthaus started, as well as their collaborative work with the University of Toronto.

The University of Toronto is hosting a “guerrilla archiving” event on December 17. This event will focus on Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) page URLs that will be seeded for the End of Term project.

What is next?

The folks at Penn and Toronto have received a massive outpouring of interest. Which is great! It also means that they need time to organize their efforts and evaluate offers of help, storage space, etc., most effectively. You can visit Penn’s #DataRefuge website, which went live December 13, to learn more about efforts as they evolve.

Beyond the work that is coming out of the Toronto event on December 17, Toronto and Penn are planning to develop a toolkit so other institutions can host hackathons.

The Penn folks are currently setting up contacts with many organizations’ representatives, including the Society of American Archivists.

How can you help?

The Penn #DataRefuge project now has a “I’d like to help” form. You can submit your response here. To nominate .gov pages for the End of Term Web Archive, you can use the End of Term Nomination Tool.

Why are people so worried about this to begin with?

Several departments and agencies within the federal government, including EPA, NOAA, Department of Interior, Department of Energy, and National Aeronautic and Space Administration (to name but a few), create myriad and massive data sets related to monitoring pollution of air and water, weather patterns, energy usage, and tracking indicators associated with climate change (ocean temperature and acidification, sea level modeling, and global temperature records).  

The incoming Trump administration is signalling that it will likely be hostile to the established consensus science on climate change, as well as existing pollution regulations. The President Elect has denied global warming’s reality and has selected a series of people that have a legislative or business record of undermining environmental regulation and efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Many proposed appointees have extensive ties to the fossil fuel industry, including the EPA nominee (Scott Pruitt, Oklahoma Attorney General) and the Secretary of State nominee (Rex Tillerson, ExxonMobil CEO). Multiple meta-surveys of climate science papers have established that climate change is real and primarily driven by human activities. Recent publication on this extensively documented issue includes one published in April 2016, showing that between 90-100% of climate scientists themselves are in consensus on the causes of global warming. 18 of America’s prominent scientific organizations are in agreement on the science showing that climate change is primarily driven by human activities.

Researchers are worried that funding will be cut from existing federal environmental and climate monitoring and research efforts, but also about continued access to currently public data sets. It remains to be seen whether recent Open Government initiatives that increased public access to federal data will receive the same level of support in the next administration. If data sets are removed from public access, this could mean that researchers would be required to file FOIA requests for access. During the Bush administration, with similarly extensive ties to the fossil fuel industry, scientists documented dozens of instances of scientific advice manipulation, restrictions on federal scientists’ work, and cutbacks on public access to environmental information (the most famous case is probably the proposed closure of EPA libraries). Some Canadians are alarmed by what could happen in the United States, given how the Harper administration reduced public access to federal environmental data there.

For now, researchers are in wait-and-see mode, but most are erring on the side of being overly cautious—hence why so many have mobilized to copy currently available data as fast as possible.

For questions about this work’s current status, please feel free to contact eira.tansey@uc.edu.

December 14, 2016November 29, 2023 by issuesandadvocacy Categories: Archivists on the IssuesTags: archives closure, climate change, data analysis, data mining, Eira Tansey, environmental data, federal records, Google Workspace, Googlization, legislation, Project ARCC, record storage, web archiving 7 Comments

Research Post: The Right to Be Forgotten

I&A Research Teams are groups of dedicated volunteers who monitor breaking news and delve into ongoing topics affecting archives and the archival profession. Under the leadership of the I&A Steering Committee, the Research Teams compile their findings into Research Posts for the I&A blog. Each Research Post offers a summary and coverage of an issue. This Research Post comes from the Other Professional Associations’ Communications Research Team, which monitors the communications of other associations, for issues related to archives.

Please be aware that the sources cited have not been vetted and do not indicate an official stance of SAA or the Issues and Advocacy Roundtable.

This is the first in a series of posts about the Right to Be Forgotten. Stay tuned for additional coverage.

SUMMARY OF THE ISSUE

The Right to be Forgotten (RTBF) is a 2014 legal ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) that gives individuals the right to have information found on the Internet regarding themselves delisted (be made difficult to find) in search engines and in other data providers (such as websites). The CJEU’s ruling stems from a 2010 legal case in Spain in which a Spanish citizen filed a complaint with Spain’s national data protection agency against a Spanish newspaper, which published a true fact about the person, and Google Spain/Google Inc., whose search engine results linked to the information about the person. The citizen argued that the information about him was no longer relevant and that the search engine results infringed upon his privacy rights. (3) In February 2016, the French Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL), which chairs the Article 29 Working Group (European Union privacy regulators), extended the implementation of the RTBF law to all domains (extensions) of a search engine. (7) Previously, the delisting would only happen in the country of the individual who requested (and was approved) the delisting. In February 2015, the Guardian reported that Google said it had “received 386,038 ‘right to be forgotten’ removal requests since the ruling, and has accepted approximately 42% of them.” (4)  A year later, the Guardian further reported that Google had delisted 600,000 search results. (7)

Some main points of the RTBF ruling:

1. Individuals have the right to request information about themselves found on the Internet be delisted if the “information is inaccurate, inadequate, irrelevant or excessive for the purposes of the data processing.” (3)
2. According to the CJEU’s ruling the request for delisting needs to be assessed on a case-by-case basis because neither the right to the protection of personal data nor the right to freedom of expression are absolute rights. Therefore each case needs to be assessed individually considering the personal privacy of the individual versus the freedom of expression and access to information. (3)
3. The data providers (for example Google, Inc.) are tasked with the application of the RTBF ruling. Delisting of information on the Internet will be decided by the data providers, not legal or governmental bodies.
4. Data providers cannot disclose internal processes, or what has been subject to delisting on the Internet. The original publisher or owner of a website cannot be notified when something is delisted.
5. There are previous rulings in the European Union that prefigured the 2014 ruling, such as the European Union Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC of 1995. In Germany, an individual has the right to privacy and to rehabilitation after they have paid their debts to society (for example after completing a term of a prison sentence).
6. Public figures are not (usually) subject to the RTBF ruling.
7. The CJEU believes that the RTBF ruling “strikes the balance between the right to the protection of personal data and freedom of expression.” (3)

In February 2016, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), issued an official statement regarding the 2014 RTBF ruling. In the statement, IFLA addressed the issues of the RTBF ruling and its implications for libraries and urged its members to participate in policy discussion regarding RTBF. (1)

IFLA’s list of issues for libraries concerning the RTBF ruling:

1. Integrity of and access to the historical record.
2. Freedom of access to information and freedom of expression. This is based upon Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” (6)
3. Privacy of the individual.

The RTBF ruling strikes at some of our core values as archivists, librarians, and information professionals. We strive to protect privacy rights of the individual, yet we also strive to protect the integrity of our information sources, support the freedom of expression, and advocate for access to information. Further, the delisting of information, especially information that is truthful and accurate, goes against some of the core values and code of ethics outlined in the Society of American Archivists’ “Core Values Statement and Code of Ethics.” (8)

In 2015, a public debate was held in New York City on the RTBF ruling titled “The U.S. should adopt the Right to be Forgotten Online.” (5) [The video is available online.] One of the participants of the debate, Jonathan Zittrain of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, said that the United States should not adopt the RTBF because he felt that the RTBF ruling was “a very bad solution to a very real problem.” He gave the following analogy that we as archivists, librarians, and information professionals can relate to regarding the delisting of information on the Internet: “It’s like saying the books can stay in the library, but you have to set fire to the card catalogs.” (5)

Some critiques of the RTBF ruling include:

• The rules (of the RTBF ruling) are vague and unclear.
• The decisions for delisting/erasure are left to corporations.
• There is no transparency or accountability to the delisting of information.
• Due to the vagueness of the ruling, the principle could expand beyond search engines.
• RTBF is censorship (particularly when delisted information is true/factual/accurate).
• The territorial scope of the RTBF ruling goes beyond the European Union.

As the IFLA statement on the RTBF ruling advised, we need to monitor how the RTBF ruling is being applied in Europe and around the world and how it affects the integrity of and access to the historical record on the Internet. Countries outside of Europe, including Japan, Colombia, Brazil, and the United States have implemented similar rulings or have delisted information on the Internet. (2) In 2018, the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will supersede previous data protection laws In Europe. (9) Understanding the new 2018 regulations and how they may affect privacy rights of the individual, freedom of expression, access to information, and the integrity of the historical record on the Internet will be crucial.

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF COVERAGE OF THE ISSUE:

Sources cited:

(1) “IFLA Statement on the Right to be Forgotten.” International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. Accessed 2016 April 26. http://www.ifla.org/node/10272?og=29

(2) “Background on the Right to be Forgotten in National and Regional Contexts.” International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions.  Accessed 2016 April 26. http://www.ifla.org/files/assets/clm/statements/rtbf_background.pdf

(3) Fact Sheet on the “Right to be Forgotten” ruling (c-131/12). European Commission. Accessed 2016 April 26. http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/files/factsheets/factsheet_data_protection_en.pdf

(4) Gibbs, Samuel. “Google to Extend ‘Right to be Forgotten’ to all its Domains Accessed in EU.” The Guardian. (February 11, 2016). Accessed 2016 April 26. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/feb/11/google-extend-right-to-be-forgotten-googlecom

(5) “The U.S. should adopt the “Right to be Forgotten Online.” Intelligence Squared Debates. (March 17, 2015) Video accessed 2016 April 26. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvDzW-2q1ZQ

(6) United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. United Nations. Accessed 2016 April 26. http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/

(7) Hern, Alex. “Google takes right to be forgotten battle to France’s highest court.” The Guardian. (May 19, 2016). Accessed 2016 June 2. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/may/19/google-right-to-be-forgotten-fight-france-highest-court

(8) “SAA Statement of  Core Values and Code of Ethics.” Society of American Archivists. Accessed 2016 June 2. http://www2.archivists.org/statements/saa-core-values-statement-and-code-of-ethics#.V1GPnzUrKUm

(9) “Reform of EU Data Protection Rules.” European Commission. Accessed 2016 June 2. http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/reform/index_en.htm

Other sources regarding the RTBF:

Toobin, Jeffrey. “The Solace of Oblivion.” The New Yorker. (September 24, 2014). Accessed 2016 April 26. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/29/solace-oblivion

Scott, Mark. “Europe Tried to Reign in Google. It Backfired.” The New York Times. (April 18, 2016). Accessed 2016 April 26. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/19/technology/google-europe-privacy-watchdog.html

“Freedom: the right to be forgotten.” My Digital Rights. British Library. Accessed 2016 April 26. http://www.bl.uk/my-digital-rights/videos/freedom-the-right-to-be-forgotten

Google Transparency Report. “European privacy requests for search removals.” Google. Accessed 2016 June 2. https://www.google.com/transparencyreport/removals/europeprivacy/?hl=en

The I&A Steering Committee would like to thank Patricia Glowinski and Blake Relle for writing this post.

The Other Professional Associations’ Communications Research Team is:

Tara Kelley, Leader
Jamillah Gabriel
Patricia Glowinski
Jasmine Jones
Blake Relle

If you are aware of an issue that might benefit from a Research Post, please get in touch with us: archivesissues@gmail.com.

July 11, 2016June 24, 2022 by wendyhagenmaier Categories: Research PostTags: archival processing, archives profession, corporate power, data mining, data protection, erasure, France, Google Workspace, Googlization, human rights, privacy, Research Teams, SAA Code of Ethics, SAA Core Values of Archivists, The Right to Be Forgotten 3 Comments

#ArchivesSoWhite Intro & Bibliography

I&A Research Teams are groups of dedicated volunteers who monitor breaking news and delve into ongoing topics affecting archives and the archival profession. Under the leadership of the I&A Steering Committee, the Research Teams compile their findings into Research Posts for the I&A blog. Each Research Post offers a summary and coverage of an issue. This Research Post comes from On-Call Research Team #1, which is mobilized to investigate issues as they arise.

Please be aware that the sources cited have not been vetted and do not indicate an official stance of SAA or the Issues and Advocacy Roundtable.

Due to the amount of information Research Team #1 gathered, this will be a 4-part series, with the Intro & Bibliography and then interviews with Jarrett Drake, Samantha Winn, and Ariel Schudson.

In January 2016 protesters sparked a conversation about the ongoing exclusion of people of color from nomination for Academy Awards with the Twitter hashtag #OscarsSoWhite. Although specifically focused on a single awards ceremony, the message it represented has far broader implications for how society grapples with institutional and structural racism. For archivists, the issues of cultural hegemony and representation #OscarsSoWhite addressed are ongoing concerns as we deal with our own legacy of a white, patriarchal system.

In response, archivist Jarrett Drake expanded the dialog through his own adaptation of the hashtag, #ArchivesSoWhite. Drake calls the archival profession to task for continuing to prioritize narratives of white supremacy and restricting opportunities for people of color in the profession. The ensuing Twitter conversation brought several other voices into the discussion, but also emphasized that these issues need to be addressed at a far deeper level as we strive for critical self-examination and real change.

Members of the Issues & Advocacy Roundtable On-Call Research #1 team reached out to Jarrett, as well as several other archivists involved in the dialog to gain additional perspective on their use of the hashtag #ArchivesSoWhite and potential next steps for the profession. Jarrett Drake, Sam Winn, and Ariel Schudson all graciously agreed to be interviewed for this blog.

The full text of those interviews will follow, but there are several key takeaways reiterated by each archivist worth noting here. The problems of a lack of diversity and the shaping of history based upon the records of the wealthy and powerful have been discussed among archivists for years. We can build upon the momentum of #ArchivesSoWhite to move beyond talk to action. From the collections our repositories acquire to the outreach we conduct, exhibits we mount, and classes we teach, a fundamental shift in how archivists conceptualize their mandate is coming. In addition, we need to reevaluate how we train, hire, support, and retain diverse staff who truly represent the materials for which they care.

Above all, this is not a solitary effort. Both Jarrett and Sam emphasize the twin goals of education and collaboration. We have compiled a brief bibliography with articles and books that provide context and background, allowing us to approach these problems as informed practitioners. Scholars, activists, researchers, and the public all have a stake in this conversation. We will use mechanisms that allow us to seek out and listen to the concerns of our colleagues across disciplines.

Acknowledgement of the lack of diversity in the profession, the realization that personal biases affect our work, and widespread recognition of the gaps in the historical record are not new developments. The question now is how we can take advantage of this particular moment of reflection and cultural consciousness.

Bibliography

Referenced in the #ArchivesSoWhite Dialogue

Zimrig, Carl. Clean and White: A History of Environmental Racism in the United States. New York: NYU Press, 2016.

Recommended by Interviewees

Berrey, Ellen. “Diversity is for what people: The big lie behind a well-intended word,” Salon, October 26, 2015.

Ettarh, Fobazi. “Black or Queer? Life at the Intersection” Hack Library School, November 19, 2013.

Haris, Verene. “The Archival Sliver: Power, Memory, and Archives in South Africa,” Archival Science 2 (2002): 63.

Harling, Adrienne, “What to Do about Privilege,” Archival Outlook (November/December 2012): 13.

Hathcock, April. Diversity and Inclusion writings on At the Intersection: Blog about the intersection of libraries, law, feminism, and diversity.

Hathcock, April. “White Librarianship in Blackface: Diversity Initiatives in LIS”, In the Library With the Lead Pipe, October 7, 2015.

McIntosh, Peggy. “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” Independent School (Winter 1990).

Ramierz, Mario. “Being Assumed Not to Be: A Critique of Whiteness as an Archival Imperative,” American Archivist 78 no. 2 (2015): 339.

Swanson, Juleah, Ione Damasco, Isabel Gonzalez-Smith, Dracine Hodges, Todd Honma, and Azusa Tanaka. “Why Diversity Matters: A Roundtable Discussion on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in Librarianship,” In the Library With the Lead Pipe, July 29, 2015.

Trouillot, Michel-Rolph  Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History Boston: Beacon Press, 1997.

Vinopal, Jennifer. “The Quest for Diversity in Library Staffing: From Awareness to Action”, In the Library With the Lead Pipe, January 13, 2016.

Additional Sources

Dewey, Barbara I., and Loretta Parham. Achieving diversity : a how-to-do-it manual for librarians. New York : Neal-Schuman Publishers, 2006.

Hastings, Samantha Kelly. “If Diversity Is a Natural State, Why Don’t Our Libraries Mirror the Populations They Serve?.” Library Quarterly 85, no. 2 (April 2015): 133.

Maxey-Harris, Charlene, and Toni Anaya. Diversity plans and programs. Washington, DC : Association of Research Libraries, 2010.

Neely, Teresa Y., and Kuang-Hwei Lee-Smeltzer. Diversity now : people, collections, and services in academic libraries : selected papers from the Big 12 Plus Libraries Consortium Diversity Conference. New York : Haworth Information Press, 2002.

Ryan, Marianne, and Sarah Leadley. “Reflections on Diversity and Organizational Development.” Reference & User Services Quarterly 54, no. 4 (Summer 2015): 6-10.

Wheeler, Ronald. “We All Do It: Unconscious Behavior, Bias, and Diversity.” Law Library Journal 107, no. 2 (Spring 2015): 325-331.

The I&A Steering Committee would like to thank Heather Oswald for writing this post, and Stephanie Bennett and Christine Anne George for coordinating interviews.

I&A On-Call Research Team #1 is:

Christine Anne George, Leader
Stephanie Bennett
Maureen Harlow
Heather Oswald
Linda Reynolds
Kristen Weischedel

If you are aware of an issue that might benefit from a Research Post, please get in touch with us: archivesissues@gmail.com.

April 18, 2016June 24, 2022 by issuesandadvocacy Categories: Research PostTags: #ArchivesSoWhite, archives profession, biases, BIPOC, cultural competence, Googlization, institutional racism, LGBTQ+, librarianship, libraries, outreach, racial diversity, Research Teams, White privilege, White supremacy, Whiteness 5 Comments