Today’s post is an interview with Eira Tansey, with questions formulated by Burkely Hermann, Metadata Librarian for the National Security Archive and current I&A Blog Coordinator.
Eira Tansey is a researcher and archivist who focuses on climate change impacts on cultural heritage and archives. She also founded Memory Rising, in December 2022, which provides archival, consulting, and research services for humanities and cultural organizations, and worked in academic libraries from 2008 to 2023, first at the Louisiana Research Collection of Tulane University Library, and more recently at the Archives and Rare Books Library of the University of Cincinnati. This post is an interview with Tansey about her recently published report “A Green New Deal for Archives,” which was published by CLIR in July.
Question 1: The public policy program, which you propose in your report, outlines three foundational principles for a Green New Deal for Archives (increasing permanent staffing for archives “that steward vital public records”, “create a nationwide plan for collection continuity and emergency response,” and developing “climate change documentation projects organized by watersheds”). Do you envision this program as applying to community archives or activist archives, in the United States, which are not formal institutions?
Eira Tansey: In a Green New Deal for Archives policy platform I think there’s an important role for community archives to play in documenting watersheds and local environmental problems. Community and activist archives can do this in ways that government archives likely could not or would not. Even in the original Historical Records Survey which I explore in the publication, WPA workers did important work to identify archives from informal institutions. I think that work can and should be replicated in a Green New Deal for Archives.
With that said, there is a reason why I put the first priority as increasing staffing at archives that steward vital public records, because I think this is the most important priority facing American archives. To be clear, vital records have a specific definition: “a record necessary to begin recovery of business after a disaster, as well as a record necessary to protect the assets, obligations, and resources of an organization” and “a record that documents significant life events, including births, deaths, marriages, and divorces.”
Vital records are usually stewarded by public-facing archives like local, state, and federal government archives. Without the preservation and access of vital public records, we are at major risk of losing individual rights and the collective ability to hold public institutions accountable. Like the original New Deal that emphasized the importance of strengthening government institutions as a means to better serve the public (instead of primarily relying on the private sector), I believe we need to apply similar thinking to meet the scale of climate change adaptation in archives.
My stance on this is shaped by my professional trajectory, which comes from working in academic libraries for 15 years until I left earlier this year to build my business. In my last role I was the records manager for one of the largest public universities in the state of Ohio for nearly a decade. Records management work, even in higher education, has far more in common with the kind of archives work carried out by government archivists than a topical focused curatorial collecting model. Even though my institution was legally mandated by Ohio law to carry out records management, and retention scheduling directly supported our most popular use area – university archives – I received zero dedicated budget resources for records management. Meanwhile collections of non-institutional materials that had comparatively little use had endowed funds. This led me to appreciate how the records that receive the most use and are required to be managed according to law rarely receive the resources needed to do this work effectively, and are especially vulnerable to becoming unfunded mandates.
In my city of Cincinnati, we do not have a municipal archive that makes the records of the city easily available to the public. So based on my own local experience, I’m not convinced that formal institutional archives are always receiving the support they need to make the records of government and public institutions accessible and accountable to local residents. In many cases, they don’t exist to begin with.
Librarians – regardless of where they work – understand that public libraries are integral to the larger enterprise of librarianship and that public libraries are an essential part of the democratic experiment. I’d like to see archivists – regardless of where they work – embrace the same kind of support for government and other archives that serve the larger public. This is why although I hope A Green New Deal for Archives will resonate with all archivists, I assert that the priority needs to be on bolstering the capacity of archives that have a broad public mandate.
Question 2: In your view, how should readers, who agree with your “Green New Deal for Archives” public policy proposal, share their support?
Eira Tansey: Learning how to advocate on behalf of archives to elected officials is really important. Within SAA, the Committee on Public Policy has done great work on this front, especially with the Archives on the Hill event that happens when SAA meets in Washington DC.
I have been excited to have some encouraging recent conversations with Congressional staffers about the importance of archives. There are a lot of folks in Congress who care both about climate change and archives, but they don’t necessarily connect the dots between how archives can both identify climate risks and help communities be more resilient in the face of climate disaster. It’s up to archivists to have these conversations and put this issue squarely in front of our elected officials.
Question 3: If you could make a change (or changes) to the core values statement (which states that archivists “must necessarily involve an ongoing awareness of the impact of archival work on the environment”) or recent strategic plan of the Society of American Archivists, based on what you have written in your report, what would you change?
Eira Tansey: SAA’s Core Values statement includes Sustainability, and that section is very thoughtfully worded. However, the current Strategic Plan does not specifically address or name environmental concerns or climate change among its activities. I’d like to see this change in future iterations. For example, many of the strategic plan actions rightfully focus on workforce issues. There is a climate change link here – as increasingly severe and frequent disasters disproportionately impact more vulnerable communities, how will this impact hiring and retention of archivists? Climate change is already affecting our work, and will only continue to do so. Our strategic plan should reflect those realities so we can prepare and respond accordingly.
Archivists on the Issues is a forum for archivists to discuss the issues we are facing today. Today’s post comes from Burkely Hermann, Metadata Librarian for the National Security Archive and current I&A Blog Coordinator. This post does not represent the views or positions of the Issues & Advocacy committee or National Security Archive. The views expressed here are the views of Mr. Hermann, and are not the views of any other individuals or organizations.
Promotional image on the official website for the ICA’s Congress, screenshotted on Aug. 15, 2023, trying to legitimize their presence in the UAE. I re-examined the page before publishing this article and the numbers were the same.
Recently, there has been a hullabaloo on social media about the location of The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA)’s World Library and Information Congress (WLIC) in 2024. Set to occur in Dubai, the most-populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and capital of the Dubai Emirate, it was panned on social media as willfully ignorant, divisive, disappointing, embarrassing, spineless, craven, shameful, disgusting, disregarding queer librarians, driven by money, and resulting in a conference attended by “mostly bigots and…centrists.” Others criticized it as undemocratic, since the IFLA’s own press release showed majority opposition among those voting on the resolution, especially those from “Europe, North America…Latin America and the Caribbean”. Some proposed that the conference could be held any other location in the region that wasn’t hostile and “outwardly dangerous…to human rights,” stated they would not join the IFLA as a result, called for a boycott on the conference, or fumed that the decision was being blamed by the IFLA on members from “Asia-Oceania, the Middle East and North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa.” It appeared there were a small number in favor, who seemed excited that IFLA’s conference was coming to their country, but it is not known how representative that is, as such individuals appear to be outliers. [1]
What is not talked about as much is the congress/conference of the International Council on Archives (ICA) in Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital, set for October 9 to October 13. Official materials call it a “unique chance” to network with fellow archivists and a place to promote the “best examples” of achievement in archival and records management. The ICA claims it will be somewhere where archivists can connect with professionals across the world to build networks to empower our “knowledge societies,” all under the “hospitality of Abu Dhabi.” Considering the response to the IFLA conference, I have to ask whether the ICA conference is, rather than being some networking opportunity, a slap in the face for queer people and unsafe for those people? It is an indication of the non-neutrality of archives and un-representative nature of the ICA? Should the conference, due to its location, be boycotted? [2] In this post, I’ll answer those questions and explain why the ICA’s reasoning is flawed, and talk about the deeper problems with this conference, which go beyond the conference taking place somewhere that is hostile to queer people.
Much of the opposition to the IFLA’s conference appeared to center around lack of rights in the UAE for queer people, more than any other reason. There was some mention of how the location went against the IFLA’s own values. Some called for a new location in a “developing country”. There are further problems with the ICA’s choice of Abu Dhabi as the conference location. It’s not the focus on climate change, sustainability, accessibility (of information), memory work, peace, and tolerance, nor even the theme of enriching “knowledge societies,” which are welcome. Rather it is that the conference is tied directly to the UAE’s government. One speaker, Abdulla Majed Al-Ali, currently Director General of the UAE’s National Library and Archives, formerly worked for Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism. He also worked in the country’s armed forces. Another speaker, Dr. Abdullah Al Raisi, chair of the ICA’s conference organizing committee, was formerly director general of that archives. That institution has a message from the UAE’s Vice President, Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the deputy head of state of the entire country, on its website. The archives declares that safeguarding documents is an important responsibility of a “sovereign, enlightened state,” notes the importance of improved archiving to preserve the nation’s history, and states that this archives will reinforce the concept of “institutionalization and enhance[d] national identity.” [3]
That isn’t all. The UAE’s National Library and Archivesis directly involved in fostering nationalism, instilling loyalty, values, and virtues of the UAE’s founder, Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and “enhancing national identity.” Other pages state that the archives aims to enhance civic spirit. One individual working there even did public relations for Dubai’s Crown Prince. This goes beyond the archives’ objective to preserve the country’s history, duties, and agreements/partnerships/memberships in various international organizations. The institution’s approach appears to be very nationalistic. It is reinforced in part by having the National Records & Archives Authority, which focuses on preserving the “antique history” of Oman in an effort to “build a brighter future,” as an exhibitor and even more by having theAbu Dhabi Convention and Exhibition Bureau as a conference sponsor. The latter is an issue primarily because the Bureau aims to champion the Abu Dhabi Emirate, one of the country’s seven emirates (all are in a constitutional federation), as a “dynamic global business events leader.” [4]
Surely, like the IFLA’s executives, some from ICA will defend this location choice. They may point to exhibitors such as non-profits like Al Ghadeer Emirati Crafts, or companies like Rookie Ninja, Phase One Photo, Clarivate, and Artefactual. They might point out that the Emirates News Agency is wholeheartedly supporting the conference, note that participants would join a “global community of archivists and industry professionals,” or note that you can visit interesting local sites (there is even a special program for one’s spouse or partner). These executives could says the country as tourist-friendly and “world-renowned for its social and modern environment.” They might declare that the conference can be a great business opportunity to reach a global audience, point to the expansive program with many topics and sessions, the conference’s sub-themes, or other features.
All of this ignores the fact that FamilySearch, a genealogical arm of the Mormons, uses prison labor to index records, as I’ve previously written about on this blog is a sponsor. Xerox, EXPM, Artefactual, NVSSoft, Zeutschel, and Nirvana Travel and Tourism are sponsors as well. Also, former French President Francois Hollande is a keynote speaker. [5] On the one hand, he supported the legalization of same-sex marriage and adoption for LGBTQ+ couples, which passed the French National Assembly in 2013. On the other, hestrongly supported the U.S.-backed Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen, which began in March 2015, and militarily intervened in a former French colony, Mali, from January 2013 to July 2014, obstinately to fight Islamic extremism, but also to protect “French interests” in the country, with a continued French military operation until November 2022. [6]
This conference is nothing to look forward to (as Preservica declared), praise, be grateful for, or treat it like just another conference, which was decided upon by the ICA sometime before November 2022. Is it possible to experience “Arabian hospitality” or “discover new horizons” in a country hosting this “cultural heritage” event which is strongly supported by UAE Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan? [7] This conference is clearly positioned to promote the UAE, whitewashing its problematic elements. The U.S. State Department’s latest human rights report, not an unbiased source by any measure, on the country, cites “credible reports” of arbitrary detention and arrest, privacy invasions, media and free expression restrictions, internet freedom limits, unfair and unfree elections, curtailed political participation, criminalization of same-sex consensual actions between adults, and prohibition on independent trade unions. This conference will, without a doubt, boost the country’s role as a regional “trade and investment hub,” support the country’s desire to attract additional foreign direct investment, and push to shift the country’s economy to a so-called “knowledge economy” in the next ten years. [8]
This screenshot from a video on the official YouTube channel for the conference (mostly has Arabic-language videos), from February 2020, shows that planning for the conference there began at that time, if not earlier than that.
Ultimately, the ICA is shilling for the government of UAE. Its assessment of the UAE is no better than the country’s self-submitted Universal Periodic Review reports to the U.N. Human Rights Council. The official site for the conference boasts that the UAE is “ideal tourist destination,” declares that women have equal rights to men, and calls for modest dressing, especially in religious areas, and recommends visitors respect the “Muslim values of the local community.” While some of this makes sense, the description misrepresents the UAE as a rosy place. It boggles the mind that any of the other 21 Arab states, or any other states in Asia, Oceania, Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, or North Africa, were not chosen as a conference location instead. [9]
There is only one response to this decision by the ICA: to boycott the conference in Abu Dhabi and encourage sponsors, like Preservica, to pull out. This call is not Arabphobic, Islamophobic, nor does it engage in what some call “homonationalism“. Many governments in the Middle East have laws infringing upon LGBTQ+ rights, either due to religious conservative governments and/or holdover laws from colonial control. In the case of the UAE, although it was under British control between 1820 to 1971, the Arab rulers were nominally independent. They could “keep the peace,” with arbitration of disputes through the British, to abstain from relations with other European countries, while the British committed to providing the rulers, and their governments, with protection against any “unprovoked foreign aggression,” but did not interfere within the countries. This ended when the United Arab Emirates was formed in December 1971, ending the unofficial British colonies in the Persian Gulf region. [10]
As such, the homophobic laws of the UAE do not have roots in colonialism, but in the country’s legislative history. They include capital punishment for male-male and female-female sexual intercourse, punishments for sex “outside marriage” and cross-dressing, while gender reassignment surgery appears to be illegal (or hard to obtain). This “conservative” and regional hub for tourism reportedly allows lesbian or gay relationships under decriminalization of cohabitation by unmarried couples, in 2021. It is not known whether this is enforced evenly or if such relationships are socially accepted by residents. Previously, it has been reported that the country’s authorities investigated a children’s magazine which depicted a “multi-coloured character” with claims that it promoted homosexuality, resulting in its retraction. The UAE also refused to air Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (possibly because some saw Gwen Stacy as trans) in the country or films like Lightyear (for a kiss between lesbian characters). [11]
Even Arab countries like Bahrain, Djibouti, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria have better legal strictures toward queer people than UAE, even though they still are restrictive. The conference’s current location in Abu Dhabi runs afoul of the ICA’s own mission stating that archives are fundamental to “identity, democracy, accountability and good governance.” How is accountability and democracy possible when the conference is a vehicle for the country’s government to promote its interests? Will any criticism of the government be allowed? Or will it be discouraged to not annoy and anger the government? Will any topics about LGBTQ+ sessions be allowed? The IFLA said that the latter was not possible and admitted that homosexuality is not recognized by the UAE constitution “and therefore illegal.” [12] A well thought-out thread on X/Twitter by Naomi House opposing the location of the IFLA’s conference in Dubai argued that conferences need to be inclusive (already in-person conferences exclude many in the library field from participating) of all members, stated that this location has laws endangering many with “encoded legal bigotry,” and called for online conferences which are safe for all groups and members. The same logic can be applied to this ICA conference.
Considering that the ICA has invested time, and money, into this conference, its sponsors, and location, it is extremely unlikely it will be reversed. The fact that the conference is in the UAE is indicative that the values of the ICA do not matter when money, prestige, and influence win out over common sense. Whether “true universality and inclusiveness” can exist isn’t the issue, but rather that sets a bad precedent that only countries like the UAE “can afford to host.” It may hint at “institutional homophobia” of the ICA, and a stance against inclusion and diversity, all of which was said in opposition to the IFLA’s decision. Those in favor of this choice will declare that it will foster community spirit between archivists across the world, claim it will be “unforgettable,” joyful, or even say that the conference will enrich the “UAE’s society and the fields of documentation and archiving.” [13] Having the conference in the UAE will weaken any (likely underground) efforts, by those on the ground, to improve lives for LGBTQ+ people within the country, by legitimizing the country’s laws, hurting any possibility of change.
Some months ago, a LinkedIn message from Sara, the Marketing Director for the conference, strangely extended a special invitation through a LinkedIn message to the National Security Archive (NSA), even though I’m not a manager there. She declared that NSA has widely recognized expertise, advancing historical research, and promoting transparency. She tried to convince me by saying that discussions at the conference would be enriched by NSA’s participation, claiming that the event would be influential, exceptional, and highly anticipated, and make history as taking place in the “Middle East for the first time ever.” [14] This marketing effort could be why a search for the words “ica abu dhabi” is dominated by tweets from the official account on X/Twitter for the conference, and very few responses from anyone else. Recent tweets make this clear. One tweet only a couple days ago from Piql claiming that the conference will be the “world’s biggest archiving event.”
All these arguments ignore the unsustainable nature of the UAE. A supermajority of the country’s energy comes from petroleum, coal, and natural gas, and only a small sliver coming from solar, wind, and biofuels, according to the International Energy Agency. The Energy Information Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Energy, adds that the country is energy-intensive since it is one of the largest petroleum producers in the world. Their assessment states that the UAE economy is fueled largely by “natural gas…petroleum and other liquids.” Hosting the conference in the UAE stands against at least four of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, [15] which the IFLA claimed they followed. It is also why some have argued that the hosting of the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (also known as COP-28) in the UAE from November 30 to December 12 of this year is a form of greenwashing. The country hired PR companies to promote itself as the COP-28 head, pay users to clean the Wikipedia page of the COP-28 president (Sultan Al Jaber), run promotional campaigns on social platforms, polish its “green credentials,” and preparation of a list covering “touchy and sensitive issues”. [16]
Those supporting Abu Dhabi as the conference location may echo arguments of library associations in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and elsewhere in the region which supported Dubai as the IFLA conference location. They supported the decision as a positive opportunity for Arab librarians and libraries, and for other reasons. As such, it makes sense there is positive sentiment by those individuals and groups toward this conference. Furthermore, there is value in standing against “historical biases towards Western countries” when choosing conference locations. [17] However, hosting the conference in the UAE makes it unlikely there would be open exchange of ideas, especially due to human rights violations, including about migrant workers and other individuals, within the country. In addition, the choice of Abu Dhabi by the ICA and Dubai by the IFLA stands against established principles of each organization. Both serve as promotional opportunities for the UAE. They whitewash the country’s reality.
The conference’s location in the UAE is interlinked with discussions about colonialism, Western imposition of values onto other parts of the world, and racism, at minimum. While archivists obviously cannot address this in one fell swoop, there is something that can be done at the present: boycotting both conferences. This should be accompanied with advocacy for a safer and more inclusive virtual/online conference. It could avoid librarians, or archivists, fighting among one other over a conference location, where nationalism comes to the fore, especially the case with the division between those opposing or supporting the IFLA conference’s location. Archivists should express these views on social media and directly to the ICA and IFLA management.
Dr Abdulla Alraisi (left), Cultural Adviser of the UAE Presidential Court and Board of Directors member and Member of the Executive Committee of the UAE National Library and Archives, and ICA President, David Fricker (right), virtually signing a memorandum for understanding for the ICA conference in July 2022. On the same webpage it is stated that the conference was rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It also claimed that the conference will have a “positive financial result for ICA’s ongoing programmes” and would provide “much-needed” financial resources for the ICA. Apart from the issue of the ICA depending on UAE oil money, one question comes to my mind from this screenshot: this signing could be virtual, why couldn’t the whole conference?
[9] “Results of the WLIC 2024 Advisory Referendum and Volunteer Survey,” IFLA, accessed Aug. 16, 2023; “Universal Periodic Review – United Arab Emirates,” U.N. Human Rights Council, accessed Aug. 16, 2023; “Travel Information,” ICA Congress Abu Dhabi 2023, accessed Aug. 15, 2023. As I noted back in April, late Lebanese-American scholar and journalist Jack G. Shaheen in one of his seminal works, Reel Bad Arabs, defines Arabs as the hundreds of millions of people who reside in, and the millions around the world in the diaspora, from 22 Arab states: Algeria, Bahrain, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. One of the problems with the IFLA survey is that it does not say WHY people in regions defined as “Asia-Oceania,” “Middle East and North Africa,” and “Sub-Saharan Africa” supported Dubai as the conference location.
[12] “WLIC 2024: Briefing Paper to the Advisory Referendum,” IFLA, Jul. 2023. The same document noted that the IFLA previously chose Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a city in “a country with restrictive policies on same-sex sexual acts,” but they went through with it anyhow. They also admitted that “many LGBTQ+ potential delegates may feel unsafe or anxious” as a result of the conference location in UAE, answering the concern of one user, among others like here.
[14] I never responded to her message, as it appeared to be spam, and may send her a message back after publishing this article.
[15] Specifically the goals “Affordable and Clean Energy”, “Decent Work and Economic Growth”, “Sustainable Cities and Communities”, “Responsible Consumption and Production”, and possibly “Climate Action”, with stated UN action toward these goals and others. The UAE claims that they are committed to ” achieve sustainable development…sustainable governance…[and] adopting consumption and production methods that enhance the quality of life of the present and future generations,” but alternate energies are not even listed on the page.
Steering Shares are an opportunity to find out more about the I&A Steering Committee. This end-of-year post comes from I&A Vice Chair/Chair Elect Courtney Dean, a Project Archivist at the University of California at Los Angeles Library Special Collections.
As I mentioned way back in the fall, in my very first Steering Share, I am one of the co-founders of the Los Angeles Archivists Collective (LAAC) which is a local professional org that focuses on community building, skill-sharing, and outreach, with a particular emphasis on supporting students and new professionals.
Several weeks ago we held our first ever mini-conference, entitled ArchivesNOW, at UCLA Library. Co-sponsored by LAAC, the UCLA Library, and the UCLA Department of Information Studies, the day featured a host of presentations by MLIS students and early career professionals, addressing current issues in archives. The goal of the event was to provide space for the voices of students and new professionals, and to foster conversations from their unique vantage point. We aspired to facilitate open and honest discussions that led to awareness, reflection, and interrogation, and by all accounts, we were pretty successful!
The morning session, “Getting Ready for Work,” included Jessica Maddox, Accessioning Archivist at the University of Nevada, Reno discussing her transition from student to accessioning archivist; Noah Geraci, Digital Assets Metadata Librarian at UC Riverside on getting started with [computer] programming for archivists; Alyssa Loera, Head of Digital Services and Technology at Cal Poly Pomona on teaching expectations in academic libraries and archives; and Karly Wildenhaus, MLIS Student at UCLA, on denormalizing unpaid positions in archives and libraries.
Photo by Snowden Becker. The real financial COST of working for free on a graduate intern, from Karly Wildenhaus.
Session 2, “Archival Dilemmas: Collection-Based Case Studies,” featured Carolina Meneses, a former Metadata Technician at the University of Miami, and incoming UCLA MLIS student, discussing the practices and challenges of archiving performance; Julia Hause, Archival Studies Student at UCLA, on reviving the Salton Sea History Museum; Jonathan Naveh, MLIS/Media Archival Studies Student at UCLA on the problems that arise when processing pornography; and LAAC’s own Grace Danico, on creating diversity and inclusivity through outreach and collaboration in LAAC’s Acid Free Magazine.
Photo by Courtney Dean. Angel Diaz introduces the afternoon panel.
The day ended with paletas and Snowden Becker, co-founder of the international Home Movie Day event and the nonprofit Center for Home Movies, and currently the MLIS Program Manager in UCLA’s Department of Information Studies. Snowden teased out some of the main themes of the day, encouraged everyone to fight for more salary transparency (“that’s how the man keeps us down!”), and challenged us to think critically about what constitutes “professionalism.”
Photo by Sharon Farb. Snowden Becker and our main takeaways.
Be sure to check out #ArchivesNOW2018 on Twitter for all of the hot takes. Community notes from the day available here.
As I approach my transition into the I&A chair position, I will be bringing with me an agenda filled with many of the issues that arose at ArchivesNOW. You’ll continue to hear about all of I&A’s ongoing dynamic projects, but expect an increased focus on things like the deleterious effects of unpaid internships and temporary positions on our profession; cultural humility; and, of course, cats. See you in D.C.!
Steering Shares provide an opportunity to learn more about the I&A Steering Committee and the issues that the committee members care about. This mid-year post comes courtesy of committee member Steve Duckworth, University Archivist at Oregon Health & Science University.
In my last Steering Share, I spoke about my concerns on archival labor. This is an issue that is being discussed more and more, including in Courtney Dean’s recent Steering Share and in Fobazi Ettarh‘s piece, “Vocational Awe and Librarianship.” For this post, I’m going to take this to a slightly more positive place (and prep for a presentation that I’ll be giving on the topic in April!) So…
Let’s talk about ways that archival professionals can maximize student positions and internships for the betterment of the student, while hopefully also getting some benefit out of it for our institutions. Please note, for the purposes of brevity, I use the word “student” as a general stand-in for employees, interns, or volunteers who are enrolled in a degree program and hoping to find a professional position in the library, archives, or museum fields.
My student workers tell me, and I like to believe them, that I’ve been extremely valuable in helping them find full-time employment. Can we all agree that one of the main goals of a student job is to find a professional position? Unfortunately, I feel that’s not how many pros out there view it. Mostly we view student employment, internships, and volunteer work as cheap labor to help us do what we need to get done because we’re all underfunded. But, while ‘getting stuff done’ is important, training and mentoring the doers in the process of the doing is much more valuable.
What I’m talking about is not all that revolutionary, but it does seem to be a little abnormal. Look at these student positions as mentorship opportunities, rather than cheap and temporary labor. Some of the more concrete ideas you can try out in your own institution are listed below:
Train students in archival practices. I was surprised to learn that students were often not trained for other jobs they’d had. Think of the job as a long-form class in archival processing and management, teach skills to help students negotiate complicated decision making and to know when to ask for help.
Be flexible when possible. If students don’t have public service duties, allow for flexible scheduling. If you have work that can be done offsite, consider allowing students to work from home from time to time.
Aid students in the job search process. Review resumes and cover letters; offer in-person and online interview practice sessions; recommend jobs they should apply for. If your institution has open sessions or presentations for job applicants, invite students to attend – it’s great experience to watch other people interview for jobs.
Expose students to a wide variety of job functions: exhibit planning, cataloging, reference support, physical and digital processing, project planning, etc.; the skills will come in handy for applying to a wide variety of jobs.
Support professional growth and scholarly output. Get to know students’ goals and interests. If possible, allow some work time for research. Offer financial support for meeting or conference attendance as possible, or help find a roommate, rideshare, or other cost-cutting measures. List students’ names as authors on finding aids; this helps during the job interviewing process. Where possible, instead of describing them as a “Student Assistant,” try “Archives Assistant” or no title at all.
Involve students in everything. I’ve learned students love new experiences and also getting away from their desks – the bonus for them is learning more aspects of the profession. Bring them everywhere: donor meetings, records pick-ups, hunting expeditions in the stacks, etc. Encourage students to attend relevant trainings being offered or events on campus. Allow them to serve on committees if they are interested, but don’t pressure them into it.
These are some concrete actions you can take, but more important is the work environment that you cultivate. Try to create a supportive environment where students feel comfortable asking questions and voicing opinions. This helps them develop and feel a part of the work being done, but also empowers students to bring up new thoughts on how to tackle problems. Don’t be afraid to learn from your students! Allow your ideas and common practices to be challenged by someone with a fresh view. Build trust with your workers and allow them autonomy to learn and grow; you should also review their work and offer feedback and critique when needed.
In assembling these ideas, I talked to my student workers and heard from them that one of the best things I’ve done for them was to not be condescending. Apparently they get a lot of condescension in both classroom and job settings. So I recommend that we try being more respectful or deferential, and more approachable and welcoming. I like to think that’s a simple place to start, and the rest can grow from there.
Steering Shares provide an opportunity to learn more about the I&A Steering Committee and the issues that the committee members care about. This post is by I&A Vice Chair/Chair Elect Courtney Dean, a Project Archivist at the University of California at Los Angeles Library Special Collections.
While it is imperative that we critically examine our institutional policies, collecting efforts, descriptive practices, and user services, I would argue it just as essential to consider the affective experience of archival labor. Much work has been done in recent years on this concept of affect and the archive (see the March 2016 special issue of Archival Science and other work by Marika Cifor, Michelle Caswell, and Anne Gilliland) and this scholarship considers central questions such as:
What is the capacity of recordkeeping processes, or of records or the physical place of the archives to engender psychological and physiological responses in those who encounter them? What is the nature of those affects? What are the affects for individuals, communities and nations of the absence or irrecoverability of records? In what ways, and to what extent, do records, and the holdings of our archives capture or contain emotions and other forms of affect that were experienced by the creators or others engaged or present in the making of the records? How should the archivist represent such affect to potential users, and how should the archivist anticipate and respond to affective responses and reactions on the part of those users? What kinds of affect are experienced by the archivist? What ethical imperatives and dilemmas does a consideration of affect present for practicing archivists? What theoretical concepts and models might be challenged by explicitly incorporating affective considerations? (1)
Increasingly, attention has also been directed to the affective experience of employment in Library and Information Science (LIS) professions. Fobazi Ettarh’s exploration of what she has termed vocational awe attempts to “to dismantle the idea that librarianship is a sacred calling; thus requiring absolute obedience to a prescribed set of rules and behaviors, regardless of any negative effect on librarians’ own lives.” (2) Ettarh calls attention to the very real prevalence of burnout, under-compensation, job creep, and lack of diversity in LIS. Kaetrena Davis Kendrick’s The Low Morale Experience of Academic Librarians: A Phenomenological Study takes a close look at the development, experience, and repercussions of low morale, including physical and psychological effects and the long-term impact of “repeated and protracted exposure to emotional, verbal/written, and systemic abuse or neglect in the workplace.” (3) Davis Kendrick has recently announced a follow-up study on low morale in minority academic librarians, which will address issues such as microaggressions and the recruitment and retention of librarians of color.
Check out Fobazi’s keynote at the Pushing the Margins symposium:
While the aforementioned examples specifically address librarianship, they can just as easily be applied to archives and archivists. Perhaps even more endemic in the archival profession, however, is the reliance on temp workers, further compounding issues of job satisfaction. Chela Scott Weber’s OCLC Research Report Research and Learning Agenda for Archives, Special, and Distinctive Collections in Research Libraries specifically mentions a need for investigating the long-term effects of term labor. “There is growing concern regarding ways in which insecure employment affects both the diversity of the profession and the cadre of early career professionals who often fill term roles, as well as how forced turnover, fluctuating staff resources, and the short-term frameworks inherent to project-based work affect our programs in the long term.” (4)
Even though the labor issue did not rise to the top as a priority for further OCLC research, they have been very supportive of interest and future work in this area. To this end, a colleague and I have been considering how to go about conducting a survey which captures both a snapshot of the current usage of temp labor in archives, and the costs, both emotional and financial, of reliance on this labor model. What percentage of the labor force in the field is temp workers? Is the practice of creating/hiring temporary positions greater now than it has been in the past? How does this affect diversity in our profession? We have all heard the anecdotes and have experienced, or can speculate about, the resultant anxiety, inability to make major life decisions, and constant relocating that plagues individuals, and the loss of institutional knowledge and transient staff that face institutions. However, there has historically been little to no actual data collected about the affective experience and long term effects of temp labor.
One of the end goals, besides data collection, is to publish our findings, and create a document outlining best practices for temporary positions. Initially this began as a much smaller undertaking, mainly to arm ourselves with information to present to our own institutional management. In the course of conducting a literature review, and talking to colleagues across the profession, it quickly became apparent that this is much sought after information that would have a wide reaching impact, and we plan to reach out to groups that are already engaged in complementary work in allied professions, such as the DLF’s Labor Working Group.
It is my hope that this work will inform awareness of the long-term effects of temporary labor and encourage conversations about labor models in our field. While it is likely that temp positions will never go away entirely, there are steps that can be taken to ensure that the experience is meaningful and ethical.
Davis Kendrick, Kaetrena. (2017). The Low Morale Experience of Academic Librarians: A Phenomenological Study. Journal of Library Administration. 57. https://doi.org/10.1080/01930826.2017.1368325
Weber, Chela Scott. 2017. Research and Learning Agenda for Archives, Special, and Distinctive Collections in Research Libraries. Dublin, OH: OCLC Research. doi:10.25333/C3C34F.
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, Cate Peebles. Cate is the NDSR Art fellow at the Yale Center for British Art, where she works with permanent-collection-related born-digital records.
Lately there have been rumblings on the internet regarding the deadness and/or dying of the library and archival professions, which is nothing new, but it strikes me as a particularly myopic death knell considering the omnipresence of records-related headlines (emails, JFK, cyber-attacks, etc…) and the ongoing relevance of archival work, both traditional and digital. The professions are changing, as the nature of information creation and sharing changes, but our work and ideals remain crucial to a society that values the open exchange of ideas.
Since beginning my career as an archivist in 2015, I have developed a heightened awareness of the proliferation of archives, “the archive,” and archival documents represented in popular culture. I can’t binge watch my way through the latest Netflix series without at least once hitting an imaginary buzzer on the couch and yelling “Archives!” to anyone (or no one) who happens to be next to me. But at the same time, there is also something—or someone—missing in these moments of recognition: the archivist. Where are we in the popular imagination? The results of our work are everywhere, yet representations of actual archivists are few and far between. Of course, it is traditional in our profession to be behind the scenes and to leave no trace once we have “shuffle[d] the damn papers” (O’Toole, 1993).
This has led me to wonder about the role of the archivist in society, how we are seen or ignored, and how our work is vital to so many creative pursuits beyond the expected use of archival sources by historians. Archival materials are used by poets, visual artists, and filmmakers to deepen their work and as “the narrative marrow and aesthetic backbone” (Paletz, 2013) of their pieces. In this post, I will explore one popular genre that notably relies on archives: the true crime documentary.
Beginning with Errol Morris’s seminal film, The Thin Blue Line (1987), modern true crime documentaries place records in a starring role alongside interviewees; these records are narratively and aesthetically significant. In the last couple of years, such films have been everywhere: Making a Murderer, The Jinx, Serial (podcast), OJ; Made in America, and The Keepers, to name a few, and new titles continue to appear (such as Morris’s new film Wormwood).
This notable trend builds upon a literary genre that has been popular for centuries—the crime serial—and modernizes it with an emphasis on theatrical legal drama (Silbey, 2010), records, and recordkeeping. The visual power of records is matched by their power to effect real change in the lives of the films’ subjects. In the case of Morris’s subject Randall Dale Adams in The Thin Blue Line, his exoneration came about as a result of the film; we see this happening again with The Jinx, the Paradise Lost trilogy, and the podcast Serial, which establishes a strong link between filmmakers’ use of archival resources and criminal justice causes that result in activism.
And with the proliferation of sources available online and in various media, filmmakers have access to materials beyond newsreels and photographs. Taking center screen in many of these true crime films are: home movies, cell phone records, police documents, interview transcripts, handwriting samples, and police interviews with suspects (custodial interviews).
In film, as in other visual media, records carry symbolic weight (O’Toole, 1993). In each of the docu-series discussed here, records constitute much of what is seen on screen. Having “gained independence from its conventional role as historical wallpaper” (Paletz, 2013), archival footage, and footage of archival materials, now drives the action.
Unlike the traditional guts and gore we have come to expect from crime stories, records convey a familiar, quotidian side of human logic that contrasts the inherent sensationalism of the genre. Records, representing truth, drive visual narrative and on-screen action; they also provide the viewer with access to potential answers and a satisfying resolution.
Examples of archives in pop culture includes:
The Jinx (HBO, directed by Andrew Jarecki, 2015)
Estranged real estate heir, Robert Durst, is the central figure in three murder cases: his wife, his neighbor, and his best friend, Susan Berman. His story is bizarre and ongoing. Oddly, it was Durst himself who approached Jarecki and offered access to his personal papers (3). Each episode presents records used to further the story in a variety of ways:
Reenactments based on crime scene photos
Handwriting samples
Highlighted interview transcripts
Newspapers, crime photos, tabloids.
The crux of this series, and the subsequent re-arrest of Robert Durst, lies in the unearthing of a handwritten note from Durst to victim Susan Berman found in the personal papers kept by her stepson, Sareb Kaufman. Kaufman serves as a kind of amateur “citizen archivist” or keeper of records that link Durst to the murder of Susan Berman.
The Jinx, which is full of interviews and oral history interviews, is itself a new record of the crimes it represents, documenting the relationship between filmmaker and subject along with the subject’s continued role as suspect. The film is a well-constructed result of careful research and Jarecki credits many archival sources at the end of each episode.
Making a Murderer (Netflix, directed by Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi, 2015)
Created over 10 years, this series explores the life and trials of Steven Avery, a man convicted of murder and exonerated after 18 years in prison in 2003, only to be arrested and convicted of murder again in 2007. Many questions arise regarding the Wisconsin criminal justice system and local police department’s handling of Avery’s case(s) and that of his nephew, Brendan Dassey. The film’s focus on the legal system and court room activity also highlights the importance of evidentiary records over time and the need for adequate stewardship of legal and public records.
Pivotal use of records in the series includes:
Possible evidence tampering, case files and police evidence
Cell phone metadata
Police interviews and custodial interrogations
Court and police dept. documents
The filmmakers use of documents and police footage led to the overturned conviction of Brendan Dassey after his pre-arrest police interviews were found to show a coerced confession (Almasy, 2016). Like The Jinx, this series is a compilation of many years’ research and is itself documentation of Wisconsin’s criminal justice system and the Avery family.
The Keepers (Netflix, directed by Ryan White, 2017)
These clues to what [the past] was linger on in a place like this attic. These objects hold energy…Tom Nugent, Journalist, “The Keepers”
This is a series as much about memory as it is about solving a long-cold case. As the title suggests, its protagonists are keepers of memory, truth-seekers and literal stewards, collecting stories related to the murder of their teacher, Sister Cathy Cesnik. They also investigate the role of the Diocese of Baltimore in covering up sexual abuse at area schools.
The Keepers taps into what it means to steward ephemeral fragments of a larger story, delving into the psychology of memory, abuse survival, and the emotional work of recordkeeping.
Led by a team of citizen researcher-archivists and advocates, the women at the center of this series “went into this collecting information…every bit of scrap…every story” seeking answers where the absence of records leaves an endless trail of questions.
Film invigorates archival records, inviting new eyes and reinterpretation. Records participate in the narratives and underpin the criminal justice causes and retrials instigated by these series.
These documentaries highlight records as active participants in ongoing investigations rather than mere static referents—but they do not rise magically from nowhere. Archival records, both analog and digital, require ongoing stewardship and preservation if they are to remain accessible to creators and researchers. We see stacks of papers and boxes pulled from shelves, but actual archives and archivists are often absent. There is no “popular” image of an archivist and yet we are more present than ever, however unseen we may be. Without records and their keepers, there are no stories to tell.
Other Viewing and Listening
The Thin Blue Line (Morris, 1988)
Serial (Koenig, 2014- )
Capturing the Friedmans (Jarecki, 2003)
OJ: Made in America (Edelman, 2016)
Paradise Lost Trilogy (Berlinger and Sinofsky, 1996-2011)
References
Almasy, Steve. ‘Making a Murderer’: Brendan Dassey conviction overturned. CNN.com, August 12, 2016.
Bagli, Charles V.; Yee, Vivian. On HBO’s ‘The Jinx’ Robert Durst Says He ‘Killed them all’. The New York Times, March 15, 2015.
O’Toole, James. The Symbolic Significance of Archives. The American Archivist, 1993. 234-255
Silbey, Jessica M., Evidence Verité and the Law of Film (April 24, 2010). Cardozo Law Review, Vol. 31, No. 4, pp. 1257-1299, 2010; Suffolk University Law School Research Paper No. 10-23
Steering Shares are an opportunity to find out more about the I&A Steering Committee. This end-of-the-year post is from I&A Vice Chair/Chair-Elect Rachel Mandell, Metadata Librarian at the University of Southern California Digital Library.
This year has been an exciting whirlwind for me—from starting a new job as a permanent library faculty member to deciding to continue with the Issues and Advocacy Section as the incoming Chair, I have taken on more responsibility, learned a lot more about what it means to be a professional archivist/ librarian, and have just started to figure out how to juggle it all.
As we wind down in our current positions with the Issues and Advocacy Section and look forward to our official section meeting in Portland, I want to take this opportunity to thank Hope Dunbar, our outgoing Chair, who has been a great leader throughout this past year. I also want to thank the rest of the amazing Steering Committee for your enthusiasm and dedication to the section and the cause! I will need to ask for your continued support next year—I hope I can live up to the legacy that Hope is leaving behind.
As I prepare myself to step into my new role as Chair, I want to use this post to reflect on what we accomplished this year and what I hope to continue working towards next year. This list is by no means comprehensive—these are just some of the achievements that stick out for me personally.
Our nomination for SAA’s J. Franklin Jameson award was selected: The Steering Committee nominated The Environmental Data & Governance Initiative & The Technoscience Research Unit, University of Toronto, and it was selected! We are so proud!
Updated the Issues and Advocacy Toolkit: One of our amazing Steering Committee members, Laurel Bowen, spearheaded the toolkit update this year. She added significant content from the history and historic preservations professions, which provide substantive ideas on how to think about the value and impact of archives, to craft value statements about archives, and how to lobby or energize the support of decision-makers to relevant content on other websites.
Social media updates: Daria Labinsky, another one of our esteemed Steering Committee members, was our social media rock star—she was on top of promoting all of our blog posts and getting important information out to our members through our Facebook page and Twitter feed.
Research teams:This year we had Legislators Research and General News Monitoring Research Teams. These are logistically difficult to coordinate, but our teams and team leaders did a great job this year keeping up on the issues that affect our profession. You can check out some of the teams’ findings in our Research Posts category in our blog.
Coordinated a great panel for our section meeting at SAA this year:This year, we’ll have a panel discussing experiences with controversial archival collections as well as their best practices for access and display. Promises to be an interesting discussion! Come check it out—Friday, July 28th from 11:15-12:30p during SAA in Portland.
Monthly meetings/Bi-annual joint calls:Every month, Hope leads a Steering Committee meeting as well as two joint calls with our collaborators: the Regional Archival Associations Consortium (RAAC) Advocacy Subcommittee, the Committee on Public Policy, and the Committee on Public Awareness. It’s exciting to see where our groups’ interests align and we can develop collaborative initiatives.
Looking towards next year, which officially starts after the SAA Annual Meeting in Portland, I hope to get started on the following:
Library Design Share Portal: Possible pilot project for I&A, and collaborators, modeled after the Library Design Share Portal, where we could create templates that could be used for advocating for the library.
An Issues and Advocacy Intern: We have decided to join SAA in a call for interns. We hope to offer our intern some great experience of working with our toolkit, perhaps overseeing legislative or general research teams or coordinating some of our outreach efforts. I actually started with I&A as an intern, so it’s very exciting for me to guide our intern.
Continue with the momentum of our blog: I really hope to keep up with our blog presence!! Can’t let the momentum run out now!
I am really looking forward to serving as Chair next year. I want to do a good job and be a good leader. I hope that the rest of the steering committee holds me to that! Thanks for a great year everyone! Go Team!
Drumroll… announcing the fantastic candidates for Issues and Advocacy Roundtable leadership for 2016. A big round of applause to each of these individuals for running!
Voting will will start during the first week of July and will be open for two weeks. Descriptions of each position’s responsibilities can be found here, and in the I&A Bylaws.
Note: because we have so many (wonderful!) candidates, this post is lengthy. But oh so worth the scrolling!
Candidate Listing (scroll down for bios and statements)
Vice-Chair (Two-Year Term: first year as Vice-Chair and second year as Chair) (vote for one candidate)
Hope M. Dunbar
Rachel Mandell
Steering Committee Member (Two-Year Term) (vote for two candidates)
Stephanie Bennett
Samantha Dodd
Keith Phelan Gorman
Lucinda Manning
Alessandro Meregaglia
Megan Miller
Blake Relle
Alison Stankrauff
Steering Committee Member (One-Year Term) (vote for two candidates)
Megan M. Atkinson
Hilary Barlow
Laurel Bowen
Tara Kelley
Daria Labinsky
Rachel Seale
Candidate Bios and Statements: Vice-Chair (vote for one)
Hope M. Dunbar
Bio:
I would like to nominate myself for the position of Vice-Chair for the Issues & Advocacy Roundtable. I am currently an Archivist at SUNY Buffalo State College in the Archives & Special Collections Department. Previously, I have had roles in the Special Collections & Rare Book Department of the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library; the Library & Archives of the John Felice Rome Center, Italy; and the Archives & Special Collections Department of the Newberry Library, Chicago. I participated in the I&A Legislator Research Team in early 2016.
Statement of Interest:
In addition, prior to my work in the archives field, I was an attorney in Illinois focusing on government and federal mediation. I have worked in Washington, D.C. and Chicago for federal offices, including the U.S. Dept. of Justice, the U.S. Dept. of State, and the U.S Dept. of Education, and understand the necessity of institutional advocacy. Based on my interdisciplinary background, I can offer additional perspectives and expertise. Archives, special collections, and the humanities as a whole must advocate just as fervently as other fields to maintain funding and support. Additionally, we know our profession best including its benefits and its challenges; it is our duty to actively represent these realities to those outside our field. I believe this committee is essential to this advocacy.
Rachel Mandell
Bio:
Rachel Mandell graduated with her Master’s in Library and Information Science from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2012. She then pursued a personal goal to live abroad and also gained international experience as a visiting scholar at the Center for Art and Media Technology in Karlsruhe, Germany. Rachel continued her exploration of central Europe as she was awarded a 2013-2014 Fulbright grant in Vienna, Austria. In addition to developing an appreciation for Viennese coffee houses, Rachel concentrated on audiovisual archiving by working in the Austrian Academy of Sciences’ Phonogrammarchiv—the oldest sound archive in the world and the Austrian Film Museum, where she digitized and archived amateur films. Since returning to her hometown of Los Angeles, Rachel began to transition into the next stage of her archival career by getting more involved with both the local archival community and also establish herself within the larger field of archivists. During her 12-month post as the LA as Subject Resident Archivist, Rachel completed short term archival projects at four member institutions of the LA as Subject organization—a network of institutions in Los Angeles that collect materials documenting the history of the city and its diverse population of residents. She was then offered the Digital Archivist position at California State University, Dominguez Hills, working on a large-scale collaboration called the California State University Japanese American Digitization Project. The goal of this project is to bring together disparate records, photographs, oral histories, and other archival materials relating to the incarceration of Japanese Americans in California during the World War II era. She is also the current Issues and Advocacy Intern. Together with the Issues and Advocacy Roundtable team, Rachel has contributed to the improvement of the Issues and Advocacy Toolkit and hopes to continue working with the Issues and Advocacy Roundtable in the future.
Statement of Interest:
I hope to be selected as the next Vice Chair of the Issues and Advocacy (I&A) Roundtable. This past March I became an active member of the Roundtable when I accepted the position of I&A Intern. I saw the internship as a unique opportunity to get involved with the Society of American Archivists (SAA) and expand my professional network beyond my local archival community. As I specified in my statement of interest, I hoped to contribute to the improvement of the Issues and Advocacy Toolkit by designing a survey that would target areas that need improvement. I believe I have accomplished this initial goal. I designed and administered the nine question survey that we used to help identify layout and user interface issues as well as solicit advice from the community about how to improve the content of the toolkit. We received 31 responses total and nine of the respondents also agreed to participate in a future focus group. I am currently in the process of creating hypothetical scenarios for the focus group, which will hopefully exploit further weaknesses in the content of the toolkit.
Working with the I&A team has been a rewarding experience, which has inspired me to apply for the Vice Chair position. If selected, I hope to continue working towards implementing changes to the toolkit. I would love to see the new and improved toolkit come to fruition! In addition to my experience as the I&A intern, I believe that my enthusiasm for collaboration and strong communication skills would make me an excellent candidate for this position. I look forward to the chance to serve the I&A Roundtable and to support fellow archivists advocate for our profession and increase dialogue and awareness of important archival issues.
Candidate Bios and Statements: Steering Committee Member (Two-Year Term) (vote for two)
Stephanie Bennett
Bio:
Stephanie Bennett is the Collections Archivist for Wake Forest University, which is also her alma mater. She holds an MSLIS with an Archives Management concentration from Simmons College and is a member of the Academy of Certified Archivist. Bennett worked previously at Iowa State University, Boston College, and corporate research firms. She is an active member of the Society of American Archivists, the Society of North Carolina Archivists, where she was recently a Member at Large on the Executive Board, and the Midwest Archives Conference.
Statement of Interest:
Archivists often are affected by the reverberations of societal or political happenings. Gun laws affect reading room environments and policies, for example; activism causes us to rethink the nature of our work; environmental changes affect our storage conditions or the records we collect; this list could go on. I respect the work that I&ART does to help archivists think through political and personal issues and advocate for policies and changes that will benefit us, our communities, dare I even say humankind? And the recent changes to the website have been great! I would be thrilled to continue I&A’s good work and contribute to helping archivists navigate contentious issues, find allies, and ultimately act on our concerns.
Samantha Dodd
Bio:
Samantha Dodd is an archivist in Special Collections at the UT Arlington Library. Prior to joining UTA, she served as the archivist for the Dallas Historical Society. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in history with a minor in education from UT Arlington in 2009, a Master of Arts degree in History at UT Dallas in 2012, an Archival Administration Certificate from UT Arlington in 2013, and became a certified archivist in 2013. Fueled by a passion for higher education, and wanting to develop her skills and abilities as an archivist, Samantha attended the University of North Texas from 2013-2014 and earned her Master of Library and Information Science degree. In 2014 she was one of twenty-one candidates selected to participate in the American Association for State and Local History’s Seminar for Historical Administration.
Statement of Interest:
I would like to take a more active role in the Issues and Advocacy Roundtable of the Society of American Archivists. My passion in this profession is advocacy, whether it is advocating for awareness, relevancy, rights, or any number of issues facing archivists. As SAA recently endorsed the History Relevancy Campaign, I would like to help continue the discussion and promote the efforts of this campaign as this issue of history’s relevancy can directly impact archives and archivists. Furthermore, by joining the leadership of the roundtable, I hope to encourage increased participation by members, and to instill in our membership a passion for perspective. By looking ahead, and looking around us, we can see the issues and problems coming down the line, and formulate our responses before facing the issues head on.
Keith Phelan Gorman
Bio:
Keith Gorman is the Assistant Dean of Special Collections and University Archives at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). During his past six years at UNCG, he has actively promoted the value of the department’s unique collections, instructional services, and digital projects to faculty, students, administrators, donors, and the general public. As a result of Keith’s advocacy, his department has been able to acquire new positions, grow donations, and quintuple the number of class sessions being taught. In addition, Keith has identified and cultivated local stakeholders through the development of off-campus programs that emphasize life-long learning.
Trained as a historian, Gorman received his Ph.D. in history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After a decade of teaching history at Simmons College, Keith decided to pursue a new career that brought together his deep interest in how individuals access information and his passion for empowering communities to understand and craft their own history. He received a MLS (archives concentration) from Simmons College and has held positions at the Smithsonian Institution Archives and the Martha’s Vineyard Museum.
Throughout his fourteen year career in archives, Gorman has actively engaged educators, service organizations, librarians, local businesses, elected officials, and funders to promote the social and cultural value of rare and unique collections. For example, over the past academic year, Keith initiated a community engagement program that focused on digital information literacy and teaching with primary sources. Teaching thirty-five class sessions at area middle school and high school students, Keith was able to stress the impact an academic library at a public university can have on a community.
Statement of Interest:
With my diverse professional background in archives, museums, and academia, I believe that I would be an effective and innovative contributor to the Issues and Advocacy (I &A) Roundtable. In this challenging economic and political climate, it is critical for archivists to be able to effectively “tell their story” and forcefully address the issue of return on investment. Drawing on my own experience of promoting archives as a cultural hub, I believe I could help contribute to the reframing of how archives are being represented in a community’s collective imagination and political discourse.
If elected to the position, one of my goals would be to consider new ways to broaden dialog between archivists and K-12 educators. For archivists, local teachers and students have always had the potential to be collaborators and vocal supporters. With rapid shifts in pedagogy, teaching standards, and learning tools, teachers are seeking new ways to effectively incorporate primary sources into curriculum design. Through targeted outreach to area educators, archivists could develop and scale programs to meet teacher needs and at the same time demonstrate their educational/cultural value to community leaders.
Lucinda Manning
Bio:
I (Lucinda Manning) have worked as both a professional archivist and librarian since 1980 in various historical societies, and in college and university libraries, including URI, NYU, Barnard, and Teachers College at Columbia University. For twelve years, I directed the UFT Archives & Records Center for the United Federation of Teachers labor union in NYC. More recently, I have worked on consulting projects, was the Curator of Archives for the Historical Society of the Town of Greenwich and was also a Consulting Archivist for the National Office of the ACLU in NYC. I am also currently serving on three committees for the ALA United for Libraries division including their Newsletter Committee and their Intellectual Freedom Committee.
Statement of Interest:
My academic background includes an undergraduate degree in print journalism/graphic design; graduate study in U.S. history (with an emphasis on 19th and 20th C. social change movements, including civil rights, women’s studies & labor history); and an MLS in academic libraries and special collections from the University of Rhode Island. She has recently served on the NYC Archivist Round Table’s Advocacy Committee and on the SAA Diversity Committee, as well as participating in many local, activist, community and political activities in New York.
Our profession’s role in helping to preserve our cultural and historical history (and the many related and critically important archival/information issues – including privacy, records security, intellectual freedom, records management concerns, long-term preservation of our multi-cultural US history – that are shared, of course, with other similar professions such as librarianship, the historical profession and cultural museums) have all been a major focus throughout my archival and library career. I would very much enjoy serving as a member of our SAA Issues & Advocacy Round table leadership with others who are also interested and passionate about helping to formulate effective responses to all of the increasingly important professional advocacy and information concerns outlined above.
Alessandro Meregaglia
Bio:
I work as an archivist/librarian at Boise State University’s Special Collections and Archives, where I manage our digital collections and respond to reference questions. I have a Master of Library Science (Archives & Records Management specialization) and a MA in History from Indiana University. Prior to joining Boise State, I worked as a project archivist at a non-profit organization.
Statement of Interest:
As an academic archivist and during my time with a small non-profit organization, I understand the vital need for advocacy in archives of all sizes and want to build on the efforts that the I&A Roundtable has already accomplished (the Advocacy Toolkit, the blog, etc.).
Earlier this year, I participated on Legislators Research Team for I&A, which gathered information about key legislators. That experience reiterated the need for advocacy in archives when I noticed that legislators on archival governing committees had little experience with archives. Maintaining awareness about public policy affecting archives directly (or indirectly through other cultural institutions) is key to strengthening the profession while also making sure archivists’ voices are heard. I look forward to the opportunity to serve SAA and the archival profession on the I&A Steering Committee.
Megan Miller
Bio:
Megan Miller is the Digital Imaging Technician for the Chemical Heritage Foundation’s Beckman Legacy Project. Her academic training is in history: she received her MA from Temple University, where her coursework focused on public history and archival studies, and her AB from Bryn Mawr College. She is a member of MARAC’s Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion.
Statement of Interest:
There are dramatic changes I would like to see (in society, in the profession), but incremental progress is still progress. I can’t wave a magic wand and suddenly provide funding for cash-strapped institutions, force stakeholders to realize the value of archives, or make the profession instantly welcoming and accessible to a diverse talent pool. I can help a bit with the grind: spotlighting new issues, keeping longstanding issues from being forgotten (or incorrectly deemed to be solved), and making sure that momentary gains are not allowed to disappear. I want to help the conversations and resources I&A fosters migrate throughout the profession.
Blake Relle
Bio:
Blake Relle received his Master’s Degree in Library and Information Science with a concentration in archive management from LSU in 2013. Currently, he serves as an Archives Specialist at the Louisiana State Archives where he fulfills request for materials made by the public as well as state agencies. From 2013 to 2015, he served as a digitization intern at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. Professionally, Relle has presented on “How to get new archival professionals involved in archival organizations?” and “Should archival professionals do continuing education?” At the upcoming SAA meeting in August, Relle will be on a panel that will discuss how archives and museums can provide access to their collections to people with disabilities. Relle serves as Website and Social Media Coordinator for the New England Archivist Early Professionals and Students Roundtable. In this capacity, Relle manages and updates the Roundtable’s website and social media accounts. He co-wrote a blog post for ProjectArc regarding how the Toronto City Archive reduced its energy consumption by 59%.
Statement of Interest:
This opportunity will provide a way for me to give back to my profession as
well as learn from others. I will have a chance to learn about the issues facing the archival community as well as help find solutions to these issues. We have to work together because we can do more as a whole than we can individually.
Alison Stankrauff
Bio:
I have served as the Campus Archivist at the Indiana University South Bend campus since 2004. I am a lone arranger, and inherited an archives that had not had an archivist for ten years. What draws me to be a leader in the Issues and Advocacy Roundtable is the strong draw that I feel to issues of social justice. What I think that this means for my participation in this roundtable is that I see it as an advocate for archivists as well as the publics that we serve. I would work to make sure that critical issues that are central to the concerns of archivists and preserving – and making accessible – the historical record are addressed. Previous to my current position, I served as a reference archivist at the American Jewish Archives, and previous to that, as a technician at the Reuther Labor Archives at Wayne State University. I interned at the Rabbi Franklin Archives at Temple Beth El in metropolitan Detroit. I graduated with my Masters in Library Science with Archival Administration concentration in 2002 from Wayne State University, and I have a Bachelors degree in history from Antioch College.
Statement of Interest:
I’m Alison Stankrauff, Archivist and Associate Librarian at Indiana University South Bend. I’m committed to being vigilant for the archival profession and the archival record that we collect, protect, make accessible. When either of those are in danger, I believe it’s my duty to do my part to personally advocate for what’s at stake – and motivate others to do the same – with a collective voice.
Candidate Bios and Statements: Steering Committee Member (One-Year Term) (vote for two)
Megan M. Atkinson
Bio:
Megan M. Atkinson is the University Archivist for Tennessee Technological University. She has worked for over six years as an archivist. Her primary goal is making as many collections as possible available for research to the users. Her previous positions include the National Park Service, Louisiana State University, and Temple University’s Institute on Disabilities. She has a BA in History from West Chester University and an MLIS from Drexel University.
Statement of Interest:
I have always advocated for archives, but I recently took a position where few knew I existed or the importance of the archives. Although this was not a novel idea-given most of my jobs were this way-this was the first time that I was in a position where it was my duty to advocate for myself and not the duty of my supervisor. As a result, I feel that advocating for myself at the lower level, my university, will be greatly aided by my participation in Issues and Advocacy and advocating as a whole for the profession and archives nationally and internationally. I participated in the Legislator and Research Team pilot program and would like to participate and dedicate more time towards this effort, which aids all archives and archivists.
Hilary Barlow
Bio:
Hilary Barlow is a Preservation Staff Member at Penn State University and a Volunteer Archivist at the Centre County Historical Society in State College, PA. She completed her Master of Information degree in Archives & Records Management at the University of Toronto in 2015 and worked as an Archives Intern for Democracy Now! Productions in New York City. As an MI student, Hilary served as President of the Master of Information Student Council. She is an active member of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference and has contributed to the I&AR blog.
Statement of Interest:
In my archives career thus far, I have tried to keep advocacy at the center of my practice. As President of my student union, I advocated for an information master’s program more open and accessible to students. As an Archives Intern at Democracy Now! Productions, I learned how archives can document social movements and a long history of independent reporting. I feel that the Issues & Advocacy Roundtable engages with the challenges our professional faces most urgently today. I want to be more involved in collaborating with other archivists and determining what issues to bring to light.
Laurel Bowen
Bio:
I am the University Archivist at Georgia State University, where I provide records and research services for university administrators, the academic community, and the public. I have an M.A. from Cornell University. To increase public awareness and appreciation of the value of archives and archivists, I enjoy demonstrating the powerful, practical, and sometimes unusual ways that records can be used to advocate for citizens in their local communities.
Statement of Interest:
I’ve served for one year on the Steering Committee and would like to be considered for a second year.
1. Our profession is enhancing its advocacy efforts to make a bigger impact on issues that affect the public interest. I’d like to be part of this effort as a member of the I&A Steering Committee.
2. The Steering Committee identifies, discusses, and recommends issues to be brought forward for action, and coordinates its work with other advocacy groups. I’d like to get a clearer view of what motivates our profession to take action and the forms that action takes, so our Roundtable can be increasingly successful in advocating for our members’ concerns.
3. I hope to see our Roundtable continue to offer opportunities for members to be actively involved in advocacy efforts. See https://issuesandadvocacy.wordpress.com/
4. Engaging in advocacy issues on the Steering Committee also stimulates thought on larger challenges such as (a) How do we as a profession advocate effectively for citizens, records, and the public interest when public officials can be elected with mega-contributions from a few sources? (b) What strategies can be employed to persuade officials to provide timely access to public records? I would appreciate your vote.
Tara Kelley
Bio:
Tara D. Kelley is a moving image Archivist / Librarian at New York Public Library. She became the Specialist for the Mikhail Baryshnikov Archive in 2012, and began work with the Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division at the Schomburg Center in 2014. Kelley is a founding member of the AMIA Film Advocacy Task Force, promoting the continued use of film for archival preservation and creative work, and currently serves on the Steering Committee of the SAA Issues & Advocacy Roundtable. She earned her MLIS at Rutgers University and is a graduate of the L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation at George Eastman Museum.
Statement of Interest:
I am a moving image librarian and archivist at New York Public Library. I started with NYPL’s Library for the Performing Arts as the project archivist for the Mikhail Baryshnikov Archive and now work in the Moving Image and Recorded Sound division at the Schomburg Center.
I currently serve as a member of the I & A Roundtable Steering Committee and seek an additional year-long term. This would allow for continuity with our current News Monitoring and Awareness Research Team and for the development of additional projects.
As a member of SAA and AMIA, I value partnerships with similar organizations, as we share common concerns and extend our reach by working together. As just one example: when the Cinemateca Brasileira moving image archive caught fire, the ability to share news from AMIA with the SAA community was helpful in generating attention and support for the archive. I hope to have the opportunity to advocate for our communities again this year.
Daria Labinsky
Bio:
I am an Archivist at the National Archives at St. Louis, where I have worked since 2010. Before coming to NARA, I worked for eight years as a Local History and Reference Librarian at the Rio Rancho Public Library in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. I earned a BS in Radio/TV/Film and an MS in Journalism from Northwestern University, and an MLS from Emporia State University. I am an active member of the Society of American Archivists (member of I&A Research Team, several roundtables, Government Records Section), the Regional Archival Associations Consortium (steering committee member and subcommittee chair), the Midwest Archives Conference (formerly public information officer), and the Association of St. Louis Area Archivists.
Statement of Interest:
As a former journalist I have always been especially conscious of attempts to curtail the free flow of information. The few months I have served on the Issues and Advocacy News Media Research Team have only increased my awareness in potential threats that archivists need to know about—because they may physically affect archives and archivists and/or may restrict access to, and openness of, public records.
In my current position I haven’t had much chance to advocate for archives on an institutional basis, other than to participate in promotional efforts such as the #ThisIsArchives Twitter event. When I was a public librarian in New Mexico, I participated in Librarian Legislation Day, during which librarians met with state Congresswomen and Congressmen and lobbied for budget increases. I would be interested in working with the I&A Roundtable on similar activities on a local, state, or even national level, or in participating in other initiatives that further the cause.
Rachel Seale
Bio:
In January I assumed my new position as outreach archivist for Iowa State University Special Collections & University Archives. I spent the last six years working in the Alaska & Polar Regions Collections & Archives (APR) at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. I spent two years working primarily in reference and processing collections, then moved on to cataloging manuscripts and rare maps, working with donors, and appraising potential donations. In addition I organized presentations and exhibits that highlighted the collections and services of APR. I received my MSLIS with an Archives concentration from Simmons College in January 2006.
Statement of Interest:
Issues & Advocacy is an exciting roundtable. I am interested in a leadership position within it because, now more than ever, I think there is a need for committed professionals to advocate for our profession and for the organizations we work in. I have just recently started getting involved with this roundtable, I am a member of one of the on-call research teams that monitors breaking news and provides a summary and then coverage of the relevant issue. I am eager to get more involved with this roundtable and do have leadership experience within SAA. I have spent the last 3 years in different leadership positions in the Security Roundtable (secretary, junior co-chair, and senior co-chair).
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.
Samantha Winn serves as the Collections Archivist for Virginia Tech, where she helps to document the cultural heritage and experiences of traditionally marginalized groups. Samantha graduated from Drexel University with an MLIS and concentration in archival studies. She is currently chair of SAA’s Students and New Archives Professionals (SNAP) Roundtable. She was one of the first people to engage with #ArchivesSoWhite on Twitter
What does #ArchivesSoWhite mean to you?
With #ArchivesSoWhite, Jarrett Drake leveraged broader cultural conversations around representation for people of color at the Oscars to pithily draw attention to parallel failings in archives. For me, #ArchivesSoWhite was a mechanism to spotlight pervasive and deeply entrenched patterns of exclusion in our collection development practices and the recruitment, hiring, and retention of archival professionals. Generations of cultural heritage and information professionals have engaged this issue of marginalization in our institutions. Whatever progress we’ve made, we still have a long way to go.
I was raised to seek out, listen to, and respect other people’s stories. This early training prepared me in many ways to be an archivist. When I entered the field as a paraprofessional in 2011, I made it a priority to build an inclusive and diverse network of peers and mentors (I talked about this work as a student writing for Hack Library School).
I happened to catch #ArchivesSoWhite while grappling with broader social justice/anti-racism work in my immediate community. I have considered this work a deep personal priority for many years, but I’ve only recently felt sufficiently equipped to engage with it in a public and meaningful way. Several resources exist for this. My own path involved a lot of reading, a lot of listening , and many professional development workshops.
Now that I have a deeper reservoir of expertise, I’ve been working to balance two competing priorities. The first is a need to decenter myself and step back from the podium to give other voices a space. The second is a responsibility to leverage my own privilege – by which I mean my position of influence online and in personal spaces, my access to decision makers, and my relative professional security – to initiate, sustain, and act upon hard conversations about representation in archives. I joined the #ArchivesSoWhite conversation because I felt convicted by one of Jarrett’s tweets, which lamented the reality that people from traditionally marginalized groups are expected to carry these burdens with limited support, resources, or recognition. In addition to being exploitative and irresponsible, this practice diminishes our collective ability to retain archivists from these groups.
What conversations do you wish to hear archivists having, and where?
Rather than jump right into the conversation, many of us may need to step back and listen first. I recommend seeking out research and literature from across the cultural heritage professions, attending workshops in your area, and intentionally listening to the lived experiences of our POC colleagues (without excuse, argument, or evasion). Then, and only then, will we be equipped to make change in our individual spheres of influence. Once we get there, I want to hear archivists talk about our responsibility for diversity and inclusion in our role as cultural heritage professionals. I also want to hear recommendations from across the broad archives community about how folks have incorporated these values into collection development, arrangement and description, outreach, scholarship, mentoring, recruitment and retention, and so on.
The question of recruitment and retention should be a key priority, especially for SAA leaders and archives managers. I have seen a distinct and undeniable whitewashing of the profession at every step of the career ladder. My colleagues today (broadly speaking) do not look like my classmates from high school and college, and they don’t look like the paraprofessionals I worked with before I graduated. In the 2010 US census, about 64% of respondents identified as “white, non-hispanic.” If our profession was representative of the US population, 1 in 3 archivists would be a person of color.
One broad conversation that needs to happen is for our profession as a whole to explicitly agree that we care about equitable representation for people of color in the ranks of archivists and in the historic record. I’m not certain we’re there yet. Studies of corporate and academic initiatives have shown that diversity and inclusion policies are effectively meaningless when goals are watered down. It is profoundly counterproductive (however well-intentioned) to equivocate difference of opinions, geographic distribution, and institution type with ethnic and racial diversity.
Better yet, what action do you want archivists to be taking?
I challenge anyone who claims that they lack the capacity to achieve meaningful progress in this work. The truth is that there are so many steps we can take, regardless of our job description or tenure in the profession. Here is a narrow sample of things we can do:
1. Seek out literature and personal stories about the experiences of marginalized groups around archives, including archivists, cultural heritage creators/donors, and researchers.
2. Strive to broaden our professional networks to include more people of color.
3. Attend continuing education workshops on diversity and inclusion practices.
4. For hiring managers, seek out training on unconscious/implicit bias. Research best practices for hiring policies that measurably reduce discrimination by effect (regardless of intent).
5. Personally encourage students (K-12 and college) from traditionally marginalized groups to consider archives as a profession.
6. Recruit people of color to run for SAA positions, serve on committees, and pursue leadership roles across the organization.
7. Bring a diversity/inclusion lens to collection development, exhibits, and scholarly research. Regardless of who we are or what kind of institution we work in (unless we literally work for the Institute for the History of Rich Older White Protestant Married Men with Ivy League Degrees), anyone can do this.
8. Actively and explicitly invite the participation of traditionally marginalized groups in collection development and documentation strategies.
9. Deliberately and intentionally mentor students and new professionals from traditionally marginalized communities.
10. Seek out and invite people of color to speak on panels, author book chapters, give keynotes, and teach workshops on topics that reflect their professional expertise (e.g. not just for diversity panels).
In what moment did it dawn on you that archives had failed diversity and inclusion, or did you always see this enormous gap/lack in the profession?
It was pretty clear to me as a student of history from a young age, but several experiences as a researcher, archives staff member, conference attendee, and roundtable leader have reinforced this understanding.
What would you like the archives, and the archivists, of the future to be? What actions do you see helping the field move on that direction?
I am excited to see the Council’s new cultural competency training roll out. I would like to see all archival professionals take on responsibility for this work in our repositories and our professional organizations. I would like to see stronger diversity/inclusion mandates adopted and implemented across SAA. I would particularly like to see permanent funding for the Mosaic Scholarship and a renewal of the Mosaic Program.
What readings (up to 3) do you recommend to archivists who need to up their knowledge around archives and race?
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.
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.
Issues & Advocacy 
