Author Archives: Houston Archivist

Continuing Education: Privacy and Confidentiality Issues in Digital Archives

Privacy and Confidentiality Issues in Digital Archives

October 23, 2017
Rice University, Fondren Library

Certificate Eligibility: A&D, DAS
Credits: 5 ARC, 0.75 CEU
Length: 1 day
Format: In-Person
Max Attendees: 35
Tier:  Tactical & Strategic
ACE Category: Ethical and Legal Responsibilities

This course covers privacy and confidentiality legal issues specific to archives of digital material. You’ll examine the intersection of (and the tension between) privacy/confidentiality, free speech, and freedom to research/write, and focus on how electronic records and the digital realm have altered the scene. You’ll look at privacy and confidentiality issues in the context of third-party rights, donors, special situations such as medical and education records, national security legislation, and the overriding impact of the digital world. Through case studies, you will examine specific situations pertinent to the work of archivists.

The focus of the day will be on how to think through and identify options for resolving the most commonly encountered privacy and confidentiality legal issues regarding electronic records.

TX-CERA Sponsored Safety Workshop

TX-CERA is hosting a safety and disaster planning workshop July 24th at the MFAH. The workshop is targeted at cultural heritage staff that may work with mold and soot hazards impacting their collections. Staff so often plunge right into hero mode once a disaster hits their collections and inadvertently put themselves at risk while trying to rescue those collections. We hope to avoid that by this type of workshop.

Learn more about the event here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/safety-training-for-museum-library-and-archives-professionals-tickets-35122002856

Act Now to Save NHPRC, IMLS, and NEH!

SAA Leaders:

Please share the following with your members.

June 15, 2017—The Trump Administration’s proposed budget for FY18 includes devastating cuts to federal humanities funding, including elimination of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Now is the time to urge your Members of Congress to support federal programs that are vital to our archives community!

House Appropriations Committee subcommittees are drafting their spending bills between now and the end of June. Our colleagues at the National Humanities Alliance have created a legislative action center that allows you to send multiple email messages to Congress from a single website.  Alerts specific to NEH, IMLS, and NHPRC include a pre-written letter that you can personalize or send as is. The system uses your ZIP code to identify your House member and Senators automatically.

Access the NHA Action Center<http://p2a.co/kVFEeav>.

Personalize your message!  Whatever method of communication you choose, it’s important to personalize your message to your background, experience, institution, district, or state – something that, as a constituent, will resonate with your representative.

Need some background or ideas?

See SAA’s issue brief on Federal Grant Funding for Archives<http://www2.archivists.org/statements/issue-brief-federal-grant-funding-for-archives> as well as backgrounders on NHPRC<http://www2.archivists.org/statements/backgrounder-funding-for-the-national-historical-publications-and-records-commission> and NEH<http://www2.archivists.org/statements/backgrounder-funding-for-the-national-endowment-for-the-humanities>.

See your colleagues’ Federal Funding Impact Stories<https://archivesaware.archivists.org/>.  (Or share your own story<http://www2.archivists.org/advocacy/share-your-federal-funding-impact-story>.)

And view the National Coalition for History’s in-depth agency-by-agency analysis<http://historycoalition.org/2017/05/23/trump-fy-18-budget-proposes-devastating-cuts-to-federal-history-archival-education-programs/> of the administration’s FY18 budget proposal.

Never before have federal archival, humanities, and history programs been under such attack. Act now to save them!

Tell us when you’ve taken action!  #saveNHPRC  #saveIMLS  #saveNEH=

Why not a phone call? Many staffers’ voice mail boxes are full due to unprecedented advocacy activity, but if you prefer to try to make a phone call, find your Representative here<http://www.house.gov/> or Senators here<https://www.senate.gov/>.

Nancy P. Beaumont
Executive Director
Society of American Archivists
17 North State Street, Suite 1425
Chicago, IL  60602
312-606-0722; 866-722-7858 (toll-free)
nbeaumont@archivists.org<mailto:nbeaumont@archivists.org>

Event: Architectural Orientation at the HMRC

May 10, 2017   6:30-8pm

HMRC is hosting an Architectural Orientation of the Texas Room to introduce the public to our collections and how to access them through the reference desk.  This program goes beyond our monthly Texas Room Orientation to focus primarily on HMRC’s architectural collections.

Guided by Architectural Archivist, Samantha Bruer, customers will learn about architectural drawings, archival collections, books, and other materials that are useful in historic building research.

Parking is available under the Central Library building, with entry on Lamar Street.

For questions, please contact Samantha Bruer at samantha.bruer@houstontx.gov or 832-393-1376.

Event: Spring Creek Heritage Festival

SPRING CREEK HERITAGE FESTIVAL — FREE EVENT
Saturday, May 20th, 10 am – 3 pm RAIN OR SHINE
Spring Creek Park – 15012 Brown Road – Tomball, TX 77377

Enjoy a fun-filled day of educational, family friendly activities in one of Harris county’s most beautiful parks! Visit recreated Confederate and Union camps to learn about Civil War era lifestyles. Also take guided tours to discover the history of the recently discovered Spring Creek Park Cemetery.

Activities
Cemetery Tours – Civil War Battle Reenactments
Cultural Demonstrations – Crafts and Entertainment
Food Trucks – Archaeology Digs – Storytelling

Event Flyer

Dues Payments Made Easy!

Greetings AHA!

We’re so happy to report that you can now pay your AHA! membership dues with any major credit card! We have setup an account with Squareup.com to handle credit card transactions. To cover the transaction fee, a convenience charge of $1 will be added to the regular $10 membership. As always you can still pay dues by cash and check. See the AHA Credit Card Flyer for more details.

Cheers!

Sandra Yates
AHA! Treasurer

Sandra E. Yates, MSIS, CA, DAS
Archivist & Special Collections Librarian
McGovern Historical Collections
Texas Medical Center Library
syates@library.tmc.edu
p: 713-799-7176
f: 713-799-7876

Website: www.library.tmc.edu/mcgovern
The Black Bag: http://mcgovernhrc.wordpress.com

Lone Arrangers Call for Presenters

Call for Presenters!

Managing Expectations in (and outside) the Archives
SAA Annual Meeting, Portland, Oregon, July 23-29, 2017
Lone Arrangers Section Meeting: Wednesday July 26, 2:30-3:45pm

At the Annual Meeting this year, the Lone Arrangers Section would like to focus some of our allotted time on a discussion of managing expectations: the expectations of volunteers, of the community, and of the institution you collect for. Ideally we will have three people on the panel to speak about instances or projects that they have led which were case studies in managing expectations.

Following the presentations, we’d like to have a Q&A or breakout sessions to discuss what we’ve just heard and what ideas it sparks in us, and how we might put these ideas to work.

If you have a project you’ve done, no matter how small or how large, and you will be at SAA, we’d love to have you present! Please contact Melissa Torres (torresme@uhd.edu) or Julia Corrin (jcorrin@andrew.cmu.edu) if you are interested.

RAO Seeking Proposals

The Reference, Access, and Outreach (RAO) section of the Society of American Archivists (SAA) is seeking proposals for presentations and demonstrations for their 6th annual Marketplace of Ideas at the SAA Annual Meeting in Portland, OR to be held Wednesday, July 26 from 2:30-3:45 pm. Take a look at this form for details and the easy application procedure.

Applications are due by May 1, 2017.

The RAO Program Committee will notify all applicants about the status of their proposal by May 22, 2017.

The Year Ahead for AHA!

Dear AHA! Members,

Thanks to all who joined us recently for the inaugural monthly AHA! Happy Hour—it was a great evening of discussion and socializing. We had a productive executive meeting and brainstormed ideas for an exciting upcoming year.

One thing that came out of this gathering was a thoughtful review of AHA’s mission statement. Reflecting on the organization’s stated mission energized board members and others present. It also provided guidance as we seek to align AHA’s activities with this mission.

AHA! exists to increase contact and communication between archivists and those working with records, to provide opportunities for professional development, and to promote archival repositories and activities in the greater Houston, Texas area.

As we craft programming and communications for the year, we’ll seek to ensure that all three of these pieces are actively cultivated. Improved communication, increased fellowship, and opportunities for training and knowledge-sharing all seem like areas ripe for connecting and developing our membership. The big-ticket item—the Houston Archives Bazaar—naturally fits the focus of promoting our work within and beyond Houston. By deliberately aligning our activities with the stated mission, it is our hope that we can better serve and connect Houston’s archival community—that’s you!—as well as the communities we serve.

As we look ahead to the year, we’d like to begin by getting your input on what you’d like to see from AHA! Please take a moment to fill out this member survey.

We hope that you’re as excited as we are about the upcoming year!

Sincerely,

AHA! Executive Board

Emily Vinson, President
Matt Richardson, Vice-President
Lisa Cruces, Secretary
Sandra Yates, Treasurer