Category Archives: Professional development

AHA! Hosts Archival Certification Panel

By Joe Lueck, AHA! Secretary

On September 22, 2020, the members of AHA! convened virtually for the second general meeting of the year. The AHA! board overviewed ongoing and future initiatives, including a slate of exciting Archives Month programming for October. Watch your inbox for more information in the coming weeks! If you’re not on the AHA! listserv and are interested in becoming a member, contact the board at houstonarchivists@gmail.com.  

Following the business meeting, archivists and AHA! members John Rovell, Sandra Yates, and Amanda Focke shared their experiences and thoughts on the Certified Archivist (CA) and Digital Archives Specialist (DAS) certification programs. The panelists discussed skills and lessons learned, the costs and benefits of each certification program, and answered questions from the group, offering advice to prospective certificate seekers. 

The Certified Archivist certification is offered by the Academy of Certified Archivists, an independent organization made up of professional archivists. Obtaining this certification involves coursework, professional service, and passage of an exam covering all aspects of archival enterprise.

The Digital Archives Specialist certification is offered by the Society of American Archivists. This certification pertains specifically to working with born-digital records, involving a customizable curriculum of coursework and a cumulative final exam. 

Thank you again to our panelists! If you are interested in viewing a recording of the meeting and panel, contact the AHA! board at houstonarchivists@gmail.com.

 

TLA Call for Program Proposals for 2021 Annual Conference

TLA is currently accepting program proposals for their 2021 annual conference being held in San Antonio, April 20-23.   

The Texas Library Association (TLA) is the largest state library association in the U.S. It’s 6,000+ members represent all library types: academic, public, school and special. The TLA Annual Conference features hundreds of sessions and events each year. We welcome and encourage program proposals from individuals, both TLA members and non-members, and from other organizations. The 2021 conference theme is Celebrate Differences, Empower Voices, and TLA invites you to submit your program proposals. 

TLA accepts program proposals from May 1 to July 15, 2020 to be considered for the 2021 conference. 

2021 TLA Program Proposals Form

 

October is American Archives Month!

Sep 30, 2019 12:32 PM
SAA Headquarters
Need ideas for making your archives program and your profession more visible during American Archives Month? We’ve got four easy ways to get involved this October: 

Participate in #AskAnArchivist Day on Wednesday, October 2, when archivists around the country will answer questions about archives. Find ideas for promoting the day among your users and developing a plan with your colleagues to respond to tweets. Follow other #AskAnArchivist Day participants, and email Abigail Christian with your institution’s Twitter handle to join the list.

Advocate for Archives! Find out when your Representative and Senators will be at “home” during American Archives Month. It’s the perfect time to begin building a relationship! For tips on making a district visit, see our Advocacy Guide.

Plan an event or issue a press release to attract media coverage. SAA has evergreen resources to assist you in enhancing public awareness of your repository-and your profession. Download the new American Archives Month graphic for use in promoting your events. (Shout out to Eve Neiger, archivist at Yale University, who designed the new graphics!) 

Take part in the Council of State Archivists’ Electronic Records Day on Wednesday, October 10, to highlight the importance of electronic records and digital preservation issues in government and in our lives.

SAA Update: Advocating for Archivist Pay

Posted on June 28, 2019 by Meredith Evans | Leave a comment

The Society of American Archivists is committed to advocacy on behalf of our members. In our Strategic Plan, the goal of “Enhancing Professional Growth” is focused on archivists having access to the professional community and resources they need to be successful and effective in their careers. Fair wages and equitable salaries are part of this work and we want to share the results of our ongoing discussions and future activities of SAA in support of this issue.

  • Professional support at the Annual Meeting
    • Salary Forum: hear a panel of experts participate in an open discussion about salaries in the archival profession and explore potential solutions, including those that place responsibility on institutions and administrations.
    • Onsite Career Center: from mock interviews to tips on salary negotiation, seek out mentors who can help you navigate the job market and your professional growth.
  • Mentoring Program
    • Meet and connect with a mentor who will listen and provide guidance on negotiating and advocating for better pay.
  • Job Postings in the SAA Online Career Center
    • We strongly recommend salary information be included in all job ad postings.
    • “Research Salaries” button on all job ads can help with regional salary range information, even if a job does not include a salary range.
  • A*CENSUS II
    • An updated data set will illustrate salary ranges per state and by region, helping archivists stay abreast of current salaries across the U.S.

For those attending the 2019 Annual Meeting, join the SAA Council on Sunday, August 4, 12:00 pm – 1:15 pm, in Austin for an Open Forum on Archivist Salaries. This forum will serve as a space for members to discuss the initiatives listed above as well as brainstorm additional ways that SAA can continue to advocate for archivist salaries. Mark your online schedule!

SSA Education Coming Near You!

Do you steward digital archives and electronic manuscripts through the digital curation life cycle?

SAA is offering the following DAS course at Rice University in the Fondren Library:

Tool Integration: From Pre-SIP to DIP #1962
9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Friday, May 3, 2019
Collaboration Space, Fondren Library
Rice University

Instructor: Max Eckard

REGISTER NOW!
Early-Bird Deadline: April 3, 2019

Description:
The digital curation “ecosystem” is large and complex. Made up of tools that perform small, discrete tasks, to those that cover particular format groups or functional areas of models (such as OAIS), and even those that claim to be more or less comprehensive, this ecosystem is in a constant state of flux. In this course, you’ll explore options for suites of tools that can work together to steward digital archives and electronic manuscripts through the digital curation life cycle. 

Who should attend? Archivists, records managers, special collections curators ,and other practitioners or managers responsible for stewarding digital archives and electronic manuscripts through the digital curation life cycle

Additional information on the course can be found here.

Information on visiting Rice, including campus maps, can be found here.

SAA Education coming to San Antonio, TX!

A&D Bootcamp 
San Antonio, TX | March 11-15, 2019

Join us at the University of Texas at San Antonio for our four day A&D Bootcamp! Complete two of your required foundational courses in the A&D program and get a jump start on your certificate path today! 
Encoded Archival Description 

March 11-12, 2019 | REGISTER NOW!
Instructors: Michael Rush & Dr. Kathy Wisser
Early-Bird Deadline: February 12, 2019

Here’s your chance to receive the instruction and hands-on practice you need to bridge the digital divide. Get acquainted with the language of XML and practice with XML authoring software. This two-day course covers the most up-to-date EAD version.

In this course, you will:

  • Discuss an overview of Extensible Markup Language (XML)
  • Examine the structure of EAD (the SAA-endorsed standard for archival finding aids)
  • Mark up a finding aid
  • Explore style sheets and implementation strategies
  • Practice encoding a finding aid using EAD

Who should attend? Archivists and others who are charged with exploring and/or implementing EAD at their institution or who want to enhance their résumé

What Should You Know? Participants should have arrangement and description practice and familiarity with finding aids
Arrangement and Description: Fundamentals

March 14-15, 2019 | REGISTER NOW!
Instructors: Pam Hackbart-Dean & Anne Ostendarp
Early-Bird Deadline: February 15, 2019
 This two-day course introduces the basic principles, concepts, and tools that archivists use to establish both physical and intellectual control over archival records. These include: developing accession records and processing work plans; identifying common arrangement schemes for collections with varying formats; and how to physically organize materials during processing. You will learn the essential elements of a finding aid and the major descriptive standards that support these elements, as well as the day-to-day decisions made in arranging and describing archival materials. You’ll also participate in a set of exercises designed to emphasize the principles and concepts of arrangement and description.

Who Should Attend? New archives professionals and graduate students in archival programs who have little or no experience in the arrangement and description of archival records;

What Should You Know? Participants are expected to have basic archival training and education.

Click the blue Register links above to register for these courses!

Archives Month 2018

For Archives Month 2018, AHA! members came together for two events:

On October 15th members gathered at the Julia Ideson Building to view the Society of American Archivists (SAA) webinar, Introduction to Processing Digital Records and Manuscripts. This class is one of the core classes for both the DAS and Arrangement and Description (A&D) Certificate programs.

On October 26th , archivists got a behind the scenes tour of the Menil Library and Archives.

Thanks to all who came out, and to our host institutions!

Texas Historical Records Advisory Board Summer Workshops

The Texas Historical Records Advisory Board is sponsoring two free workshops this summer. “Grant Proposal Writing” will be offered at SFA on July 24 and at UTEP on August 21.  Each workshop will cap at 25 participants and THRAB requests only one seat per institution. For more details and to register, please visit: https://www.tsl.texas.gov/workshops

Description:

This course surveys the types of state, federal, and private foundation grants available and provides information about researching and writing grant proposals. Topics include types of grants, types of funders, elements of a grant proposal, the grant review process, managing your grant project, reporting requirements, and funding resources.

Who Should Attend?

Archivists, librarians, and staff members at Texas archival repositories who have a responsibility to explore and an interest in funding resources for preservation, processing, digitization and similar projects. An emphasis on NHPRC and other federal grants is stressed.

 

SAA Spotlight Award Nominations

Dear Colleagues,

The SAA Spotlight Award Subcommittee invites nominations for the 2018 Spotlight Award.  This award “recognizes the contributions of individuals who work for the good of the archives profession and of archival collections, and whose work would not typically receive public recognition.”  Nominees do not have to be members of SAA.  Please share this message as you think appropriate.  I hope you will consider recognizing a colleague (or yourself!) in this way.  Additional information about the criteria and process is found below.  

Purpose and Criteria for Selection: Established in 2005, the Spotlight Award recognizes the contributions of individuals who work for the good of the archives profession and of archival collections, and whose work would not typically receive public recognition. The nominee(s) should have achieved distinction in one or more of the following ways:

*   Participating in special projects.
*   Exhibiting tireless committee or advocacy work.
*   Responding effectively to an unforeseen or pressing need or emergency.
*   Contributing innovative or creative ideas to the profession.
*   Performing extraordinary volunteerism.
*   Quietly but effectively promoting the profession.

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

Prize:  A certificate and complimentary registration for the individual recipient or group (of up to five individuals) to the SAA Annual Meeting occurring in the year in which the award is presented.

Submission Deadline and Nomination Form:  Deadline: February 28, 2018.  Please complete the nomination form (https://app.smarterselect.com/programs/45541-Society-Of-American-Archivists).

Best regards,

Jody Hoks
SAA Spotlight Award Subcommittee

Personal Digital Archiving 2018 – Call for Proposals/Save the Date

Save the Date!
Personal Digital Archiving 2018 #pda18
April 23-25 2018 in Houston, TX

Hosted by the University of Houston Libraries

PDA is the only conference focused on the personal digital archive, including projects and presentations from both individuals and organizations. Personal Digital Archiving 2018 invites proposals on a variety of relevant topics, including:

  • Examples of successful projects or learning experiences related to personal digital archives
  • Why personal digital archives matter to individuals, communities, and organizations
  • Distinctions between personal information management and the archive
  • Key threats to personal digital archives, including cost, disaster, technology change, and social threats
  • Applying selection criteria or other management tools for personal digital archives
  • The digital archive during a person’s life and after death
  • Management tools and techniques for personal digital archives

PDA is a 2-day, single-track conference featuring shorter sessions and panel discussion, followed by a day of in-depth workshops and events. Early registration (opening soon) will be just $60 for students / $90 for non-students. More information about the conference will be posted at the event website as it becomes available.

Share & invite others on Facebook.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Deadline for submission of proposals: December 22, 2017

Notification of acceptance: Mid-January 2018

For PDA 2018, we seek to create a balanced mix of personal information management and personal digital archiving, in addition to a showcase for exciting and innovative projects and programs. We strongly encourage proposals from a wide-range of people and organizations. These may include but are not limited to: community organizations focused on gathering oral histories or other local collections, academia, graduate students of all levels in all related disciplines, those preserving familial material, activist groups, hobbyists, tool developers, and information professionals such as archivists, librarians, and curators. For proposals focusing on sharing practice, please note that we are not seeking “perfect” archiving solutions and strongly encourage proposals discussing “good enough” preservation and challenges or roadblocks to archiving this content.

Submit your proposal here