Authors:Elyse Fox Abstract: Review of Metadata for Digital Collections: A How-To-Do-It Manual, Second Edition by Steven Jack Miller. PubDate: Tue, 31 Jan 2023 07:57:38 PST
Authors:Emily Lapworth Abstract: Use and user studies can provide valuable information to archivists and librarians who wish to improve their services and systems. However, studying the use and users of digital archival collections can be challenging. This study describes the methods and findings of a study conducted by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) to explore questions such as, who is using UNLV Digital Collections' How are they using the materials' What are their user interface preferences' Are they satisfied' The methods used include web analytics, an online survey, and interviews. The author shares lessons learned to aid other repositories in designing and implementing digital collections assessments. The findings reveal some consistencies with past studies in user preferences over time and across different user and collection types. Study participants desired intuitive but customizable interfaces and searching and browsing functionality. They wanted the ability to easily and quickly understand the scope of the collections, and to efficiently review search results. Support for downloading high resolution files, citing materials, and creating personal collections was also apparent. Overall, study participants indicated that they are satisfied with UNLV Digital Collections, but this type of research can contribute to improvements that could attract new users and expand the reach of digital collections. PubDate: Tue, 31 Jan 2023 07:46:52 PST
Authors:Lotus Norton-Wisla Abstract: This article provides lessons learned through four cycles of the Tribal Digital Stewardship Cohort Program at Washington State University’s Center for Digital Scholarship and Curation. The author coordinated the hybrid online and in-person training program from 2015-2020, focused on the unique needs of staff at Indigenous archives, libraries, and museums at the beginning of digital projects with unique access considerations. The learning and professional growth of program staff was informed by the participants in the program, whose words and work are highlighted in the article. The author reflects on the program design, curricular outcomes, site visits, building relationships and peer support, and the evolution of the training based on assessment and feedback. Similar to how the TDSCP was built using guidance from existing initiatives, the program and lessons learned can be used as a model for future digital stewardship education, relationship building, and responsive curriculum design. As a program extending over several years and involving many stakeholders, the TDSCP is an example of the many opportunities for collaboration between Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultural heritage organizations. PubDate: Thu, 03 Nov 2022 14:21:08 PDT
Authors:Lindsey Memory Abstract: Review of Making Your Tools Work for You: Building and Maintaining an Integrated Technical Ecosystem for Digital Archives and Libraries. PubDate: Tue, 11 Oct 2022 08:51:16 PDT
Authors:Cory L. Nimer Abstract: Authors looking at the development of the field of Mormon history have often evaluated it in terms of historiography—as its progression from the domain of amateurs to the output of academics. However, studies of the composition and development of the larger history profession have focused on the discipline's fragmentation and the formation of an "archival divide" between those that write history and those collecting and preserving its sources. This latter approach provides a useful framework for understanding the evolution of the Church Historian's Office of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, from its origins in 1831 to its current home in the Church History Library. In exploring this theme, this paper will discuss the movement toward professionalization in the Church Historian's Office from its founding until the 1980s. PubDate: Thu, 21 Jul 2022 13:56:28 PDT
Authors:J. Gordon Daines III Abstract: Review of Archival Virtue: Relationship, Obligation, and the Just Archives by Scott Cline. PubDate: Wed, 13 Jul 2022 09:36:17 PDT
Authors:Bolton Doub Abstract: Following the move of approximately 40,000 linear feet of archival material between offsite storage facilities, the University of Southern California (USC) Libraries began a project to document these holdings’ new locations using ArchivesSpace. This case study explores a combination of tools--including the ArchivesSpace API, Python scripts, OpenRefine, and spreadsheet applications--that the USC Libraries used to batch-edit and create container data in ArchivesSpace following the move. The paper discusses the challenges and shortcomings of these tools for editing particular forms of legacy data entered into USC’s instance of ArchivesSpace long before the move. When the creators of this past description prioritized the work of establishing intellectual control (describing the informational content of archival resources) using methods that neglected descriptive prerequisites for the future maintenance of physical control (tracking the physical locations of archival holdings), the tools outlined in this paper were less effective in editing that legacy data. PubDate: Tue, 12 Jul 2022 15:11:13 PDT
Authors:Kimberly Anderson Abstract: Increasingly, land-grant universities are acknowledging their history of benefitting from colonization and the dispossession of Indigenous communities through the Morrill Act of 1862. This study looks at whether academic libraries and archives acknowledge this history in the form of online land acknowledgments; and, where such acknowledgements exist, whether the university also acknowledges its occupation of Indigenous lands. A systematic review of the websites of land-grant colleges and universities and their libraries and archives was conducted. The results indicate that a majority of 1862 land-grant colleges and universities do have a land acknowledgment for the entire campus, but most academic libraries do not have a land acknowledgment specific to the library or archives. PubDate: Mon, 23 May 2022 07:11:41 PDT
Authors:Cindy Brightenburg Abstract: A review of the book Reference and Access for Archives and Manuscripts by Cheryl Oestreicher. PubDate: Wed, 18 May 2022 10:46:50 PDT
Authors:Molly Stothert-Maurer et al. Abstract: With a long history at the University of Arizona with excellence in the lunar and planetary sciences, the University of Arizona Libraries Special Collections has increased its collecting of the History of Science and Technology. These large, modern space collections pose unique challenges and require specific needs to be addressed in order for the collections to be stored, processed and made available for access. It is essential for archivists working with these collections to ask their donors the right questions and learn the limitations and restrictions that often come with acquiring modern space collections. Archives around the country have started tackling the issues unique to space collections, particularly with the conference To Boldly Preserve in 2018. Special Collections has encountered these processing and access issues with the Peter Hollingsworth Smith papers (MS 605) including the heavy reliance on acronyms and abbreviations, special restrictions form ITAR and export control that affect access and the effects of grant funding on archiving of materials. While the acquisition of modern space collections can be complicated, the preservation of modern space missions is vital to document the development of the exploration of space and being prepared for these common issues can ease the transition of collections to the archives. PubDate: Mon, 16 May 2022 15:51:10 PDT
Authors:Greg Reeve Abstract: Review of the third edition of Marcia Lei Zeng’s and Jain Qin’s monograph Metadata. Metadata is the definitive guide to the metadata landscape for information professionals in the Information Age. PubDate: Wed, 11 May 2022 14:38:41 PDT
Authors:Michael Don Fraser Abstract: Review of Advancing Preservation for Archives and Manuscripts by Elizabeth Joffrion and Michèle V. Cloonan. PubDate: Wed, 11 May 2022 14:38:34 PDT
Authors:Ben Keppel et al. Abstract: This case study examines an experiment in archival practice and mentorship undertaken at the University of Oklahoma (OU) during the spring semester of 2019. The project concerned the inventory of an important privately held archive in American Indian history. The case study describes the process and documentation involved in an institution assuming temporary custody of a private collection, including legal and ethical considerations of temporary custody, and explores the mentorship relationship among group of interdisciplinary faculty and students, as well as the products, both archival and non-archival, that resulted form this collaborative effort. PubDate: Tue, 01 Feb 2022 08:26:55 PST
Authors:Amanda D. Howard Abstract: Review of Compact Copyright: Quick Answers to Common Questions by Sara R. Benson. PubDate: Mon, 31 Jan 2022 11:56:54 PST
Authors:Megan K. Friedel et al. Abstract: As academic institutions and archivists around the nation grapple with the question of how to address existing monuments to racist histories at their institutions, how can archivists support the creation of new monuments on college and university campuses that reflect suppressed or oppressed histories of people of color' This case study explores the Los Seis de Boulder Sculpture Project, a socially engaged art project at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder), in which archivists in the CU Boulder Libraries' Archives supported and collaborated with a student artist and community members to create a public monument commemorating the deaths of six Chicano Movement activists and students in car bombs in May 1974. This study explores how such archivist/artist collaborations can be rooted in the social justice responsibilities of archivists and outlines the practical steps that the collaborators followed to create and sustain their work together and, ultimately, the long-term placement of the monument on campus. It also discusses the mutual, positive benefits that both the Archives and the artist received by working with one another and offers considerations and lessons learned for other archivist/artist collaborators who wish to work together on similar projects at public institutions. PubDate: Fri, 28 Jan 2022 08:25:31 PST
Authors:Rand Boyd Abstract: Review of Sustainable Enterprise Strategies for Optimizing Digital Stewardship by Angela Fritz. PubDate: Wed, 10 Nov 2021 09:46:35 PST
Authors:Veronica L. Denison et al. Abstract: During the spring semester of 2015 and the fall semester of 2016, two cohorts of students at the University of Alaska Anchorage learned archival research skills as part of their methodological training in the course, Ethnohistory of Alaska Natives, which subsequently led to the development of further individual research projects. As part of the course, students provided metadata to folders within an archival collection. This article explores the semester long projects, including the hardships of finding and using culturally appropriate metadata, lessons learned, and the impact the project had on students, the archivist, and instructor. PubDate: Thu, 30 Sep 2021 08:58:42 PDT
Open Access journal
