SAA 2016: New Member Coffee Break and Plenary I, Getting Our House in Order: Moving from Diversity to Inclusion

In advance of the 2016 Annual Meeting, we invited SNAP members to contribute summaries of panels, roundtable and section meetings, forums, and pop-up sessions. Summaries represent the opinions of their individual authors; they are not necessarily endorsed by SNAP, members of the SNAP Steering Committee, or SAA.

Guest Author: Blake Relle, Archives Specialist at the Louisiana State Archives

New Member/Coffee Break

On Thursday morning, I attended the New Member/First Time Coffee Break. I know this will surprise you, but I had Green Tea instead of coffee. Unlike at my last SAA conference, I walked around the room and introduced myself to several people. One person I spoke with was Erin Lawrimore. She is the council liaison for the SNAP Roundtable and she is writing a blog regards to her experience on the SAA Council. You can read her blog here. The topic of her blog is a great idea. The blog will give SAA members insight into the workings of the council as well as inspire people to take on leadership role in either SAA or another archival organization. I ran into Myles Crowley, who I met in Pittsburgh as well as came to the REPS meet up at Max Lagers.

Plenary I

After the coffee (more like tea) break, it was off to hear the Plenary Speeches. They were two speeches.  The first speech was made by David Ferriero, who is the Archivist for the United States. He spoke about diversity and inclusion. He reminded us that we need to foster a culture promotes inclusion and diversity. He reminded us the our nation derives its strength from being open to diversity and including everyone. We need to educate our workforce about the importance of having a workplace that values inclusion. He also reminded us to interview candidates for job openings through an inclusive lens.

SAA 2016: SNAP Roundtable Meeting

In advance of the 2016 Annual Meeting, we invited SNAP members to contribute summaries of panels, roundtable and section meetings, forums, and pop-up sessions. Summaries represent the opinions of their individual authors; they are not necessarily endorsed by SNAP, members of the SNAP Steering Committee, or SAA.

Guest Author: Michael Barera, Archivist at Texas A&M University-Commerce

 

After a brief welcome and chair report by Samantha Winn, the Students and New Archives Professionals (SNAP) Roundtable session began in earnest with a short speech followed by a question and answer session with Society of American Archivists (SAA) President Dennis Meissner. He began by stating: “All of us in Council and across the leadership of SAA really value SNAP…there is more innovation, energy, and good ideas in SNAP than in many other parts of the organization.” He also explained the transformation away from the current sections and roundtables into the “affinity group” structure “with equal weight and identity”: they will all be called sections, will be unlimited in terms of participation for SAA members, formal bylaws and annual reports will be required for all sections, and non-SAA members will be allowed to belong to up to 3 of the online discussion lists for these new “sections”. He also noted that the new direction on this change has largely been informed by member feedback, including that of SNAPers. Furthermore, Meissner stressed that SAA is “doubling down in the area of diversity and inclusion…in the next few years”, that “diversity is an important goal of the organization”, and it is becoming an even more crucial goal that is “baked into the firmament of the organization”. In his conception, cultural competence will be the starting point, and SNAP will play a crucial role in increasing SAA’s diversity: “I think this is really going to be something that consumes us.”

After his speech, Meissner answered a couple of questions from SNAP members. Firstly, when asked what would be a successful version of SNAP for all of SAA, he responded: “SNAP is recognized by the rest of SAA leadership as almost a ‘skunk works’ within the organization that pushes up new ideas…I think SNAP can be effective when it pushes on the organization…it can serve as a weather vane for the organization, showing where things ought to be going.” He also argued that not being “encumbered by legacy thinking” is a core attribute of SNAP, and that it helps SAA itself be a “more nimble and agile organization”. Secondly, he was asked about what are some of the ways that SAA at large addresses the issues that particularly affect members of SNAP, such as unpaid internships and unpaid loan debt. Meissner responded: “I don’t think that Council has any particular way to address them…we look to guidance from all the sections and associations for more innovative ways to do this…I certainly don’t have any answers in my back pocket, these are things that work themselves out in the workplace and archival education over time.” More optimistically, he noted that “good paid internships that mean something…are a good starting place.”

#snaprt Chat Flashback: Prepping for #SAA16

If you’re heading to Atlanta next week, you’ll want to check out the #snaprt Chat Flashback from Monday, July 25. There’s solid advice for new and old attendees alike. I’m getting really excited about next week and hope you are, too!

Help Us Cover SAA for Those Who are #SAALeftBehind

It’s that time of year, y’all – the time where we ask you to cover sessions of SAA so that we can recap them for those who are not going to this year’s conference. (See #SAALeftBehind.) We’re good people who love our fellow archivists, so let’s make them part of the process from afar!

We have identified sessions we feel are particularly interesting for SNAP members, but the blog team will happily accept summaries for any sessions, plenary events, roundtable and section meetings, and other formal conference events. Volunteer authors have 2-4 weeks after the conference to send in their summaries, depending on what kind of session you have signed up for. Feel free to partner up with another author to cover a session, too.

As in past years, we have a sign-up sheet. Please sign your full name and how we can contact you. It’s okay if you realize you’re not going to be able to cover a session, but try to take your name off the sheet at least a day prior to the session, pretty please, so that Lily, Anna, and I know we have a space to fill.

Here are links to 2014 summaries and 2015 summaries.

Thanks, everyone!

Making SAA in Atlanta Affordable

We’re cutting it a little close, but some of the SNAP Roundtable Committee members worked to put together a guide that will help make this year’s trip a little more affordable. Though many of you have probably already found roommates, we’ve still priced hotels and looked at some alternative options for you last minute shoppers. Further, there’s some good information about getting around the city and some ideas for eating on the cheap. Finally, if you’re still looking for a place to stay or someone to ride with, here is our Rideshare/Roomshare/Housing spreadsheet.

We’re excited to see all of you in Atlanta next week!

Chat with Us, Tonight, July 25th!

Please join the Students and New Archives Professionals (SNAP) Roundtable for a #snaprt Twitter chat on Monday, July 25, at 8 pm Eastern Time to prepare for ARCHIVES*RECORDS 2016: The Joint Annual Meeting of the Council of State Archivists and the Society of American Archivists. This year’s meeting is taking place July 31-August 6 in Atlanta, GA. The chat will be a way to share and learn tips for making your time at the conference as productive and stress-free as possible. We hope this chat will be especially helpful for first-time attendees, and encourage previous attendees to share their advice.

We welcome everyone to join or keep up with our chat using the #snaprt hashtag on Twitter. The SNAP Roundtable Twitter account (@SNAP_Roundtable) will pose questions such as:

• What kinds of activities are there at SAA outside of formal sessions and meetings?

• How do you approach making connections with new people, especially more experienced archivists?

• Any personal “must do’s” for this year’s meeting or for SAA meetings in general? What makes a meeting worthwhile to you?

If you would like to have your discussion topic included in this chat, please send it to @SNAP_Roundtable on Twitter, submit it through the anonymous form on the SNAP RT chat webpage or email it to the SNAP RT Senior Social Media Coordinator at ariadne.rehbein@gmail.com. Please see the SNAP RT chat webpage for more information about #snaprt Twitter chats.

Here are some resources related to the 2016 SAA Annual Meeting you might want to check out. Please share additional resources using #snaprt on Twitter or through the SNAP listserv.

• First-timer’s Guide to the 2016 Joint Annual Meeting:

http://www2.archivists.org/am2016/resources/First-Timers-Guide#.V4_GiI6XHi8

• SAA 2016 Host Committee Blog:

https://saa2016atl.wordpress.com/

• SNAP Roundtable conference session recommendations:

https://archives2016.sched.org/newarchivists

• SAA 2016 Career Center, including mock interviews, advising, job bulletin board, and Digital Preservation Drop in table. The deadline to arrange mock interviews and career advising appointments has been moved to Friday, July 22!:

http://www2.archivists.org/am2016/resources/saa-career-center#.V4_FZI6XHi8

• SNAP Lunch Buddy Program:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1p9RhKAAia50CpoT3F5-gFzNgXd_JLeySIayIRG9ItIk/edit#gid=1

• SNAP Rideshare /Roomshare / Housing planning spreadsheet:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Cdfs0qHPcvSVEJcXI0cOFd4v0xTjYTsM8b15eHnyZjY/edit#gid=0

• Conference Twitter hashtag: #saa16

—

Ariadne Rehbein

SNAP Roundtable Senior Social Media Coordinator

controlaccess: Relevant Subjects in Archives and Related Fields for 2016-07-03

This is the weekly roundup of headlines in and around archives, including some library, museum, digital humanities, and information science things as well. If you see something we’ve missed, please email us!

Note: This list is shortened due to the Independence Day Holiday. Happy 4th!

SAA

The SAA offices are closed and will reopen Tuesday, July 5th.

AACR. LACCHA, and LAGAR put out a joint statement on the terrible loss suffered in the mass shooting at Pulse in Orlando just a few short weeks ago.

The early bird deadline to register for SAA 2016 is Wednesday, July 6th. Registration increases for most categories after that day.

Government and Politics

President Obama signed the FOIA Improvements Act on June 30th, “codifying the presumption of openness” – meaning that unless it can be expressly proven that releasing a document will cause foreseeable harm, or there is a legal requirement to keep a record closed, FOIA-requested records must be released.

The Census Bureau has released its Facts for Features for July 4th. Enjoy!

controlaccess: Relevant Subjects in Archives and Related Fields for 2016-06-12

This is the weekly roundup of headlines in and around archives, including some library, museum, digital humanities, and information science things as well. If you see something we’ve missed, please email us!

SAA

Congratulations to the new SAA Fellows and Award Winners! The full list is here.

SAA and ARL have been awarded a grant to extend the Mosaic Program, so President-elect Nancy McGovern has called for four volunteers to serve on the Mosaic Committee. Those interested should apply by June 24th.

Applications are still open for Mosaic Program II through tomorrow, June 13th.

SAA’s appointees to committees, boards, and working groups have been announced. Congratulations all!

If you’re a first time SAA attendee – or someone willing to show new SAA attendees the ropes – consider signing up for the Navigator Program.

Vote for Pop-Up Sessions here through Monday, June 20th. There are several active SNAP members on the list of possible sessions!

The next #SNAPRT Chat will be Wednesday, June 15th at 8 PM EST. The topic is Digital Humanities.

#snaprt Chat Flashback: Joint Chat with SAA Aquisitions & Appraisal Section Storify

#snaprt Chat Flashback: Joint Chat with the SAA Acquisitions & Appraisal Section

For the May 25, 2016 #snaprt chat, SNAP Roundtable hosted a joint chat with the SAA Acquisitions & Appraisal Section. Themes that emerged in the chat included:

• Appraisal decisions can cause self-doubt and even future disagreement. Consulting with colleagues and referring to existing collection policies are great practices to mitigate these issues.
• A repository’s collecting areas and the ability to provide stewardship for the materials (particularly unstable media) should also be factored into appraisal decisions.
• Appraisal can occur during processing (also known as micro-appraisal.)
• Administrators may have the final say in accepting a collection, with archivist/curator consultation.
• Some examples of reappraisal are by item type (TV and radio shows recorded on at-risk media) and repository-wide evaluations, as in the case of the American Heritage Center. See this reading by Mark Greene for more background on the changes at the American Heritage Center.

View the chat announcement and read through the chat Storify, created by SNAP Senior Social Media Coordinator, Ariadne Rehbein.

Many thanks to Acquisitions & Appraisal Section Social Media intern Lily Troia, for proposing the chat, the Section Steering Committee and members for supporting SNAPers, and all chat participants for sharing their insights and questions.

controlaccess: Relevant Subjects in Archives and Related Fields for 2016-5-22

This is the weekly roundup of headlines in and around archives, including some library, museum, digital humanities, and information science things as well. If you see something we’ve missed, please email us!

SAA

Registration is open for the annual conference. Early bird rates end July 6th!

Proposals are being accepted for pop-up sessions until June 3rd.

SNAP has a few resources already for the meeting, with more to come!

ARL/SAA are calling for applications to Mosaic II, which has a deadline of June 13th.

The new Archival Outlook profiles the new Council members. Erin Lawrimore is blogging her experience here.

Archival Outlook: How to Give Your Job Search a Happy Ending

With the changes to the new SAA website, I feel like I find new treasures all the time. This morning was no different. I was looking for something completely different when my mouse ran across the Careers section, and under it there was a section called How to Give Your Job Search a Happy Ending, which links to an article from the July/August 2012 Archival Outlook by Roland M. Baumann. We often discuss job searching on this blog, so I thought this might be an encouraging read for your Friday morning.

Personal Digital Archiving (PDA) 2016

Guest author: Colin Post
Ph.D. (Information Science) and M.A. (Art History) student, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and SNAP Roundtable Steering Committee Member

I had the pleasure of attending the recent Personal Digital Archiving conference, held this year at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor from May 12 to May 14. As I was considering a venue to present on a project that I’ve been involved with, the IMLS-funded Learning from Artists’ Archives program at UNC, PDA 2016 seemed like a great fit. I wanted to talk about how the artists’ archives project has helped artists to create and sustain their own personal archives, specifically through a series of workshops where local North Carolina artists have been able to gain necessary skills for tackling both analog and digital archiving projects. As the focus of the artists’ archives project has been to help artists with archiving at the personal level, the PDA conference seemed to me a fantastic opportunity to both share the successes and challenges of our project, as well as to learn about other exciting personal archiving efforts taking place across the country.

As I dug in for the first day, looking over the program of sessions, I quickly realized that the PDA conference is unique in many ways. The conference brought together an eclectic mix of information professionals from a variety of institutions, academics and graduate students with diverse research interests, businesses and tech companies developing digital archiving tools, and (perhaps most importantly) individuals and community organizations hard at work sustaining vital archiving projects. Despite the broad mix of participants, the total number of attendees was not overwhelming, filling a single, smallish lecture hall. Between sessions and during breaks, participants engaged in friendly dialogue, quick to spark a conversation with a presenter to learn more about their research or project. This congenial atmosphere pervaded the conference, generating a collaborative environment with professionals, academics, developers, and citizen archivists alike exchanging ideas and learning from each others’ experiences.

[Ask an Archivist]: Does an Undergraduate Degree in History Matter?

Have a SNAP-related question for the archivists? Check out our anonymous submission form here.

Ask an Archivist Question:

Will holding an undergraduate in history combined with my MLIS degree give me an advantage in Archival work? I want to work in an archives that houses historical documents – especially African-American or women’s history area.

Prepping for Prepping for SAA 2016

Nope, the title of this post is not an accident!

It’s kind of hard to believe, but SAA’s annual conference is less than three months away. In the usual fashion of covering many angles of attending the conference leading up to the conference, we’re planning posts that will help you prepare for the conference, and the SNAP Roundtable Steering Committee has been working to put together some information (forthcoming) that will help you navigate the conference and the area. Another group working on this – from a different angle – is your wonderful host committee, which includes SNAPers JoyEllen Freeman and Cathy Miller! Here is the host committee’s blog, which already has lots of great information about what to do and how to get around.

As usual, SNAP has Lunch Buddy and Roommate/Rideshare signups, and we’ll also have a spreadsheet for you to sign up for session recaps before the conference – and this year we’re encouraging pictures! We’re also looking at different ways to cover the conference that go beyond the session recaps, with more information to come on that later. I want to go back to the two spreadsheets, though. SNAP tries very hard to think of ways to make SAA’s annual conference as welcoming and accessible for new members as it possibly can, and to that end, cutting costs is a big issue for us, but so is making certain new members have a support system. If you’re a more established SNAP member, please consider hosting a Lunch Buddy date, and if you’re someone who isn’t, don’t be scared to join us for breakfast/lunch/dinner/etc. We’ve each been the newbie, and we get how difficult it can be to “break into” a new place. Good news! We’re an easy bunch to “break into.”

Finally, I’d be remiss in not pointing to the excellent posts on conferences past, which includes tips for networking, session proposals, and more.

As a native Georgian, I’m really excited to have SAA come to my home state, and I hope y’all enjoy your time in the Capital of the South!

Letters to a Young Librarian: Gender and Leadership

 

Last week, Jessica Olin of Letters to a Young Librarian and Michelle Millet of Boss Lady Writes shared part of a webinar they did on Gender and Leadership on their blogs. (That link goes to Letters to a Young Librarian.)

For most of us in SNAP Roundtable, management seems a ways off. However, it’s never too early to develop leadership skills – whether or not you want to go into management. You never know when you might need to lead a project or a team! Jessica and Michelle specifically examine gendered expectations in leadership for librarians – something worth examining whether you identify as a woman or not.