Going Digital: Presenting UT Campus History in the 21st Century

The Campus History site combines historical maps and materials from the UT Archives housed at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History. This digitized, geo-temporal website explores the development of the UT campus through archival materials, such as photographs and personal letters. Since 2015, the project has moved from a basic Omeka platform to a customized site that enhances the functionality of the map exhibit. Besides serving as an example of a creative application of archival research, this project also identifies and provides insight into the challenges of communicating history in the 21st century.Histor

Working with Archival Materials

Syllabus for workshop at CoLang 2016As more languages become dormant each year, there is a growing need to develop and disseminate research methods for working with archival documents. This workshop is aimed primarily toward beginning and intermediate participants who either are currently working with or intend to work with archival materials. The workshop will focus primarily on providing and developing skills to accomplish research and revitalization goals through the use of archival documents. Therefore, there will be hands on practice in class as well as regular assignments for participants. These assignments will allow students to begin working with these materials during the workshop itself, to discuss these methods with fellow participants, and to fix any potential pitfalls or obstacles during the initial stages of this process.2015 NSF/BCS 1500841: CoLang 2016: Institute on Collaborative Language Research – ALASKA Alaska Native Language Cente

Privacy, Restriction, and Access: Legal and Ethical Dilemmas

This paper examines the intersection of privacy and access in archival repositories. Archival repositories are well known for containing restricted material, and for protecting the privacy of the donors. This literature review examines the need for restricted material from both legal and ethical standpoints, as well as discussing culturally sensitive materials while determining what archives and libraries can do to protect both themselves and their donors while enhancing accessibility and freedom of information

Crowdsourcing Transcriptions of Archival Materials

Crowdsourcing is a method that has been effectively used to pool the knowledge and skills of large numbers of online volunteers for the creation of information resources utilized by historians, genealogists, and scientists. In recent years, archivists have begun to crowdsource the transcription of their handwritten records. Transcription of such records has traditionally been completed by professional transcribers who are skilled in reading multiple handwriting styles, knowledgeable about the creators and historical context of the records, and can interpret varying record formats and genres. However, increasingly limited resources of time and money have made traditional transcription more difficult to accomplish. This paper evaluates the crowdsourcing of transcriptions under three major archival principles: processing, accessibility, and outreach. Crowdsourcing is one processing solution to backlogs of archival records requiring transcription. There are both human and technical issues requiring resolution in the production of transcriptions by online volunteers. Transcription of records results in increased accessibility on multiple levels; transcribed records are: 1) more readable, 2) keyword searchable in databases. Crowdsourcing transcriptions results in greater awareness of the archives being transcribed in the public and among potential users. A final archival principle, preservation, is only briefly discussed due to the limited data available on how crowdsourcing transcriptions has affected the continued use of original records. The numerous crowdsourced transcription projects now underway in the field of archives will provide an experiential component to this paper’s analysis. Crowdsourced transcription projects to be examined include, among others, Transcribe Bentham, Ancestry.com’s World Archives Project, and the Papers of the War Department

Digitization, Donor Relations, and Undergraduate Instruction

Collection development archivists know that building a partnership with a potential donor may take years, occasionally decades. From the perspective of a donor, contributing unique materials to an archival repository – a local historical society, academic archives, or a research library – can be an emotionally complicated process. A donor must have acquired a degree of separation from the material, but also have a deep sense of trust in the repository soliciting the records. Often, the initial contribution to a repository consists of records void of sentimental or financial value. As the relationship between a donor and a repository strengthens, donors (hopefully) begin contributing more noteworthy and revealing materials, including personal correspondence, diaries, and photographs. This scenario is routine not only with the acquisition of personal papers, but the records of businesses, membership organizations, and all other kinds of archival records

Researcher’s perception on access regulations in the usage of archival materials: a case study of the National Archives of Zambia.

ThesisThe aim of this study was to assess researcher’s perception on access regulations in the usage of archival materials at the National Archives of Zambia. The objectives of the research were: to determine the educational levels of researchers that patronize National Archives of Zambia; to determine the extent to which archival materials are used; to investigate researcher’s perception towards access regulations in the usage of archival materials; and to determine which of the regulations researchers consider to be hampering their research and need to be reviewed. Primary data relating to the research objectives was collected using purposive sampling through a questionnaire and interviews as only fifty questionnaires were distributed to researchers who were available at the time and had a 100% return. Research findings revealed that both male and female have access to archival materials and it also revealed that their educational level had a bearing on research. The majority of these researchers are undergraduates representing 68%. It was also revealed that the majority of the researchers used archival materials once per week representing 48% and that archival materials ensure records are available for various research. It was further revealed that researchers attach great importance to the historical value of archival materials. The majority of researchers representing 68% observed that access regulations safeguard integrity of archival materials and lastly the majority of researchers revealed that restricting them to a certain number of documents at a time is likely to affect the use of archival materials. Archives are unique and rare materials which require regulations to protect and guide their access, as regulations are put in place to protect them and ensure that right procedures and processes are in place. In view of the above, there is need to review some of the conditions under the access regulations in order to enhance research and further sensitize the researchers on the value of archival materials and activities

Volatile aldehydes in libraries and archives

Volatile aldehydes are produced during degradation of paper-based materials. This may result in their accumulation in archival and library repositories. However, no systematic study has been performed so far. In the frame of this study, passive sampling was carried out at ten locations in four libraries and archives. Despite the very variable sampling locations, no major differences were found, although air-filtered repositories were found to have lower concentrations while a non-ventilated newspaper repository exhibited the highest concentrations of volatile aldehydes (formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, furfural and hexanal). Five employees in one institution were also provided with personal passive samplers to investigate employees’ exposure to volatile aldehydes. All values were lower than the presently valid exposure limits. The concentration of volatile aldehydes, acetic acid, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in general was also compared with that of outdoor-generated pollutants. It was evident that inside the repository and particularly inside archival boxes, the concentration of VOCs and acetic acid was much higher than the concentration of outdoor-generated pollutants, which are otherwise more routinely studied in connection with heritage materials. This indicates that further work on the pro-degradative effect of VOCs on heritage materials is necessary and that monitoring of VOCs in heritage institutions should become more widespread

Beyond Books 2: Cataloging Archival Materials

Academic libraries aren’t the only institutions that care for archival materials. These unique items can often be found in public libraries, historical societies, and other cultural heritage organizations, many of which may not have trained special collections catalogers on staff. In this workshop, participants will learn how to catalog archival materials, including manuscripts, photographs, and audiovisual materials, so they can be discovered in online catalogs and databases. Both item and collection-level cataloging will be discussed, and participants will learn when and how to apply relevant metadata standards like RDA and DACS. They will then practice cataloging with examples provided by the instructors

Editorial

Archives are sites of exploration and discovery for all kinds of practices. They are also reinforced structures. Whether as a library of manuscripts, museum store or personal collection, the ‘archive-as-repository’ catalogues and categorizes, houses and buries, its items. Bringing the contents of an archive to life requires that one ignite what is dormant so as to draw archival materials out into the space of the world to be received and experienced in new ways. Designed to stimulate collaborative conversations and exchanges, in and around the archive, with a view to presenting new approaches to archival experiences, and with them, styles of writing that resonate with the ‘archival’ as a concept and as a practice, this guest-edited issue expands the field of the archive to incorporate a variety of different practitioner perspectives. Whether through animation, art education, contemporary art, costume, creative writing, information retrieval studies, performance, sculpture, sound and textiles, re-writing the archive from these positions can inform how historical and material remnants of the past may be re-thought in creative practice