New England Archivists Contingent Employment Survey

The New England Archivists Inclusion and Diversity Committee is pleased to announce the second iteration of our contingent employment survey.  Building on the work of the first NEA contingent employment survey in 2016, we want to further understand contingent employment in the archival field.  What has changed in the past five years? What has stayed the same? How can professional organizations like NEA support contingently employed archival workers? 

The survey is available here. It will remain open through June 30, 2021.  You do not need to be a member of New England Archivists to participate in the study. 

You are eligible to participate in this study if you are an archival worker or former archival worker and:

• you have been contingently employed in New England in the past ten years (2011-2021)

OR

• you have been contingently employed anywhere in the United States in the last ten years (2011-2021) AND you are currently living or working in New England. 

For the purposes of this study, contingent employment includes temporary and term positions, grant-funded positions, part-time positions, positions without timely or reliable renewal of contract, and any employment without benefits colleagues at the same institution enjoy (e.g. vacation time, health insurance, retirement contributions). 

Please share widely, especially with colleagues who are not members of professional organizations and people who have left the archival field. 

If you have questions about the survey, please reach out to the chair of the survey task force, Stephanie Bredbenner, at diversity@newenglandarchivists.org. 

Society of California Archivists General Meeting

The Society of California Archivists is excited to announce that registration for the 2021 Annual General Meeting is now open! Join us online April 27-30, 2021 for a full program exploring the themes of diversity and inclusion as well as the effects of the current pandemic on our institutions, collections, and profession.

We look forward to seeing you there!

SCA AGM 2021 Program and Local Arrangements committees

Registration Deadline Approaching!

The last day to register for MARAC’s Spring 2021 Virtual Meeting is April 8th so don’t delay! Program and Registration are available at MARAC Spring 2021 Conference. 

Join MARAC’s first virtual conference from the comfort of your home, office, home office, or wherever you find yourself working these days to explore Suffrage Legacies: Civil Rights, Political Activism, and Archives. The conference schedule attempts to accommodate a variety of work schedules, caregiving situations, and all-too-prevalent “Zoom fatigue” while still including events that make a MARAC gathering special.
 
If you live in the MARAC region and you are a student, unemployed, or underemployed, MARAC is offering registration to you at no cost. Simply register online and follow the prompts to receive your complimentary registration. No proof is required, honor system only.

Register online at Spring 2021 Registration by Thursday, April 8th.  If someone else in your organization is responsible for issuing the payment, simply add their email address in the registration form and request an invoice to pay later. They will receive the invoice via email and be able to pay online with a credit card or to send a check.

Questions about registration? Contact administrator@marac.info.

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division April Events

The Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress have announced their public events for the month of April!

Object Lesson: Spider-Man

April 8, 2021 8pm EST

Sara W. Duke, Curator of Popular & Applied Graphic Art, will share selected images from the drawings, and insights into the collaboration that led to the development of the teen superhero. This family-friendly event promises to be fun for superhero experts young and old. (This presentation is not being recorded.)

Register for this session: https://www.prekindle.com/event/43872-object-lesson-spider-man

Prints & Photographs Reading Room Orientation: WPA Posters 

Sample New Deal graphics in this month’s Prints and Photographs orientation session highlighting the ever-popular WPA posters. Instruction will cover library search tools, related graphics and New Deal collections, online resources, and how to prepare for a future visit to the reading room. The same orientation will be offered twice (orientations are not being recorded):

 April 13, 2021, 12-1pm EST

 Register for this session: https://www.prekindle.com/event/84493-prints-and-photographs-virtual-orientation-wpa-posters

April 21, 2021 3-4pm EST

Register for this session: https://www.prekindle.com/event/67892-prints-and-photographs-virtual-orientation-wpa-posters

Prints & Photographs Double Take Webinar Series

How Should We Index This Image?

April 29, 2021, 4-5 pm EST

Join Cataloging Specialist Arden Alexander and Processing Technician Libby McKiernan on an exploration of the Library of Congress Thesaurus for Graphic Materials (TGM), to learn approaches to describing images, using topical terms, plus ways you can use the TGM for your personal or work collections. The specialists will also invite participants to index some images from the Library’s collections with them.

Register for this session: https://loc.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_LZxX7-JxRpKk8p-qKNFg1g 

Spring Conference Information Session Now Available

If you weren’t able to join us for “Virtually the Same: MARAC Spring 2021 Conference Info Session” on March 24th, the recording is available on YouTube at https://youtu.be/IOpk_vdXCvI. 

The session shared details on the virtual format and how this meeting will be run. Our Caucus Representatives highlighted elements of the conference they are particularly jazzed about and the  Virtual Arrangements and Program Committee co-chairs were available to answer questions. 

Remember that program and registration information are available at MARAC Spring 2021 Conference. 

New this conference!  If someone else in your organization is responsible for issuing the payment for your registration fees, you can simply add their email address in your registration form and request an invoice to pay later.  They will receive the invoice via email and be able to pay online with a credit card or to send a check.

MARAC Member Minute: Meet Kay Lewandowska!

Kay Lewandowska
Commander, Navy Installations Command, Command Records Manager.
I think the most interesting thing about my job is that I get to “teach” folks about the importance of good records and how what we do now has an impact on future users of the archives. That and I get to travel.

As a kid, I wanted to be…a stock broker

My little known hobby or talent is…photography

I joined and stayed with MARAC because A former coworker was a member and I decide to attend the Fall 2016 – Annapolis conference. I got a lot out of that conference and decided to become a member. I stay with MARAC because I think it has helped to evolve my career and it has helped me stay current with archival trends. It’s great to see what other folks / organizations are doing and “borrow” ideas.

Any position(s) held in MARAC: I was on the program committee for Spring 2018 – Hershey.

Why I chose to volunteer: Definitely not the most PC answer but I chose to volunteer because it helps my resume stand out. Volunteering can help you make friends, learn new skills, and advance your career.

My recommendation to anyone interested in getting involved is: Definitely do it. It helps you connect with other archivists that you might not otherwise meet.

Invitation to Research Study Focus Group Interview

Message to Invite Participants in a Research Study

Focus Group Interview

OCLC/CDL Building a National Finding Aid Network Project

Principal Investigator: Günter Waibel, California Digital Library

Project Coordinators: Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Ph.D., OCLC Research

Lesley A. Langa, Ph.D., OCLC Research

Dear Colleagues,

OCLC Research, California Digital Library, and University of Virginia would like to invite you to participate in a virtual focus group interview as part of the IMLS-funded project (LG-246349-OLS-20), “Building a National Finding Aid Network” (NAFAN). This is an opportunity for you to share your knowledge and experiences creating archival descriptions, publishing finding aids on the web and/or participating in an aggregation of archival descriptions, and facilitating access to archival materials. We welcome participation from anyone with experience creating archival descriptions, supporting online discovery of and access to archival descriptions and collections, or administering an archives program or memory collection, and are eager to include participants with varying experience, expertise, and representing a wide array of archival collections and institutions. Please feel free to share with colleagues that may be interested in participating.

Consent

The focus group interviews will last approximately 90 minutes and be conducted remotely via WebEx. The sessions will be recorded. Recordings are used solely for transcription purposes.   

Your participation in this study would be voluntary and involves no more than minimal risks or discomfort. After you consent, you still may refuse to answer specific questions, withdraw from the study at any time, or ask that information be removed from our dataset. You also may ask questions concerning the study before, during, or after. 

Confidentiality

Although there are plans to publish research results, you, as a participant will not be identified in any reports on this study. All research records will be kept confidential to the extent provided by federal, state, and local laws. Data from the study will be kept in a secure location with limited access to the study team only. A copy of this document is available for your records and one copy will be kept with the research records. 

If you would like to participate, please follow the link to sign up here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/7DT9WVZ 

Questions

If you would additional information or have questions about this research, you can visit the project website https://confluence.ucop.edu/display/NAFAN or contact Lesley Langa, Associate Researcher, OCLC, Inc., 6565 Kilgour Place, Dublin, OH, 43017-3395. Email: langal@oclc.org

MARAC Member Minute: Meet Margaret Jerrido!

Margaret Jerrido
Archivist at Mother Bethel AME church. The first structure of the church was built in 1791 and 3 other structures have been built on the same site to accommodate membership increase and provide sturdier buildings. This site has the distinction of being the oldest plot of land continuously owned by African Americans in the U.S.

As a kid, I wanted to be…A Librarian

My little known hobby or talent is line dancing.

I joined and stayed with MARAC because it has always encouraged and was available to those new to the archival profession.

Any position(s) held in MARAC: Chair of LAC – Philadelphia

Why I chose to volunteer: I am no longer active in MARAC although I maintain my membership.


Final words: Continue the good work you offer to all members in the Region.

Spring Issue of the Mid-Atlantic Archivist Available Now!

The spring 2021 issue of the Mid-Atlantic Archivist is now available. Learn more about the upcoming Spring Virtual Meeting, how to volunteer for MARAC committee service, and what’s planned for the Gettysburg meeting in October 2021.

Happy reading!
 https://marac.memberclicks.net/assets/maa/maracspring21.pdf

Underwood & Underwood. From Seminary Ridge, S.E., to Penn. College, Gettysburg, Penn. 1903. GCW_5047. Special Collections and College Archives, Musselman Library, Gettysburg College.

MARAC to Host Info Session for Virtual Conference

Join us on Wednesday, March 24th at 3:00 pm to learn more about MARAC’s upcoming virtual conference.

“Virtually the Same: MARAC Spring 2021 Conference Info Session” is an opportunity for MARAC members to figure out just what the heck is going on with the Spring 2021 Virtual Conference!

Are you new to MARAC? Want more detailed information on this new conference format? Are you a long-time MARAC member and just curious how this meeting will be run? Then this info session is right for you! Split into two parts, this session will be focused on conference information – with our Virtual Arrangements and Program Committee co-chairs available to answer questions – as well as our caucus representatives present to share elements of the conference they are jazzed about! The second part will be a Zoom bingo – a perfect time for socializing if you are new (or not) to MARAC!

This event is free, but we ask that you register at https://marac.memberclicks.net/Spring2021_Info_Session  by Thursday, March 18th.  Zoom details will be provided upon registration.

This info session will be run by Meg Snyder, New York Caucus Representative, and Amanda Brent, Virginia Caucus Representative.