One year and four months into my "new" position (can I still say I am new?) seems like a good time for an update!

I have now transitioned into being a Corporate Archivist. There are many things that are the same, but some different things too. There are truly amazing collections and materials available in corporate archives collections. Just going through the history of the organization makes me feel so proud to work for an organization like this. The global archives are very forward-thinking and take action on so many projects, not just with paper records but with digital archives and projects as well.

Another great thing has been the people! There are so many different backgrounds and experience shown through my coworkers. We also truly work on a global scale. Despite being in different time zones throughout the world, we make the time for video conferencing, chatting and of course email. From the beginning I felt very connected to my coworkers, despite being so far away from so many of them. Of course, it would be great to visit these locales, but VC is the next best thing!

I now have multiple years of experience in the museum/historical society world, as well as university archives land. At least in the USA, we did not focus much at all on corporate or business archives in any of my library school classes. I also cannot recall too many offerings at conferences I have been able to attend. However, last year I attended the ICA conference in Atlanta, and coming up will attend the entire day devoted to business archives at the MARAC meeting in Newark, NJ. After that, I will be presenting with my manager at a financial and banking history conference in St. Louis, MO. My coworkers and I have also been making connections at other nearby corporate archives, including the New York Stock Exchange, the Associated Press Archives, and Citibank. I'm excited to continue conversations with these and many other archivists in the New York Metro Area.

So, while I cannot get into too many details, I am having a great time in my "new" role and excited to continue learning about the corporate archives world.

[Opinions are all my own]

I also can’t say enough nice things about the amazing people I’ve worked with over the last 4+ years. Yesterday, my coworkers Betty and Matthew both called me down to see how many researchers were using my collections (and encouraged me to write this blog post about it!). Other directors and archivists have emailed me from across the Columbia Libraries congratulating me. It has been a wonderful place to work and so thankful for the opportunities.
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Until next time…

Do you ever reminisce about all of the things you’ve done and accomplished? Day by day may seem like you’re not making much of a difference, but when you look back you realize just how much you’ve accomplished?

My main priority in my position at the Burke Library is to process, arrange, describe and make available collections. My first grant from the Henry Luce Foundation focused on the Missionary Research Library Archives and the William Adams Brown Ecumenical Library Archives. Over the three-year time period, my team of students and I processed 781 linear feet of archives (178 collections). Now on my second grant which began in January 2015, we’ve processed 358.5 linear feet as of today (38 collections). In total, I’ve had a direct impact on scholarship, research and learning because I’ve made 1139.5 linear feet (216 collections) available for researchers. WOW!

It is also amazing to think that if literally nothing else was processed for the rest of the year on the current project, we would still be exactly in line with what we said we would make available. Processing at a rate of 30-35 linear feet per month, we promised to make between 360-420 linear feet of archives available this year. As of 10:15am on Thursday, October 29, 2015 we have processed 358.5 LF, and I’m sure we will hit or go over that 360LF mark today.

I started the social media efforts at the Burke Library in 2012. It may be hard to believe, but we didn’t have a web presence before I took on the task. Twitter, Facebook, and Foursquare were started as well as a blog. The blog and especially Twitter have made a huge impact on getting the word out about collections. One big example of this was the archivist for the World Council of Churches in Geneva, Switzerland found out about our WCC collection thanks to a Twitter post announcing the availability of the collection. Pretty cool, huh?

Apart from the archives having an impact on research, teaching and learning, the internship program that I created and run has been very successful. During the first grant, I supervised 14 library school interns. Of the 14, 12 have jobs in their chosen field. They are employed by museums, archives, universities, corporate businesses, seminaries and other institutions. Of the four interns I’ve supervised thus far for the second grant, three are still in school but have obtained further (paid!) internships and positions thanks to their time working with me.

ArchivesSpace is another thing I’m proud to have been a part of and experienced while at Columbia. I served on the ArchivesSpace Task Force at Columbia, and we evaluated it, tested it and really put it through its paces. I’m excited to see what happens next with ArchivesSpace at Columbia.

Digital Archives too have been part of my work while here. I’ve been able to attend a number of Digital Archives Specialist courses via SAA, and I’ve presented on my findings to the Columbia community as a whole. I’ve been serving on the Archives Working Group which has helped to bring a variety of documentation, including regarding digital archives, into one space so it is much easier for staff to locate for guidance.

I’ve written reports; participated in Wayfinding studies; served on committees and other advisory committees; curated two digital exhibits; written newsletters; made the Burke more efficient with usage of space; created documentation; written LibGuides; presented in classes for Columbia, Union Theological Seminary and Barnard College; presented at conferences; and on and on. I’ve grown tremendously as a professional over the last four years in New York City.

And really, what more could you ask for?

On this document, I lay out a number of items to encompass the entire semester. I began including this document after reading Archival Internships: A Guide for Faculty, Supervisors, and Students by Jeanette A. Bastian and Donna Webber, published in 2008. I read this as soon as it came out, which just so happened to be when I began my first professional archivist position. This document allows the intern to know what to expect from me, what I expect from them, and what they will learn during our time together. I touch on this document throughout the semester and do not go over the entire thing on the first day, or even the first week sometimes.

Apart from the first day orientation, hours, etc… sort of material, I include points on the importance of knowing how a repository acquires, processes, preserves and provides access to material even if the student’s individual project does not include all these aspects. The document continues into an internship overview; the mission of the organization; and the creation of an inventory and work plan when a specific archival collection has been assigned. This document ends with a basic summation of the processing, arrangement and description of the collection.

I have always enjoyed this address because I think it stretches the minds of these students who will very soon be in the field. While many of those that I supervise are new to the field, I’m sure they have been asked the question, “What is an archivist?” I discuss with the students a few highlights from the list of ten ‘core values.’ Including:

The reading and subsequent discussion with students about this reading allows me to tell them I am here to make things available. I do not see the point in having a collection if it will never be made available – this is when the archives become a glorified storage shed. That does not interest me. I tell the intern that yes, the collections they process will be fragile and brittle due to a number of factors, but we will do everything we possibly can to stabilize the material so that it is available for use. We will interact with the public, and not sit by ourselves at our desk never to interact with anyone else.

This semester [Fall 2013] was the first time I assigned this reading as I had just completed the book myself. There were so many aspects of this book and specifically this chapter that engrossed me, and actually it is because of my personal response to this chapter that caused me to want to start my own professional blog again in the first place.

At the very least, I think it will make the student think back on their own reasons for joining this field. Perhaps they don’t feel like they answered a calling just yet, but in the future they will realize that is exactly what they were doing. That was the case with me and why I think I have had success in this field. In particular, I realized how much this statement on page 14 applies to me now, which is a quote from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi:

I studied under Dr. Cox while attending the University of Pittsburgh for my MLIS, and I will never forget what he said on the first day of our Archives and Records Management class: “I have forgotten more than you will ever know [about archives].” Well, it is nice to meet you too! Cox quotes Benjamin Barber on page 18 of Archival Anxiety, and I finally understand the method to his unmistakable style: “With good teaching, as with good art, someone is always offended: the point is precisely to provoke, offend, and spur to critical thinking.” Stay tuned to a subsequent blog for my full thoughts on this chapter!

Oh DACS, no one could forget about you. As many of the students I work with haven’t been in the field that long or acquired much experience yet, I always think it is beneficial for them to read part of DACS. They may have worked with or had a hand in the creation of finding aids, but do they know why they organized the information the way they did? Usually, they do not.

The Preface to DACS is a bit of history on the standard and how it relates to other standards they will come in contact with. The Statement of Principles is the foundation for the entire standard and will help the student understand when I say they need more information on the creator, or why they need to take their description to this level. Lastly, whenever someone mentions DACS, the student will understand what that is.

A basic manual that all students of archives need to read, but a surprising amount never come in contact with! At least in New York City graduate schools, very few read this manual (or maybe they did and it just didn’t make an impact on their memory). I feel like this book, along with the others in the Society of American Archivists fundamentals series, should be read early on in their graduate schooling. This chapter, along with the next reading from Keeping Archives really drives home the idea of arrangement and description.

I assign chapter 4, but state that the student should really read this entire thing.

This reading, while similar to Roe’s chapter, is useful because of the number of case studies featured. Something I specifically highlight involves setting priorities for arrangement and description. It says:

This section corresponds nicely with the fact that I am on a grant-funded project which has a built-in time limit. I also do not have a subject specialty related to this material. Again I am setting the stage for my thought process, why I will be assigning the collections I do, my expectations for the time they will spend on each collection, etc…

I’ve been using this since 2008. I like how it, in a very basic and easy to understand manner, lays out some ways to physically take care of the items that need it. When it comes time for the student to actually do this, I of course show them my technique, but they always appreciate having the reminder in the form of this document.

[Note: Harvard updated their website, so I can no longer find online the document I use specifically. For their general website on Preservation, see this link.]

The following readings are also new to the repertoire as of Fall 2013. It began after the 2013 Society of American Archivists annual meeting in New Orleans. I did not attend, but I was following along on Twitter. When President Jackie Dooley gave her address, I watched/read the slow changeover from, “Yay they are talking about new professionals and students!” to “Wait a minute, established professionals are still missing the point.”

I was intrigued and over the next few days, read the various blog entries that popped up in response. I now provide the text of the Presidential Address which was posted on the SAA website on August 17, 2013; three response blog posts; and information from two other sources on internships. I think this shows the student that I am open to discussing anything they want to, even potentially uncomfortable subjects. I cannot offer paid internships where I work, but I do my utmost to be the best supervisor I can be while teaching them as much as I can.

The readings are:
a.    Jackie Dooley’s 2013 SAA Presidential Address, “Feeding Our Young.”
b.    Blog Entry: “Professional Privilege: A Response to the 2013 SAA Presidential Address,” from Archivasaurus
c.    Blog Entry: “Professional Privilege: Get Uncomfortable,” by Rebecca Goldman, from You Ought to Be Ashamed
d.    Blog Entry: “Internships, Privilege, and SAA: A Council Member Responds,” by Michelle Light, posted on Off the Record.
e.    United States Division of Labor, Fact Sheet #71: Internship Programs Under the Fair Labor Standards Act
f.     Best Practices in Public History, Public History Internships, May 2008

Required reading before being able to touch a collection! Head of Archives Processing at Columbia, Carrie Hintz, updated the CUL Processing Manual and it is very useful and informative, while being practical. The other archivist at the Burke Library, Ruth Tonkiss Cameron, and I edited and added to this document because we do things a little differently at the Burke compared to the rest of the CUL system. I assign this to be read last because it will be the freshest in the student’s mind.

This ends the required reading for students before they can work on their assigned collections. After they read the items, we spend a few hours one-on-one discussing the readings.

Another reading I give later in the semester, depending on what the student has read in the past and also what collection I assign, is Mark Greene and Dennis Meissner’s “More Product, Less Process: Revamping Traditional Archival Processing.”

One of my students had never worked with archives, and was not doing an archives-focused masters. I used the following readings along with the previously mentioned ones, and I may add them in depending on the student’s experience.

“Who Controls the Past,” by Helen Willa Samuels

“The Documentation Strategy and Archival Appraisal Principles: A Different Perspective,” by Richard J. Cox

“On the Idea of Uniqueness,” by James M. O’Toole

“The Power of the Principle of Provenance,” by David A. Bearman and Richard H. Lytle

“On the Idea of Permanence,” by James M. O’Toole