UK Librarians active at SAA Annual Meeting

During the recent Society of American Archivists Annual Meeting in New Orleans the audience heard about several new initiatives in UK Libraries’ Special Collections.

 Ruth Bryan, Director of Archives, spoke during a session entitled, Accessions Confessions:  Exposing Accessions in the Era of Minimal Processing.  Her presentation, “Snapshot of accessioning at UK:  the reality and the vision for the stuff, the steps, and the staff," explored present practice and future vision for exposing manuscript and archives accessions in UK Libraries Special Collections. 

Stacie Williams, Learning Lab Manager in Special Collections, participated in a session entitled, “Working on Your Perfect Pitch: Elevator Speeches from the Field.”  In addition to Stacie, archivists from the Poarch Band of Creek Indians Museum, Massachusetts Historical Society, the University of Georgia, Iowa State University, and the University of Hawaii, discussed how they describe what they do to various groups of people.  Stacie’s presentation specifically focused on explaining archives and the profession to elementary school students, with the tagline that archivists “take old

Stuff and tell stories with it.”

Dr. Doug Boyd, Director of the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, participated in a panel, entitled, “Recording Memory, Documenting Community.”  Doug discussed the use of oral history in the context of community archives.  Additionally, Boyd highlighted the role of OHMS for engaging communities and project stakeholders in the documentation process. 

Sarah Dorpinghaus, Digital Projects Library Manager, participated on a panel entitled, Collaboration in Digitization Workflows: How Archivists and Camera Technicians Can Work Together. The session highlighted challenges faced by UK's imaging technicians during mass digitization of minimally processed manuscript collections. Sarah reviewed several successful modifications implemented at UK Libraries to create a more efficient imaging workflow. She also participated in two preconference workshops, Managing Electronic Records in Archives and Special Collections and Digital Curation Planning and Sustainable Futures.

Sarah was also elected co-chair of The Society of American Archivists Metadata and Digital Object Roundtable (MDOR) for a two-year term.  Along with her co-chair, Sarah will oversee MDOR steering committee work on tactical plans and organize the MDOR meeting at the 2014 and 2015 SAA Annual Meetings.  MDOR promotes discussion, education, and collaboration among archivists interested in digital objects and the metadata that enables their access, management, and preservation.