aec059 – Page 3 – What's that, UASC?

January 19, 2016

You have WHAT in your Special Collections?

A question we are frequently asked at our front desk is why we hold certain things within our special collections. How are our collection choices made? Is the idea to restrict access? And why oh why are some books that were published as recently as last year considered too ‘special’ to be taken out of our closed stacks?

If we were to play a game of association, and I were to say “special collections library”, what would flash into most peoples’ minds is the image of the centuries-old manuscript, bound in leather, with crumbling pages that smell faintly of vanilla. But that only paints a part of the picture. What a special collections is, and what a special collections can be runs much, much deeper–and may look far different overall.

For example, at the University of Saskatchewan Archives and Special Collections, we have four main collection areas for rare and special books, each with its own distinct collection mandate. Our Rare Books collection contains primarily those things one would expect to find in a special collections library: medieval texts scrawled out in Latin, Victorian novels, first editions. The University Authors collection is just as self-explanatory — we endeavor to collect published works by University Faculty in order to have as complete a collection of the significant research outputs of the University of Saskatchewan as we can.

Readers of this blog will also be familiar with the Neil Richards Collection for Sexual and Gender Diversity. Certainly one of our most interesting book collections (and the second largest overall), the objective of the Richards collection has been to gather LGBTQ2 materials, with a particular focus on popular culture, pulp novels, queer mysteries, and Canadian queer texts. The Richards collection has grown to be the largest of its kind in Western Canada.

All of these collections have some overlap with our largest special collection of books: The Shortt Collection of Canadiana. The mandate for this collection has been looser over the years than those applied to the other collections (the Shortt collection ambitiously attempts to absorb Canadian-themed fiction and non-fiction primarily by Canadian-based authors, with a specific focus on Western Canada and Western Canadian History) In this diverse collection users can find everything from local history books (nearly one from every town in the province) to the novels of Gail Bowen, to church cookbooks, to 18th century explorers’ accounts, to current aboriginal interest newspapers, and more. While some of the items may seem too recent, or too widely or too locally distributed to be considered ‘special,’ it is the collection as a whole that has meaning, and which provides the greatest research value.

One recent addition to the Shortt collection which may fall into the “you have WHAT in your special collections?” category is two boxes of:

Alpha Flight? Never heard of it? And isn’t Marvel comics American anyway? Surely a sub-mandate of the Shortt Collection of Canadiana cannot be to collect comic books from the 1980’s. Isn’t that an odd fit?

This is true–comic books have not been an area of focus within the Shortt collection. Typically, any incoming comic books have been earmarked for Richards. Perhaps this is because queer comic book heroes are, in this time of the graphic novel, easier to find than Canadian ones (the Canadian comic book golden age ended in 1946, according to John Bell in his book Invaders from the North: How Canada Conquered the Comic Book Universe (2006)). Whatever the reason, we have fewer Canadian-centric comic books in the Shortt collection than we might like, and are working to remedy that situation.

So what better place to begin than with Alpha Flight? This team of Canadian superheroes, headed by James Macdonald Hudson (aka Vindicator, aka the Man with the Most Canadian Names), originally appeared in the late seventies as a part of the backstory to Marvel’s most well-known Canadian, Wolverine. The fact that the Alpha Flight team had its own decade long run of books within the Marvel universe is itself significant, given Marvel’s dominant role in the comic book industry, and given the minimal role Canadian superheroes have historically played within that industry.

The Alpha Flight books provide an amusing window on how Canadians were viewed by our American neighbors at this point in time. With characters like the Montreal-born Jean-Paul and sister Jeanne Marie Beaubier (aka Northstar and Aurora), a large hairy Sasquatch named Walter Langowski, and Eugene Judd a roughly puck-shaped bouncer from our own Saskatoon, Alpha Flight makes a caricature of Canadian-ness. Even the heroes’ costumes look like Team Canada’s Winter Olympic speed-skating apparel.

Another interesting point about Alpha Flight is that it features the first instance of a superhero “[coming out] in a blunt and assured fashion, previously unseen in mainstream comics” (Schott, 2010). In 1992’s issue #106 of Alpha Flight, superhero Northstar engages in a fight with Major Mapleleaf, over the course of which as many politically-laden zingers on topics of AIDS and homosexuality are thrown as punches. At the apex of this fight, Northstar admits his own homosexuality, saying : It is interesting to consider whether this (at that time relevant, but risky) discussion about homosexuality and AIDS could only have taken place within the ranks of a Canadian superhero team. If perhaps the separation of nationality made the subjects more “safe” to an American audience.

With Canada experiencing a recent resurgence of acknowledgement on the world stage (according to the New York Times, we’re “hip” now), collecting materials on what it is to be Canadian, what it was to be Canadian, and how Canadians have been viewed over time will become more important than ever. We are a nation that is constantly feeling out its own identity, and collections like the Shortt Collection of Canadiana provide a basis for that understanding.

**Please note that the above images are posted for educational purposes. Any reproduction for other purposes must be cleared with the copyright holder (Marvel Comics).

Sources:

Alpha Flight. New York, N.Y. : Marvel Comics Group, 1983-1992 vols. 1 and 106 SPECIAL COLLECTIONS-SHORTT PN6728 .A4 1983-1993 v.1 no.1 — v.1 no.120

Bell, John. Invaders from the North: How Canada Conquered the Comic Book Universe. Dundurn, 2006.

Schott, Gareth. ” From fan appropriation to industry re-appropriation: the sexual identity of comic superheroes”. Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics. v. 1 no. 1, June 2010. pp.17-29.

“With the Rise of Justin Trudeau, Canada Is Suddenly … Hip?.” The New York Times, Jan. 16, 2016

January 4, 2016

12 Days of Archives

Happy New Year everyone! It is time again for our favourite Christmas tradition, the 12 Days of Archives! Let’s take a look back at what we found this year. Everyone sing along!

On the first day of Christmas my archives gave to me…A Fish that’s been taxidermied!On the second day of Christmas my archives gave to me…Two Huskies Jerseys.

On the third day of Christmas my Archives gave to me…Three Shiny Medals!

On the fourth day of Christmas my archives gave to me…Four 16th Century Bibles.

On the fifth day of Christmas my archives gave to me…Fiiiiive Vintage Chatelaines!

On the sixth day of Christmas my archives gave to me…Six Saskatoon Authors.

On the seventh day of Christmas my archives gave to me…seven Hockey Players.

On the eighth day of Christmas my archives gave to me…eight Punny Valentines.

On the ninth day of Christmas my archives gave to me…nine Christmas revelers!

On the tenth day of Christmas my archives gave to me…ten Japanese Postcards.

On the eleventh day of Christmas my archives gave to me…eleven Union Buttons.

On the twelfth day of Christmas my archives gave to me…twelve Charming Signatures*!

*Ned Pratt (Poet), Aldous Huxley (author), Grey Owl (author), Joseph Conrad (author), Richard St. Barbe Barker (environmentalist/author), W.H. Davis (poet), W.C. Murray (first president of the U of S), T.C. Douglas (politician), Edmund “Daddy” Oliver (professor), Louis Riel (politician/Metis leader), John Diefenbaker (Prime Minister), John Butler Yeats (artist)

November 19, 2015

Queer-Negative Literature: Why Collect It?

In the past year, the Neil Richards Collection for Sexual and Gender Diversity has begun expanding in a direction which may be surprising to many. Not only does this collection hold one of the widest arrays of queer literature in Canada, and not only does it contain numerous texts documenting the lives, struggles, and triumphs of LGBTQ2 persons from around the world – it now contains a small-but-growing selection of literature which may be considered by many LGBT or allies as homophobic, transphobic, or heterosexist. These are books which oppose or at the very least disagree with the goals of many LGBTQ2 persons, including anti-discrimination laws, same sex marriage, and the greater tolerance and acceptance of gay identity.

It may seem counter-intuitive to include materials of this ilk in a collection geared towards a creative and scholarly examination of differences of gender and sexuality. Indeed, texts which overtly denounce LGBTQ2 persons, which propose ways in which they can be “cured,” run exactly contrary to the spirit in which the Neil Richards Collection for Gender and Sexual Diversity was formed. Yet, without tracts of this nature, an important part of the history of gender and sexual diversity is lost.

If gay-negative texts were to be excluded from collections—if they were erased from history entirely– it would be easy to forget about the challenges faced by LGBTQ2 persons through time, and impossible to trace the ways in which society has evolved. In her article “Absence of Context: Gay Politics Without a Past,” Jen Manion makes the alarming observation that “the contemporary political movement for LGBTQ rights and equality has shown little interest in or . . . knowledge of [it’s] community’s history.” The loss of history for any community is a staggering blow, and it is this “dehistoricizing [of] queerness” that the Neil Richards Collection aims to combat. Only by preserving multiple aspects of queer history may a sense of community that stretches beyond spatial and temporal boundaries be formed, and only then may the suffering and successes of that community be fully understood.

Another significant reason for collecting anti-queer texts resides with societal accountability. Destroying texts which may be considered hateful does not erase that negative sentiment, but rather absolves the author of their words. On a large scale, the banishment of discriminatory literature provides a convenient reason to forget that discrimination and hate still exist within our society. If society is to be held accountable for discriminatory practices through time, evidence of that discrimination must be preserved. As Duff et al state in their 2013 study on the role archives and special collections may have in the realm of social justice : “Archival action . . . has the impact of raising awareness of inequality and discrimination,” which in turn leads to the “employment of intellectual and physical resources to challenge [those] inequalities.” Only by understanding historical imbalances can change come about.

The inclusion of such titles as Growing up Straight, Homosexuality: It’s Causes and Cure, and The Crises of Homosexuality in the Neil Richards Collection for Sexual and Gender Diversity may, at first glance, be surprising. However, making these texts available to researchers provides a larger window onto LGBTQ2 history than that given from the queer perspective alone. It is the hope that, by providing as full a picture as possible, queer history can be reclaimed and society can be reminded of its responsibilities towards a segment of the population that has long been marginalized.

Sources:

Duff, Wendy ; Flinn, Andrew ; Suurtamm, Karen ; Wallace, David. Social justice impact of archives: a preliminary investigation. Archival Science, 2013, Vol.13(4), pp.317-348

Manion, Jen.The Absence of Context: Gay Politics without a Past. QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking July 2014, Vol.1(2), pp.115-131.

July 8, 2015

ACA Conference Bites : Stevie, Day 3 – New takes on the old lifecycle

By far the most interesting thing about this session was the way it gave three different speakers from three different parts of the country–and three very different institutions–an opportunity to speak about the way records management is handled within their archives. Trudi Wright, who had been a lecturer during my time at McGill, spoke of her work in records management in Ontario ; Dana Turgeon of the City of Regina spoke of some of the trials and tribulations experienced in merging their archives and records management clerical functions; Kate Guay and Karen Pollock of the Northwest Territory Archives discussed their attempts to get a more structured and standardized handle on their records.

Throughout the conference, I was amazed to learn of the range of operational conditions under which archives function, and could not help but compare and contrast with the status of our own unit. I heard perspectives from small archives with a single archivist or “lone arranger”, larger archives with kilometers of backlog running on a skeleton crew of two or three, archives with a staff compliment numbering in the teens or more, and mid-sized archives with a healthy staff of around six. More than anything, listening to all of these perspectives underscored the various nature of the profession–truly, each archive and special collection is as one-of-a-kind as the material it holds. At the same time, however, hearing of institutions much larger or much smaller than our own facing similar challenges brought a sense of unity–a sense that while we may all be floating in different boats, we are at least together as a mismatched armada on the same tossing sea.

Invincible_Armada — Not a mismatched armada, but it looks suitably chaotic

After this session, it began to rain, which of course made it an ideal time for both the traditional East vs. West ballgame, and walking tours!

The ballgame was, I think, called off as a tie due to showers. The walking tours (one of which, ironically, was about the cyclone which ploughed through Regina in 1912) were more successful. I was lucky enough to get in on the Regina Riot walking tour, which was guided by one of my undergraduate history profs, the deeply knowledgeable Bill Brennan.

In June of 1935, Regina became the endpoint of what has been called the “On-to-Ottawa Trek.” Hundreds of disgruntled labourers from the West had boarded boxcars, heading east in the hopes of getting the attention of the federal authorities. They were protesting the dismal conditions of the federal relief camps provided for unemployed single male workers during the Depression, and wanted to make a case for stronger worker’s rights. While the federal and provincial governments dithered over who was to take responsibility for these men, the trek made it across British Columbia, across Alberta, and into the heart of Saskatchewan.

Finally agreeing to speak with some of the trek’s leaders while the men were camped out in Regina, the trek ground to a halt, with the trekkers being kept under the watchful eye of Regina’s large RCMP detachment. The negotiations in Ottawa swiftly fell through, and it just as swiftly became apparent that the trekkers were not going to be allowed to leave the city in any direction but back West.

JGD3095_141 — Police Department “Wanted for Murder” handbill dated 18 October 1935 from the July 1 1935 Regina Riot. JGD/MG01/XVII/JGD 3095

On July 1st, a public meeting was called to update the population of Regina (who had initially supported the trekkers, but who were by this time beginning to feel the strain of supporting the added population) on the state of the movement. Expecting the trek leaders to be out in full force at this meeting, RCMP and City police gathered in secret, eventually rushing the crowd (most of whom were not trekkers at all), and causing all chaos to break loose in the city. Citizens fought back against police batons (actually baseball bats) and tear gas with sticks, stones, and overturned streetcars. Regina’s biggest department store was looted, and other buildings set on fire. One policeman, Charles Millar, was killed in the crush, and one trekker Nick Shaack, would later die of his injuries.

After this, the movement was disbanded quietly, with the help of the provincial government, as men were sent back to camps and homes. However, damage was done both to the reputation of the local law enforcement who instigated the riot, and the Bennett administration itself.

JGD3093_141 — Regina Riot; policeman dragging away person, other men running towards police, throwing objects. JGD/MG01/XVII/JGD 3093

July 7, 2015

ACA Conference Bites : Stevie, Day 3 – Metamorphosis

Quite possibly the most eclectic session I attended, Metamorphosis: Change and Transformation featured recent U of T grads James Roussain and Emily Sommers talking about the future of archival education; Sara Viinalass-Smith of the LAC speaking on their archives of early maps; and Greg Bak of the U of M whose talk was titled “Playable: Interactive Archive,” and which featured (I’m pretty sure) a 1980’s Transformer toy on the first slide.

Roussain and Sommers’ talk had the most resonance with me as a (sort-of) recent MLIS grad. The notion of (conflict between?) theory and practice in Information Studies is one that seems to recur again and again in my day-to-day work, and was something of which I was keenly aware as a student. The in-class theory taught only revealed a fragment of the nature of the work that goes on in an Archives and Special Collections. I was lucky enough to have a work-study placement, as well as a practicum, but not all students had those opportunities to get elbows-deep in boxes.

Roussain and Sommers argued for the implementation of a practical approach to teaching in Information Studies, and suggested that all students should be, at the very least, encouraged to seek out practical experience during their period of study. I can see the necessity in this approach if graduates who have a realistic-ish notion of what they are getting into are to be produced. Each archives and special collections has unique holdings, and so faces a unique set of challenges in preserving those holdings, and making them accessible. Because of this, there isn’t and cannot be a tidy textbook of theory which will tell you all you need to know about archival work. Much of the learning must be done on the fly in an environment of multiple tasks and drastically shifting user needs–and quite frequently, theory goes out the window altogether (along with things like sanity). Stubborn adherence to what is theoretically the best practice while ignoring the specific needs of your collection, of your institution, could prove disastrous.

Sara Viinalass’s talk struck a lighter note in her discussion of the evolution of LAC’s handling of early maps. It was interesting to see early pictures of their map storage and reading rooms — places with very little light, and large tables often used for staff gatherings (with candles for the centerpieces!). What stood out for me, though, was the notion that our audiences want “bite sized history” — along the line of a facebook post or a Pinterest image, not giving the entire history on the subject, but rather presenting a small and intriguing peek into it (as with Viinalass’ sharing of a Toronto bicycle route map– a subject not typically thought of).

Bak’s talk veered off in yet another direction, as he discussed the need to preserve interactivity and playability in archives. He was speaking in relation to electronic records, and the medium that produce them. Here again the notion of “the medium is the message” was introduced, with the medium now being the antiquated hardware and software from which electronic records are born. Bak argued for the need to preserve, or at least closely simulate the functioning (and dysfunctioning) of those systems, right down to the last “bug” (what he called a “feature”). His argument was that the hardware and software–obsolete though it may be– tells a part of the story of the record, as much (if not more) than the contents of the record itself. Certainly, 200 3.5″ floppies containing a novel are bound to say something about the way the author wrote, in the way the floppies are used, reused, and sorted. Transferring all of those files to brand new media and disposing of the original discs would destroy some of that context.

As was hinted at in Allana Mayer’s talk on conference day one, there is a great deal of lag in the proper treatment of electronic records in the archival profession (and, I suppose, any profession). Only recently are electronic records coming to be viewed as real and “reliable” (and lets face it, they’ve been around for fifty years and more), and so, it is only relatively recently that we have begun bending our minds to how to preserve electronic records, and even more abstractly, what elements of the electronic record need to be preserved. Interestingly, work on archiving video games tends to stand at the forefront of this debate — the question of how to preserve the playability of a game after its hardware has been vanquished by time is one of increasing importance in the ever-evolving and always nostalgic gaming world. Bak argues that the same degree of careful thought on how to preserve interactivity and playability needs to go in to our handling of other record types as well. Migrating to another format is not enough–something is always lost in that translation. But are the alternatives : emulation, or keeping working hardware and software on site, viable options for most heritage institutions?

June 30, 2015

ACA Conference Bites, Stevie : Day 3 – Poster Session

Finally! The poster session. This was a new format for the ACA this year. Where normally a very few posters would be shown out in the hall with the vendors during breaks on one of the days, this year more posters were presented, and each presenter (or group of presenters) were allotted five minutes to explain their work. This was a great idea, as it gave people an idea of what was on our poster before actually reading our poster, which in turn made them more interested in reading the poster, and asking questions.

Our five minute lightning talk was on the work UASC has been doing with the Courtney Milne collection, digitizing a selection of the 486,000 35mm slides donated and making them available online.

Other topics included: Preservation, other digitization projects, the portrayal of archivists in movies, human rights and archives, Lululemon(!) and much more. It was a great session with great people, and I am happy to have had the chance to meet and work, however briefly, alongside them all!

After speaking, we went over to where our actual posters were on display, and answered questions over the next two break sessions. I really appreciated everyone who came over to discuss the project!

June 23, 2015

ACA Conference Bites, Stevie : Day 3 – LAC Plenary

While Thursday evening was a time of great relaxation (good food, storytelling in the Lady Slipper courtyard, a long walk around Wascana lake, and ice cream outside of the Leg’), Friday was a day that began and continued at a higher pitch of activity. From the outset, we were, of course, prepared for but anxious about our poster presentation which would be taking place at 10:00 that morning. But before that, breakfast, and the plenary.

The 9:00 plenary on Friday June 12 was delivered by Dr. Guy Berthiaume of Library and Archives Canada. Following the massive hits LAC has taken over the past few years, this talk seemed aimed at reassuring the audience that the organization is back on track, with new initiatives that will help revitalize documentary heritage in Canada.

Two of these initiatives involve nation-wide collaborative efforts, both in the realm of acquisitions and, as was previously mentioned in Paul Wagner’s talk, digitization. LAC hopes to institute stronger collaborative methodologies in order to ensure that a) there is some national consistency in who is preserving what, and b) archives and special collections are not constantly duplicating work on the digitization front. Dr. Berthiaume admitted that Canada is lagging behind most other nations in our digitization work, and so this is one area in which LAC will be putting a great deal of effort in the coming years.

After speaking a bit on his goal to make government records more accessible, LAC’s partnership with ancestry.ca, and the fact that LAC has both a flickr and youtube channel, Berthiaume “dropped the mic” (as the kids say).

The moment in Berthiaume’s talk that caused the room to swell with murmurs and Twitter to explode with anticipation was the announcement of the Documentary Heritage Communities Program (DHCP). After years under a spending freeze, the LAC is now offering a unique opportunity for incorporated and non-incorporated non-profit associations/organizations (specifically local archival and library communities) to increase their capacity to preserve, provide access to and promote local documentary heritage. This will take the form of a variety of financial contributions which will support projects which increase access to, and awareness of Canada’s local documentary institutions and their holdings; an increase the capacity of local documentary heritage institutions to better sustain and preserve Canada’s documentary heritage.

Although our own University Archives and Special Collections is not eligible for this particular source of funding, it is great to see LAC back on their feet and taking steps in a direction that will help hundreds of smaller institutions.

Another interesting idea that came out of the Q&A session after the talk was the notion that we should remember with caution that what we digitize has an inadvertent effect on what people research. Researchers will tend to look for what is online first (for reasons of ease of access, funding, etc.), and so it is necessary that what we put up online reflects an accurate representation of our holdings.

Next post: THE POSTER SESSION

(dun dun DUNNNNN)

June 19, 2015

ACA Conference Bites : Stevie, Day 2 – Extending Our Reach

Sandwiches are great. Complimentary sandwiches are even better. Sandwiches are what we were given for our first lunch at the ACA conference. Lest you experience envy at their marbled-rye and thick egg-salady goodness, I will neglect to post a picture here. (Also, I forgot to take a picture.)

We also had a salad.( I didn’t take a picture of that either.) But both were very good, and lunch provided a great opportunity for all of us poster-presenters to get together and make our plan of action for the next day. It was wonderful to meet the other presenters and put faces to names (and posters). Two of the presenters I knew from my previous life in Montreal, but most of them were new to me. I won’t drop too many spoilers about the actual poster session here — that will get its own post (and there WILL be pictures)–but eating lunch with the people we would be presenting alongside helped a lot with the nerves. They were all super-nice people.

The next session we went to was titled “Extending Our Reach — Engaging the Public with New Media and Old.” Being someone who does a lot of social media work for the University Library’s University Archives and Special Collections (and even some blogging on the side . . .) this was one of the sessions I was most excited for.

First up was Brett Lougheed from the University of Winnipeg who had some interesting and useful observations on the social media employed both at the U of W and at the U of M. He cracked open the discussion with the adage “the medium is the message.” While in many areas this can be a controversial statement, I think nowhere is it truer than with social media. Different social media platforms shape the way in which we share our thoughts–what we say on a subject on Facebook may be very different from the way we cram it into 140 Twitter characters. How we group and share images on a blog will be different from how we do it on Pinterest (I’m thinking the University Archives and Special Collections needs Pinterest in its life–is this madness?).

Some of Lougheed’s tips, tricks, and observations, as based on his years of experience working with social media in two separate institutions are as follows:

Be Unobtrusive – Posts should be informative and fun, spaced evenly enough apart that the user is neither over nor underwhelmed.
Facebook – Should not just be a place where you share your Twitter posts. There is room for exposition. Use it.
Fun Ideas for Facebook
- Create an institutional timeline using old photographs and Facebook’s timeline feature << Definitely something I’ll look into doing for the U of S!
- Actually make use of the photo album feature (Derp. not sure why we’re not doing this).
Image Posts Are King
Play Off of the Now – If it is Valentines Day, post Valentines Day content. If the Riders are in the Grey Cup, post Grey Cup stuff (if the Riders are not in the Grey Cup, ignore the Grey Cup stuff — it will just make everyone sad).
Twitter Audience – Is mostly going to be people with some sort of pre-existing background in archives and special collections, be they contemporaries, or advanced researchers. This makes Twitter a less-than-ideal platform to engage with new users.
Youtube – Is good!
Blogs – Should be interactive spaces for discussion, and above all, fun!

Some of these are perhaps self-evident, but all were good points to keep in mind, and I definitely came away with some fun ideas for ways to extend our own online presence. Six months, already! It has been over six months since our Twitter feed and Facebook page and blog were born. I’m a proud Momma.

Next up Andrea Martin and Tyyne Petrowski from the University of Manitoba (interestingly, this was a very Central-Western centric panel. Are we really doing more outreach out here, or just more inclined to talk about it?) who shared their experiences using Tumblr to showcase a collection of letters sent home by Frederick D. Baragar during the Great War. I was intrigued enough by Tumblr as an interface for this sort of project that I put together my own Tumblr blog when I got home, just to get my hands in it. Rather than re-hashing their presentation, I will invite you to take a look at From the Somewhere , which is a truly fabulous example of an easy-to-use, easy-to-maintain-and-update blog that allows non-traditional (and traditional) archival users to engage with primary source materials. in a familiar format.

Last to speak was Saskatoon’s own City Archivist, Jeff O’Brien, who was introduced as having been raised in a culvert by a family of gophers. Which sort of set the tone, as such statements will. Jeff is such an engaging and amusing speaker, and it is always a treat to listen to him talk about pretty much anything (the gophers taught him well.) On this occasion he was talking about his work with local media (and in particular his CTV news segment Saskatoon Stories) , encouraging those working in archives and special collections to make media relations a priority. Requests from the media tend to be highly time sensitive, and so archives and special collections need to make requests coming in from any news organ a “drop everything request.” We should also attempt to anticipate the needs of news entities (if there’s an election coming up, dig up our stuff on elections before they even ask), and never turn down an interview. He reminded us that “everyone likes a good story” and that archives and special collections, being places filled with good stories, are ideally suited for partnership with news outlets whose goal it is to share good stories.

All that being said, I’m afraid I don’t personally quite have O’Brien’s gift for gab, and I am convinced that propping me up in front of a camera for any length of time could only end badly for everyone involved.

After all, I wasn’t raised by gophers.

Dinner that night was catered by Merv’s pitchfork fondue. This is a picture of Merv. With his pitchfork. SO GOOD!

June 18, 2015

ACA Conference Bites: Stevie, Day 2 – Digital Preservation

The first session I attended at the ACA conference was titled “Where We Go From Here: Challenges in Digital Preservation.”

Adam Jansen spoke first, an enthusiastic fellow in a Hawaiian shirt who is affiliated with UBC’s InterPARES (International Research on Permanent Authentic Records in Electronic Systems) Trust. He emphasized the importance of preserving documentary evidence–be that document electronic or physical–and discussed the inherent differences in the ways electronic records must be preserved. Unlike their analog counterparts, electronic records all but demand that preservation begin at creation, with the production of accurate metadata. They also require the early employment of systems (intellectual systems as well as hardware/software) which will accommodate swiftly growing and ever-changing collections of digital media.

In an effort to meet the increasingly rigorous demands of preserving electronic records, some archives (and many individuals) have turned to the cloud. “The Cloud” or cloud computing focuses on maximizing the effectiveness of shared resources, which can be dynamically reallocated per demand. The end result is that vast amounts of information (from multiple sources) can be stored in a flexible shared space which may exist either on or off site.

While there are obvious benefits to cloud computing for preservation (the storing of electronic records at a secure data center, for example, which may otherwise be far outside of the financial means of the institution) there are also great risks. Jansen was keen to impart the dangers of relying upon the cloud as a means of electronic record preservation (making that face << and an “EAUGH!” noise of frustration and despair at some point in his discussion). Questions of ownership, jurisdiction, and privacy all become complicated with the introduction of cloud computing to e-records management and, as has been demonstrated time and again (remember the celebrity icloud hacking scandal of last year?) the cloud is not necessarily as secure as we would like to think.

In many ways, cloud computing was not designed for preservation (as my Computer-Science genius-brained fiance was quick to point out to me). The system was designed to meet the needs of rapidly fluctuating processing power demands (e-mail servers, for example), not the more-or-less steady processing needs of long-term data storage. Nevertheless, the potential for a fruitful partnership between cloud computing vendors and archivists should not be ignored. The key to ensuring that important data is not lost when applying preservation principles to the cloud lies in the metadata–which, Jansen assured us, is where InterPARES Trust plays a role.

The trustworthiness of an electronic document–its documentary integrity–lies in the completeness and purity of its metadata, and InterPARES Trust has made it a goal to work with users and cloud vendors in order to regulate the preservation of that metadata in the cloud. The group has identified 6 preservation services which are necessary to ensure data integrity within the cloud, including: 1) ensuring that what was sent to the cloud was received intact 2) ensuring that metadata has been accurately imported with the digital object 3) ensuring that what has been imported is authentic 4) ensuring that users receive a report on the status of the physical storage space of the data-center 5) ensuring that there is data being generated reflecting any migrations and emulations that occur and 6) ensuring that there is data on how materials are being disseminated.

Jansen, then, sees archivists and information professionals as the bridge between the cloud provider and their audience when it comes to safely preserving electronic records for the long term. We have seen some of the fruits of this sort of union in our own unit with the introduction of Archivematica, a platform for the long-term preservation of “trustworthy, authentic, and reliable digital content,” which makes use of cloud-based technologies. Although not yet fully implemented at UASC, the benefits of Archivematica in keeping our digital (and particularly born-digital) records accessible, safe, and clean is inarguable.

(If you couldn’t guess, Jansen’s talk sparked a ton of subsequent discussion, which is why I’m rambling about it here. For the others, I’ll be brief: )

Next to speak was Paul Wagner from Library and Archives Canada, who focused on their shifting digital strategies. Of particular note is the attention LAC is going to be paying to digital initiatives across the country, attempting to sort out who has digitized what, and thereby cut down on the amount of overlap in digitization projects occurring between institutions. He also reminded us that “context improves content” when it comes to digital material, and that it may be fruitful to ask clients what they want to see digitized. A very down-to-earth and helpful talk.

Finally, Allana Mayer, an independent researcher, discussed her survey which asked archivists about the nature of their digital holdings : What do we have? How much are we holding? How often is it asked for? How are we preserving it? She also encouraged archives to treat their digital records like nitrate film : swiftly and with constant vigilance. These are all important questions to be asking; however, Allana’s impatience with archivists and records managers for not dealing more effectively with their electronic records seemed symptomatic of a non-holistic view of archival work. With so many archives and special collections facing years and kilometers of physical backlog, it is perhaps unsurprising that the thought of tackling electronic records in full-body contact sport makes us cringe.

Still, if there’s one thing this session assured me of, its that digital preservation is not as unmanageable as we may fear.

June 17, 2015

ACA Conference Bites : Stevie, Day 2 – Gail Bowen

Anyone who loves books and lives in Saskatchewan is bound to have read, or at least heard of the detective fiction of Regina-based author Gail Bowen. On the first morning of the conference the plenary was delivered by this mistress of intrigue who, true to form, kept the ballroom spellbound with her tales of serendipity, working with archives, and meeting royalty.

I think her best line (and twitter seemed to agree) was the notion that “archivists are alchemists.” Aside from the obvious ways in which this analogy would resonate with a group of document-loving history buffs, it was adept in its comparison between the disorganized haystack that our documents often arrive in, and the golden order we transmute them into. It is often the task of the archival worker to take what seems like an impossible mess of highly valuable research materials, and convert it into something that will be clean, tidy, well-documented, and–above-all–accessible to researchers.

Heavily present in Gail’s talk was the notion of serendipity–a sort of stumble-across-good-luck which has, she claimed, played a huge role in her life and in her writing. She gave as an example the first book to which she had been invited to contribute: The Easterners’ Guide to Western Canada / The Westerners’ Guide to Eastern Canada (1985). A random request from a friend to write a small chapter in a little-known “airplane book” sparked a writing career that would span three decades and over twenty novels. (Interestingly, I myself had serendipitously found this book in our holdings a few months back and enjoyed a few moments reading Bowen’s segment “A Letter from British Columbia.”) In many ways, Bowen credits the success of her career to serendipity. The right person standing by the right fax machine at the right time has culminated in the adaptation of her novels into movies ; the right people becoming interested in the right play has led to her taking lunch with Prince Charles (who, as it turns out, isn’t much a fan of lunch–in Gail’s words “Clean your plate, boy!”).

Bowen’s focus on the power of serendipity was interesting given the loaded nature of the term within archives and libraries, and perhaps an unintentional nod to a major topic of discussion in information theory. In a recent C-EBLIP article, Frank Winter discusses the (perceived) conflict between the desire to maintain serendipitous information discovery (as by reading shelves) and the need for more efficient resource allocation in the academic library (as by moving resources off-site to provide better student study spaces, or relying upon electronic copies) (Winter, 2015).

The struggle to allow for serendipitous discovery in any type of research in which the user is not handling the material from shelf-to-table is a familiar one in the world of archives and special collections. Archives and special collections, being spaces where the bulk of information is kept behind locked (or at least heavy) doors may seem singularly unsuited to the coincidental uncovering of information–however, this is not the case. Serendipity can and frequently does occur within the archival context. In her 2011 essay “Serendipity in the Archive,” Nancy Lusignan Schultz names two elements essential to fostering serendipity in archival research : “good sleuthing” on the part of the researcher (Bowen would love that) and “the expert guidance of a willing archivist” (Schultz, 2011). Here, the reference assistant must become an active accessory to serendipity–providing the user not just with what they ask for, but with a few shots in the dark besides.

Serendipity, then, takes a different form in archives and special collections than it does within the library stacks, being reliant not only on the keen eyes of the user as she rifles through files, but also upon the initial decision made by reference staff regarding which finding aids she may find on-topic. The reference staff must have a broad enough understanding of the unit’s holdings to provide guidance, yet be unfamiliar enough with the specific contents of each fonds to allow coincidental discoveries to occur. In many ways, each file within an archival fonds presents an ideal vehicle for serendipitous discovery, as its contents can be as varied as the interests of the person that created it.

In his article, Winter acknowledges the value of serendipity in research, but ultimately concludes that there are “so many variables that determine whether a user stumbles across something relevant that they are almost impossible to identify,” and therefore serendipity should perhaps not be invoked as an “operating principle when deciding how to manage down print collections” (Winter, 2015). His assertion about the nature of serendipity is in line with the vast difference between the kind of serendipitous discovery we see in the library stacks, and that which is found in archives and special collections. Serendipity is the result of a near-infinite chain of coincidences, and therefore can take a on near-infinite number of forms. Perhaps with the changing library landscape will come a shifting in the nature of serendipitous discovery in libraries themselves. As print collections shrink and move, we may lose the thrill of being accidentally (and literally) struck with a relevant top-shelf book as we reach for another. The question is, what other form of coincidental discovery will take its place?

Bowen, Gail. “25 Years of Writing Joanne.” ACA 2015 “Perspectives on the Archival Horizon”.
(June 11, 2015).

Schultz, Nancy Lusignan. “Serendipity in the Archive.” The Chronicle of Higher Education 57.37 (2011). Canadian Periodicals Index Quarterly. Web. 17 June 2015.

Winter, Frank. “Serendipity, Algorithms, and Managing Down the Collective Print Collection.” Brain Work. (March 2015). Last accessed: 17 June 2015.