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Lone Arrangers Roundtable Home Page

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Lone Arrangers Roundtable

Resources

A view of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh's Processing Center - backlog and all! Photograph courtesy of Lynne Wohleber (2007).

Listserv

SAA hosts listservs for all of its roundtables, so if the main Archives and Archivists listserv, which is open to all types of archivists, feels intimidating, try participating in our listserv which is geared specifically towards those of us working in small or solo repositories.

In order to subscribe to the Lone Arrangers list, visit the roundtable's online roster and click on the link to subscribe. SAA members and non-members alike can join the listserv.

Once subscribed, to send a message to the entire list, send an email to .

Lone Arranger Blogs

• "Alone in the Archives" by Linda Benedict


• "The Life of a Solo Archivist - The Lone Arranger" by Rob Jenson


• "LU Lone Arranger's Blog" by Susan Pevar


• "From the Archives" by Dr. Phillip Stone

Online Communities

Through the efforts of some members of the Lone Arrangers community, we have two online outlets for creating and participating in a virtual community for all lone arrangers:

• Ning Group


• Facebook Group (NOTE: you must have a registered Facebook account and be logged in to view this page).

Online Resources

Getting Started

• The Archivist's Toolkit from the Archives Association of British Columbia


• New York State Archives Publications


• Basics of Archives Class from the Council of State Archivists


• Documenting Community Organizations from the Central New York Library Resources Council


• Documenting Family History from the Central New York Library Resources Council (PDF)


• Documenting Small Businesses from the Central New York Library Resources Council


• Don't Throw it Away! Documenting and Preserving Organizational History from the University of Illinois at Chicago (PDF)


• The Preserving Your History Brochure Series from the Society of California Archivists


• Caring for your Family Archives from the National Archives and Records Administration


• Preparing, Protecting, Preserving your Family Treasures from the Library of Congress


• Resources for Private and Family Collections from the Northeast Document Conservation Center


• Developing and Maintaining Practical Archives by Gregory Hunter


• Starting an Archives by Beth Yakel


• Organizing Archival Records: A Practical Method of Arrangement and Description for Small Archives by David Carmicheal


• Care for Your Records from the Georgia Archives

Online Resources

Local and Regional Assistance

• Council of State Archivists (CoSA)


• CoSA's Organizations Serving Archivists and Others Who Work with Historical Records


• CoSA's 'Closest to Home' Archival Programs for Local Government Records


• State Historical Records Advisory Boards (SHRABs)


• American Association for State and Local History (AASLH)


• SAA's Directory of Archival Organizations in the United States and Canada

Lone Arranger Papers, Presentations, and Products

Management - Personal

• Happiness is a Lone Arranger: Health, Stress, and Safety in the Solo Archives presented by Nancy Freeman at the SAA Conference, August 2004. (DOC; 55KB)


• Success as a Lone Arranger: Setting Priorities and Getting the Job Done presented by Susan Pevar at the SAA Conference, August 2004. (DOC; 49KB)


• Juggling Time and Hats presented by Alison Stankrauff at the SAA conference, August 2008. (DOC; 38KB)


• Moving Out: Preparation for a Responsible Retirement presented by Russell Gasero at the SAA Conference, August 2009. (DOC; 52KB)


• Split Personalities: A Librarian in the Archive presented by Sara Schmidt at the SAA Conference, August 2009. (DOC; 51KB)

Management - Repository

• Baby Steps presented by Russell Gasero at the SAA Conference, August 2005. This presentation is aimed at all lone arrangers, but especially those in the first three years of their career as a lone arranger. The presentation is broken down into 10 audiotracks for download.


• "Solo Librarian and Small Business Management Literature" compiled by Colleen McFarland. This recommended reading list includes literature about solo librarians and small business management, two topics from which lone arrangers can learn a lot about managing their own repositories.  (DOC; 22KB)


• Aphorisms for the Lone Arranger written by Russell Gasero, and offered as a handout at a session at the SAA Conference, August 2007. (DOC; 28KB)


• From Cockroaches to Cold Storage presented by Christina Zamon at the SAA Conference, August 2007. (DOC; 51KB)


• Engaging Archives Users to Help Manage the Workload presented by Courtney Yevich at the SAA Conference, August 2008. (DOC; 50KB)


• Minimal Processing as Management Strategy Paper and Handout presented by Colleen McFarland at the SAA Conference, August 2008. (DOC; 48KB and 27KB)


• Between Two Worlds: Managing an Archives Between Archivists Paper and Presentation presented by Gregory Kocken at the SAA Conference, August 2009. (DOC; 86KB and PPT; 1.12MB)

Outreach

• National Press Club Archives Brochure created by Christina Zamon. She produced a great outreach and marketing item simply by scanning a few photographs from her collection, using a template in Microsoft Publisher, and printing on high-quality paper on the Archives' printer.  (PDF; 440KB)


• A Peek into the Archives video created by Russell Gasero. The video was made using volunteers from a local church working on their own records with a Digital8 camcorder. Photos were taken with a digital camera using 11X17 inch paper as the background. The video was edited and the DVD burned using Adobe Premier Elements. Russell Gasero will be preparing a workshop on how archivists can do this themselves. For other historical vignettes on various topics, browse the website. For more information contact him at .


• Essential Lifelines for Lone Arrangers: Forming Support Groups presented by Susan Rishworth at the SAA Conference, August 2004. (DOC; 31KB)

Preservation

• "Preserving Your Family Papers" Presentation and Outline developed by Barbara Austen. This presentation covers the basics of preserving papers in the home, including storage, environment, and description.  (PPT; 1.13MB and DOC; 26KB)

Processing

• "'It Changed My Life:' Lessons Learned from Minimal Processing" with accompanying "Middle Way" chart presented by Colleen McFarland at the Midwest Archives Conference Fall Symposium, October 2006.  (DOC; 51KB and 38KB)


• "Archives 101: Arrangement" Outline and Bibliography presented by Barbara Austen at the New England Museum Association meeting in 2006.  (DOC; 25KB and 31KB)

Records Management

• Records Management Basics brochures created by Holly Geist. Lone arrangers are often tasked with records management duties, and these brochures provide a great introduction to records management terms and concepts for those looking to get started.


• "Electronic Records Management at VMFA" developed by Courtney Yevich. All staff members at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (over 200 employees) were required to attend this presentation, offered monthly from February-June 2008.  (PPT; 551KB)


• Records Flowchart (PPT) or (JPG) created by Courtney Yevich. The flowchart was created to help staff members start to understand and reason through retention and disposition decisions at their own desks.  (PPT; 61KB or JPG; 81KB)


• "An Integrated Approach to Electronic Records Management: Knowledge and Skill Set Training at a State Agency" presented by Courtney Yevich at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference Fall Meeting, November 2008.  (DOC; 49KB)

Technology

• Haystack: A Web 2.0 Archival Experience digital library developed by Kelli Bogan at Colby-Sawyer College with the assistance of the IT staff and Casey Bisson (co creator of Scriblio), hired as a consultant. They used Wordpress/customized Scriblio as their backend.


• Maximizing Resources: EAD and MARC in the Small Repository presented by Valerie Gillispie at the SAA Conference, August 2009. (PPT; 5.31MB)

LAR pages maintained by Courtney Yevich,

Last updated: 27 August 2009

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