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RAO NEWS
SAA's Reference, Access and Outreach Section Newsletter
Winter 2001 Issue 3
The RAO newsletter provides information to section members and seeks to be
timely and informative in its content. The newsletter is produced three times
per year with deadlines on the first day of December, March and June.
Minutes from RAO meetings are printed in the newsletter in conjuntion with
the meeting schedule. Officer's names, email address and contact information
regarding the newsletter itself are parts of each issue.
Table of Contents:
RAO NEWSLETTER CONTRIBUTORS
Please submit your brief biographical statements, announcements, and other
news by February 24, 2001 for inclusion in the next issue. To make a submission
contact either the editor or the feature writers. Please submit all materials
in times roman font, size 11. Submit in a Microsoft Word file. Do not underline,
iltalicize, or highlight text.
Ask the Members
Describe your most rewarding Reference, Access or Outreach experience. Your
comments and responses will be printed in the next issue.
RAO Members
by
Ginny Kilander
Reference Archivist
American Heritage Center
Welcome to Member News! Do you ever feel that although there are over 400
RAO members that you don't really know who those members are, where we all
work and what we do? Please tell us about yourself, your job, and your interests!
Are you looking for someone in your state to carpool with you to SAA? Have
a great idea for your facility, but want to talk to someone who has implemented
a similar program? Have you just changed jobs or careers and want to let others
know about it? Submit your entry to this column and share your news!
This issue profiles the new feature editors for RAO News.
Jim Cross is the Manuscripts Archivist for the Special Collections Unit of
the Clemson University Libraries. Prior to this he worked three years as an
Archivist at the Richard B. Russell Library at the University of Georgia. He
received his MA in history and MLS from Case Western Reserve University (in
Cleveland, Ohio) in 1982. In addition to his acquisition, processing and reference
duties, Jim serves as webmaster for the Unit's web site and provides input
to selectors on book purchases in the areas of history, science fiction, and
fantasy. He writes the "Washington Beat" column for the Society of Georgia
Archivists newsletter.
Ginny Kilander is a Reference Archivist at the American Heritage Center, the
archive affiliated with the University of Wyoming. An Indiana native, she moved
to Wyoming to work on her Master's Degree in American Studies, which she earned
in 1998. In addition to various reference duties including teaching, tours,
and classes, Ginny conducts workshops in "Papermaking" and "Marbling Paper
and Fabric" in the Laramie community. She is a board member for the Society
of Rocky Mountain Archivists and the newsletter editor for the Society's quarterly
publication, "The Rocky Mountain Archivist."
Jessica Lacher-Feldman is the Public and Outreach Services Coordinator at
the W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library at the University of Alabama. A
native of New York State, Jessica received her Master's Degree in History and
her MLS from theState University of New York at Albany, in 1998 and 1999 respectively.
She joined the Libraries faculty at the University of Alabama in June of 2000.
In addition to various reference-related responsibilities, Jessica conducts
tours of Special Collections, and creates archival exhibits. She is also involved
with outreach projects within the University of Alabama community and beyond.
She is also the webmaster for the W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library website.
Jessica is on the Executive Board of the American Association for History and
Computing. She serves as the editor of "Rotunda", University of Alabama Libraries
newsletter.
Ellen Swain is the Archivist for Student Life and Culture at the University
of Illinois Archives, Urbana-Champaign, where she is responsible for the Student
Life and Culture Archival Program, a unique program dedicated to documenting
the history of student life and higher education in the United States. In addition
to reference service, her activities include class room instruction; community,
campus, student and alumni presentations; collection development and outreach;
and oral history. Prior to joining the UI Archives staff in September 1999,
she was an assistant archivist at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Archives in Elk Grove Village, IL.
Tanya Zanish-Belcher is the Head of the Special Collections Department at
the Iowa State University Library. She received a B.A. in History from Ohio
Wesleyan University and an M.A. (1990) in Historical and Archival Administration
from Wright State University in Dayton. Prior to moving to Iowa in 1995, she
was a Special Collections Archivist at the Alabama Dept. of Archives and History.
Tanya is a member of the University Speakers' Bureau, teaches the Midwest Archives
Conference (MAC) Reference workshop, and will be teaching "The History of Iowa
State," to ISU's College for Seniors program in 2001
Archives on the Internet: Valuable Resources for
Reference and Professional Inquiries
by Ellen Swain
Student Life and Culture Archivist
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Over the past decade, the Internet has revolutionized the way in which archivists
meet the research needs of their users. The increasing ability of archival
institutions and other historical repositories to maintain web sites with searchable
databases and online finding aids and to share professional expertise and experience
in listserv discussions has resulted in the availability of massive amounts
of research information at the touch of a keyboard. The following paragraphs
highlight four valuable "one stop shopping" sites which provide subject access
to archival material around the world, information concerning archival practice
and theory, and links to archival and other related organizations and listservs.
- Archival
and Historical Web Sites (University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, McIntyre
Library)
- This site provides links to the SAA and Midwest Archives Conference web
sites; the Archives & Archivists listserv Archives; the Library of Congress'
American Memory Project and National Union Catalog of Manuscripts Collections
(NUCMUC) database; the Ad*Access database of over 7,000 U.S. and Canadian
advertisement images, 1911-55; and the National Archives and Records Administration
(NARA) web site. In addition, it provides a link to "Repositories of Primary
Sources on the Web," a searchable web site of over 4300 repositories' web
sites, arranged by geographic region.
- Ready Net
Go!: Archival Internet Resources (Tulane University)
- Included on this site are links to international sources such as the European
Archival Network (EAN), a primary site for searching all European archives
and repositories, and UNESCO Archives Portal, a site which contains links
to specific archives as well as information about international archival
conferences and meetings. A "Tools for Archivists" section includes ready
reference links on copyright, biographical resources, and conservation sources.
Links for NARA Archival Info Locator, NUCMUC RLIN AMC, and United Kingdom,
New Zealand, and Australian databases also are included.
- University
of Texas-Austin SAA Student Chapter "Related Resources" page
- Among other association links, this web site connects to the Academy of
Certified Archivists, ARMA, and the Association of Moving Image Archivists
sites. Also included are links to COOL: Conservation Online and to "Archivists
Primer," a great resource for basic information concerning archival principles,
theory, practice, standards, and resources including a bibliography, acronym
list, glossary, and web resource list.
- North Carolina
State University SAA Chapter web page
- Under its "Links" section, this site provides an extensive list of archival
related listserv addresses and subscription information. Listservs are arranged
by topic including: archives, cataloging, electronic text, history, imaging,
information science, preservation, rare books, records management, and visual
materials. Links to web sites concerning computer resources, copyright issues,
film archives, fund raising, genealogy, government, history, libraries, manuscripts,
music, preservation, and rare books also are included.
Special Projects Report
by
Mimi Dionne
This semester, under the tutelage of Dr. David B. Gracy, II in the School
of Library and Information Science at the University of Texas at Austin, I
designed an Independent Study that focused on marketing archives.
My first assignment was an annotated bibliography on marketing literature.
Next, I wrote a position paper stating my hypothesis: after twenty years of
work that began with the Society of American Archivists' Task Force on Archives
and Society, I would find that most archives implement marketing plans. I distributed
a brief questionnaire to five select lists of archives: government, corporate,
religious, academic, and thematic. I chose a total of one hundred fifty repositories,
statistically configuring the sum total of each type (the statistics are available
upon request).
Not all repositories responded; I supplemented the number by posting the survey
to the Archives listserv. Meanwhile I created a vision of the future merge
between "for-profit" and "not-for-profit" marketing techniques. In the final
stage of the class, the major report consisted of four sections: a brief history
of marketing initiatives by the Society of American Archivists in the past
twenty years, including a summary of the Task Force on Archives and Society;
a composite of survey results; appropriate marketing methods; and a marketing
template applicable to the five categories of archives.
In summary, I find my hypothesis is incorrect. The majority of polled repositories
do not implement a marketing plan. My conclusion supports a stronger emphasis
on business courses in archival graduate programs and more public relations
workshops.
The webpage for the entire project is http://www.geocities.com/withhandsoutreached/index.html
.
Outreach: Archives of Appalachia Outreach Activities
by
Norma Myers
Curator, Archives of Appalachia
East Tennessee State University
myersn@etsu.edu
To tell the story of a region and of a people's life in it requires more than
an accumulation of statistics or a recitation of significant events. It is
the work of archives to collect the pieces--the ideas, recollections, tales,
beliefs, dances, and songs--that will begin to weave the story of a place or
of a nation. Once collected, these pieces of the story must be protected and
preserved, but most of all they must be shared. The value of an archival collection
is in its use. Since opening our doors in 1978, the Archives of Appalachia
at East Tennessee State University has tried to make its collections as accessible
to the public as possible and to find ways of sharing this collected information
beyond the confines of the reading room.
The effort began with a grant from the Tennessee Committee for the Humanities
to support the production of slide-tape presentations about the region for
teachers and community groups. The programs used recordings, documents, and
photographs from the Archives' collections and covered topics such as logging,
coal mining, quilting, building railroads, and the development of country music
in the region. The project staff developed teaching packets with transcripts,
bibliographies, and suggested classroom activities to accompany the programs.
The slide programs are available on loan in video format.
Support from the National Endowment for the Humanities enabled the Archives
to produce master preservation, public use, and loan copies of many audio and
video recordings covering such areas as folklore, music, storytelling, and
oral history interviews. As part of the Center for Appalachian Studies and
Services, the Archives of Appalachia participated in a project to develop a
fourth-grade curriculum package on Appalachian Studies which included the guide
and index to recordings available on loan to teachers using this curriculum.
Repeatedly, the Archives' staff have responded to requests from the medical
school, Catholic and Episcopal Diocese, and public and private schools, to
participate in training programs to introduce professionals expecting to practice
in Appalachia to the issues and stereotypes of the region. The staff of the
Archives developed lectures and presentations featuring photographs and materials
from the Archives in these training programs. Most recently, with support from
the National Academy of the Recording Arts and Sciences, the Archives of Appalachia
and WETS-FM public radio station are producing a one-hour weekly radio series,
From the Archives, which features performances of traditional music drawn from
our collections.
Our hope for the future is that advances in digital technology and communications
will offer the Archives new opportunities to build upon these early efforts
and use new means to reach broader audiences. For more information about the
Archives of Appalachia and our collections and services, you may wish to consult
our web site: http://cass.etsu.edu/archives/
FROM THE CHAIR
by
Mary Cordato
Dear RAO Colleagues:
If you're like many of us, you're looking for effective and innovative ways
to promote your archives. Your intended audience may be scholars, religious
groups, students, general public or staff, among others, or perhaps it is a
combination of these.
Whatever the case, you need to get the word out as to what you have in your
collections and how you can help them. But how can you reach these folks? Should
it be through exhibits? Educational programs? Tours? History awareness days?
The worldwide web? And even if you've identified who it is you want to reach
and how you want to reach them, who will do the work and, yes, that pragmatic
of all questions, who will pay the bill?
Does all of this sound familiar? I bet it does. And if you're like me, you
have found that there is no easy solution to these questions.
Experience has shown, however, that the key is use. Archives are created first
and foremost to provide information to anyone who seeks it for whatever reason
they may have, whether that be work related, legal, fiscal, religious or for
gaining general knowledge about a particular topic.
Archivists need to connect or relate to their researchers. They need to understand
how their collections and services can best serve their researchers' needs,
both individually and collectively, much in the same way that professional
marketers relate to potential consumers concerning the products they are promoting.
Once potential researchers grasp that archives can in fact satisfy a human
need or curiosity, they will be more apt to support the use of archival collections.
And with increased use comes the possibility for justifying additional funding,
both external or internal.
I was heartened by the increase in potential SAA sessions this year that asked
for RAO's backing. The sessions focused mainly on how archivists can best serve
the needs of researchers, whether they be staff or outside users, how they
can understand what it is researchers need to know and why they need to have
this information.
The focus seemed to be on under-standing the potential audience, and panelists
offered proactive sug-gestions for meeting their demands. RAO needs to continue
to address the issues of connecting to an audience and the fact that main-taining
and understanding the human element is critical for the existence of archives.
I encourage anyone who has had experience in this area to share it with fellow
RAO members, whether it be in the form of a newsletter article, putting together
a session for SAA or including it on our agenda for RAO's annual meeting in
D.C. in August. And if you have any comments or suggestions you would like
to share, please feel free to contact me or any of the other RAO officers.
Thank-you and best wishes for a very happy 2001.
Mary Cordoto, RAO CHAIR
Website Review
by
Jessica Lacher-Feldman
Welcome to the new WEBSITE REVIEW column!
There are many websites which we use often both in our own work and when working
with our patrons. While patrons often come to Special Collections to use materials
that are unique to our collection, there are materials available on the web
that not only provide them with critical background information, but make their
research, as well as our jobs much easier.
At the RAO meeting in Denver, there was discussion of creating a "top ten" of
reference sites on the web. This column will do that, and hopefully much more.
Please send me the websites that you find helpful and would like to share with
others, and include how they have been helpful to you. These sites will be
included in my RAO Website Review column and I would also like to find a place
for them on a new RAO section website. Please email me at: jlfeldma@bama.ua.edu.
- http://alabamamaps.ua.edu/
- Alabama Maps is the website from the University of Alabama's Cartographic
Research Laboratory. This is not an intentional plug for my new home, but
the first site that came to mind when thinking about what I have used the
most to help patrons with their research. I find myself using this website
again and again and leading people to it as well, all with very positive
results. There is information here that would be helpful to many, and not
just those doing research related to Alabama. Because I am very new to Alabama
and to the South, I am still learning my Alabama geography. I use this site
often to get my bearings when helping a patron. Many of the patrons at the
Hoole Special Collections Library, from a genealogist looking for a family
cemetery, a student with a research project, an engineer doing land surveys,
or a visiting researcher, have all found useful information on this site
that has helped their further their research at Hoole. Under the heading
of Alabama Maps (Historical), there are maps that indicate the shift and
addition of the counties in Alabama. There are also maps that indicate demographics,
locate plantations, and indicate when each county was founded. These maps
are available as .JPGs and as .PDF files. The .PDFs allow me to easily print
out a clear color map on a single page for a patron. This continually growing
site also has world maps, U.S. regional maps, U.S. political maps (useful
in these trying times), as well a valuable list of additional cartographic
and related resources online which are valuable tools to most anyone.
Please send me the websites that you find helpful and would like to share
with others, and include how they have been helpful to you.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
by
Jim Cross
- Jan 12
- Deadline for NEH Division of Public Programs grants ("Projects in Museums
and Historical Organizations, planning/implementation;" "Projects in Libraries
and Archives, planning/implementation;" and "Special Projects") for Alabama,
Alaska, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota,
Ohio, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. Program descriptions,
guidelines, and applications are online at http://www.neh.gov/grants/extending.html.
NEH contacts are Karen Mittleman;
202-606-8631) and Fred Winter; 202-606-8287).
- Jan 15
- Deadline for submissions of guides, inventories, and other finding aids
completed and available to the public in the 1997 calendar year to the MARAC
Finding Aids Award Committee. Web pages and other electronic formats will
be accepted provided that the Committee has the appropriate software to view
the submission. Send two copies of each submission to Chair.
- Jan 28-30
- Special Libraries Association Winter Education Conference; Savannah, Georgia.
Theme of meeting and sessions is "Powerful Client Service: Creating Indispensable
Partnerships."
- Jan 28 - Feb 2
- "Libraries, Museums and Archives: a collaborative venture in the digital
age:" London. Will address issues relating to how libraries, archives and
museums should share their future responsibility as memory organizations
from a public service perspective. Contact: International Networking Events,
The British Council, 1 Beaumont Place, Oxford OX1 2PJ, U.K. Tel: +44 (0)1865
316636; Fax: +44 (0)1865 557368. network.events@britishcouncil.org, www.britishcouncil.org/networkevents
- Feb 27 - March 3
- Visual Resources Association 19th Annual conference; Chicago. Among the
offerings at the conference are a session on copyright compliance for visual
resources and a workshop on reference for visual resources professionals.
- April 3-4
- "Beyond 2001: Managing Information in Science and Technology," ARMA International
ISG Mid-Year Seminar; Emory University, Atlanta, GA. Planned sessions include
those on providing access to research and health data.
- April 16
- Deadline for NEH "Extending the Reach" public program consultation grants
for Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nevada,
North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming.
Program descriptions, guidelines, and applications are online at http://www.neh.gov/grants/extending.html.
NEH contacts are Karen Mittelman (kmittelman@neh.gov; 202-606-8631) and Fred
Winter (fwinter@neh.gov; 202-606-8287).
- May 5-6
- New England Archivists; Hanover, New Hampshire. Theme is "Archives and
the Arts:" planned sessions include those on non-traditional uses of archives,
newsfilm (including reference and access), and exhibits.
RAO Steering Committee, 2000-2001
Mary Cordato, Chair
Director of the Library & Archives, American Bible Society
mcordato@americanbible.org
Katherine Burger Johnson
Associate Archivist, University Archives and Records Center
Archivist/Curator Kornhauser Health Sciences Library
University of Louisville, Louisville, Ky.
Kbjohnson@louisville.edu
David Farrell, Curator
Bancroft Library, History of Science and Technology
Dfarrell@library.berkeley.edu
Antonia Mattheou, Huntington Town Archivist
Huntington, New York
Amattheou@town.huntington.ny.us
Anne A. Salter, Head, Archives and Special Collections
Georgia Institute of Technology
anne.salter@library.gatech.edu
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