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Electronic records are ubiquitous in repositories that collect manuscripts and archives. Today the archivist is confronted with managing electronic records from myriad sources: legacy media, cloud-based storage, active computers systems, social media, websites, etc. Each accession to the repository both challenges and questions how we acquire, preserve, and most importantly, how we provide access to archival records. The development of a number of innovative tools and projects has helped address these challenges over the past several years, e.g., BitCurator, ePADD, Archivematica. In using these tools, the archivist still needs to apply archival principles to effectively manage electronic records. As vice chair of the Electronic Record Section, I hope that I can facilitate how archivists, record managers and curators tasked with managing electronic records communicate and share the knowledge they create about the strategies and workflows we use to implement and utilize tools both internally and to ERS's partner sections and roundtables.
Donald Mennerich is Digital Archivist at NYU Libraries, where he is tasked with developing and implementing the workflows to manage born-digital archives. Donald is currently an instructor in NYU’s Public History and Archives program where he teaches a course on digital archives. He is a member of the BitCurator Access advisory board and the BitCurator software development committee. Donald holds an MS in Information Systems from Pace University and an MS in Library and Information Science from Simmons College.
While no (wise) archivist should operate in total isolation from the counsel of his or her peers, my appreciation for the importance of a diverse and generous professional network of colleagues has grown exponentially since assuming my new role as Digital Archivist in January 2016. No amount of reading, training, or practice can mitigate one’s inherent desire for a “gut check” moment when on the cusp of operationalizing a new system, documenting new or existing electronic records workflows, or running a post-mortem on a failed project. For those tasked with managing born-digital materials, these gut checks may, more often than not, have to come from individuals outside the walls of one’s own institution. I have found inspiration and commiseration in the work of the Electronic Records Section and its members – through the Section’s phenomenal blog (bloggERS), during the Annual Meeting, on the listserv, and in the casual conversations, comments sections, and connections that develop out of these more formal venues – and am excited by the prospect of facilitating these connections as a member of the ERS Steering Committee.
Lora J. Davis is the Digital Archivist at Johns Hopkins University, where she leads the continuing development of JHU’s digital archives program, establishes and implements procedures for the management of born-digital university records and manuscript materials, and oversees the University Archives’ electronic records management operations. Lora previously served as Secretary of the inaugural SAA Students and New Archives Professionals (SNAP) Roundtable Steering Committee in 2012, and was the 2011 recipient of SAA’s Theodore Calvin Pease Award. She received her MLIS from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and MA in the history of industrialization and technology from the University of Delaware's Hagley Graduate Program. Lora was previously Collections Archivist in the Colgate University Libraries and Library Analyst at the University of Delaware Special Collections.
I want managing digital archival materials to be easier for archivists, but not only that. I want us to believe that it’s easier than we fear. Three years ago, my institution began an initiative to improve our tools and workflows for managing born digital materials. It was helpful for us to think of the born digital problem first from an archival perspective. Rather than looking to technologists for solutions, we saw that we could use our existing knowledge and practice to define the scope and goals of our work. There were several invaluable resources, like OCLC’s “Demystifying Born Digital” reports and Meg Phillips’s LC blog post on “MPLP for Born Digital,” that informed our decisions. Additional resources have since surfaced, like the bloggERS series on processing and access, as well as the Digital POWRR workshops. But, there’s still something missing: Documentation. This is what I really wish had been more widely available three years ago, and more widely available today, as we continue to refine our existing workflows and develop new ones. Documentation is where we find the details about implementing the ideas we read about in the “Demystifying” reports. Those of us with established or burgeoning digital archives programs have documentation, and sharing it would be one way we could support each other with our decision making and implementation processes. I’d not only like to see more of us making our documentation available online, I’d like to see an online registry of our documentation, similar to the Collection Management Tools Roundtable Documentation Portal. I think this is something the Electronics Records Section could build, and as a Steering Committee member I would work to support such an initiative.
Brian is the Digital Program Librarian for Special Collections at NCSU Libraries. He oversees all aspects of managing archival digital assets for the Libraries. His work includes planning for the management and sustainability of digitized and born digital projects and resources. From 2013-2015, Brian led a two-year initiative to develop tools and workflows for managing the Libraries’ born digital archival collections, and he is currently leading an initiative to establish a web and email archiving program. Brian has served as Principal Investigator or co-Principal Investigator on projects representing over $525,000 in external funding, including the recent project “New Voices and Fresh Perspectives,” which resulted in the development of a social media archiving toolkit (https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/social-media-archives-toolkit) and the Social Media Combine collecting environment (https://github.com/NCSU-Libraries/Social-Media-Combine).
Documentation on workflows, as well as changes made to local practices associated with electronic records management, continues to play a marginal role in the archives profession. This sentiment was expressed at the Society of American Archivists Conference (2015), as well the iPRES International Conference on Digital Preservation (2015). New processes associated with electronic records can sometimes be seen as challenging, but an abundance of documentation about local practices and decision-making processes can often serve as a remedy for such situations. Thus, I would like to serve on the ERS to encourage more documentation and (valuable) interaction about local practices and workflows across different institution-types. Furthermore, as an electronic records enthusiast, I aim to bring a new perspective to the group – one that is familiar to small, local repositories. My background is working with digital collections in museum and public library settings, and I would be thrilled to dedicate my energy and positive attitude to the ERS.
Blake Graham is one of three archivists at Douglas County Public Libraries in Douglas County, Colorado. Blake has worked in this position for three years, and focuses on advocacy, digital collections, and improving the usability of special collections for all communities of users. He holds an MLIS in information technology from the University Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and an MA in History from the University of South Alabama. Blake is an active member of SAA and Society of Rocky Mountain Archivists (SRMA), and welcomes any conversation about collections management or digital preservation.
Although my background (and job description) is in records management, I have a special interest in the potential of electronic records, both to help us provide new and better access to researchers and to confound us in the digital curation work that gets us to that point. Since I started actively working with born-digital records, resources for archivists new to e-records have trended towards the practical and collaborative, but there is still work to be done to bring e-records into archivists' comfort zone. As a member of the steering committee, I would look to continue the great work the ERS has done in facilitating conversations about workflows, tools, strategies, and outreach, and in exploring new directions for working with electronic records on its blog, social media, and elsewhere. Just as electronic records should be managed at all stages of their lifecycles, the ERS has the opportunity to help archivists at all skill levels improve their work with born-digital records. I am excited to have the chance to further that opportunity as a potential steering committee member.
Brad Houston is the University Records Archivist at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he coordinates records management activity and helps set records policy for over 200 campus units. Since 2010, he has led workflow development for and management of electronic records for the UWM Libraries, Archives Department, and has led the implementation of UWM's Web Archiving program since 2012. Brad was chair of the Records Management Roundtable from 2011-2014 and is a member of SAA's education committee. He received a BA in History from Grinnell College in 2004 and a MA in European History/MLS in Archives and Records Management from the University of Maryland-College Park in 2007.
Over the past couple of years, I have been incredibly impressed by—and incredibly appreciative of—the work that the Electronic Records Section in particular has done in advancing the conversation around arrangement, description, and access in relation to born-digital materials. While conversations about acquisition and preservation are crucial and ongoing, it is only relatively recently that the focus has shifted to include questions of discovery and access. I see the ERS as playing a critical role in driving those conversations and in providing a forum in which to develop and share practical experience, resources, and ideas. Should I be elected as a member of the ERS Steering Committee, I would love to play a role in shaping both how ERS can continue to support work with digital objects and how it can best address some of the challenges facing practitioners working in this dynamic and fast-growing field.
Dorothy Waugh is Digital Archivist at the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library at Emory University where she is responsible for the acquisition and management of the Rose Library’s born-digital collections. Recent research interests have included questions around how tools and methods from the digital humanities might provide valuable access points to born-digital archival material, and how we can better advocate for our born-digital collections amongst our donors, researchers, and colleagues. Dorothy joined the Rose Library in 2012, after having received her MLS from Indiana University and her MA in English Literature from the Ohio State University.
Managing electronic records isn’t a problem to be solved; it’s a field that will continue to be incrementally improved by a robust, open, and interconnected community of archivists and other information professionals. I’ve been continually impressed by the skills and knowledge of the growing group of archivists who are pushing the profession forward. While we all feel we the need to acquire more skills, the digital records landscape is so broad that we don’t have to be experts in everything. What’s more important is that we find spaces to communicate and share knowledge and techniques to make unique information accessible both now and in the future. I’d like to serve on the steering committee to help foster an open and inclusive forum to connect us together in collective pursuit of the awesome challenges we get to face every day.
Gregory Wiedeman is the University Archivist for the M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections & Archives at the University at Albany, SUNY. His main focus is collecting and managing the 17,000-student university’s permanent records, which includes the establishment of a born-digital records collection program. Additionally, he runs the library’s web archiving program and manages born-digital records for the department’s outside collecting areas. He holds an MSIS and an MA in History, both from the University at Albany, SUNY. Previously, he worked as a Project Archivist with the National Death Penalty Archive and at the Marist College Archives & Special Collections. Sometimes he reinvents wheels.
