Brabant Historical Information Center Leverages Social Media and Crowdsourcing

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Christian van der Ven, archivist of the Brabant Historical Information Center, addressed a captive audience during a presentation in Second Life as part of the Archivists of SL March 6th Meeting.  He described how the Center, a large regional archives in the southern part of the Netherlands, uses social media to enhance its image and reach out to patrons.  Christian had many ideas to share with those wondering how to use social media to benefit their own organizations. Christian's page: http://archives20.ning.com/profile/ChristianvanderVen   View the slides at http://www.digitalearchivaris.nl/

The Future of Archives and Recordkeeping: a reader (and a review)

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It's been a while since I posted. Time goes by quickly when you're having fun!!  Currently I'm nearing the end of a 'reader' edited by Jennie Hill that I hope we'll use as one of the required readings in the MARA (Master of Archives & Records Administration) program.   The Future of Archives and Recordkeeping was published by Facet Publishing in 2011 (available through Neal-Schuman and AMAZON here in the states).  The opening chapter written by Jennie HIll and Victoria Lane sets the stage for the remaining 10 chapters which deal with defining archives, shaping a discipline, archive 2.0 - archives in society, and archives in the information age. This last section asks the question, "Is there still a role for the archivist?"  And, of course, the answer is yes!  But exactly what that role should be is the question.  Chapter 9 by Adrian Cunningham on the 'postcustodial archive' gives us a clue.  Archivists will continue to accept, protect, and make available objects within physical spaces, but they will also be responsible for managing digital artifacts in both centralized and distributed environments. Although I did not intend to turn this into a recommendation, I do highly recommend that you read this book if you are a serious student of archival studies and wish to understand how some of the archival scholars view the role of the archivist now and into the future. (ISBN: 1-85604-666-4)

Digital Curation : One more career option

Tweet Archives and records management programs are designed to prepare students for positions in - what else? - archives and records management. But the skills and knowledge gained are transferable to other professions, such as Digital Curation.

The following definitions can be found on the Digitization 101: Digital Curation blog:
Digital Curation (definition)

Digital curation, broadly interpreted, is about maintaining and adding value to a trusted body of digital information for current and future use. (DCC)

The term digital curation is...the actions needed to maintain digital research data and other digital materials over their entire life-cycle and over time for current and future generations of users. (DCC)

... it is the active management and appraisal of digital information over its entire life cycle. (Pennock)

Archivists and records managers are also required to master the art of storing, managing and protecting digital data  And in the US, the Records Management Lifecycle is a familar model used to describe records from their creation through disposition, including preservation.

Upon graduation you may find you not only are prepared for but might even be eager to pursue a career in digital curation.

To learn more, visit the following sites:

    * Digitization 101
    * Digital Curation Center
    * DigCCurr (Digital Curation Ph.D. Fellowship)

There are many options available to graduates of MLIS and MARA programs.  You may or may not pursue a career in digitial curation, but you can be ready for it.  So, for now, keep it on your list of career possibilities.

ConvergingViewpoints

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Tuesday evening, February 1, Geof Huth, Director of Government Records Services for the New York State Archives spoke on the topic of "What My Career Has Taught Me" as part of our MARA Guest Lecture Series at SJSU.  The stories he shared wtih SLIS students and their comments to me afterward are the inspiration for the title of this Blog, "ConvergingViewpoints."

As program coordinator for the Master's of Archives and Records Administration (MARA) degree offered through the School of Library & Information Science at SLIS, I was pleased when one of the students who had participated in the seminar shared this quote by Mr. Huth:

Geof Huth, Director
Governmenet Records Services
New York State Archives

The European archival tradition does not have the split between archives and records management that the American tradition does.  When you get right down to it, it's all about about managing records. Some you manage for a short time, some you manage for a longer time, others you manage permanently. But it's all about records.

 

 The MARA program was created with just such a philosophy in mind, it's all about the "records."  And records, by definition, can take a variety of forms. The full definition of a Federal record as presented in the Federal Records Act is:

"...all books, papers, maps, photographs, machine-readable materials, or other documentary materials, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by an agency of the U.S. Government under Federal law or in connection with the transaction of public business and preserved or appropriate for preservation by that agency or its legitimate successor as evidence of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, or other activities of the Government or because of the informational value of the data in them." (44 U.S.C. 3301, Definition of Records)

 A similar definition is applicable, of course, to non-federal government records as well. And those records can be found in physical form in offices, records centers, special collections, archives, and museums.  They can, increasingly, be found online in digital format regardless of the physical location (if any) of the 'recordkeeper.' More than ever before, we all are involved in the creation, management, and disposition of records.  Challenges such as organization, description, discovery, and preservation face each one of us regardless of where we are employed.  And, if personal digital treasures are to be discovered in the future, even those of us who are not professional 'recordkeepers' must take an active role in appraising and preserving our digital creations. 


I'd be very interested to learn your views on the similarities and differences of various careers available related to 'recordkeeping.'  Feel free, also, to share information related to any of the issues affecting all of us, and I'll be sure to do the same.