This past week, I had a refreshing break from routine at my internship. It's not that I haven't enjoyed processing Claxon mss. and Claxon mss. II, but like anyone else, sometimes my mind needs to switch tasks and priorities in order to function at an optimum level (or somewhere thereabouts). A day-long shift shadowing Dave Frasier in the Lilly's reference department on Tuesday was a great way to catapult me into another dimension of library and archive work.
I must preface in saying that Dave is quite the character. Sometimes it's hard for me to tell when he's joking or being serious, but I like to think that I got a lot better at that during our day together--and in answer, Dave is probably more often joking, but at the same time often insightful as to his job and the role of reference within the library's relationship with researchers. His professional track record includes a number of years in technical services at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction, in reference at IU's main Herman B Wells library, and... well, I feel like there was another step or two along the way, but my memory fails me. In any case, Dave has been doing reference at the Lilly for several years now; he is primarily in charge of email reference requests. I find it quite interesting that his background is not entirely in rare books and special collections. He approaches the position and the act of reference from a holistically informed perspective that I think makes him more effective in doing his present line of work. The Lilly does not exist in a vacuum, and though the interests and questions brought by researchers are largely different than those of other libraries, in the end all reference work is about connecting people to information. People approach information seeking and access as a response to their own experience and knowledge of information systems.
The only thing that Dave pointed out which really puts him at a disadvantage is pure time and experience with the Lilly's collections. Becky Cape, head of the reference department and an employee at the Lilly for over thirty years, is a walking, talking treasure trove of reference wisdom. It makes perfect sense to me that one working in reference, especially at a rare book library or archive, gets much better with age. Because of the unique quality of materials, vast quantity of minimally described archival holdings, and cataloging/descriptive practices which change over the course of time and employees, it takes time to know what materials are available and where they may be found.
Anyhow, as for my own day's experiences... we began with a brief introduction to what Dave's position entails, including the basics of email reference; I also had (another) tour of the Lilly, this time with more focus on the types of materials housed on each floor. My favorites were definitely the items in the cookbook collection, one of the most popular collections of items in the library. As an amateur cookbook collector with an interest in culinary history myself, I could have spent the whole day pouring over that aisle. Maybe someday!
Another thing I learned was that reference is an ever-changing, mobile job. While processing involves lifting a few boxes now and then, shifting folders, and getting a great wrist workout when labeling folders, working in reference is a whole new kind of active. I really liked this aspect of the job, and I hope that someday I find myself in a position which allows me to do both processing and reference. I soundly believe that variety, among other things, leads to job satisfaction. Dave and I paged a few items for patrons in the reading room, researched and answered an email reference question or two, and talked about copyright issues. The most interesting question came from a researcher interested in a specific item in the Fleming mss.--papers of the man behind the James Bond novels. Apparently there are very strict copyright issues surrounding most of Fleming mss., but the specific item of interest is even more "off limits," as the Iranian Oil Company holds the rights to it (I hope I remembered that correctly; please don't take that statement as definitive fact). Researchers are allowed to use these items in the Lilly's reading room, but they may not be used in publications. We talked about how to discuss the issue with researchers. Basically, the library is responsible for informing researchers about copyright restrictions, may pass on information about who researchers should contact for rights inquiries on specific items/collections, but the researcher is liable for any publication of protected materials.
All in all, my day in reference was great. I still surely enjoy processing, but it is incredibly helpful to consider who users and libraries will go about accessing processed collections through the arrangement and description that processors such as myself create. Switching perspective is essential in retaining a realistic understanding of how one library or archive component affects and interacts with others.
On Thursday, I spent the day back on the Manuscripts processing floor working on my new collection: Mystery Writers of America mss.! I am quite excited about this new line of duty. The Mystery Writers of America, Inc. is the leading association for professional crime writers in the United States, which has been in existence since 1945. The collection includes about 25 boxes (not all of them full) of ... to quote from the Lilly's current description: "Correspondence, files, papers, ledgers, minutes, financial reports, photographs, documentation of the Edgar® Award Dinners, membership directories, newsletters, press releases, and manuscript materials of the Mystery Writers of America, Inc." Call me crazy, but I think institutional records are quite interesting, so I look forward to learning more about the contents of the collection and the Mystery Writers of America, Inc. itself. I spent the day on Thursday checking the physical items against an inventory created for the collection previously. A portion of the collection is arranged into rough series, but another portion is a bit haphazard and will require more consideration. From my analysis thus far, I think even the semi-arranged portion needs some reassessment. It's something I look forward to! My next step will include considering series arrangement and discussing my thoughts with Craig.
Next week, including working on the Mystery Writers of America mss., I'll spend all or part of the day on Tuesday out at the ALF Preservation lab! I'm not exactly sure what this will entail, but as always, I expect it will be interesting, informative, and insightful as to the priorities and duties of an archivist.
One more note: Next weekend is the Society of American Archivists Student Chapter Graduate Conference, which I am co-organizing! I may go slightly crazy over the course of the next seven days, but I think that this too is adding a great component to my experiences in the field. Perhaps I will learn something that I can bring back to my internship as well. Oh, the possibilities.
All the best,
Amy
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Article Abstracts - Privacy Issues and Archives, two articles by Sara S. Hodson
Last weekend, I was being overly cautious about posting photographs of items in the Claxon mss. II collection in my blog. I spoke to Cherry Williams, Curator of Manuscripts at the Lilly Library, about this, and she confidently told me that it was not a problem. So long as I attribute the photograph as “courtesy of the Lilly Library,” I should be compliant with legal guidelines. Still, I am glad that I did not take the matter lightly. I think that all too often, issues of privacy, copyright, and legal restrictions are not fully understood or explored by archivists or users of archival materials. These are complex issues with the potential to affect a wide array of people on various levels—financially, professionally, personally, etc.
Work in an archives encompasses a broad disciplinary sphere which, I fear, reaches well beyond the scope of standard academic training in a Library Science master’s degree program. Surely I would be a better archivist if I could take some supplementary courses on privacy and copyright through IU’s Law School curriculum; accounting, finance, and marketing courses through the School of Business; advanced technology coursework in the SLIS Master of Information Science curriculum or the School of Informatics; as well as topical history courses. Unfortunately, my budget can only stretch so far, and I would rather not be in graduate school for a full decade! Keeping up with archival literature and independently exploring relevant issues will have to suffice. On that note, I decided to read two articles by Sara S. Hodson related to Privacy issues in archives. (Thanks to Cherry for tipping me off on these!)
From my current perspective, privacy issues diverge from copyright issues in that they are less objective and exist as a “gray area” in terms of archival management, however they increasingly emerge in the profession due to technological innovation and the rapidly expanding accessibility of archival documents and/or related information online. A great compendium of sources to reference on this matter is available at http://www.archivists.org/saagroups/privacy/pcbiblio.asp—a selected bibliography on Privacy compiled by Sarah S. Hodson, author of the articles I chose to examine at present myself.
The articles I read include:
Hodson, Sara S. "In Secret Kept, In Silence Sealed: Privacy in the Papers of Authors and Celebrities," American Archivist, vol 67 (2004)
Hodson, Sara S. "Archives on the Web: Unlocking Collections While Safeguarding Privacy." First Monday, 11.8 (August 7 2006).
Note: The first article was not in the above-mentioned bibliography, but I read it instead of Hodson's 1991 article on privacy and personal papers. Admittedly, I did this because I could not access an electronic version of the 1991 article from the comfort of my apartment, nor could I find a journal in an IU library with circulating collections. The perils of being spoiled by the Internet. In any case, from what I gather, the two have similar content though "In Secret Kept..." contains more specifically tailored examples.
After reading both articles, my overall opinion is that both are quite similar though specified toward slightly different angles. "In Secret Kept..." refers largely to paper-based materials and confronts privacy generally as well as specific issues common when dealing with the personal papers of authors or celebrities (i.e. people of popular interest). "Archives on the Web..." quite obviously deals with privacy issues confronted when making materials and/or finding aids available to a wider audience via the Internet. However, the two share extremely similar beginnings grounded in the history of legal privacy issues.
It came as a slight surprise to me to learn that the commonly referenced American "right to privacy" first appeared not in the writings of our founding fathers, but in a 1890 issue of Harvard Law Review, where it was defined as "the right to be let alone." From there, the definition of privacy has henceforth evolved, however there is no singular, authoritative legal statute which governs all realms of what constitutes privacy ethics. Though the ideals behind privacy are similar in paper and Internet-based faces of archives, the two definitely face distinctly different issues and challenges.
In "In Kept Secret..." Hodson addresses privacy issues as they exist in relation to the papers of individuals--both deceased and those still living--who are of popular public and/or scholastic focus. She identifies several significant concepts to consider, all with lend to complicating privacy issues First off, authors and celebrities are "high profile" individuals whose papers will receive more concentrated attention and thus run a higher risk of running into privacy issues; private information will be of more interest to a wider audience because of high profile status. Additionally, these papers more often contain personal discussion of sensitive matters (both of the donor and third parties--people with whom donors corresponded who had no say in whether or not their writings were made publicly available), whereas with most "historical collections," collection content deals with unknown people's experience with or accounts of significant historical events. I am not sure that I fully understand what Hudson means by this, and for the time being, I think we may be in disagreement. Though the writings of "unknown people" may not be of wide interest to a broad archival user base, they certainly often contain personal information. There is no black and white status between merely significant papers of celebrities and those related generally to historical events. Plenty of personal paper collections exist which highlight the achievements and lives of lesser-known individuals. Though scholars may not be scrambling to tell their stories, they still certainly may have stories to be told which contain potentially sensitive personal details.
With authors and celebrities, copyright can also be intertwined in privacy issues. This fact I certainly can't argue and don't know that I fully understand the specifications of rights and use by researchers accessing archival papers. I assume that copyright is mainly wrapped up in the subsequent publication of information contained within archives and not the mere reading thereof. Lastly, papers are increasingly collected from authors and celebrities during their lifetimes. Though this is in one sense wise, since any documents which are accessioned in an archive are saved from any possible intentional or unintentional destruction or disarray, it proves difficult in terms of privacy. Many live donors may want to institute complicated access restrictions and delays, which are frustrating to archivists and potential users. What is the point of having a collection if it isn't used? The easy answer is that it will be used eventually, thus there is certainly a point in saving it for lucky curious scholars down the road.
The article discusses various ways that repositories, including Hodson's own Huntington Library, have dealt with major privacy issues in the past, which serve as precedents and guides for future decisions. Hodson does not offer definitive right and wrong solutions, but she thoroughly addresses possibilities, choices, and both positive and negative repercussions. One issue addressed is that of restriction levels. Repositories have the choice to heavy or light restrictions on materials, either in total or selectively. Arguments can be made for all options, and everything must really be dealt with on a case by case basis. Every collection is unique, and blanket policies don't necessarily reflect the particularities and needs each collection. Legally speaking, it is safest to either restrict all or nothing, leaving it up to the researcher to decide what information is appropriate to publish and disseminate. Living donors and family members may be helpful in assessing what potentially sensitive material should be restricted, thus they may help in deciding upon terms of restriction. However, this is a "double edged sword" so to speak, as over-involvement and sensitivities may lead to prejudice and/or over-censorship of collection contents.
Hodson suggestions:
“Archivists must take care to seal manuscript material only with the utmost caution, rigorously and objectively analyzing the situation without imposing personal beliefs or values. . . In a previous article on privacy, I recommended that archivists should become as knowledgeable as possible about the moral and social milieu of the individuals represented in the collection, and attempt to deal with sensitive materials based on this knowledge.” Pg 200
Though I think these suggestions are wise, I am not sure how feasible they will come to be given constraints of time, money, and other resources which bind many archivists in an increasingly MPLP-driven world ("More Produce Less Process") where funds fall short and responsibilities continue to build. Doing as much as one can to understand the contents and particularities of a collection, looking to historical cases for guidance, consensus with one's institutional policies and ethics, combined with professional discussion provide perhaps the best resource in terms of addressing issues in regards to personal papers of authors and celebrities.
In Hodson's other article, "Archives on the Web...," the author treats the uniquely contemporary problem of how to deal with privacy issues when the Internet is involved in archival description and content access. Web access and privacy represent uncharted territory for modern day archivists. To borrow from an analogy which has surely been used before, this is our “frontier”; what the West was to Louis and Clark, the interconnected web of electronic information is to contemporary (wo)man. Privacy rights and violations in the digital realm are actively being determined by individuals, groups, and institutions; no outside body or force can define what definitively constitutes privacy violation, however we can categorize the ways by which privacy may potentially be violated. To quote from another quote pulled by Hodson from Heather MacNeil's book Without Consent: The Ethics of Disclosing Personal Information in Public Archives,
“Legal scholar William Prosser has gone further, identifying four ways in which the invasion of privacy can occur: intrusion upon the individual’s seclusion or solitude, or into his or her private affairs; public disclosure of embarrassing or private facts about the individual; publicity that places the individual in a false light in the public eye; and, appropriation, for another person’s advantage, of the individual’s name or likeness.” All potential manners of privacy invasion are an increasing threat given the proliferation of data collection in so many facets of life, from online public records, to the local grocer's club card, Internet site traffic, and beyond. Archives, businesses, public organizations, and individuals alike will continue to face issues of Internet privacy at an increasing pace should the ubiquitous nature of personal information subsist in the digital domain. To analyze the best manner by which an archivist should confront privacy issues in the online environment, Hodson goes back to basics rather than theorize anew. Privacy is a concept which remains constant though the details surrounding information collection, dissemination, and access change.
Hodson first cites the Society of American Archivists Code of Ethics in regards to both privacy and access. In doing so, she stumbles upon the paradigm which has long afflicted the profession: how can archives protect privacy rights of donors by maintaining confidentiality and protecting sensitive personal information in accordance with security procedures of each institution while also providing open and equal access to archival services and records without discrimination or preferential treatment, and doing so in "accordance with legal requirements, cultural sensitivities, and institutional policies"? Certainly these statements represent the ideal. Theoretically speaking and devoid of real world context--problems, particularities, subjectivities, competing interests--it is simple to outline ethical guidelines, but it is rarely so easy in practice. Archivists must use rational personal judgment backed by archival training and values as well as institutional culture and goals to find an appropriate balance between rights to privacy and access.
A large part of Hodson's discussion is applicable to paper-based records as well. Common sense dictates that if materials would be restricted on paper, they should certainly be restricted online. These include legally protected documents (e.g. medical records, many student records, etc.), materials with relative currency that may affect the lives of living donors or third parties present within collections (largely correspondence and private writings such as diaries), sensitive files of public officials, and other collections or parts of collections which may lead to invasion of privacy issues. Levels of restriction must also be considered. The "all or nothing" approach--restricting all records of a certain type or collection for a certain period of time or restricting no records at all, which makes the researcher responsible for repercussions of how information is used--provides perhaps the best results legally, however it is also likely frustrating and in some cases senseless. Selective restrictions are more complicated, require more time and energy, and make the repository legally responsible and accountable for such decisions.
These potential issues must be considered in general as well as in the specific context of the Internet. A much wider audience may potentially access information launched online, which in and of itself makes many people uneasy. I listened to an interesting presentation on this very topic at the Society of American Archivists IU Student Chapter Conference in March 2010. The presenter talked about an issue with which the Archives at Iowa State University dealt in regards to digitized photographs compiled in an online exhibit. A woman contacted the archives and demanded that a picture in which she appeared (as a third party) and was identified be removed from the website. The photograph was not inappropriate in the traditionally accepted sense nor did the Archives deem the general subjects of the photograph collection to be at all sensitive in nature. However, the mere fact that the photograph and related descriptive metadata were online and openly available for anyone to access made the woman object. She was perfectly comfortable that these materials remain physically available to users, but the "uncharted territory" of the Internet represented a dangerous realm of unknown use and access. After much debate, the Archives ended up removing the "objectionable" photographs because of these complaints. Comfort levels with information available online may rise as the Internet continues to infiltrate more facets of everyday life, though it is important to consider multifarious perspectives on comfort in exposure and privacy.
Aside from fully digitized materials, archivists must also consider various levels of description. Finding aids or even mere catalog records can be precarious when the materials of living individuals are involved. More thorough description invites even more problems. One must consider both what is described and what is deliberately left out. Is it better to make the presence of restricted materials known or leave them out of collection descriptions all together, which creates a false impression of total collection contents? In what has become the theme of this article and my reactions, the answer is: there is no definitive answer. From my own analysis, I believe that ethics are rarely black and white in terms of archival privacy and use. An archivist's best bet is to analyze ethical considerations, inform decisions by theoretical guidelines accepted broadly by the profession (such as the SAA Code of Ethics), and make decisions based on individual as well as institutional policies, judgment and general comfort levels.
Though this issue remains a bit confusing to me, I feel that the information Hodson provides in her articles in reference to the history of privacy issues in archives, various levels of and reasons for sensitivity, strategies to make informed decisions, and examples regarding how specific privacy concerns have been handled by repositories in the past give me a solid frame of reference which will prepare me to confront privacy issues from an informed perspective in the future.
[Phew! That was a long one... apologies for typos. It's getting late, and I don't have the energy to proofread. I like to think that's at least marginally acceptable in the blog world.]
Amy
Work in an archives encompasses a broad disciplinary sphere which, I fear, reaches well beyond the scope of standard academic training in a Library Science master’s degree program. Surely I would be a better archivist if I could take some supplementary courses on privacy and copyright through IU’s Law School curriculum; accounting, finance, and marketing courses through the School of Business; advanced technology coursework in the SLIS Master of Information Science curriculum or the School of Informatics; as well as topical history courses. Unfortunately, my budget can only stretch so far, and I would rather not be in graduate school for a full decade! Keeping up with archival literature and independently exploring relevant issues will have to suffice. On that note, I decided to read two articles by Sara S. Hodson related to Privacy issues in archives. (Thanks to Cherry for tipping me off on these!)
From my current perspective, privacy issues diverge from copyright issues in that they are less objective and exist as a “gray area” in terms of archival management, however they increasingly emerge in the profession due to technological innovation and the rapidly expanding accessibility of archival documents and/or related information online. A great compendium of sources to reference on this matter is available at http://www.archivists.org/saagroups/privacy/pcbiblio.asp—a selected bibliography on Privacy compiled by Sarah S. Hodson, author of the articles I chose to examine at present myself.
The articles I read include:
Hodson, Sara S. "In Secret Kept, In Silence Sealed: Privacy in the Papers of Authors and Celebrities," American Archivist, vol 67 (2004)
Hodson, Sara S. "Archives on the Web: Unlocking Collections While Safeguarding Privacy." First Monday, 11.8 (August 7 2006).
Note: The first article was not in the above-mentioned bibliography, but I read it instead of Hodson's 1991 article on privacy and personal papers. Admittedly, I did this because I could not access an electronic version of the 1991 article from the comfort of my apartment, nor could I find a journal in an IU library with circulating collections. The perils of being spoiled by the Internet. In any case, from what I gather, the two have similar content though "In Secret Kept..." contains more specifically tailored examples.
After reading both articles, my overall opinion is that both are quite similar though specified toward slightly different angles. "In Secret Kept..." refers largely to paper-based materials and confronts privacy generally as well as specific issues common when dealing with the personal papers of authors or celebrities (i.e. people of popular interest). "Archives on the Web..." quite obviously deals with privacy issues confronted when making materials and/or finding aids available to a wider audience via the Internet. However, the two share extremely similar beginnings grounded in the history of legal privacy issues.
It came as a slight surprise to me to learn that the commonly referenced American "right to privacy" first appeared not in the writings of our founding fathers, but in a 1890 issue of Harvard Law Review, where it was defined as "the right to be let alone." From there, the definition of privacy has henceforth evolved, however there is no singular, authoritative legal statute which governs all realms of what constitutes privacy ethics. Though the ideals behind privacy are similar in paper and Internet-based faces of archives, the two definitely face distinctly different issues and challenges.
In "In Kept Secret..." Hodson addresses privacy issues as they exist in relation to the papers of individuals--both deceased and those still living--who are of popular public and/or scholastic focus. She identifies several significant concepts to consider, all with lend to complicating privacy issues First off, authors and celebrities are "high profile" individuals whose papers will receive more concentrated attention and thus run a higher risk of running into privacy issues; private information will be of more interest to a wider audience because of high profile status. Additionally, these papers more often contain personal discussion of sensitive matters (both of the donor and third parties--people with whom donors corresponded who had no say in whether or not their writings were made publicly available), whereas with most "historical collections," collection content deals with unknown people's experience with or accounts of significant historical events. I am not sure that I fully understand what Hudson means by this, and for the time being, I think we may be in disagreement. Though the writings of "unknown people" may not be of wide interest to a broad archival user base, they certainly often contain personal information. There is no black and white status between merely significant papers of celebrities and those related generally to historical events. Plenty of personal paper collections exist which highlight the achievements and lives of lesser-known individuals. Though scholars may not be scrambling to tell their stories, they still certainly may have stories to be told which contain potentially sensitive personal details.
With authors and celebrities, copyright can also be intertwined in privacy issues. This fact I certainly can't argue and don't know that I fully understand the specifications of rights and use by researchers accessing archival papers. I assume that copyright is mainly wrapped up in the subsequent publication of information contained within archives and not the mere reading thereof. Lastly, papers are increasingly collected from authors and celebrities during their lifetimes. Though this is in one sense wise, since any documents which are accessioned in an archive are saved from any possible intentional or unintentional destruction or disarray, it proves difficult in terms of privacy. Many live donors may want to institute complicated access restrictions and delays, which are frustrating to archivists and potential users. What is the point of having a collection if it isn't used? The easy answer is that it will be used eventually, thus there is certainly a point in saving it for lucky curious scholars down the road.
The article discusses various ways that repositories, including Hodson's own Huntington Library, have dealt with major privacy issues in the past, which serve as precedents and guides for future decisions. Hodson does not offer definitive right and wrong solutions, but she thoroughly addresses possibilities, choices, and both positive and negative repercussions. One issue addressed is that of restriction levels. Repositories have the choice to heavy or light restrictions on materials, either in total or selectively. Arguments can be made for all options, and everything must really be dealt with on a case by case basis. Every collection is unique, and blanket policies don't necessarily reflect the particularities and needs each collection. Legally speaking, it is safest to either restrict all or nothing, leaving it up to the researcher to decide what information is appropriate to publish and disseminate. Living donors and family members may be helpful in assessing what potentially sensitive material should be restricted, thus they may help in deciding upon terms of restriction. However, this is a "double edged sword" so to speak, as over-involvement and sensitivities may lead to prejudice and/or over-censorship of collection contents.
Hodson suggestions:
“Archivists must take care to seal manuscript material only with the utmost caution, rigorously and objectively analyzing the situation without imposing personal beliefs or values. . . In a previous article on privacy, I recommended that archivists should become as knowledgeable as possible about the moral and social milieu of the individuals represented in the collection, and attempt to deal with sensitive materials based on this knowledge.” Pg 200
Though I think these suggestions are wise, I am not sure how feasible they will come to be given constraints of time, money, and other resources which bind many archivists in an increasingly MPLP-driven world ("More Produce Less Process") where funds fall short and responsibilities continue to build. Doing as much as one can to understand the contents and particularities of a collection, looking to historical cases for guidance, consensus with one's institutional policies and ethics, combined with professional discussion provide perhaps the best resource in terms of addressing issues in regards to personal papers of authors and celebrities.
In Hodson's other article, "Archives on the Web...," the author treats the uniquely contemporary problem of how to deal with privacy issues when the Internet is involved in archival description and content access. Web access and privacy represent uncharted territory for modern day archivists. To borrow from an analogy which has surely been used before, this is our “frontier”; what the West was to Louis and Clark, the interconnected web of electronic information is to contemporary (wo)man. Privacy rights and violations in the digital realm are actively being determined by individuals, groups, and institutions; no outside body or force can define what definitively constitutes privacy violation, however we can categorize the ways by which privacy may potentially be violated. To quote from another quote pulled by Hodson from Heather MacNeil's book Without Consent: The Ethics of Disclosing Personal Information in Public Archives,
“Legal scholar William Prosser has gone further, identifying four ways in which the invasion of privacy can occur: intrusion upon the individual’s seclusion or solitude, or into his or her private affairs; public disclosure of embarrassing or private facts about the individual; publicity that places the individual in a false light in the public eye; and, appropriation, for another person’s advantage, of the individual’s name or likeness.” All potential manners of privacy invasion are an increasing threat given the proliferation of data collection in so many facets of life, from online public records, to the local grocer's club card, Internet site traffic, and beyond. Archives, businesses, public organizations, and individuals alike will continue to face issues of Internet privacy at an increasing pace should the ubiquitous nature of personal information subsist in the digital domain. To analyze the best manner by which an archivist should confront privacy issues in the online environment, Hodson goes back to basics rather than theorize anew. Privacy is a concept which remains constant though the details surrounding information collection, dissemination, and access change.
Hodson first cites the Society of American Archivists Code of Ethics in regards to both privacy and access. In doing so, she stumbles upon the paradigm which has long afflicted the profession: how can archives protect privacy rights of donors by maintaining confidentiality and protecting sensitive personal information in accordance with security procedures of each institution while also providing open and equal access to archival
A large part of Hodson's discussion is applicable to paper-based records as well. Common sense dictates that if materials would be restricted on paper, they should certainly be restricted online. These include legally protected documents (e.g. medical records, many student records, etc.), materials with relative currency that may affect the lives of living donors or third parties present within collections (largely correspondence and private writings such as diaries), sensitive files of public officials, and other collections or parts of collections which may lead to invasion of privacy issues. Levels of restriction must also be considered. The "all or nothing" approach--restricting all records of a certain type or collection for a certain period of time or restricting no records at all, which makes the researcher responsible for repercussions of how information is used--provides perhaps the best results legally, however it is also likely frustrating and in some cases senseless. Selective restrictions are more complicated, require more time and energy, and make the repository legally responsible and accountable for such decisions.
These potential issues must be considered in general as well as in the specific context of the Internet. A much wider audience may potentially access information launched online, which in and of itself makes many people uneasy. I listened to an interesting presentation on this very topic at the Society of American Archivists IU Student Chapter Conference in March 2010. The presenter talked about an issue with which the Archives at Iowa State University dealt in regards to digitized photographs compiled in an online exhibit. A woman contacted the archives and demanded that a picture in which she appeared (as a third party) and was identified be removed from the website. The photograph was not inappropriate in the traditionally accepted sense nor did the Archives deem the general subjects of the photograph collection to be at all sensitive in nature. However, the mere fact that the photograph and related descriptive metadata were online and openly available for anyone to access made the woman object. She was perfectly comfortable that these materials remain physically available to users, but the "uncharted territory" of the Internet represented a dangerous realm of unknown use and access. After much debate, the Archives ended up removing the "objectionable" photographs because of these complaints. Comfort levels with information available online may rise as the Internet continues to infiltrate more facets of everyday life, though it is important to consider multifarious perspectives on comfort in exposure and privacy.
Aside from fully digitized materials, archivists must also consider various levels of description. Finding aids or even mere catalog records can be precarious when the materials of living individuals are involved. More thorough description invites even more problems. One must consider both what is described and what is deliberately left out. Is it better to make the presence of restricted materials known or leave them out of collection descriptions all together, which creates a false impression of total collection contents? In what has become the theme of this article and my reactions, the answer is: there is no definitive answer. From my own analysis, I believe that ethics are rarely black and white in terms of archival privacy and use. An archivist's best bet is to analyze ethical considerations, inform decisions by theoretical guidelines accepted broadly by the profession (such as the SAA Code of Ethics), and make decisions based on individual as well as institutional policies, judgment and general comfort levels.
Though this issue remains a bit confusing to me, I feel that the information Hodson provides in her articles in reference to the history of privacy issues in archives, various levels of and reasons for sensitivity, strategies to make informed decisions, and examples regarding how specific privacy concerns have been handled by repositories in the past give me a solid frame of reference which will prepare me to confront privacy issues from an informed perspective in the future.
[Phew! That was a long one... apologies for typos. It's getting late, and I don't have the energy to proofread. I like to think that's at least marginally acceptable in the blog world.]
Amy
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Visual Supplements
Finally! I am posting some images of materials in Claxon mss. II! All photographs were taken by myself; items and images are made available courtesy of the Lilly Library.
View of my workspace:
Neville Claxon receiving an award in 1974 (likely in Benin):
An assortment of photographs from the collection. These date from 1948-1951 and were taken in Nigeria during the Claxon's initial years abroad:
A closeup shot of several Nigerian children:
One of my favorites: a hand-painted African greeting card. This is one of several in the collection:
I'll save a few more for another post. I don't want to overwhelm your eyes after all six weeks of solid text!
Amy
View of my workspace:
Neville Claxon receiving an award in 1974 (likely in Benin):
An assortment of photographs from the collection. These date from 1948-1951 and were taken in Nigeria during the Claxon's initial years abroad:
A closeup shot of several Nigerian children:
One of my favorites: a hand-painted African greeting card. This is one of several in the collection:
I'll save a few more for another post. I don't want to overwhelm your eyes after all six weeks of solid text!
Amy
Week Six: Wrapping up the Claxon mss. II Details
In a feat of intern strength, I finished the bulk of arrangement and description for the Claxon mss. II collection this week. At present, the collection includes five full boxes (Or cartons? Record storage boxes? In short, these.) plus a sixth box that looks about 2/3 or 3/4 full. This box will either need to be divided into smaller document cases or be fitted with a spacer so as to ensure that materials will be properly secured without risk of shifting or bending. All files within each box have been rehoused in legal-sized acid free folders, which were painstakingly labeled in pencil by yours truly.
I also finished typing up my collection Inventory, which is basically a box list entailing series, subseries, and file names with coverage dates. Though this step may not always be entirely necessary, I added brief scope notes to give researchers a better idea of how contents within each series and subseries are arranged and why. Some of my groupings may have been confusing for lack of explanation, such as subseries divisions within the "Subject Files" series. For example, I organized materials according to project/geographic area; subseries include Nigerian Baptist Training Union, Nigeria Mission, and Benin Mission, which represent the three primary projects pursued by the Claxons during their time abroad. All other subject files fall under a General subseries.
Following the completion of my Inventory, I typed up a Collection Description--the bulk of which amounts to the Biographical History and Scope & Content Note on standard finding aids--and submitted it to Craig for review. He suggested a few changes that we subsequently discussed; I definitely think that talking his suggestions through helps to solidify the rational behind what constitutes ideal format and content. I am still getting accustomed to just how much description is necessary and where to draw the line between doing the research and enabling others' research. I also continue to fight my long-time battle to strike a balance between my natural writing style (rambling, overly wordy, heavy with parenthetical references, asides, and tangents) and a more appropriate succinct, "just the facts" sort of style which will be more easily accessible by browsing researchers. This blog is a great alternative place to vent the natural tendencies of my rambling written verbosity!
After Craig's review and some edits, my Inventory and Collection Description were sent off to the cataloging department, where they will hopefully be approved perhaps after some minor adjustments, after which they may be printed and added to the bring manuscript guides stored in the Lilly's reading room, encoded, compiled into a catalog record, and launched to the world beyond on both the Lilly's search database and the present Indiana University Finding Aid site--an amalgamous database by which users can search and access finding aids describing archival collections from such IU repositories as the Lilly Library, University Archives, Liberian Collections, Center for the Study of History and Memory, etc. (If this discussion feels like deja vu to you as it does to me, my apologies. I believe I may have already discussed this in a previous post. I must be quite excited about it.)
My own responsibilities with Claxon mss. II still include generating content for the catalog record which will launch in IUCat, the University's online library catalog. I spent my final few minutes on Thursday trying to do just that. I took a cataloging course in the fall 2010 semester, however we concentrated on monograph record generation. This experience assisting in catalog record creation for an archival collection should be an excellent stepping stone in transitioning from the monographic way of thinking to what I will likely be doing in a professional setting as an archivist. I can still use some practice in terms of subject term selection and creation, so I am looking forward to spending some more time on this next week. The concept of a collection level catalog record for an archival finding aid should be further clarified when I sit in for an EAD crash course session with the Lilly's EAD creator Matt in the coming weeks (I leave Matt's surname out, as he is not a staff member listed on the Lilly's website and may not want his name circulating around in the blogosphere without his knowledge). Matt, a veritable encoding machine, is a December SLIS grad who concentrated on digital libraries and metadata. Though I dabble in EAD myself, I'm sure that working with someone more experienced will help smooth out some overlying questions and hangups that I have about the whole process. Really, I think it's just a matter of practice. My most significant point of confusion is that surrounding the first few elements--, , etc. The course I took on electronic description of archival materials used a DTD to dictate ead rules; however I know that IU now operates on a scheme (or multiple schemas), and I am confused as to how it connects, is generated, and other technical things that I should not attempt to enunciate at present for fear of exposing myself as a Luddite. Anyhow, the IU Digital Library Program (DLP) has a great website which introduces the basics of EAD at IU. I find the EAD Instruction Manual (pdf) available there particularly helpful.
This week I also met with Cherry to discuss my progress, any particular interests I hope to explore this semester, any problems I've encountered, and my next processing project. Cherry has contacted several individuals who will work to introduce me to related aspects of archival work, including EAD generation, archival reference, and preservation. I look forward to learning more and branching out from strict processing! As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, I will be working with Matt on EAD; I will also work with David K. Frasier (Reference Librarian at the Lilly) in pursuit of basic reference training, and I will go out to the ALF (Auxiliary Library Facility) to receive a preservation/paper conservation tutorial courtesy of Paper Conservator Doug Sanders. Additionally, I will begin processing a third collection--the Mystery Writers of America mss.--a ca. 25 box collection which is currently minimally processed. More on this collection in the future! All in all, my internship is turning into a great experience from which I am learning quite a bit. I am continually happy to go in to work each day, and I leave with a spring in my step each afternoon. I can only hope this will continue once I am out in the "real world" as a paid professional (fingers crossed that I do in fact land myself a position as a paid professional in the relatively near future; one can unfortunately still never be certain in this economy).
Photos of Claxon mss. II and commentary on two privacy articles to come later today!
Best,
Amy
I also finished typing up my collection Inventory, which is basically a box list entailing series, subseries, and file names with coverage dates. Though this step may not always be entirely necessary, I added brief scope notes to give researchers a better idea of how contents within each series and subseries are arranged and why. Some of my groupings may have been confusing for lack of explanation, such as subseries divisions within the "Subject Files" series. For example, I organized materials according to project/geographic area; subseries include Nigerian Baptist Training Union, Nigeria Mission, and Benin Mission, which represent the three primary projects pursued by the Claxons during their time abroad. All other subject files fall under a General subseries.
Following the completion of my Inventory, I typed up a Collection Description--the bulk of which amounts to the Biographical History and Scope & Content Note on standard finding aids--and submitted it to Craig for review. He suggested a few changes that we subsequently discussed; I definitely think that talking his suggestions through helps to solidify the rational behind what constitutes ideal format and content. I am still getting accustomed to just how much description is necessary and where to draw the line between doing the research and enabling others' research. I also continue to fight my long-time battle to strike a balance between my natural writing style (rambling, overly wordy, heavy with parenthetical references, asides, and tangents) and a more appropriate succinct, "just the facts" sort of style which will be more easily accessible by browsing researchers. This blog is a great alternative place to vent the natural tendencies of my rambling written verbosity!
After Craig's review and some edits, my Inventory and Collection Description were sent off to the cataloging department, where they will hopefully be approved perhaps after some minor adjustments, after which they may be printed and added to the bring manuscript guides stored in the Lilly's reading room, encoded, compiled into a catalog record, and launched to the world beyond on both the Lilly's search database and the present Indiana University Finding Aid site--an amalgamous database by which users can search and access finding aids describing archival collections from such IU repositories as the Lilly Library, University Archives, Liberian Collections, Center for the Study of History and Memory, etc. (If this discussion feels like deja vu to you as it does to me, my apologies. I believe I may have already discussed this in a previous post. I must be quite excited about it.)
My own responsibilities with Claxon mss. II still include generating content for the catalog record which will launch in IUCat, the University's online library catalog. I spent my final few minutes on Thursday trying to do just that. I took a cataloging course in the fall 2010 semester, however we concentrated on monograph record generation. This experience assisting in catalog record creation for an archival collection should be an excellent stepping stone in transitioning from the monographic way of thinking to what I will likely be doing in a professional setting as an archivist. I can still use some practice in terms of subject term selection and creation, so I am looking forward to spending some more time on this next week. The concept of a collection level catalog record for an archival finding aid should be further clarified when I sit in for an EAD crash course session with the Lilly's EAD creator Matt in the coming weeks (I leave Matt's surname out, as he is not a staff member listed on the Lilly's website and may not want his name circulating around in the blogosphere without his knowledge). Matt, a veritable encoding machine, is a December SLIS grad who concentrated on digital libraries and metadata. Though I dabble in EAD myself, I'm sure that working with someone more experienced will help smooth out some overlying questions and hangups that I have about the whole process. Really, I think it's just a matter of practice. My most significant point of confusion is that surrounding the first few elements--
This week I also met with Cherry to discuss my progress, any particular interests I hope to explore this semester, any problems I've encountered, and my next processing project. Cherry has contacted several individuals who will work to introduce me to related aspects of archival work, including EAD generation, archival reference, and preservation. I look forward to learning more and branching out from strict processing! As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, I will be working with Matt on EAD; I will also work with David K. Frasier (Reference Librarian at the Lilly) in pursuit of basic reference training, and I will go out to the ALF (Auxiliary Library Facility) to receive a preservation/paper conservation tutorial courtesy of Paper Conservator Doug Sanders. Additionally, I will begin processing a third collection--the Mystery Writers of America mss.--a ca. 25 box collection which is currently minimally processed. More on this collection in the future! All in all, my internship is turning into a great experience from which I am learning quite a bit. I am continually happy to go in to work each day, and I leave with a spring in my step each afternoon. I can only hope this will continue once I am out in the "real world" as a paid professional (fingers crossed that I do in fact land myself a position as a paid professional in the relatively near future; one can unfortunately still never be certain in this economy).
Photos of Claxon mss. II and commentary on two privacy articles to come later today!
Best,
Amy
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Week Five: Majority of Physical Processing Complete
I am proud to say that I completed the final bits of arrangement and refoldering/folder labeling for the Claxon mss. II collection on Thursday afternoon. Archival intern triumph (and I had the sore wrist to prove it--I must learn to write in pencil on archival folders using less pressure, hah hah)! There are, however, still a number of details that I need to wrap up. Though I have the majority of my inventory complete, I still need to write up scope content notes, biographical history, and other administrative information relevant to the collection. I have most of this information typed up in various notes, so I don't think it will be a difficult undertaking. I have experience doing this at the University Archives, and I am curious to learn as to how the process may differ at the Lilly Library.
As I may have discussed in the past, there are slightly different chains of responsibility in launching finding aid content online between the Lilly Library, University Archives, and other repositories on campus. The Lilly Library works with its own cataloging department and EAD encoder(s); the University Archives staff, devoid of individual catalogers, must catalog collections on their own and work directly with EAD encoders. Near-finished products from both repositories are sent to the IU Digital Library Program staff, who deal with the technical details that I don't understand, enabling finding aids to be launched on the Indiana University Finding Aid site for user access. As I mentioned in a previous post, I volunteer at Wylie House Museum in efforts to create finding aids for some of their archival collections (materials from the Wylie Family, which includes the first University President). I can certainly understand the benefits of working in a larger organization, such as the Lilly, as opposed to a small museum with a full staff of three, when it comes to embarking on time consuming tasks such as this EAD initiative!
Getting back on track from that tangent, there are also a few physical details with remain to be finalize with Claxon mss. II. These include identifying proper housing for two oversized items, re-incorporating items sent to preservation for fragility and possible mold concerns, finalizing cataloging of two books which will move to the Lilly's book collection, labeling boxes, ensuring that materials fit properly within boxes, updating finding aid lists with this new inventory, etc. In summary, there is still plenty of work to be done, but I am feeling good about the way things are going.
On that note, I took several snapshots of materials in the Claxon mss. II collection. I was about to post them here, but it just dawned on me that I am not entirely sure what the Lilly Library's policy is concerning photographs, public posting of photographs online, and proper citation format. For these reasons, I will hold off on posting any images until I am able to discuss the issue with my supervisors next week. Like any informed researcher, I know that it is extremely important to be compliant with library policies and copyright restrictions when it comes to online content. On that note, I think that an appropriate reading to supplement this issue the book Privacy & Confidentiality Perspectives: Archivists & Archival Records, edited by Menzi L. Behrnd-Klodt & Peter J. Wosh. I checked this book out from the library at the beginning of the semester, and I plan to select an article or two for my next internship reading.
I still plan to write up a post on preservation and conservation issues. Please do look out for this in the near future as well.
Now, I'm off to emerge into the apparently budding springtime weather breaking through in Bloomington today! Yes, I'm just walking to the library, but that still counts as "outdoor time" for a graduate student.
Amy
As I may have discussed in the past, there are slightly different chains of responsibility in launching finding aid content online between the Lilly Library, University Archives, and other repositories on campus. The Lilly Library works with its own cataloging department and EAD encoder(s); the University Archives staff, devoid of individual catalogers, must catalog collections on their own and work directly with EAD encoders. Near-finished products from both repositories are sent to the IU Digital Library Program staff, who deal with the technical details that I don't understand, enabling finding aids to be launched on the Indiana University Finding Aid site for user access. As I mentioned in a previous post, I volunteer at Wylie House Museum in efforts to create finding aids for some of their archival collections (materials from the Wylie Family, which includes the first University President). I can certainly understand the benefits of working in a larger organization, such as the Lilly, as opposed to a small museum with a full staff of three, when it comes to embarking on time consuming tasks such as this EAD initiative!
Getting back on track from that tangent, there are also a few physical details with remain to be finalize with Claxon mss. II. These include identifying proper housing for two oversized items, re-incorporating items sent to preservation for fragility and possible mold concerns, finalizing cataloging of two books which will move to the Lilly's book collection, labeling boxes, ensuring that materials fit properly within boxes, updating finding aid lists with this new inventory, etc. In summary, there is still plenty of work to be done, but I am feeling good about the way things are going.
On that note, I took several snapshots of materials in the Claxon mss. II collection. I was about to post them here, but it just dawned on me that I am not entirely sure what the Lilly Library's policy is concerning photographs, public posting of photographs online, and proper citation format. For these reasons, I will hold off on posting any images until I am able to discuss the issue with my supervisors next week. Like any informed researcher, I know that it is extremely important to be compliant with library policies and copyright restrictions when it comes to online content. On that note, I think that an appropriate reading to supplement this issue the book Privacy & Confidentiality Perspectives: Archivists & Archival Records, edited by Menzi L. Behrnd-Klodt & Peter J. Wosh. I checked this book out from the library at the beginning of the semester, and I plan to select an article or two for my next internship reading.
I still plan to write up a post on preservation and conservation issues. Please do look out for this in the near future as well.
Now, I'm off to emerge into the apparently budding springtime weather breaking through in Bloomington today! Yes, I'm just walking to the library, but that still counts as "outdoor time" for a graduate student.
Amy
Article Abstract - "Seek and You May Find: Successful Search in Online Finding Aid Systems," by Morgan G. Daniels and Elizabeth Yakel
Finally! I am writing up my post about "Seek and You May Find: Successful Search in Online Finding Aid Systems," by Morgan G. Daniels and Elizabeth Yakel, an article which appeared in the Fall/Winter 2010 American Archivist. I was quite interested in reading this piece of scholarship, as I think that making archival collections available and "findable" to users via online search systems is an especially poignant area of significance given present trends and technologies. As the authors point out, studies of this kind are relatively rare in the Archival sphere. I think that there are a variety of reasons for this phenomenon, perhaps including over-extension of archival duties (small budgets and long to-do lists likely make retrieval studies unfeasible for many institutions), the divide between formal archival training and technological proficiency (are archivists capable of transforming results of online finding aid studies into reformatted interfaces which would better meet the needs and searching habits/abilities of users?), as well as the seemingly ever-changing status of online resources (is it worth pursuing an extensive study if systems are likely to evolve with general technological trends in the next few years?).
Overall, I think that this particular study is an excellent starting point for developing critical analysis of online finding aid systems, which may lay the groundwork for system interface changes in the future. It exhibits excellent intentions and goals, however it also has a number of shortcomings in its methods.
The authors begin with a literature review, which gives an overview of potentially relevant related Library Science heuristic studies, information-seeking patterns of historians and other archival users, as well as several studies of finding aid usability; few retrieval studies exist within the current body of archival professional literature. Extant identified problems with online archival finding aids include confusion over archival terminology and organization of information in finding aids, as well as significant differences in search success between experience and novice users.
The remainder of the article is formatted around a retrieval experiment study conducted at the University of Michigan, using finding aid systems from the Bentley Historical Library’s Online Finding Aids system at the University of Michigan and the federated statewide search tool at the Online Archive of New Mexico (OANM).” Its goal is to analyze users' interactions with online archival systems (search strategies and query reformation) to better understand how interfaces may be improved or users may be educated to ensure higher success rates for queries using databases designed or archival repositories.
Precise questions pursued include:
Additionally, this study was conducted in 2005. Technology changes quite quickly and new interfaces are being created, adapted, and updated frequently. Technological competencies and education of users also changes relatively quickly as technologies develop. Therefore, I feel that it is possible that these results may differ if the study were to be similarly conducted at present. Still, I believe that the questions sought and methods developed by the researchers could be helpful for a more broad-based study using more a larger, more diverse population of users.
Despite the potential shortcomings in the researchers' methodologies, I feel that the subsequent results and discussion they create are valuable contributions to the field at present. Interesting insights include the idea that there appeared to be a significant learning curve during the course of the experiment, and users with more experience using archival databases and more frequent general database searching also exhibited higher success rates. These factors support archival education and general information literacy as strategies to better ensure users' connection with sought materials.
Archivists, like many professionals who operate within a sort of professional jargon (e.g. front matter in archival finding aids and the concept of the finding aid structure in general), need to remember that our terminology is not universally understood. Archival arrangement and organization is not second nature, thus it needs to be explained to users before they may be adept at finding the information they seek. Other "holes" in the research subjects' search strategies include infrequent use of potentially helpful Library of Congress subject heading lists, misunderstanding of provenance, and mental disparities over how repositories, collections, and items relate to one another.
Another important issue that this study touched upon is user access to digitized materials. Surely digitization is the direction that archives are headed, however as this study showed, simply because materials are digitized does not mean that users will be aware of such content or be able to connect to it easily. Access to digital materials must be honed in order to more effectively make use of online materials--launched with increasing frequency given rising focus on technology, especially in terms of grant-funded project.
All in all, the study breaches the professional conversation of online finding aid use and user search effectiveness. In the future, we will likely need to focus on archival information literacy, by better guiding users though archival terminology, arrangement, organization, and using "shortcut" tools such as Library of Congress subject headings to connect with sought information. The prevalence of online finding aids means that the archivist is no longer the point of contact for archival collections; this has never before been the case. Perhaps more frequent employment of online archival chat reference may aid in guiding researchers through online resources. Whatever the results, high potential exists in the improvement users' finding aid navigation and potential use and relevancy of archival collections in research--assuming the profession can harness the technological proficiency to enable such changes. I am excited to see where such studies lead in the future.
Overall, I think that this particular study is an excellent starting point for developing critical analysis of online finding aid systems, which may lay the groundwork for system interface changes in the future. It exhibits excellent intentions and goals, however it also has a number of shortcomings in its methods.
The authors begin with a literature review, which gives an overview of potentially relevant related Library Science heuristic studies, information-seeking patterns of historians and other archival users, as well as several studies of finding aid usability; few retrieval studies exist within the current body of archival professional literature. Extant identified problems with online archival finding aids include confusion over archival terminology and organization of information in finding aids, as well as significant differences in search success between experience and novice users.
The remainder of the article is formatted around a retrieval experiment study conducted at the University of Michigan, using finding aid systems from the Bentley Historical Library’s Online Finding Aids system at the University of Michigan and the federated statewide search tool at the Online Archive of New Mexico (OANM).” Its goal is to analyze users' interactions with online archival systems (search strategies and query reformation) to better understand how interfaces may be improved or users may be educated to ensure higher success rates for queries using databases designed or archival repositories.
Precise questions pursued include:
- How do people search archival collections online?
- What are the characteristics of a successful search?
- Are there optimal search strategies for accessing information about primary sources in online finding aid systems?
- What role does query reformulation play in a successful search of online finding aids?
Additionally, this study was conducted in 2005. Technology changes quite quickly and new interfaces are being created, adapted, and updated frequently. Technological competencies and education of users also changes relatively quickly as technologies develop. Therefore, I feel that it is possible that these results may differ if the study were to be similarly conducted at present. Still, I believe that the questions sought and methods developed by the researchers could be helpful for a more broad-based study using more a larger, more diverse population of users.
Despite the potential shortcomings in the researchers' methodologies, I feel that the subsequent results and discussion they create are valuable contributions to the field at present. Interesting insights include the idea that there appeared to be a significant learning curve during the course of the experiment, and users with more experience using archival databases and more frequent general database searching also exhibited higher success rates. These factors support archival education and general information literacy as strategies to better ensure users' connection with sought materials.
Archivists, like many professionals who operate within a sort of professional jargon (e.g. front matter in archival finding aids and the concept of the finding aid structure in general), need to remember that our terminology is not universally understood. Archival arrangement and organization is not second nature, thus it needs to be explained to users before they may be adept at finding the information they seek. Other "holes" in the research subjects' search strategies include infrequent use of potentially helpful Library of Congress subject heading lists, misunderstanding of provenance, and mental disparities over how repositories, collections, and items relate to one another.
Another important issue that this study touched upon is user access to digitized materials. Surely digitization is the direction that archives are headed, however as this study showed, simply because materials are digitized does not mean that users will be aware of such content or be able to connect to it easily. Access to digital materials must be honed in order to more effectively make use of online materials--launched with increasing frequency given rising focus on technology, especially in terms of grant-funded project.
All in all, the study breaches the professional conversation of online finding aid use and user search effectiveness. In the future, we will likely need to focus on archival information literacy, by better guiding users though archival terminology, arrangement, organization, and using "shortcut" tools such as Library of Congress subject headings to connect with sought information. The prevalence of online finding aids means that the archivist is no longer the point of contact for archival collections; this has never before been the case. Perhaps more frequent employment of online archival chat reference may aid in guiding researchers through online resources. Whatever the results, high potential exists in the improvement users' finding aid navigation and potential use and relevancy of archival collections in research--assuming the profession can harness the technological proficiency to enable such changes. I am excited to see where such studies lead in the future.
Interruption of Regularly Scheduled Blog Posts: Excuses, excuses...
I must begin with an apology for my infrequency of posting as of late. My excuse, however valid or invalid, relates to my involvement with the Society of American Archivists Indiana University Student Chapter Conference for Graduate Students and Beginning Professionals, to take place March 5-6 at Herman B Wells Library. The conference will include 16 presentations on various projects and papers related in varying capacities to archives, rare books, and special collections, as well as tours of repositories on campus and attendees' choice of one out of three planned interactive workshops. Presenters and registered attendees include Indiana University Bloomington students, as well as individuals from as far as New York City, Boston, Austin, and Seattle.
Our student group was also approached by the Society of American Archivists national organization in reference to scheduling a pre-conference SAA workshop, so that conference attendees could further broaden their professional development experience over the course of the weekend. We are thus co-sponsoring the workshop entitled "Visual Literacy in Photograph Collections," which I am definitely looking forward to attending. Surely I have come across photographs while processing archival collections, but I have never been formally trained in their treatment or the ideology behind how visual materials are arranged, described, and accessed physically or digitally by potential users.
Anyhow, I do not believe that I fully realized how all-consuming managing the logistics of the abovementioned endeavor could be until I took on the duties of co-organizer for this conference. My organizing counterpart, Angela, graduated with her MLS/MA in December and moved out of town, thus I am the "head honcho" on campus responsible for pulling all the details together. Angela is still working with me from afar--we've taken full advantage of email, Google Doc sharing, skype, etc.--but the details on my end have taken up a large majority of any "free time" I may otherwise have. Things are coming together nicely, and I couldn't be more excited about the conference weekend, but I'm still in the learning stages of how to handle such widespread priorities including conference organization, internship hours, internship readings and blog postings, class, work in the IU Archives, volunteering to develop EAD-compliant finding aids at Wylie House Museum, maintaining healthy social relationships, getting adequate sleep and keeping myself fed. In relation to my internship, I will surely catch up on my article analyses in the coming weeks.
However, I do believe that I am getting great experience in preparation for a busy, multifaceted professional career. My involvement with SAA-SC makes me increasingly resolute to remain active in regional and national professional organizations, which I anticipate will make for a more fulfilling career in additional to general day to day duties as an archivist. I attended and co-presented a poster at the Midwest Archives Conference last spring, and I hope to attend the Society of American Archivists annual meeting in Chicago this August. My experience on the conference planning end will definitely lead to a greater appreciation of these larger annual meetings!
Back to regularly scheduled internship blogging...
Amy
Our student group was also approached by the Society of American Archivists national organization in reference to scheduling a pre-conference SAA workshop, so that conference attendees could further broaden their professional development experience over the course of the weekend. We are thus co-sponsoring the workshop entitled "Visual Literacy in Photograph Collections," which I am definitely looking forward to attending. Surely I have come across photographs while processing archival collections, but I have never been formally trained in their treatment or the ideology behind how visual materials are arranged, described, and accessed physically or digitally by potential users.
Anyhow, I do not believe that I fully realized how all-consuming managing the logistics of the abovementioned endeavor could be until I took on the duties of co-organizer for this conference. My organizing counterpart, Angela, graduated with her MLS/MA in December and moved out of town, thus I am the "head honcho" on campus responsible for pulling all the details together. Angela is still working with me from afar--we've taken full advantage of email, Google Doc sharing, skype, etc.--but the details on my end have taken up a large majority of any "free time" I may otherwise have. Things are coming together nicely, and I couldn't be more excited about the conference weekend, but I'm still in the learning stages of how to handle such widespread priorities including conference organization, internship hours, internship readings and blog postings, class, work in the IU Archives, volunteering to develop EAD-compliant finding aids at Wylie House Museum, maintaining healthy social relationships, getting adequate sleep and keeping myself fed. In relation to my internship, I will surely catch up on my article analyses in the coming weeks.
However, I do believe that I am getting great experience in preparation for a busy, multifaceted professional career. My involvement with SAA-SC makes me increasingly resolute to remain active in regional and national professional organizations, which I anticipate will make for a more fulfilling career in additional to general day to day duties as an archivist. I attended and co-presented a poster at the Midwest Archives Conference last spring, and I hope to attend the Society of American Archivists annual meeting in Chicago this August. My experience on the conference planning end will definitely lead to a greater appreciation of these larger annual meetings!
Back to regularly scheduled internship blogging...
Amy
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Week Four: Processing, ice storms, and more processing
I don't mean to sound monotonous, but this week I spent more time *surprise!* processing the Claxon mss. II collection. My hours were truncated a bit on Tuesday due to my paranoia about the ice and snow storm that walloped a large portion of the country this week, but I still managed to make decent progress. As of when I left the Lilly on Thursday afternoon, I had browsed through all files; added date ranges for every folder, subseries, series, and the collection as a whole; and arranged every folder according to the arrangement scheme I discussed with Craig at the outset of my collection analysis. Craig will sort through my work on Friday and/or Monday, and we'll discuss any issues or changes that he identifies.
I feel pretty good about my progress thus far. Though I worry that the arrangement and description of the writings series--which includes approximately two boxes of sermons--leaves a bit to be desired in the way of intellectual access by potential users viewing what will become the collection's finding aid, I feel that this is inevitable with the MPLP ("more product less process" for any of you outside of the archives profession) approach I took to these particular materials. Painstakingly sorting through each item and re-categorizing it according to title, date, Biblical passage, etc. would be incredibly time consuming, disrupt original order imposed by the creator, and present problems in the way of how to deal with items devoid of titles, dates, etc.
As I have discussed with colleagues in the past, sometimes it is best to let the researcher do the research and dig through a collection to see what they can find rather than have the archivist spell everything out. Given burgeoning backlogs, small budgets, ever-expanding professional duties, and the unavoidable constraints of time, interfering with the arrangement to meticulously process collection materials is frequently beyond the professional scope and abilities of archivists at a large volume of institutions.
I am, however, aware that some collections are still meticulously arranged to better provide more direct access to users. For example, at the Indiana University Archives, the Political Papers archivist recently received a grant to be used toward processing the papers of Birch Bayh, a former United States Senator from Indiana. I am not familiar with all the minute details, but I am aware that a number of student workers are assisting with this project by sorting through materials at the item level and meticulously grouping and arranging like materials so as to provide streamlined access to this voluminous collection, which documents Bayh's term as senator. I can certainly see the rational behind this high level of processing, as Bayh played a significant role in state and national political history, and it is expected that this collection may be used relatively heavily. Because the collection is so large, it would be arduous for researchers to access specific topical information if MPLP was employed during collection processing.
Anyhow, I really do need to expand my topics of discussion on here. While I enjoy that this is an outlet for my rational while processing, I also want to highlight some of the materials within the Claxon mss. II collection. I hope to remember to bring my camera in when I intern some time this week. Some of my favorite items include photographs, a memorial sermon written in memory of John F. Kennedy and present by Neville Claxon in Nigeria, hand painted African greeting cards, and a West African recipe booklet. Expect a bit more variety on the blog in weeks to come.
On an aside, have a good Superbowl Sunday! Though I am not a huge football fan, I enjoy the idea of it as a collective American experience. Relatedly, one of the major concepts that attracts me to archives is the documentation of collective history. I assume that the National Football League has archival holdings somewhere--be it in its own archives or at an existing archival institution--through which people of all backgrounds can connect through shared memories and events.
Cheers,
Amy
I feel pretty good about my progress thus far. Though I worry that the arrangement and description of the writings series--which includes approximately two boxes of sermons--leaves a bit to be desired in the way of intellectual access by potential users viewing what will become the collection's finding aid, I feel that this is inevitable with the MPLP ("more product less process" for any of you outside of the archives profession) approach I took to these particular materials. Painstakingly sorting through each item and re-categorizing it according to title, date, Biblical passage, etc. would be incredibly time consuming, disrupt original order imposed by the creator, and present problems in the way of how to deal with items devoid of titles, dates, etc.
As I have discussed with colleagues in the past, sometimes it is best to let the researcher do the research and dig through a collection to see what they can find rather than have the archivist spell everything out. Given burgeoning backlogs, small budgets, ever-expanding professional duties, and the unavoidable constraints of time, interfering with the arrangement to meticulously process collection materials is frequently beyond the professional scope and abilities of archivists at a large volume of institutions.
I am, however, aware that some collections are still meticulously arranged to better provide more direct access to users. For example, at the Indiana University Archives, the Political Papers archivist recently received a grant to be used toward processing the papers of Birch Bayh, a former United States Senator from Indiana. I am not familiar with all the minute details, but I am aware that a number of student workers are assisting with this project by sorting through materials at the item level and meticulously grouping and arranging like materials so as to provide streamlined access to this voluminous collection, which documents Bayh's term as senator. I can certainly see the rational behind this high level of processing, as Bayh played a significant role in state and national political history, and it is expected that this collection may be used relatively heavily. Because the collection is so large, it would be arduous for researchers to access specific topical information if MPLP was employed during collection processing.
Anyhow, I really do need to expand my topics of discussion on here. While I enjoy that this is an outlet for my rational while processing, I also want to highlight some of the materials within the Claxon mss. II collection. I hope to remember to bring my camera in when I intern some time this week. Some of my favorite items include photographs, a memorial sermon written in memory of John F. Kennedy and present by Neville Claxon in Nigeria, hand painted African greeting cards, and a West African recipe booklet. Expect a bit more variety on the blog in weeks to come.
On an aside, have a good Superbowl Sunday! Though I am not a huge football fan, I enjoy the idea of it as a collective American experience. Relatedly, one of the major concepts that attracts me to archives is the documentation of collective history. I assume that the National Football League has archival holdings somewhere--be it in its own archives or at an existing archival institution--through which people of all backgrounds can connect through shared memories and events.
Cheers,
Amy
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)