My contention is that most users want access to information. If they are interested in learning about X (whether it is their great-great-grandfather, their house, women’s suffrage, the Monongahela River, or the evolution of the concept of academic freedom) they want to find all the materials that pertain to X. The majority of them do not care in what record group, collection  or series those materials are located. If the archivist brought out a box labeled “all the materials on X,” assembled from all over the archives with no indication of where it came from, the user would be thrilled, not disappointed.

Is context sometimes interesting? Probably occasionally, but I would guess rarely. And I would guess only if it adds information that the user needs–such as probable date for an undated letter.

So, comrades, do you think that’s an accurate claim to make? Do you think the majority of users don’t care about provenance? Do you think some users (such as “serious scholars”) care more than others? I have heard it said that even our beloved historians don’t care as much about context as they once did. Is that true, in your experience?

The floor is open for debate: Provenance, who cares?

Reading it made me wonder how things are going over at the Flickr Commons. Are there are any participants in that who can comment on whether resources seemed to have been pulled from that service? Is it looking like the future is stable? (Remember, you can comment anonymously if you feel you need to.)

And if Flickr isn’t the cool shiny toy it once was (and it certainly is not), are archives moving to something else to share images? Pinterest is addicting, and I love what the Archives of American Art is doing there, but it doesn’t have all the features of Flickr. Is Flickr still the go-to site for archives to share images, or have we moved on to something else? Facebook, perhaps? Or do you use both?

• Sign the online petition at change.org:  Note signatures from outside of Canada are welcome as well.
• Keep up with the news on Twitter by following: @CCA_Archives, @ArchivistsTrek, and the hashtag #NADP
• You can like the Canadian Council of Archives on Facebook to receive updates on what’s happening
• If you’re a Canadian citizen, you don’t need me to tell you to email your MP and send a message to the Minister for Canadian Heritage, the Honourable James Moore ["The promotion of our culture...is at the heart of what I do every day"]

If anyone has any other suggestions or sources of information to share, please post a comment. Thanks.

UPDATE: You can also follow Archivists On to Ottawa Trek on Tumblr for updates and news stories.

In the discussion board, Susan Garwood mentioned attending the AAM meeting recently and hearing a lot about the use of QR codes. So I asked her about how she thought they could be used in archival settings, and here’s her answer:

We’ve been exploring all ranges of archival outreach including exhibits so, although traditionally a museum function, QR codes can help augment archives outreach in an exhibition as well.  Another area could be on a take away piece.  A brochure or bookmark that might link to the archives on Facebook, a map to the institution, or the museum’s website or blog.  Or perhaps on the outside of the archives (below the hours sign that might link to a contact form).  Within an exhibit, as you know, you can’t put a full transcription of a document within the exhibit and a QR code could link to that.  Anywhere that visitors interact with a document or artifact. I suppose, however, it could be an internal management tool.  I’ve heard of some artifacts being barcoded and having a reader allows you to scan the object and see its documentation which might be helpful in collection retrieval and management within the storage space.

Some of those applications sound very promising. I’ve been skeptical about QR codes, so I thought I would throw it open to the readers. Have any of you used QR codes or know another repository that is using them? What has the response been?

UPDATE: It has been called to my attention that I neglected to cite an important resource in the discussion on QR codes in archives, so here, with my apologies for the omission is: “Put a QR code on it!” Thanks, Rebecca!

If you want to learn more, please read this informative blog post from Trevor Owens:
http://www.trevorowens.org/2012/04/how-you-can-help-launch-a-digital-preservation-qa-site/

The proposal itself is here:
http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/39787/digital-preservation

It’s a great idea, so I hope if you have what they are looking for that you’ll participate and help get this off the ground.

Dear fellow archivist,

It is with great excitement that we announce the release of the first half of the proposal to form a U.S. Chapter of Archivists without Borders. This portion of the proposal, which includes Background and Mission Statement, will be open for comment until May 31, 2012. You can find the full text to these sections on our website: http://awbuschapter.wordpress.com/. To contribute your comments on these two sections, please use the comments feature on our website. We are currently working with Archives without Borders International to draft the remainder of the proposal. Please be patient as we work diligently to push these additional sections out for your input.

As members of the archival community who have expressed interest in the vision Archivists without Borders promotes, your contribution is vital. The comments you make will shape the direction of this organization. We welcome your ideas for the organization’s potential, criticisms of the wording, alerts to unanticipated implications, and questions about how we currently envision this chapter functioning.

We are also pleased to announce that you can now follow AwB-US on Twitter (@AWB_US) and on Facebook:http://tinyurl.com/8x4y3nv.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Best regards,

AWB-US Core Working Group

Joel Blanco-Rivera
Erin Faulder
Jasmine Jones
Mario H. Ramirez
Amanda Strauss
Adam Zimmerli

The tentative schedule is that I will kick off the campaign on June 1, both by putting up the post asking for donations and starting to accept requests for funding. The process for applicants will be the same–all you need to do is send in your name and indicate if you will be registering as a student or regular SAA member. Anyone who needs some assistance with funding is welcome to apply. The deadline for applicants will be June 29, at which point I will see how much money we have and begin drawing names out of a hat, and keep going until we run out of money. Lucky winners will be notified on or about June 30/July 1, so that you will have time to register before the early bird deadline (July 6). Once I receive confirmation that you’ve registered, I’ll mail you a check to cover your registration for the meeting.

I’m happy to start taking donations now, if people want to start sending them in by mail. One reason I’m starting a little early this year is to encourage people to send in checks, which are not subject to PayPal transaction fees so more money goes directly to our colleagues. If you want to send in a check, please email me at info@archivesnext.com and I’ll provide you with my mailing address. (Or if you’re an SAA member you can just look me up in the member database. I’m listed.) On June 1 I’ll put up the post with a PayPal link, so if you’d rather do that, just wait for June. (Remember that since this is an informal effort your donation is NOT tax deductible. All you will get is a warm fuzzy feeling knowing you helped some of your colleagues and my everlasting gratitude. Last year I did not post a list of the people who donated. If you think that would be a good idea this year, let me know.)

So expect to hear more about this in June. I’ll be trying to find every avenue I can think of in which to ask for donations, and I’m always happy to have people helping me to get the word out. We did very well last year in large part because one donor was mind-bogglingly generous, but we can’t count on that again this year. Every small donations helps. I don’t know how many people will be asking for funding–San Diego might not be as big a draw as Chicago was, but I’d like to be able to fund as many people as possible.

Last year in 2 weeks we had 94 generous people donate and made 26 people very happy. This year since the first number will be bigger I hope the other two will be also.

Here are the links:

What’s on the Menu http://menus.nypl.org/

Old Weather http://www.oldweather.org/

Waisda? http://woordentikkertje.manbijthond.nl/

NYPL Map Warper  http://maps.nypl.org/warper

Remember Me (US Holocaust Memorial Museum) http://rememberme.ushmm.org/

Africa Through a Lens (National Archives UK collection on Flickr): http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalarchives/collections/72157625827328771/

Your Archives (UK): http://yourarchives.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php?title=Home_page

Our Archives (US) http://www.ourarchives.wikispaces.net/

Creating Your Community http://www.creatingcommunities.denverlibrary.org/

Library of Virginia CW 150 Legacy http://www.virginiamemory.com/collections/cw150

Vintage Toronto on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vintage-Toronto/256041347799190

Rave Archive http://ravearchive.com/

Archive Team http://www.archiveteam.org/index.php?title=Main_Page

Stereograminator http://stereo.nypl.org/

Pittsburgh Mapping and Historical Site Viewer http://peoplemaps.esri.com/pittviewer/

Invisible Australians http://www.invisibleaustralians.org/

Transforming Classification http://blogs.archives.gov/transformingclassification/

Kickstarter -Locus Photo and Emphemera Archive Project: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2040521099/locus-photo-and-ephemera-archive-project?ref=live

Kickstarter – Project Gado: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1889549817/digitize-the-afro-american-newspaper-using-open-so?ref=live

Last week I was in Cape May, New Jersey for the spring meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference (MARAC). MARAC is my local regional association, so for me those meetings are as much about “fellowship”as attending the sessions. Although the lively Twitter discussion that took place during the session intended to discuss archives and the digital humanities was very useful, and I plan to return to the ideas it sparked as soon as things calm down a bit. It was also lovely to meet some new people, including students from Pitt and Maryland, as well as catch up with familiar faces.

But it’s Thursday, and now I’m in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where the adventurous Midwest Archives Conference has invited me to give a plenary address at their annual meeting. I don’t consider myself a “plenary speaker” kind of person, so I’m afraid I won’t bring the “wow factor” that I think a good plenary speaker achieves. But then, I have ridiculously high standards. I’m talking about participatory archives, so there is no doubt I will be enthusiastic and speak quickly. My goals will be for people to 1) laugh, 2) leave with some new ideas, and hopefully 3) leave thinking that this is not only something they should try, but which they could actually do. If I can mange that, I’ll be happy with my performance.

Looking forward to meeting more new people at MAC, but now I have to return to practicing this talk, as the clock rapidly ticks down to the appointed hour . . .

According to the Association of Research Libraries site:

Call for Story Ideas: Public TV Series to Highlight Special Collections

WPSU: Penn State Public Broadcasting

Penn State Public Broadcasting (WPSU) is developing a national public television series called Treasures of the Special Collections—that the producers see as a cross between History Detectives and Antiques Roadshow—to tell stories found in the special collections of research libraries. The producers are currently developing a funding proposal and are seeking help to identify story ideas to be cited in a written description of a hypothetical first season.

Stories could come from a number of angles. They could be researcher driven, e.g., a mysterious artifact’s purpose is revealed; perhaps an author uncovers a piece of information that sheds new light on a famous discovery; or a totally new line of discovery is initiated due to previously unused sources. A story could be curator driven—showing off myriad wonders in a single collection—with artifacts as old as medieval manuscripts or as contemporary and spontaneous as the “Africa Responds to Obama” collection of artifacts/memorabilia at Northwestern University that sprang up in the wake of the 2008 election. There could be a story about how a collection came into being—perhaps a profile of someone even now in the process of donating his or her life’s work or personal collection to a library.

The producers feel that this series holds great potential for increasing awareness and appreciation for special collections and research libraries and our mission—to preserve and protect primary sources and to make them accessible—fostering the notion that it is the use of special collections that makes them special. If you are interested in engaging this project, by April 20 please send brief descriptions of your story ideas (and links to related material) to WPSU producer Kristian Berg (kristian@psu.edu).