The last two months of my life have been consumed not by COVID-19, but by my role as Chair of the Program Team for the Association of Canadian Archivists’ 45th annual conference. This journey began[…]
Category: Access
ACA@UBC 2020 – From Accountability to Memory
Another year older and another ACA@UBC in the books. Congratulations to the students at the UBC iSchool for another great day out of the office, chit-chatting with other archivists, and learning about archival practice around[…]
I SIP, you ZIP, we DIP: Archivematica Camp Vancouver, 2019
Last week I had the pleasure of attending Artefactual’s Archivematica Camp held at the University of British Columbia. It was a three day intensive introduction to the Archivematica software and I was really impressed by[…]
BC GLAM Symposium 2019
Another year, another opportunity for GLAM puns! While only one presenter at this year’s BC GLAM Symposium used an image of a GLAM rocker, we were all feeling GLAM-orous as members of the British Columbia[…]
To Charge or Not to Charge: Use Fees in Archives
A recent CBC broadcast from the show “On the Island” and an accompanying article highlighted something that has been on my mind for years and is an issue that is up for regular debate among my[…]
Archivists as Curators
I have been thinking a lot about archivists as curators lately. People might not immediately associate archivists with curators (ok let’s be honest, people don’t associate archivists with much of anything except dust…mini rant over…)[…]
Searching for Answers in Archival Records (You can’t just Google them)
Anyone else out there addicted to Google Analytics? I regularly get lost down the rabbit hole of search queries that are being made on my archives’ online search portal. I want to know what researchers are[…]
Ready Archives Patron One: Virtual Reality and Archives
Imagine being able to visit your local archives from your couch. Or have unmediated access to 18th century manuscripts half the world away. Virtual reality (VR) technology has incredibly exciting possibilities for archives. The technology allows humans[…]
Archival Photographs: To Colour or Not to Colour?
“This will change how you feel about the past.” This headline from Pulptastic.com signals a trend that may not be entirely new but has recently exploded in popularity – the colourization of historical photographs. Pulptastic[…]
#AskAnArchivist Day – The Sequel
It’s that time of year again – seriously, how has it been a year? Yesterday was #AskAnArchivist Day and although I kind of agree with @EiraTansey that the participants are likely made up mostly of[…]
Teaching with Documents: Using Archives to Educate
Exciting archival publishing news! The Archives Society of Alberta has just released its inaugural issue of Fonds d’Archives. This new online, open access, scholarly journal is an exciting departure from other archival publications in Canada and the[…]
Fonds or Fiction? Archives as Inspiration for Creative Writing
“There is no doubt fiction makes a better job of the truth.” – Doris Lessing We are all well aware that academic researchers and non-fiction writers pour over archival records in the search for the truth[…]
My genealogical journey
In days gone by, if you wanted to research your family tree, it meant traipsing around to churches and archives in far off lands. It meant hours upon hours of scanning birth and marriage registers,[…]
Artists and the Archives
Archivists often complain about a lack of everyday awareness of our profession and the societal importance of preservation and access to recorded memory. I am the first to lament the blank stares I get when[…]
Inventive Ways of Using Archives to Engage with the Past
Before I dive into this post, I want to mention that the City of Coquitlam Archives is hiring! We are looking to recruit a permanent, full-time, Archives & Records Officer. The successful applicant will split[…]
Lest We Forget: Archives in the Classroom
When I worked at Library and Archives Canada (LAC), I was aware of the Lest We Forget Program and the work being done to introduce students to working with archival records, but it wasn’t until[…]
An Archival Girl in an Artifact World
Last week, I had the distinct pleasure of participating in the “Ask the Expert” session at this year’s BC Museums Association Conference in beautiful Whistler, BC. Having never attended a non-archival conference, I was excited to hear about[…]
Then and Now: Archival Mashups
Everyone loves a good “Then and Now” comparison. We marvel at or lament the changes to a place. These comparisons help us to imagine what came before and help us to understand what exists in our[…]
Wikipedia and Archives – Accessibility and the Greater Good
As a university Teaching Assistant, I learned to scan a student’s work for the telltale signs of academic laziness. At the top of my target list was any reference to Wikipedia as a scholarly source. I[…]
Many hands make light work? Crowdsourcing archival description and transcription
I get asked regularly whether I am digitizing everything in my archives’ holdings. There is an expectation that everything is digitized and accessible without having to physically enter an archives. But digitization is just the beginning.[…]