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• Constant Change: What Archivists Need to Know About Climate Change and Archives

  • When
    6 Oct 2026
  •  
    2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

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  Constant change: What archivists need to know about climate change and archives

  When: October 6th, 2026 2:00-3:00 p.m. ET 

  Where: Zoom (zoom link will be provided the day before the workshop via email)

  
  

  Name pronunciation: Learn how to say my name 
  

  Biography:

  Eira Tansey is an archivist, researcher, and consultant based in her hometown of Cincinnati/the Ohio River watershed. She is the founder of Memory Rising, which provides research, consulting, and archival services with expertise in climate change, environmental and labor movements, and Ohio Valley regional history. Memory Rising’s clients have included the Council of State Archivists, METRO, the Digital Preservation Outreach & Education Network, the Digital Preservation Coalition, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. She previously worked as an archivist in academic libraries for fifteen years, at the University of Cincinnati and Tulane University. Eira’s research on archives and climate change has been profiled by Yale Climate Connections, VICE, and Pacific Standard, and has been honored by the Society of American Archivists. Her most recent publication is A Green New Deal for Archives, which received the 2024 Waldo Gifford Leland Award for writing of superior excellence and usefulness in the fields of archival history, theory, and practice. She is an elected Council member of the Society of American Archivists, the governing body for North America’s largest professional association of archivists. Eira is also the researcher and host of NO TIME FOR FEAR, a podcast about the history of the New Deal.
  

  Workshop Description: 

  Climate change is already impacting archives, affecting not just buildings and collections, but users and staff. Archivists should understand the threats related to climate change and how it shapes our work. During this one-hour workshop, participants will learn to: 

  • Explain basic science and policy issues related to climate change

  • Differentiate mitigation and adaptation issues for archival organizations

  • Identify climate change and environmental issues specific to the Canadian context

  
  

  A zoom link will be provided to registrant the day before the workshop.

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• Making the Case for Archives: Funding, Coalitions, and Elected Officials - Free advocacy webinar presented by the Canadian Cultural Heritage Advocacy Committee

  • When
    13 Oct 2026
  •  
    3:00 PM - 4:00 PM

  What: Free advocacy webinar presented by the Canadian Cultural Heritage Advocacy Committee

  When: TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 3:00-4:00 EST/EDT

  (English only)

  
  

  Register here: https://archivescanada-ca.zoom.us/meeting/register/3RZFKLgKQBGlLnYs7P3Fow#/registration

  
  

  Making the Case for Archives: Funding, Coalitions, and Elected Officials

  Archives preserve more than records. They sustain community memory, support government accountability, enable historical and genealogical research, protect institutional knowledge, and provide the documentary evidence that communities rely on to understand themselves and make decisions about their future. Yet local, provincial, institutional, and special archives across Canada are increasingly being asked to demonstrate their value in a difficult funding environment.

  
  

  This session will introduce a practical approach to advocacy and casemaking for archives at the municipal, provincial, and federal levels. Drawing on EveryLibrary’s experience in the U.S. with library funding, coalition development, and engagement with elected officials, we will explore how archives can move beyond general appeals about their importance and develop arguments that connect archival work to the priorities, responsibilities, and constituencies of decision-makers.

  
  

  We will consider how to identify potential allies, build coalitions beyond the archival profession, translate archival services into public and institutional outcomes, and engage elected officials about funding. The session will offer a framework for positioning archives as essential partners in accountability, research, civic identity, education, economic development, reconciliation, and community life.

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  About the presenter:

  John Chrastka is a founder and executive director of EveryLibrary, the national political action committee for libraries, and the EveryLibrary Institute, a public policy and tax policy think tank for libraries. Since 2012, EveryLibrary has provided pro-bono support to 165 library communities with ballot measures and tax referendums, helping win more than $2.8 billion in stable tax funding. He is a former Board President of the Berwyn (IL) Public Library and RAILS, the Reaching Across Illinois Libraries System. Prior to EveryLibrary, he was a partner in AssociaDirect, an association consultancy, was Director for Membership Development at ALA, and a co-founder of the EdTech startup Classmap. He was recognized by Library Journal in 2014 as a Mover & Shaker, the Chicago Tribune in 2022 as a Chicagoan of the Year for his work opposing book bans, and a Publishers Weekly Notable Person for 2024.
  

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• Evidence to Influence: Using Data and Stories for Advocacy

  • When
    14 Oct 2026
  •  
    2:00 PM - 4:30 PM

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  Evidence to Influence: Using Data and Stories for Advocacy

  When: October 14th, 2:00-4:30 p.m. ET

  Where: Virtual via Zoom (Zoom link will be shared with registrants the day before the workshop).

  Biography: Rishia Burke BPHE, MA

  Rishia brings more than 35 years of experience in community development, working across neighbourhoods, social planning, and health and social services. She is passionate about bringing people together across sectors to identify community strengths, responding to local needs, and building inclusive communities where everyone can find belonging. 

  Working alongside community partners, Rishia has been part of the development of a local coalition that advocates for the nonprofit sector in her community.

  Through her leadership at Community Development Halton, Rishia has championed equity-focused research, community engagement, and partnerships that drive social change. 

  • Description

    Strong advocacy depends on both evidence and a compelling narrative. This interactive workshop helps participants identify and use organizational data as evidence, uncover the story behind the numbers, and strengthen their message with community impact stories. Through practical exercises and discussion, participants will learn how to combine data and storytelling to create engaging advocacy narratives that engage decision-makers, influence policy, and inspire action. Participants will leave with tools and strategies to communicate their organization's impact with clarity, credibility, and purpose.

    Workshop Outline

    Effective advocacy requires both evidence and a compelling narrative. In this interactive workshop, participants will explore how to use organizational data and community stories together to create compelling, credible, and persuasive advocacy messages.

    Through guided discussion and small group exercises, participants will identify the data their organization already collects, from service statistics and client outcomes to community needs assessments and survey results and consider how this information can serve as evidence for advocacy efforts. We will then explore how to bring that data to life through storytelling, using lived experiences, case examples, and community voices to illustrate the human impact behind the numbers.

    Participants will learn how to:

    • Identify existing organizational data that can strengthen advocacy efforts
    • Extract key insights and build a clear data story
    • Connect quantitative evidence with qualitative stories and lived experience
    • Develop compelling narratives that resonate with decision-makers, funders, and community stakeholders
    • Communicate advocacy messages with confidence and impact

    Learning Objectives

    By the end of the workshop, participants will have the tools to transform data and stories into a powerful advocacy narrative that informs, inspires, and drives action.

    By the end of this workshop, participants will:

  • Identify data that can be leveraged for advocacy.
  • Transform data into meaningful and accessible stories.
  • Connect evidence with community impact stories.
  • Build compelling advocacy narratives for different audiences.
  • Communicate key messages that inspire understanding and action.
  • Hear from others in the archivist sector about their advocacy work and/or aspirations.
  • Identify possible areas for collaboration.

  
  

  Zoom link will be shared with registrants the day before the workshop.

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• Embedding Sustainability into your Digital Preservation Plan using the Levels of Preservation Commitment

  • When
    27 Oct 2026
  •  
    2:00 PM - 3:30 PM

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  Workshop: Embedding Sustainability into your Digital Preservation Plan using the Levels of Preservation Commitment

  When: October 27th 2-3:30 p.m. ET

  Where: Virtually Via Zoom

  
  

  

  Jack O'Grady, Collections and Digital Access Specialist at the Hamilton Public Library Local History and Archives department
  

  Biography: 

  Jack O'Grady is an emerging digital preservation professional based in Hamilton, Ontario. Before a career shift, he worked as a consultant assisting clients with information architecture, metadata management, and user access. It was in this position that he developed a passion for sustainability in information work, which he built on at the University of Toronto iSchool with a collaborative concentration in Environmental Studies. Since then, he's been at Hamilton Public Library launching a digital preservation system, serving on the Digital Preservation Coalition’s Carbon Footprint Calculation Support Group, and consulting with local environmental non-profits on digital asset management and migration.
  

  Description:

  Digital preservation has always been concerned with the sustainability of fiscal and archival resources, hedging against future disruptions while balancing against the present. Increasingly, digital preservation professionals are being called on to consider environmental sustainability more closely, as well, as the resource cost of digital storage and computation becomes clearer. Adding this new concern to an already complex equation can seem overwhelming, but this workshop walks participants through a methodology that leans on archivists' existing skill in appraisal to embed sustainable decision-making into your digital preservation plan. Introduced by Nancy McGovern and Kari R. Smith at MIT Libraries, the Levels of Preservation Commitment are a simple and easily customizable set of rankings which, when assigned to accessions, determine to what level the archive will commit a proportion of their overall resources for preservation. The central idea of this methodology is for archives to make intentional decisions on which collections to accept additional risk for in return for allocating fewer unsustainable resources, and which require a compromise in the other direction. In this workshop, the methodology is built on to include concerns for environmental sustainability more directly, and methods for customizing it to fit your specific archive's situation are offered along with a detailed process map for carrying out a Levels of Preservation Commitment appraisal.
  

  
  

  Zoom details will be shared with registrants the day before the workshop.

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• Basics of Email Preservation Workshop

  • When
    19 Nov 2026
  •  
    2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
  • Location
    Via Zoom

  Register

  Basics of Email Preservation Workshop

  

  When: Thursday November 19 from 2:00-3:30 p.m. ET

  Where: Virtually via Zoom (Zoom link will be provided to registrants the day before the workshop).

  Biography:

  Jonathan Ennis received his undergraduate degree from Moravian University in 2008 and his master's in Library and Information Science from Drexel University in 2011. He has been working at the Moravian Archive, Bethlehem, since 2018. He is responsible for the Archives' digitization projects, including scanning and maintenance of digitized material, processing and storage of born digital material, and digitization requests from researchers.

  Description: 

  This workshop offers an overview of the fundamentals of email preservation, exploring why preserving email is both essential and complex. Participants will be introduced to common email preservation formats, methods for downloading email from several major providers, approaches to processing and providing access using ePADD, and best practices for determining which emails should be preserved.

  The session builds on a presentation originally delivered for the Society of American Archivists’ Archivists of Religious Collections Section and incorporates research developed in preparation for collecting and preserving email accounts from Moravian congregations and agencies. The updated workshop will include refreshed content reflecting recent developments in the field, as well as practical insights drawn from this evolving case study.

  
  

  Zoom link will be provided to registrants the day before the workshop. 

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