A dynamic and responsive professional association changes everything.

Join our community of volunteers to help the ACA deliver on its commitments to build a professional community through creative, comprehensive, and engaging programs and services.

The ACA is looking for a Virtual Host who will build a team of 4-6 volunteers to support the delivery of the 2021 annual conference. This is a key position that requires a volunteer who is comfortable with videoconferencing and other digital platforms. The 2020 team created capacity and best practices; the new chair will work closely with ACA staff and board to build on this good work to deliver a successful conference experience for our 2021 participants.

We are also looking for volunteers to serve on the following ACA standing committees:

Communications is looking for volunteers to assist with the ACA’s social media, blog, website, and newsletter. This is a great opportunity for new and seasoned professionals with strong written communications skills to work with the ACA on a variety of services and initiatives.

Education is looking for volunteers with a keen interest in continuing education for the archives and recordkeeping profession. The committee is in the process of developing a professional development strategy that will include the roll out of online programming to serve professionals at all stages of their careers. This is a great opportunity for mid-career professionals who have a good understanding of the changing profession and/or an interest in online course development and delivery.

Governance is embarking on a major project to review and refresh all ACA policies to align with the new association bylaw (passed in 2020). This is a good opportunity for volunteers with non-profit management experience and/or an interest in equity, governance, and ethics.

Membership is looking for volunteers to help with three main projects: (1) a review and refresh of member benefits; (2) the planned expansion of the mentorship program; and (3) strengthening the student chapter program. This is a perfect committee for those who are interested in working with new members and/or student members.

The ACA believes that a professional and intellectual community is enriched and enhanced by diversity along a number of dimensions, including, but not limited to, race, ethnicity and national origins, gender and gender identity, sexuality, class and religion. We are especially committed to increasing committee participation by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour) professionals. We encourage applications from ACA members at any stage of their careers and from all backgrounds.

ACA volunteers must be members in good standing and typically commit to a 2-year term. All volunteers agree to abide by the ACA Volunteer Code of Conduct. Volunteers are supported from start to finish by the ACA Board of Directors and Staff.

To apply for any of these positions, please submit your expression of interest by filling out our online form here: https://archivists_ca.formstack.com/forms/aca_volunteer_form

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask either myself or Jo McCutcheon by email to executive.director at archivists.ca.

Rebecka Sheffield

Vice-President, ACA 2018-2021

Home improvement: Building archives through change

The keepers of memory have many homes. Whether your role is as an archivist, community organizer, records manager, researcher, storykeeper, or data curator, we live in many layered places at once. There are the institutional homes where we work as stewards and preservers, where we teach and learn, and where we provide services and consult and collaborate with our communities. We have professional homes embodied by associations, academic programs, collaborative networks, and informal meetups. And this year, much of our work is taking place in our physical homes at kitchen tables, in home offices, and backyards. 

Homes require maintenance if they are to last and continue to meet the needs of those who live in them. They need more than a welcome mat if they are to be truly open to new members. And the idea of home itself needs flexibility when home is not a safe or stable place for everyone. Since this year’s ACA conference will take place virtually from wherever your home may be in June 2021, we ask you to reflect on the improvements we must make to our many homes.

Please review our Call for Submissions infographic for more details.

Deadline: November 16, 2020

Full call, submission details and form: https://archivists.ca/2021 

Questions or concerns? Contact Program.Team@archivists.ca 

The ACA thinks this message from the Canadian Council of Archives and the National Archival Appraisal Board may be of interest to our members.  The ACA will be submitting feedback to the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board on the updated monetary appraisal guidelines.

Deadline for input: September 18, 2020

Link:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CCPERB-CCEEBC

Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board (CCPERB) has issued new guidelines (dated July 31, 2020) that provide instructions for appraisers and applicants about the information required and recommended format for a monetary appraisal prepared in support of an application for certification submitted to CCPERB.

The National Archival Appraisal Board (NAAB) and the Canadian Council of Archives (CCA) are seeking the input of monetary appraisers and archival institutions across Canada, regarding this updated guide.

Within an economic climate of budget restrictions and cutbacks, the purchase of valuable Canadian archival materials is prohibitive to most archives and limited to a small number of large Canadian archival institutions.  As a result, we want to encourage the ongoing deposit of cultural property in Canada's archives, and ensure that Canadians continue to be eligible for tax incentives for the donation of archival materials.

We feel that this revised guide is an excellent opportunity for the archival community to identify and consolidate areas of serious concern regarding the archival monetary appraisal framework in Canada.

You may complete the survey in either English or French and it will take between 10 to 20 minutes to complete, depending upon the extent of input you are able to provide. A PDF of the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board Guide for Monetary Appraisal is attached to this message. The survey will also display each section of the guide (in purple) and ask if you agree or disagree with the content (in black), and if you have any feedback to provide. Please be as specific as possible.

We sincerely appreciate you taking the time to complete this survey. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

To review the document, see here.

Sincerely,

Karen L. Teeple

Chair, NAAB Board of Directors

Email: karenlteeple@gmail.com

&

Joanna Aiton Kerr

Chair, CCA Board of Directors

Email: Joanna.AitonKerr@gnb.ca

The Results are In!

On behalf of the Governance Committee of the Association of Canadian Archivists, I am pleased to announce the results of our 2020 online vote.

Voter Turn-Out

33.2% of voting members participated in this historic vote, roughly three times the number of members who typically participate at our in-person AGM.

Bylaw #1 Passed

Individual Members voted overwhelming in favour of adopting new bylaw (99.2%) and endorsing a change to the ACA’s membership category. Institutional Members also voted unanimously to endorse the change to membership category. The new Bylaw #1 will now be the governing document for the association. For more information about this bylaw, please visit the ACA’s website: https://archivists.ca/ACA-2020-AGM-Bylaw-Review-and-Nominations-and-Elections-Policy

New Directors Elected

Members voted overwhelmingly to accept the slate of candidates as presented. The ACA is thrilled to announce our incoming board of directors:

Incoming President: Erica Hernández-Read

Erica Hernández-Read has been an archivist with the Northern BC Archives and Special Collections at the University of Northern British Columbia since 2006. She earned both her B.A. in Anthropology and her Master’s degree in Archival Studies from UBC and has spent the last 20 years working in the fields of archives and artifact collections management and advocating for a participatory and community-archiving approach to knowledge building. Ms. Hernández-Read is co-Chair of the Response to the Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Taskforce of the Steering Committee on Canada’s Archives, and a member of the Indigitization Program Steering Committee.

Incoming Treasurer: Andrea McCutcheon

Andrea McCutcheon works as an Archivist at the University of Toronto Archives and Records Management Services where she oversees the institution's records management program, acquires the school’s archival administrative records, and facilitates research access to the University of Toronto Archives. She has over ten years of experience working with corporate records in public and private institutions, and hold a Master of Information from the University of Toronto Faculty of Information (2011).

Incoming Director at Large: Andrew Chernevych

Andrew Chernevych is an Archivist at the Galt Museum & Archives in Lethbridge, Alberta. Prior to the Galt, he had worked as a contract archivist at the Provincial Archives of Alberta and was employed by the City of Wetaskiwin Archives. His holds an MA in History from the Central European University (CEU) and an MA in Folklore from the University of Alberta. Andrew has served on the Governance Committee since 2019. Over the last fifteen years, Andrew Chernevych has been involved with the Archives Society of Alberta (ASA), serving on various committees and currently finishing his term as ASA President.

Incoming Director at Large: Gillian Dunks

Gillian Dunks is Archives Arrangement and Description Librarian at McMaster University Library’s William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections, where she has worked since 2018. She holds a Master of Arts in English Literature and a Master of Archival Studies, both from the University of British Columbia. She currently serves on the ACA’s Education Committee and was previously on the executive team of the ACA student chapter at UBC. She looks forward to contributing to the governance of the Association.

Please note that start dates have been staggered to better plan for the transition to the ACA’s new bylaw, which amends term periods from calendar year to AGM dates. Starting with the 2021 elections, incoming directors will now begin their terms immediately following the AGM and serve for two years ending at their second AGM.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the vote. Thanks also to Michael Gourlie and Deirdre Bryden, who served as the 2020 Nominations Committee.

Sincerely,

Rebecka Sheffield

Chair, Governance Committee

Vice-President, 2018-2021

It’s time for another email full of links to news articles, blog posts, videos, and podcasts to pertaining to Indigenous people, cultures, and issues. 

For the year ahead, we’ll be connecting these emails with the Moose Cree lunar-based calendar; the month of June aligns with Saakipakaawi-piisim (Budding Moon), a time of year when the flowers are budding or blooming.

These links have been collected and are graciously provided by Alison Little, Senior Coordinator of Educational Programming and Exhibitions at the Archives of Ontario. 

The list is provided for reference only and the ACA does not guarantee the accuracy or comprehensiveness of each resource, nor endorse a particular perspective. Our aim is only to provide opportunities for our members to learn more about Indigenous peoples and colonial issues.  

Archiving and Language Documentation panel discussion (upcoming on July 11)

Victoria museum releases more than 16,000 historical images of Indigenous life (June 17)

Review of monuments sparks discussion of colonial narratives in N.L. history (June 16)

#BLACKLIVESMATTER and Archives in Australia (June 17)

Fishing with Elders builds these children’s Oji-Cree language, cultural knowledge and writing (June 15)

We Can Decide Where to Stand: Advocating for Aboriginal Priorities as Archivists and Information Workers(June 15)

Former Fort Smith Métis president says day school settlement forms 'misleading' (June 15)

Provincial police watchdog to start collecting race-based data (June 11)

Former employees of Canadian Museum for Human Rights say they faced racism, mistreatment (June 10)

Museum makes historic Indian Reserve Commission document accessible to public (June 10)

Indigenous Recordkeeping and Archives (June 8)

Black Lives Matter translation prompts calls for changes to Ojibway language (June 5)

Red Sky Performance offers wisdom, insight, and humour to inaugural session of the Wisdom Keeper Series (June 4)

Treaty session explores realities of the histories of Canada and Nation-to-Nation (June 3)

To Breathe Together: Co-Conspirators For Decolonial Futures (June 2)

Knowledge positions in Aotearoa and Turtle Island art museums (June 1)

Covid-19, the Numbered Treaties & the Politics of Life (June)

Ottawa’s move to block statistical reports on residential schools ‘modern day colonialism,’ says survivor.” (May 27)

Challenging Colonial Spaces: Reconciliation and Decolonizing Work in Canadian Archives (May 24)

The Records of Native American Boarding Schools from Archival Outlook (May/June 2020)

Dear Colleagues,

This message is a reminder to archival educators to submit student papers to the Dodds Prize before the end of the month.

The Dodds Prize recognizes superior research and writing on an archival topic by a student enrolled in a Master's level archival studies program at a Canadian university.

To be considered, a faculty member or instructor associated with the program must submit the student paper to verify that it was written within the context of an archival studies program between May 1, 2019 and April 30, 2020. Submissions must be received by June 30, 2020.

The submission form and procedures are available on the Archivaria website.

Submissions will be judged by the Dodds Prize Adjudication Committee on the quality of their scholarship, creativity and clarity of writing. The Adjudication Committee comprises the General Editor of Archivaria (or delegate), the ACA Board Liaison to Archivaria (or delegate) and two additional ACA members chosen annually by the General Editor. Delegates will be used in cases where a conflict of interest exists.

Winners will receive a certificate, a cash prize, publication of the winning entry in Archivaria and a listing on the ACA website.

For more information or if you have any questions, please contact me.

All the best,

Shyla Seller

Managing Editor, Archivaria

This year's Annual General Meeting will take place online at 12:00 EDT, Tuesday, June 23. We will use Zoom as the platform to support this year's presentation of reports, updates and motions.

The ACA Governance Committee has been focused on review and renewal of the ACA’s bylaw. The new bylaw will accomplish several tasks:

• Clarify and codify existing practices

• Remove outdated language and policy provisions

• Better align with model bylaw recommended by the Canadian Not-For-Profit Act

• Allow for full participation of members through virtual meetings and online voting

• Provide greater benefits to institutional members

All active members will receive Zoom details. For more information on downloading Zoom, see here.

To register for the AGM, please click here. A reminder that your ACA membership should be active.

These reports and the guidelines will be discussed at the AGM via Zoom at 12:00 pm EDT.

Online voting will open for motions arising from this meeting and for Board positions following the meeting, June 23, 2020 and remain open until end of day June 30, 2020.  Voting members should check that their email address is up to date and watch for an email from Simply Voting. You may need to adjust your spam filters to permit this message.

This year, Institutional members will also have a special resolution to consider their membership class and will also receive a notice to vote based on their identified contact in the ACA membership profile.

Please do not hesitate to contact the ACA office with any questions you may have.  To review the Bulletin which contains the proposed By-Law #1 and all annual reports, see here.  The agenda is also available for review.

The ACA Board of Directors

Loryl MacDonald, President

Rebecka Sheffield, Vice President

Jonathan Dorey, Treasurer

Jane Morrison, Secretary

Luciana Durant, Director-at-Large

Jeremy Heil, Director-at-Large

ACA Secretariat

It’s time for another email full of links to news articles, blog posts, videos, and podcasts to pertaining to Indigenous people, cultures, and issues. 

For the year ahead, we’ll be connecting these emails with the Moose Cree lunar-based calendar; the month of May aligns with Aniiki-piisim (Frog Moon), signalling the time of year when the frogs come out.

These links have been collected and are graciously provided by Alison Little, Senior Coordinator of Educational Programming and Exhibitions at the Archives of Ontario. 

The list is provided for reference only and the ACA does not guarantee the accuracy or comprehensiveness of each resource, nor endorse a particular perspective. Our aim is only to provide opportunities for our members to learn more about Indigenous peoples and colonial issues. 

• Indigenous Subject Headings Modification Project presentation by Marilyn Cameron from Red River College during a microlearning session hosted by Maskwacis Cultural College
• Canada must improve COVID-19 data collection for Indigenous communities, minister says
• Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada adds audio recordings of some First Nations’ names  to online community profiles to aid in pronunciation (note: these recordings appear to only be accessible through the database of First Nation communities, not the interactive map).
• Epidemics and resilience: How the Algonquin have faced nearly 200 years of disease outbreaks and survived
• ‘It’s teaching time’: Children of survivors of past pandemics say there are things to be learned
• Revitalizing a language, one video call at a time
• Indigenous communities return to land to ensure adequate food supply during COVID-19 pandemic
• Award-winning ‘Uncover/Recover’ project from the ROM and OCAD University goes live online 
• Heritage Toronto launches “Indigenous Roots: A Living History” as part of Heritage at Home initiative
• Cole Pauls wrote an action-packed comic to help preserve Indigenous language
• COVID-19 numbers from provincial, First Nations data sharing agreement won't be made public without consent
• Elder digs into Spanish Flu history for lessons to fighting COVID-19
• Wet'suwet'en agreement outlines steps for transferring control of territory to traditional leadership
• 'Literary Auntie' Janet Rogers to launch Indigenous publishing house with new poetry collection 
• Aamjiwnaang First Nation helps at-home learners take in Anishinaabe teachings
• Lieux de rencontres / Hanging Out, an online exhibit featuring Indigenous youth in Quebec 
• Online Indigenous art workshop bringing community and creativity together
• Nokiiwin Tribal Council release authentic cultural lessons for children to learn at home during COVID-19 pandemic

As the COVID-19 crisis evolves, archives across Canada are now considering how to prepare for reopening after an extended period of closure. Archives and records professional are just beginning to understand how this closure has changed the nature of their work, temporarily and permanently, and what effect this pandemic will have on the profession as a whole.

The Impact of Closures on Archives and Archivists

We understand that many of our members have been personally affected by the emergency order to close archives. Some institutions have decided to delay contract renewals, resulting in temporary or permanent job losses for the most vulnerable and precariously employed. There have also been salary adjustments, reduced hours, and in some cases, layoffs of staff in a variety of positions. 

There is now a real desire to reopen and begin serving our communities again. This cannot be done, though, until the safety and health of staff, volunteers, researchers, and visitors are considered. Resuming services, however limited or modified, will be risky and difficult. Any decision should be based on government and public health advice and must take into account the needs of staff first and foremost. 

Knowing When It Is Safe to Reopen

Recovery planning will differ across the country, depending on local needs and regional risk factors. Any decision to reopen will also take into account the particular needs of the institution. The ACA urges directors, funders, and policymakers to consider a range of public health, safety, financial, and operational considerations before making a decision to reopen. These considerations might include:

1. Clear and Unambiguous Public Health and Safety Guidelines

Governments and public health authorities should provide clear and unambiguous guidelines for managing social interactions for service organizations. This would include, for example, guidance on how staff should interact with each other, including any modifications to facilities that will reduce the likelihood of virus transmission. This might include:

• adding plexiglass dividers between workstations
• staggering staffing to limit the number of staff in the office at one time
• opening later and/or closing early to allow staff time to perform routine sanitization measures
• providing personal protective equipment (PPE) to staff who interact with the public
• allowing staff to work from home where possible and appropriate

Recovery plans should also provide clear measures to implement when serving members of the public to reduce risk of infection. This might include:

• limiting the number of researchers allowed into reading rooms
• ensuring 2-metre distance between research stations
• offering special hours for vulnerable populations, e.g., seniors and other high-risk groups
• providing limited in-person services
• providing enhanced chat or email research services
• reducing opportunities to handle physical materials
• eliminating the use of cash money to pay for services
• providing personal hygiene products such as hand sanitizer and/or disposable gloves and masks to visitors
• allowing adequate time between records retrieval, records use, and re-shelving to reduce likelihood of virus transference (i.e., implement a records quarantine period)
• permitting self-serve photography or scanning (e.g., the use of cell phones or hand-held scanners) to allow researchers to ‘take home’ images of records for further off-site study and minimize staff time spent in the reading room

There continues to be conflicting reports of the risk of virus transmission on surfaces or by cross-contamination through handling objects. For up to date information on caring for physical collections during the COVID-19 pandemic, visit the Canadian Conservation Institute at: https://www.canada.ca/en/conservation-institute/services/conservation-preservation-publications/canadian-conservation-institute-notes/caring-heritage-collections-covid19.html

Any archives unable to reopen because of an inability to comply with safety guidelines should be eligible for emergency support during an extended period following the end of the emergency order to close to ensure future operations. 

2. Reassuring the Public

The ACA anticipates a long period of adjustment during which time archives will need strong public support and a focus on alternative service delivery methods to ensure continued operations. There has never been a more critical need for increased digital access to collections and virtual outreach programs. Staff may decide to refocus efforts on digitization and digital innovation.

3. People-First Approach

The ACA encourages a people-first approach to planning for a reopening. Just because the archives can be reconfigured to safely reopen does not mean that its people are prepared. Planning should consider:

The availability of staff. Some staff may be unavailable due to ill health or isolation. Some may be at home caring for children or other dependents and will not be able to fully return to work until plans can be made to re-open schools and other care facilities. Staff in large institutions may have been redeployed to other areas of the organization. If staff have been lost due to layoff or contracts ending, they will need to be brought back into the institution. Depending on the services provided, archives may need fewer or, in some cases, more staff to meet health and safety guidelines. 

The availability of volunteers. Some archives rely on volunteers, many of whom are retirees, to contribute to the management of the organization and delivery of services. Planning for reopening should take into account the needs of volunteers who may or may not wish to return to service immediately or in the medium-term. 

Even if staff and volunteers are available, planning should also consider the broader impact COVID-19 has had and will continue to have on the mental health of staff and volunteers. Many people have been personally impacted by the virus, either falling ill themselves or caring for a loved one. Some will have lost family members, friends, or loved ones to the virus. Planning should account for those who are not able to return to full-time work or are struggling to manage workload. The mental health of staff and volunteers needs to the greatest priority for everyone as archives reopen to a ‘new normal.’ 

Involving Archives and Records Professionals in Planning

The ACA urges government, directors, funders, and policymakers to recognize the value of archives in Canada. Archives do not function without records professionals. Therefore, archivists and recordkeepers should be included in any planning activities to reopen the archives. ACA members and the broader profession are strong advocates for documentary heritage, access to information, accountability, and community histories. Archivists want to serve their communities and the public. Let’s make sure that this is done safely and with health of staff, volunteers, researchers, and visitors top of mind.

Finally, the ACA encourages all archives and archivists to share openly their plans for reopening with the larger community of practice. We are all in this together and can learn from one another during this unprecedented time. 

Sincerely,

The ACA Board of Directors

* Thanks to the Museum Association for paving the way with its statement on reopening UK Museums. See: https://www.museumsassociation.org/news/04052020-reopening-the-museum-sector-ma-statement

Dear Archival Colleagues,

I am pleased to announce that Archivaria 89 (Spring 2020) is now available online at https://archivaria.ca/. It will also be available on Project Muse within the coming days. The print issue is in production and will be mailed to members and subscribers in the next few weeks. Canada Post is reporting delays to their service and this may affect when members receive their printed copies.

All Archivaria content is currently available to everyone without any restrictions. After June 30, 2020, we will be implementing a new embargo policy, by which access to articles included in the most recent two issues (instead of the last eight issues) is going to be restricted to members and subscribers.

With this issue, you'll also notice things have changed a bit on our website. In recent weeks, we upgraded the journal to a more responsive, mobile-friendly version of Open Journal Systems (OJS).

A huge thank you to the authors who have contributed to the new issue, to the Archivaria Editorial Team, and to the ACA office staff for all the hard work it takes to put an issue together.

Happy reading!

Fiorella Foscarini, General Editor