Scope and Content

Monthly ACA Newsletter

February 2022, Volume 3, Issue 2

Awards Nominations

The ACA recognizes and celebrates its members with various honours and awards. These awards are provided through the ACA Nominations and Awards Committee, ACA Foundation, and Archivaria Editorial Board. 

The ACA Nominations and Awards Committee is pleased to announce that nominations are now open for the ACA Awards, which include Fellows, the Membership Recognition Award, the Larry Dohey Award, the New Professional Award, and the Honorary Archivist Award.

The nomination form is available on the ACA website, and the nomination deadline is April 14, 2022.

Volunteering

The ACA is looking for volunteers for a number of committees and working groups. Volunteers for ACA committees typically serve a two-year term, and most committees meet monthly for one hour. Additional time is spent on special projects, regular communication with members, and liaising with the ACA Board of Directors and other committee members. Twice each year, committees, board members and the secretariat come together, usually online, to complete and review work-plans and to identify priorities and projects for their respective committees. An individual may serve two consecutive terms on a committee.

• Financial Review Committee
• Governance Committee
  
• Professional Development Committee
• Program Team Chair, 2023 - Prince Edward Island
• Host Team Chair, 2023 - Prince Edward Island
• 50th Anniversary Working Group
  

See our Volunteer page for more information and to apply.

Calls for Submissions

ACA 2022: Call for Posters 

Do you have a topic you are burning to communicate about that would work well in a visual format? How about developing a poster for sharing at this year's ACA Conference? A poster presentation is one in which information is summarized using text and images and is presented in a poster format. This is an excellent opportunity to highlight your repository, a digitization project, a research project or other initiative, and share your work with your colleagues from around the country. The deadline for submissions is February 15, 2022. 

The posters will be on display with trade show exhibitors and will be featured on Thursday, June 16, 2022 from 3:30 to 5:30 PM (PT). Up to ten (10) poster presentations will be selected by the Program Team for display. The ACA reserves the right to cancel the posters in the event that insufficient submissions are received. 

In the Field: Call for Proposals and Submissions 

2021 has been a banner year for In the Field. Archivists from across Canada produced and published posts on topics that spoke to the trends and conversations happening in our vibrant field. 
   
In 2022 we want to go further afield, asking important questions, sharing ideas, and inspiring others to do the same. To that end, please consider the ACA blog as a means to share ideas and projects, successful endeavours, or lessons learned from your work in archival institutions, big and small, from coast to coast to coast and beyond. We want to hear from you! We’re also happy to connect with you to help you flesh out an idea, so don’t be shy! Feel free to send us an email at blog@archivists.cato discuss an idea.

Please complete our submission form to submit an idea or a draft blog post. We're looking forward to reading your contribution!

Rebecca Murray, In the Field Editor 
ACA Communications Committee 

Call for Proposals: ACA@UBC: Transforming Archival Education 

The student chapter of the Association of Canadian Archivists at the University of British Columbia (ACA@UBC) invites archives or information studies students from all universities around the world to participate in its 13th annual seminar and symposium, to be held virtually April 28-29, 2022. The theme for this year's seminar and symposium is "Transforming Archival Education."

Student presentations will take the form of lightning talks, where you will present for approximately 10 minutes, followed by a brief Q&A session. 

This is a great opportunity to share your work, discuss with others, and get some presentation experience! Your work does not have to be a completed project. It could be a class project, an ongoing project, or ideas for your future projects. You could also choose to share your experience as an archives or information studies student. 

If you are interested in participating, please submit your proposal to aca.slais@gmail.com by February 28, 2022. 

We welcome proposals in all formats, but they should include: 

• Title of your presentation and full name(s) of contributor(s) 

• An introduction to your work/idea and your motivation for it.
  

Upcoming Events

UCASIS event: BitCurator from Scratch: From Internship to Production Environment Implementation at Concordia University 

With John Richan and Sarah Lake  

Thursday, February 10, 2022 at 2:00 PM (ET) 

Free   

This presentation will consider how internships can serve as valuable opportunities for recent graduates to collaborate with archivists to test out new tools and digital archiving workflows. We will discuss the case study of a BitCurator Young Canada Works internship project undertaken at Concordia University Records Management and Archives (RMA) in 2019. Unlike many archival internships that focus on a specific processing project, this project was designed to give the intern a bird’s eye view of all RMA’s workflows to identify gaps and integrate new tools into existing practices, with the goal of increasing RMA’s digital preservation capacity through the BitCurator environment. The presentation will highlight the outcomes of the project and discuss the challenges and rewards of exploring this new approach.  

John Richan is the Digital Archivist in Records Management and Archives at Concordia University, Montreal, where his primary responsibilities are tied to digital preservation activities. John holds an MLIS from McGill University with a specialization in Archives. His professional interests include working open source applications and systems into digital preservation workflows.  

Sarah Lake is the Digital Preservation Librarian at Concordia University, where she is responsible for coordinating the Library’s digital preservation projects and activities. Prior to her current role, she served as Special Collections Archivist at Concordia Library, and she interned as Junior Digital Archivist at Concordia University Records Management and Archives. She holds an MISt from McGill University. 

TaASIS Winter Meet-Up 

Please join the Technology and Archives Special Interest Section (TaASIS) for the TaASIS Winter Meet-Up!  

Thursday, February 17, 2022 at 5:00 PM (PT) / 8:00 PM (ET)

Aside from TAATU (The Archives and Technology Unconference), there currently isn’t an active space for TaASIS members to connect with one another face to face. We want to create a space where TaASIS members have the opportunity to network and get to know each other. TaASIS wants to generate a stronger sense of community and provide a place where members can chat about archives and tech, share project updates, and work with their peers to identify and define community solutions to ongoing tech bugbears. 

So come out and join us! The TaASIS Meet-Up is totally participant led and will provide a dynamic space for SIS member engagement and support. To RSVP and propose an agenda item for an upcoming meeting, check out our event document. 

Feel free to get in touch with the co-chairs, Allie Querengesser and Andréa Tarnawsky, if you have questions.

Save the date: ACA@UBC Symposium 

The 13th annual ACA@UBC symposium will take place virtually April 28-29, 2022. The theme for the conference is “Transforming Archival Education.” Panelist and registration information will be forthcoming, but in the meantime, mark your calendars! 

Note from the Canadian Council of Archives (CCA) about Arcan-l

We received a few questions about moderation of the Arcan-l listserv recently after a subscriber blatantly violated the listserv’s Code of Conduct. We’ve responded to those queries individually, but would like to share information about how Arcan-l is managed.

The vast majority of submissions to Arcan-l are not vetted before distribution. After an incident of unprofessional behaviour in 2017, CCA conducted a survey of subscribers to determine if moderation or other changes/improvements were desired. Most deemed it unnecessary. Regardless, in 2019 the CCA Board decided to apply a mild level of moderation. This involves a quick email search on all new subscribers to rule out bots, spam, or other questionable email addresses. We also manually screen first posts by new subscribers and we have the ability to flag specific subscribers-of-concern for moderation. 

Currently, this level of moderation takes 5-6 hours per week by CCA staff. If we were to add full moderation, we would need volunteers to be involved in the review of each message, an idea CCA will discuss at its next Board meeting.

We want Arcan-l to be a safe space. It is disheartening, to put it mildly, when someone chooses to spew nonsense in that space. If you are interested in volunteering with arcan-l administration or have suggestions about alternative platforms you have successfully used that might facilitate dialogue, minimize the labour involved in moderation, or other ideas, please do not hesitate to contact CCA.

Joanna

Chair, CCA

Archival Community News

The AAO’s Professional Development Committee presents Safe Spaces for Diversity 

The safe space virtual sessions are safe spaces set aside and reserved for archives workers and records managers from historically excluded groups in our profession to connect with one another in an informal, participant-driven environment. These sessions are open to students, emerging and established professionals, as well as those working in volunteer and activist roles.  

• Archivists with Disabilities, Chronic Illnesses, and the Neurodivergent, moderated by Sarah McDougall, February 10, 2022, 12:00 PM (ET)
• LGBTQ2+ Archivists, moderated by Krista McCracken, February 16, 2022, 12:00 PM (ET) 
• BIPOC Archivists, moderated by Tamara Rayan, February 18, 2022, 12:00 PM (ET) 

Location: Online via Zoom  

Recording: These sessions will not be recorded.  

Registration: $0 (AAO members, student members, and non-members) 

Canadian Historical Association (CHA) petition to increase access to Library and Archives Canada   

The Canadian Historical Association (CHA) has created a petition to the Minister of Canadian Heritage, calling upon the Government of Canada to provide Library and Archives Canada (LAC) the resources required to increase their access to the public, in light of the decision to reduce access to three days a week.

Canada Cultural Spaces Funding for "Making Cultural Spaces Safe During COVID-19" 

Readers may be interested in applying for "Making Cultural Spaces Safe During COVID-19" funding, provided through the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund (CCSF). This money provides one-time project-based financial support for arts and heritage organizations across Canada to upgrade their space to be able to open safely while following relevant public health guidelines related to COVID-19. The Fund can be used for renovating or adapting spaces to make them safe for workers and the public to return, as well as the purchase and installation of health and safety-related specialized equipment. The initiative can fund up to 100% of eligible expenses or $150,000 per fiscal year in the case of grants and 100% of eligible expenses or $300,000 per year in the case of contributions. There is no deadline to apply for the Fund. Applications will be accepted on a continuous basis and assessed as they are received until the funds are fully disbursed. Eligible organizations are encouraged to apply as soon as possible to ensure that the program has sufficient time to assess their application and the organization has enough time to carry out its project. All projects must be carried out before March 31, 2022.

Combatting COVID-19 misinformation 

Because galleries, libraries, archives, and museums are typically seen as trusted sources of information among the public, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) is encouraging the GLAM sector to help raise awareness and combat misinformation surrounding COVID-19 vaccines. Archives thinking about planning an information session on this topic may find the following toolkit helpful: Planning Engagement Sessions on COVID-19 Vaccines and Public Health Measures: Tips and Best Practices for Organizing Virtual Meetings. If you have any ideas for how to help spread information about vaccines (or perhaps you are already doing so!), or if you have any questions about information to share during a session, please contact Abigail Vandzura at PHAC at abigail.vandzura@phac-aspc.gc.ca. 

Call for Papers: ASA Conference 

The Call for Papers for the 2022 Australian Society of Archivists (ASA) Conference, Here We Are, is now open. This year's hybrid conference will be held October 17-20, 2022. Visit the Call for Papers portal for full details and instructions on how to submit your paper. The Call for Papers will close on March 15, 2022. 

CHA Rethinking History in Canada Roundtable Series 

The Canadian Historical Association (CHA) is hosting a series of round-tables on the themes of women, gender, and sexuality (February 3); Indigenous experiences/decolonization (March 2); and BIPOC experiences (April 4). In this series, presenters have been invited to speak about their experiences in the profession, association, undertaking their research, or other topics of their choosing in relation to these themes. We have envisioned this as an opportunity for honest, critical conversations. This is part of the CHA’s wider effort to step back, to consider issues of structures of power and exclusion within the profession. 

Seminar Series: Historic Wrongs and Human Rights 

The Centre for Human Rights Research is hosting a series of critical conversations on human rights and historic wrongs in Canada, running through to April. Conversations include:

• March 7: Experiences of Enslaved Black People in Colonial Canada, with Harvey Amani Whitfield 

• March 14: Across Oceans of Law, with Renisa Mawani 

• March 21: Civilian Internment, with Rhoda Hinther and Jim Mochoruk 

• March 28: The Patients who Never Came Home: 'Indian' Tuberculosis and Indigenous Health Care in Manitoba, 1930s-1970s, with Anne Lindsay and Erin Millions 

• April 4: The Sixties Scoop and Indigenous Resistance, with Allyson Stevenson 

• April 18: Dangerously Different: Canada's LGBTQ2+ Purge and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, with Scott De Groot
  

Kudos! 

Congratulations to Michael Moosberger, Associate Dean Archives, Records Management and Special Collections and University Archivist at Dalhousie University, on his retirement. 

Congratulations to Amy Tector, who works at Library and Archives Canada, on the completion of her forthcoming novel, The Honeybee Emeralds. 

Dr. Anthea Seles is leaving her role as Executive Director of the Internation Council on Archives (ICA), where she has been since 2017. We look forward to seeing what she gets up to next! 

Do you know a member who's made big news? Is there something going on that you think the Canadian archival community should hear about? Don't hesitate to forward stories to the Communications Committee, and we'll help spread the word.

Commemorative Dates

February: Black History Month 

March: Hellenic Heritage Month 

March 8: International Women's Day 

March 17: Irish Heritage Day (St. Patrick's Day) 

March 21: International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination 

March 31: International Transgender Visibility Day

Job Opportunities

Submit your job opportunity here and it will be posted to the ACA website. We will also share this opportunity on our social media channels.

Chef d'équipe contrôle des documents, Suncor

Deadline: February 9, 2022

Archivist, City of Edmonton 

Deadline: February 10, 2022

Records and Information Specialist, Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction 

Deadline: February 28, 2022

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Do you have news you’d like the ACA to share via its social media channels? The Communications Committee has created a form you can use to give us the details! 

Contact Us

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Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5G4

Tel: 613-234-6977

Email: aca@archivists.ca

www.archivists.ca

The ACA office is located on the unceded, unsurrendered Territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation whose presence here reaches back to time immemorial.