Scope and Content Monthly ACA Newsletter
October 2022, Volume 3, Issue 10
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Click here if you are having trouble reading the newsletter.
Scope and Content is issued the first Thursday of each month. If you have any comments or feedback, please contact the Communications Committee.
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Thank You!!
I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the incredible amount of work that went into the creation of both the Institutional Membership Fee Report, 2022 and the Individual Membership Report, 2022, which you can read about below. What seemed like a reasonably straightforward exercise to begin 3 years ago slowly revealed layers of complexity that had to then be considered, researched, analyzed, and reconsidered by Membership Committee members, Board members, and Finance Review Committee members. It was indeed a team effort to pull this information together and provide this direction to the association overall. On behalf of the Board of Directors, I’d like to extend my gratitude to the members of each of these amazing committees – thank you for your time and work on this important membership issue! Update on Fundraising for Ukraine Initiative
Just a quick update for members on this important summertime fundraising initiative. No formal announcement has yet been made on how much money we raised, but I hope to be able to provide one soon. We’ve just been waiting on the delivery of a couple of outstanding auction items so we can do our final tally; but once that is concluded, we will finally be able to make our formal announcement. After reporting to members, we will then transfer this money to the Galt Museum & Archives, which will ensure these funds get transferred directly to the State Archival Service of Ukraine when peace in Ukraine is once again a reality. Let’s hope that is soon.
Upcoming Priorities & Planning Meetings
The Board is hosting its Fall Priority & Planning, or P&P, meetings on October 14 and 15. For those who may not know, this bi-annual working meeting provides the Board and ACA's standing committees with the opportunity to work together to assess and re-prioritize annual workplans, brainstorm new initiatives, and address any challenges that may have arisen. If you have any creative ideas or initiatives you would like considered, please reach out to myself, the Board, or the relevant Committee chair – we would love to hear from you!
Contact Me
Until the next update, if you have any concerns or suggestions for new initiatives you would like the ACA to undertake, please don’t hesitate to reach out! Your Board wants to hear from you.
Warmest regards,
Erica Hernández-Read
President
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Motions for Membership Fee Changes
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Over the past year, the ACA Board has prioritized a review of Individual and Institutional ACA membership fee amounts and structures.
The ACA Board, Membership Committee, Financial Review Committee, and Institutional Membership Working Group have worked in recent years to reconsider the viability and merits of amendments to these.
Work on Individual memberships was initially undertaken in response to a 2016 General Membership vote to increase fees rather substantially, and subsequent deferrals to implementing these increases was based on the ACA’s improving membership and financial circumstances as well as the changeable and uncertain circumstances that have occurred in recent years.
Work on Institutional memberships was initiated by the Board in response to member feedback from the strategic planning process. The Membership Committee completed a survey in 2019, and in 2020 the Institutional Membership Working Group was established. The findings and recommendations of this group’s study of members’ and non-members’ opinions on the ACA’s Institutional member category were published in the 2021 Bulletin in “ Addendum D: Institutional Membership Working Group Report June 2021”. This report was originally written by former ACA Membership Chair Shamin Malmas and Treasurer Jonathan Dorey after conducting a jurisdictional scan in 2019 that analyzed member categories and fee structures offered by other associations. In 2021 the Membership Committee worked tirelessly to update the 2019 information in this report so as to better reflect our current membership base and to factor in our “true cost” of membership.
Mindful of cost-of-living increases and the Fall 2020 ACA Equity Commitments, the Membership Committee and ACA Secretariat refreshed the data in the initial reports to reflect current ACA finances and membership trends.
Based on feedback from the Financial Review Committee and ACA Standing Committee Chairs, the ACA Board has reviewed the following recommendations brought forward by these committees and voted in favour of accepting them. Two motions will be put to a Special Member Vote, which will open online on November 16, 2022. Current ACA Individual Members and Institutional Members (official delegates) are able to view the two reports that informed the Board’s decisions on the ACA website, and attend a Special Meeting for Members on November 16.
The Board would like to express its gratitude to Jane Morrison and the Institutional Membership Working Group, Jonathan Dorey, Shamin Malmas, Kira Baker and the Membership Committee, former ACA Treasurer Andrea McCutcheon and the Finance Review Committee, as well the ACA Office staff, Jo McCutcheon and Maureen Tracey, for their work on this important membership matter.
Member Motion #1: Motion to adopt the proposed Individual member fee changes, to start at the beginning of the 2024 membership year, as outlined in the Option 2 Salary Range table presented in the Individual Membership Fee Report 2022.
Member Motion #2: Motion to adopt the proposed Institutional member fee changes, to start at the beginning of the 2024 membership year, as outlined in the Option 3 Staff Range table presented in the Institutional Membership Fee Report 2022.
The ACA will be holding a Special Meeting of Members on November 16 at 10:00 am (PT) / 1:00 pm (ET), to share your thoughts on these motions. Please take some time to consider the options provided in these two reports to better understand the proposed motions and fully participate in the conversation. |
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Call for Early Bird Prize Donations
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The
Membership Committee is seeking potential gift prizes for the Early
Bird Prize draw. This annual draw is held in January and awarded from
the pool of ACA members who renew early in the fall/winter months. If
you or your institution would be willing to donate a prize, please let
us know by contacting membership@archivists.ca. |
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Enrolment will open for the 2023 Mentorship Program starting November 15. Please consider signing up as volunteer mentor to connect with someone newly entering the profession and offer your insight into archival issues, working environments, and career development. Any ACA member with a minimum of 5 years post-graduate experience in the field is eligible, and we welcome archivists and information professionals with a range of job titles and institutional backgrounds to become new mentors.
Any questions can also be directed to Mentorship Program Coordinators Nicole Aminian and Kyle Pugh at mentorship.program@archivists.ca.
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As many members know, the ACAF and the Secretariat have been working to restore the charitable status of the ACA Foundation. As noted in previous updates, the re-application process was completed in February, and in July the CRA responded with questions about the activities of the Foundation and requested that we clarify these activities. To that end, the Board determined that it was prudent to engage a legal firm experienced with the CRA and charity legislation to support this work. The ACAF has until October 20 to respond to the CRA, and a letter will be sent in the coming days. In response to the work that has been undertaken to re-apply for Charitable Status, including clarifying our objectives and activities, and in response to questions raised by CRA regarding how the ACAF and its activities are communicated, a decision has been made to have a separate website for the ACAF. This new site, www.ACAFoundation.ca, will be up and running by the end of October, and we appreciate your support and understanding while the Foundation Board of Directors and the ACA Board of Directors work to see this process through. The Emerging Voices Scholarships, the Ancestry Continuing Education Scholarship, and ACAF Bursaries will be outlined on the website, along with a donations page where contributions can be made.
If you have any questions regarding the process, please do not hesitate to contact Kyle Pugh, ACAF Board Chair.
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October 21, 2022, 1:00 – 2:30 pm (ET), on Zoom The Fall Meeting of the ACA Government Records Special Interest Section (GRSIS) is coming up. What quandaries, victories, discoveries, and gremlins are you encountering in your work with government records these days? Come and share your stories with colleagues across Canada, and we’ll give you sage advice (which you can of course ignore). We generally attract a mix of new/experienced archivists/records managers from variously sized governments; it’s always interesting. Pour yourself a coffee and join us on Friday, October 21.
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SISARO Event on Truth and Reconciliation
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November 9, 2022, 3:00 – 5:00 pm (ET), on Zoom
The Special Interest Section for Archivists of Religious Organizations, Association of Canadian Archivists, presents “Native American Residential Schools, Archives, and Truth and Reconciliation.” This presentation will discuss current initiatives in the USA on this topic. The guest panellists are Maka Black Elk, Stephen Curley, and Amy Cooper Cary.
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The Reconciliation Framework: Presentation and Q & A |
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November 23, 2022, 1:00 pm (ET) / 10:00 am (PT)
In late February 2022, the Response to the Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Taskforce (TRC-TF) of the Steering Committee on Canada’s Archives (SCCA) released its Reconciliation Framework. This webinar will feature five members of the Taskforce, who will describe the process of developing the Reconciliation Framework, an introduction to the Framework itself and the next steps in their work, followed by Q&A and discussion.
Speakers will include: Erica Hernández-Read, Raegan Swanson, Krista McCracken, Jennifer Jansen, and Donald Johnson (Lytton Nation).
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Implementing Trauma-Informed Archival Practice
November 10, 2022, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm (AEST)
NOTE Canadian time: November 9, 2022, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm (ET)
Online via the Australian Society of Archivists
This workshop will consider how archives can use the principles of trauma-informed practice to provide a better service for all who use and engage with archives. Trauma-informed archival practice enables better connections with those who use archives, facilitates a reimagining about what archives can be for everyone, and challenges current models of archival work. It is aimed at anyone working in archives and across the broader GLAMR sector.
The workshop complements, rather than is a substitution for, the online courses. The intent of the workshop is for participants to discuss real-life scenarios based on their current contexts, and develop ideas and strategies to take back to their organizations, around the area of trauma-informed archival practice. It is not a requirement that participants have completed the online course before attending the workshop – but participants may find completing the online courses useful before or after attending the workshop to get the full theoretical grounding.
While an obvious place for implementing trauma-informed practice is a reference service, this session will also discuss implementing principles of trauma-informed practice in broader areas of archival work, including archival description, providing access and releasing records, and dealing with the effects of vicarious trauma on staff.
Workshop participants will complete assessments of their archives and develop a plan of practical actions they can take back to their organizations to begin implementing a trauma-informed approach. As part of the workshop, participants also will be completing plans for their organizations.
Workshop facilitators:
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Nicola Laurent, Senior Project Archivist on the Find & Connect web resource team at the University of Melbourne and President of the Australian Society of Archivists. With Michaela Hart and Kirsten Wright, she is the co-founder of the Trauma-Informed Archives Community of Practice.
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Kirsten Wright is the Program Manager, Find & Connect web resource, University of Melbourne.
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Description and Access for Anti-Black Archival Materials November 24, 2022, 5:30 – 7:30 pm (ET) / 2:30 – 4:30 pm (PT) Fees: ACA/ASA Members $75.00, ACA Student Members / Precariously employed $50.00, Non-Members $125.00 There are a limited number of subsidized spaces. Please contact the ACA office.
This workshop will address anti-Black racism in archival records by providing methods on how to create inclusive descriptions and how to provide access to these materials while minimizing harm. This workshop will ask participants to think critically about the impact of descriptive and access practices for racist archival records. The workshop will include interactive activities and discussions with time for reflection. Workshop Facilitator:
- Melissa J. Nelson is a second-generation Jamaican Canadian from Toronto, Ontario. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in History, with a minor in Sociology, from Carleton University. She also completed a Master of Information Studies at McGill University. Currently, she works as an Archivist for the Archives of Ontario. Melissa conducts research and produces content on history and archive related topics for her website melissajnelson.com. Her blog post “Archiving Hate: Racist Materials in Archives” has been cited in “Language in archival descriptions changes” by the University of Waterloo Special Collections & Archives, “United Church of Canada Archives Equity Statement” by The United Church of Canada Archives, and “Guiding Principles for Conscious and Inclusive Description” by Baker Library of Harvard Business School.
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In the Field: The ACA Blog
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The blog team is so excited for the next few months of blog posts on a great range of topics – big thanks to the amazing range of talented archivists who are submitting articles but also to our dedicated copy-editing team!
In September, we published the first in a series of posts about Archivist Authors. This one features an interview with Amy Tector, whose most recent novel, The Foulest Thing, stars a young archivist who comes across historic letters hidden in a farm ledger, letters that might just hold the key to solving a murder!
We also published part one of “Archival Research, Indigenous Protocols, and Documentary Filmmaking: A Case Study of British Columbia – An Untold History” by Emma Metcalfe Hurst. Hurst writes about working on the production of the documentary “British Columbia: An Untold History” and reflects on ethical approaches to archival research and the process of developing an Indigenous protocol.
If you're interested in submitting a post or want to discuss an idea for a post with us, please feel free to reach out via blog@archivists.ca.
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Financial Review Committee
We would like to extend a call for new volunteers. The Finance Review Committee meets monthly to review and support the ACA Board of Directors' financial decision-making matters. Volunteers looking to lend or gain experience creating budgets and help brainstorm cost-effective and value-based decisions that align with the ACA's strategic plan and equity commitments are encouraged to submit an application using the volunteer form. All levels of experience are welcome.
Conference Planning Committee
If you would like to put your previous conference planning experience to good use, or if you would like to gain such experience, we would love to have you volunteer for the CPC! Please fill out an ACA Volunteer form and we will be in touch with you shortly!
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National Japanese Canadian Digitization Strategy: The Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre (NNMCC) and the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre (JCCC) are pleased to present the National Japanese Canadian Digitization Strategy. This strategy is an official policy adopted by the NNMCC and JCCC to help identify and prioritize records from our collections for digitization. We share this strategy widely across Canada to encourage archives, museums, galleries, and heritage organizations to help us meet our goal to increase the preservation and access of records created by and about Japanese Canadians. This strategy was funded by the Government of Canada Digital Access to Heritage – Museum Assistance Program and is available for download in both English and French. |
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2012 Quebec Student Strike Archives Podcast and Exhibit: To commemorate the tenth anniversary of the student strikes in Quebec, Le projet collectif 2012 has launched a podcast and exhibit called “ 2012: Mémoires à faire.”
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Database of Archives’ Values: The National Archival Appraisal Board (NAAB) is very pleased to announce the launch of the Database of Archives’ Values (DAV) to archival institutions. Subscriptions for Canadian archival institutions are available for the yearly fee of $300 CAD + GST and $400 CAD for international archival institutions. DAV is an online research tool created by the National Archival Appraisal Board (NAAB) in partnership with the Canadian Council of Archives (CCA). Development was funded in part by the Council of Provincial and Territorial Archivists (CPTA). The purpose of DAV is to provide access to sales (market) information and purchases of archival materials by archives across Canada. Reputable dealer listings (values) may also be included, as well as relevant international market information. Currently, DAV contains over 1250 records of archival values. We would like to sincerely thank our participating archives, who contributed 422 of those sales precedents from their own archival purchase records. At this time, 75% of the entries on DAV document archival values at the item level, while the remaining 25% of DAV records describe purchases of archival files, collections, and fonds.
To subscribe to DAV, please fill out the subscription form, and within two business days, you will receive your unique login and password. Please contact NAAB@archivescanada.ca if you have questions or issues.
Upcoming demo sessions:
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SARBICA Conference: Registration is open for the 2022 Virtual International Symposium of SARBICA (the Southeast Asia Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives). The online event is hosted by the National Archives of Singapore from November 15-17, 2022.
The environmental reality of the global climate crisis leading to
unstable ecosystems, rising sea levels, extreme weather events,
increasing natural disasters, and displacement of people inspired the
symposium theme “Preservation & Sustainability: Two Sides Of The Same Coin?” The
event shall provide a venue to raise awareness, gain new perspectives,
promote discussions, and engage with questions on the intersection
between the work of memory institutions, the environment, and
sustainability. |
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Archives Society of Alberta's Archives Institute registration now open: Running from October 3 to December 16, 2022, the Archives Institute is
an introduction to the fundamental elements that make up the work
undertaken by members of the archival profession. The Institute will
give you the basic information for assessing both institutional archival
programs and future training needs. Each
week, participants will complete a module, which includes video
lectures, readings, exercises, and live sessions. The live sessions are
an opportunity to network and further discuss the topic covered that
week. The time of the live sessions are each Thursday, starting October 6
and ending November 17, from 10:00 am to 11:30 am (MT). The
course is ideal for those who have been given the task of caring for an
archives but have no previous training or for managers and support
workers of archival institutions. If you have additional questions about this program, please contact the ASA Office at 780-424-2697 or reneg@archivesalberta.org. |
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The Society of American Archivists, Archivists of Religious Collections Section has an upcoming event as part of its lunch and learn sessions:
- November 18, 3:00 pm (ET): Archive-It, with Catherine Falls and Raven Germain, Internet Archive
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The Digital Museums Canada 2022 Call for proposals is now open! DMC
provides Canadian museums and heritage organizations with funding and
support to create incredible online projects for their current and
future audiences. Along with funding, DMC offers expert guidance in digital accessibility, user experience, and inclusive design. The DMC website includes resources and inspiring examples of projects we have funded from Whitehorse to St. John's to Victoria. Apply at digitalmuseums.ca. The deadline for proposals is December 1, 2022. If you need help with your application, contact info@digitalmuseums.ca.
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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.
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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.
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Archiviste/Archivist, Archives des jésuites au Canada / The Archive of the Jesuits in Canada
Deadline: October 24, 2022
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Archivist, Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University) Deadline: October 31, 2022
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Associate Archivist, The Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada
Deadline: November 1, 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!
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Contact Us
Suite 1912-130 Albert Street
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.
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