Annual Meeting

2026 SAA Annual Conference New Orleans – After Report by Chaun Wynn

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In a routine fit of self-defiance, I endeavored to re-engage with the archival profession after a mental health hiatus by attending the 2026 Annual Conference set in New Orleans, Louisiana. What I saw, gave me renewed hope for accountability, the fair and humane treatment of disabled and marginalized heritage workers and cultural stewards, and inclusion within our profession. I watched as outgoing Society of American Archivist President Derek Mosely spoke words of inspiration and quoted motivating words from his predecessors to a crowd of faces that were uncertain and unsure of how to respond to our nation’s cultural preservation challenges. He spoke of revisiting the takeaways of our previous presidents and using them to build our future. I felt the message in my archiving heart. We need to build on our foundations.


As a Georgia archivist, I found solidarity in seasoned information stewards, former mentors, and students & new professionals as we navigated the conference sessions and meet ups. Although time flew as I was enjoying the camaraderie of my peers and the culture of New Orleans, lasting connections were made. My confidence and resolve to be the leader I needed during my formative years as a junior archivist were strengthened and the connections I’ve developed and cultivated in the field of archives were evident in these last few weeks. I highly recommend that any new or aspiring information professionals apply for travel scholarships (local and national) and plan to attend the annual conference at least once, if not for the scenic destinations, for the wealth of knowledge that only face to face interactions can bring to archivists and other motivated cultural heritage workers.


Some of my most treasured memories this year were:
1. The Opening Plenary – Seeing President Moseley speak always makes me feel proud and represented as a Black Archivist in the south


2. Listening to the accounts of the panel of the Cold Case Review Board discuss their work on the case of Chrispon Charles (1928-1949) and the sense of accomplishment they feel when helping families understand what happened to their loved ones


3. Engaging with the vendors – specifically the Community Care Workshop folks. I felt that equipping my community to preserve its legacy through records care is possible even as an independent or lone archivist


4.Taking in the culture of NOLA! The conference built in a day where attendees could just enjoy the city’s art and culture

Chaun Monique Wynn, MLIS, CA
Wynn Archival Research & Consulting
Clark Atlanta University

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SGA’s President Reflects on our Annual Meeting Theme

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Submitted by 2022 SGA President Cathy Miller

This year’s annual meeting theme, Sustaining Archives: Practical Solutions for the Future, in my mind, speaks to not only what we have done to sustain the work of our archives, but the work we have done over the last three years to sustain ourselves. During the meeting, specifically in our keynote and in one of the planned sessions, the importance of self-care was emphasized. And boy howdy, can I say what an advocate I have become for self-care in these times. 2022, which is really just 2020 dressed as two kids in a trenchcoat, has been a year, to say the least. There’s been good, sure, but also, to put it plainly, there’s been a lot of suckitude. I hope that everyone who attended the meeting took away many learning moments regarding the work they do, but I also hope that attendees may have taken away new leases on life – I know, that’s a tall order, but bear with me a moment. Maybe you met a colleague at the meeting who plays Animal Crossing as religiously as you do, and before you know it, you are Switch friends and visiting each other’s islands and conspiring about how to take Tom Nook’s empire down. Or you found someone who shares the same hobby as you and you are able to trade ideas. Or you made a colleague who lives near you and now you have a new friend to go grab coffee or food with. In leaving the annual meeting, I hope you were able to take away something that sustains you as the person you are, not the archivist/librarian/information professional that you are.

SGA Keynote Address at the 2022 Annual Meeting

We have a lot of vocational awe in our profession. We are either told by someone or we tell ourselves that we are so lucky to be working in this field and getting to do the things we do, thus we’ll let slide the often poor pay, lax benefits, and multitude of other black marks that our profession is guilty of. I am here to say that while the work we do is awesome and important, the work will never love you back. So please, sustain yourself, however that is, be it treating yourself to a yummy food or drink treat on the drive home from work or going to the dollar spot in Target to see what new and exciting things await you. I’ve been reading T.J. Klune’s Under the Whispering Door – the premise of the novel is that Wallace, a workaholic lawyer, has died and he is given one week to get his afterlife in order and cross over to the great beyond. Wallace decides to embrace living a lifetime in those seven days. Let’s not be like Wallace. Live your life in the present. Leave work promptly at your 7 or 8 hour mark. Go enjoy being you with the people and pets that matter most to you in life.

SGA 2021 Annual Meeting Recordings Available Now

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The recordings of the 2021 SGA Annual Meeting are now available to view online! If you were unable to attend the conference live or missed a session you really wanted to attend, we invite you to view the playlist of presentations on SGA’s YouTube.

The presentations are unlisted, so you cannot access them by visiting our page or searching for them on YouTube. They are only viewable through this link, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLH2n1apWPCoP98qJads742hVdd2Gt0dXm

While you are on the playlist be sure to subscribe to our channel!

SGA Hosts First-Ever Virtual Annual Meeting

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The Society of Georgia Archivists held its 51st Annual Meeting November 11-13, 2020–its first-ever all-virtual conference–with the theme “Building Partnerships and Dismantling Barriers.” Our keynote speaker was Dorothy Berry, Digital Collections Program Manager at Harvard’s Houghton Library, whose talk was titled, “My Soul Looks Back in Wonder: Remembering Black History in the Archives.”

In spite of all the changes and challenges presented by this year, the conference was the best-attended of any meeting in the Society’s history, boasting 206 registrants, 200 attendees, 58 presenters, 26 presentations, and seven vendors. SGA was proud to be able to offer free registration to members and presenters, and $35 registration to non-members. 

Our two pre-conference workshops were similarly well-attended, hitting capacity in both virtual events. On November 5, 2020, Magda Pecsenye, creator of the Tilmor Process, presented “Manage Your Team to Greater Efficiency and Engagement with the Tilmor Process,” and on November 6, Shaundra Walker, Interim Director of the University Library, Georgia College, presented the workshop, “Critical Race Theory and the Archive.”

All meetings were held via Zoom, and the conference planning committees opted to have two day-long tracks to minimize the number of links attendees would need to manage. We chose not to employ a managed content platform, choosing instead to provide the links to registered attendees via the annual meeting program and daily email blasts. This decision allowed overhead costs for running the meeting to be kept to a minimum.

The planning committees additionally kept a Slack workspace with multiple channels open for the duration of the conference. This space was used not only to troubleshoot technology issues, but also to provide an informal chat environment for attendees to connect with one another and with vendors. The SGA Executive Board also maintained a channel to address questions about our duties, share opportunities for committee work, and to encourage members to run for office.

Our vendors, too, had an important role to play in the conference. Depending upon their chosen level of sponsorship, vendors were able to give presentations during conference breaks, and were thanked by facilitators at the start of each session. Some sponsors contributed either virtual or physical giveaways for our attendee swag bags and raffle prizes. 

In all, we are pleased with the conference’s success and happy to answer questions from other state and regional organizations planning a similar shift to an online conference. Feel free to contact us anytime. 

Written and contributed by Angela Stanley, 2020 SGA President.

Call for session/poster proposals for SFA/SGA Joint Meeting this October

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The 2016 Society of Georgia Archivists/Society of Florida Archivists Programming Committee proudly announces the theme for the 2016 Joint Conference:
Defining Archives: Ingenuity, Innovation, and New Perspectives
The Committee invites you to submit your workshop, session, and poster ideas to help make this year’s conference a great success!  Defining Archives calls for archives professionals to explore the inventive and enterprising use of archival concepts, functions, and methods through time and across disciplines. Conference program proposals are sought that highlight innovative research, applied projects, and collective insights that improve our understanding of the following key topics:
  • The archival environment, including issues, successes, and key operational differences experienced while working in corporate archives, special collections, academic repositories, and public libraries; 
  • The roles of archivists as educators, reference sources, spokespeople, liaisons, and gatekeepers; changing jobs and titles and how these varied responsibilities are handled in daily work;
  • The vision of archives and next steps for the profession, including novel approaches to archival education, recruiting new generations of archivists, and creatively engaging with researchers and the community;
  • The creative practice of archives and the ways in which archivists create innovative responses to challenges such as rapidly changing formats, digital preservation, web archiving, unconventional projects, building exhibits and the management of exponentially larger volumes of data.

The theme announcement and session proposal guidelines can be found online at http://bit.ly/1WOOZjW.  The deadline for session/poster proposals is July 15, 2016. 

We are looking forward to our Joint Conference in Savannah, Georgia, October 13-14, 2016!  For more information about the joint meeting, please see http://www.soga.org/annualmeeting. 

2014 SGA Annual Meeting Breakout Sessions Recap: Let’s talk about digital preservation!

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In an effort to engage the rich discussions that were had as part of the “Everyday Digital Archives” breakout sessions at the 2014 SGA Annual Meeting, here is the final post, highlighting topics that arose during the fourth breakout session, in which the always exciting topic of digital preservation was discussed!  Hopefully this post (and the previous three!) will be thought provoking to the SGA membership and will help to contribute to the ongoing conversation about the many issues that come part and parcel with managing digital archives.
Breakout Session 4: Preservation of Digital Records
This breakout session explored the current state of digital preservation among SGA members, discussed first steps toward establishing digital preservation policy and practice, identified significant challenges among member institutions and developed suggestions for ways in which SGA could better support digital preservation for archival professionals in Georgia.  Here are some highlights of topics that were discussed:
Challenges
  • Insufficient resources (both financial and staffing)
  • Problems with sustainability because it can be difficult to get necessary commitments for ongoing support of digital preservation
  • Slow implementation at some organizations because of the “tyranny of perfection”; administration and/or upper management waiting for perfect solutions instead of simply getting started
  • Difficulty of selling the idea that something is better than nothing (again moving out from under the tyranny of perfection)
  • Steep learning curve (for example some institutions/professionals paralyzed when faced with engaging with digital preservation elements like the OAIS reference model)
Observations
  • Archives professionals need to be able to plan and implement digital preservation solutions that are realistic and feasible without getting burdened with the need for perfect solutions
  • Even with institutional support, we need to develop feasible, realistic digital preservation plans that can be implemented with success
  • There is a need for advocacy, both externally and internally, as part of digital preservation planning (demand from users, support from within institutions)
  • Getting technical systems and policy in place is hard but “cultural policy” is hard too
  • When developing digital preservation policy, remember to refer to existing relevant documentation like preservation policy for physical collection or collection management policy; don’t reinvent the wheel.
  • Exploring the role (and practice) of appraisal with digital preservation and policy development
What can SGA do to help? (Ideas)
  • Program in digital preservation (create committee to organize this, set objectives, decide issues and report from across state/region)
  • Create a list or index of policy statements on digital preservation and/or digital collection management
    • Must have variety, peer-to-peer institutions
      • Small institutions, large institutions
      • From institutions with “established” digital programs and “emerging” digital programs
    • Maybe closed to SGA members only, not open on web, to encourage sharing
    • Not just digital preservation policies need to be shared, but also the goals for creating a policy, and how much of that goal institutions are accomplishing
  • Create model similar to SAA best practices and processes by which institutions come to digital preservation strategies
  • Dedicate issue of Provenance to digital preservation
  • Digital preservation “Match.com” for mentoring
  • List of SGA Annual Meeting attendees for networking

Hopefully the ideas/issues/thoughts shared here have been useful.  Feel free to leave your thoughts in a comment!  

2014 SGA Annual Meeting Breakout Sessions Recap: Let’s talk about processing digital records!

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In an effort to engage the rich discussions that were had as part of the “Everyday Digital Archives” breakout sessions at the 2014 SGA Annual Meeting, here is the third of four posts highlighting topics that arose during the third breakout session discussing the processing of digital records. Hopefully these posts will be thought provoking to the SGA membership and will help to contribute to the ongoing conversation about the many issues that come part and parcel with managing digital archives.
Breakout Session 3: Processing Digital Records
In beginning to think about processing digital records, it may be helpful to keep in mind this quote from Richard Pearce-Moses from his article “The Perfect and the Possible: Becoming a Digital Archivist”: ““…what we do remains the same; it’s only how we do it that will change.”  Many interesting articles and case studies about processing digital records can be found in the archival literature.  One of the most cited articles is Carroll, et al.’s, “A Comprehensive Approach to Born-Digital Archives,” about processing and providing access to Salman Rushdie’s digital files at Emory’s Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library.  There are way too many articles to mention in this post, but two other thought provoking ones worthy of mention are Jefferson Bailey’s “Disrespect des Fonds: Rethinking Arrangement and Description in Born-Digital Archives” and Jane Zhang’s “Original Order in Digital Archives”. 
The importance of reading articles and case studies about processing digital records was one of the many topics discussed during the breakout session.  Various challenges, observations, tools and resources were discussed and many, many questions were asked.  Here is a sampling of what was talked about:
Challenges
·        Dealing with all sorts of different formats, including proprietary formats
·        Security and integrity
·        Keeping the files associated with the description
·        Hybrid collections
·        Metadata
·        Getting a grasp of what you have – the way digital files are organized can be more chaotic – can’t guarantee that people are good custodians of their digital files
Observations / Thoughts
·       Having flexibility within your processing approach is important
o   need to determine how the repository wants to provide access, and from there create policies for processing; figure out steps to make it happen; set a goal
·       Hands-on experience a must – but also a daunting thought – does the fear of making a mistake keep us from making the needed initial effort?
·       Processing of digital records needs to start with administration – getting everyone on board
·       Map already known archival knowledge to what is coming with digital archives (i.e. “…what we do remains the same; it’s only how we do it that will change”)
·       Know what is critical
o   Look at the low-hanging fruit: if you’re given a body of electronic records, look at the ones that you could easily provide access to (PDFs, etc.) — > establish your processing workflow that way – this could help with tackling the harder modes
What do we need?
·       More cross-training of staff is needed – everyone needs to know how to handle digital
·       Need to have established policies and procedures for processing
·       Examples of successes and failures, in different sized shops (case studies!)
·       Best practices with a place to start, basic steps, and resources to support implementing them
·       Advocacy for the importance of digital archives jobs – either getting new positions or training for current staff
·       Technical skills to do archival processes on digital records
Tools?
It was indicated in a couple of the breakout groups that several repositories have only gotten to the stage of collecting and inventorying digital records, thus not many tools have been put in practice.  Another issue that was raised is that we as archivists hear the names of many tools that would prove helpful in working with digital records, but we don’t know what or when to use the tools (i.e. what tools will help in acquisition, processing, digital preservation?).  Further compounding the issue, archivists may be afraid to ask about digital archiving tools because they feel like they should already know (the “I don’t want to be the person to admit I don’t know about this” syndrome.).  Some tools that were mentioned include:
·       Archive-It (for web archiving)
·       Archivematica (https://www.archivematica.org/en/)
·       BitCurator (http://www.bitcurator.net/)
·       Managing digital content in CMSs (ArchivesSpace, Archon, QuadraStar, Archivists’ Toolkit, etc.)
Questions asked
·       Where do we start?
o   Survey what we have and where it is stored
o   Look for ways to collaborate with other staff
o   What formats are we receiving records in?
o   What equipment do I need to process, preserve, and provide access for particular digital formats?
·       Can processing digital records model analog processing?
·       Where to start in processing hybrid collections?
·       How can we find out about tools that can be used?
·        What is realistic, when you have a small staff?
·        What infrastructure is feasible in a small archives or with a small budget?
Resources mentioned
·       Chris Prom’s Practical E-records blog – http://e-records.chrisprom.com/
·       Q&A Digital Preservation – http://qanda.digipres.org/; www.digipres.org
        Case studies
        Atlanta Historical Computing Society – http://atlhcs.org/
Hopefully the ideas/issues/thoughts shared here have been useful.  Feel free to leave your thoughts in a comment!  Coming up next is a post on Breakout Session 4: Preservation of Digital Records.

2014 SGA Annual Meeting Breakout Sessions Recap: Let’s talk about access to digital records!

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In an effort to engage the rich discussions that were had as part of the “Everyday Digital Archives” breakout sessions at the 2014 SGA Annual Meeting, here is the second of four posts highlighting topics that arose during the second breakout session discussing the issue of creating and managing access to digital records. Hopefully these posts will be thought provoking to the SGA membership and will help to contribute to the ongoing conversation about the many issues that come part and parcel with managing digital archives.
Breakout Session 2: Access to Digital Records
The Access to Electronic Records Working Group, part of SAA’s Reference, Access, and Outreach Section, observes that: “Much scrutiny has been placed on accessioning, processing and preserving electronic materials, while very little attention is given to how we provide access to these materials.”[1]  The goal of this breakout session was to bring attention to this very important topic.  Accessioning, processing, and preserving digital records are important (there’s no debate there!), but accessioning, processing, and preservation of digital records means nothing if the records are not being used.  And the only way digital records will be able to be used is if effective access mechanisms are created.  During the breakout session, several challenges to providing access to digital records were identified, including:
  • Copyright, Intellectual Property
  • Access to materials is often not covered in donor agreements
  • The need to implement access systems
  • Training for staff
  • Need for administration and constituent education (support, funding, understanding patron needs)
  • Security and control concerns
    • How do we ensure digital records cannot be altered, deleted, changed?
    • What tactics can we use to keep them available and safe?
      • Provide access to copy, prevent access to the digital original
      • Read only versions
  • Lack of IT infrastructure and support
  • Time and effort necessary to research and vet software and tools
In addition to the challenges outlined above, participants in the breakout session made several observations about issues that need to be addressed when tackling the task of providing access to digital records:
  • The issue of having the necessary skills:
  • The issue of intellectual and physical control over what is in our collections:
    • Only after getting intellectual and physical control of our records is access possible
  • The issue of obsolescence:
    • Tools change so rapidly that once a tool is implemented it is already obsolete
  • The issue of leadership:
    • No leaders in the state taking charge
  • The issue of access versus preservation:
    • Need access AND preservation platforms
A very fruitful conversation to come out of the “Access to Digital Records” breakout session was the discussion had by participants about what SGA can do to help.  Several suggestions were made, including:
  • Identify local leaders in the field willing to serve as a resource
  • Creation of a consulting committee to assist repositories in laying the groundwork for providing access to electronic records
  • Maintaining policies, guides, links to resources (under SGA’s “Resources” tab)
  • Host an online forum for practitioners to ask questions and discuss issues
  • Advocate for greater funding for USG-wide systems
  • Hands-on training sessions for tools such as DSpace and ArchivesSpace
Hopefully the ideas/issues/thoughts shared here have been useful.  Feel free to leave your thoughts in a comment!  Coming up next is a post on Breakout Session 3: Processing Digital Records.


[1]Reference, Access, and Outreach Section, “Access to Electronic Records Working Group,” Accessed August 2, 2015, http://www2.archivists.org/groups/reference-access-and-outreach-section/access-to-electronic-records-working-group

2014 SGA Annual Meeting Breakout Sessions Recap: Let’s talk about acquisition and appraisal of digital records!

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In an effort to engage the rich discussions that were had as part of the “Everyday Digital Archives” breakout sessions at the 2014 SGA Annual Meeting, here is the first of four posts highlighting topics that arose during the first breakout session discussing the acquisition of digital records. Hopefully these posts will be thought provoking to the SGA membership and will help to contribute to the ongoing conversation about the many issues that come part and parcel with managing digital archives.
Breakout Session 1: Acquisition of Digital Records
Several challenges/issues to consider were discussed, including proper storage, the importance of establishing policies, and how to educate donors about digital records.  The conversation about donor relations was especially interesting, highlighting the importance of educating donors ahead of time about what digital records they have and where they may be (i.e. not just on your computer, but Internet presence via blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc.).  Simson Garfinkel and David Cox’s “Finding and Archiving the Internet Footprint” speaks to the issue of identifying a donor’s online record presence.  The book I, Digital: Personal Collections in the Digital Era, edited by Cal Lee, also explores how archivists can manage born-digital materials generated and kept by individuals.  Another important point discussed was working with donors in providing information about their records, i.e., what exactly do they have in their digital files?  The donor being able to provide an inventory of their digital records – through a file tree text document or some other survey of their records – can help archivists to know which records should be accessioned.  Also, BitCurator’s bulk_extractor report tool could be used as a pre-emptive measure to help archivists determine what digital content is available and what of that content they would want to accession (this was talked about at the BitCurator Users Forum on January 9, 2015).
Many ideas regarding continuing education opportunities were considered, including:
·        Distributing the knowledge that can be found in ARMA & SAA courses by using the network of University System of Georgia schools (e.g. holding workshops at USG institutions around the state that archivists living near those institutions could more easily attend)
·        Short courses on how to use tools helpful in accessioning digital records (e.g. BagIt, Duke Data Accessioner, etc.)
·        Educate executives/administrators on what is a digital record that needs keeping through ARMA’s “RM 101” seminars
·        Reading case studies – a good way to find out what other institutions are doing
Many questions were asked during the breakout session, including:
·        What are we talking about when we say “digital archives”? (purely born-digital documents, digitized documents, email, etc.)
·        Where to get started in acquiring digital records?
·        Can your institution even manage digital records – should you accept them?
·        Are our ideas about born-digital records fear driven?
An interesting concern for the near future that was raised dealt with digital data from scientific research – the National Institutes of Health, Department of Energy, and Department of Defense all require data and publications to be archived and shared.  The question becomes, how are we going to ensure this scientific data remains accessible?
Hopefully the ideas/issues/thoughts shared here have been useful.  Feel free to leave your thoughts in a comment!  Coming up next is a post on Breakout Session 2: Providing Access to Digital Records.

Scholarship Opportunities Available! Apply by August 7th

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SGA scholarship opportunities available!
All scholarship applications are due on August 7, 2015

The Anthony R. Dees Scholarship – each year SGA awards a scholarship to attend the SGA-sponsored pre-conference workshop. The purpose of the pre-conference workshop and this scholarship is to enhance archival education. This year’s pre-conference workshop date is October 21st. The workshop is entitled “Digital Preservation Tools: A Sampler” and will be taught by Seth Shaw, Assistant Professor of Archival Studies at Clayton State University. For more information on the Anthony Dees scholarship visit http://soga.org/scholarships/dees.

The Larry Gulley Scholarship – is a wonderful opportunity to expand your professional development by attending the SGA annual meeting on October 22 – 23, 2015. The scholarship will cover the following year’s membership dues, the meeting registration fee, and a maximum of $100 for other expenses incurred in attending the annual meeting. The registration fee for the successful scholarship applicant will be waived by the Society of Georgia Archivists, while other expenses will be reimbursed upon submission of a statement of expenses, with accompanying receipts, by December 1 of the calendar year in which the meeting takes place. After the SGA meeting, the recipient will submit a brief article on the experience for use in the SGA Newsletter. For more information on the Larry Gulley Scholarship please visit http://soga.org/scholarships/gulley.

The Taronda Spencer Award – honors Ms. Spencer’s work in encouraging students at HBCUs and students of color to consider careers in the archival profession. The Society of Georgia Archivists established the Taronda Spencer Award in 2014 to support student attendance at the SGA Annual Meeting. The award includes complimentary registration to the SGA annual meeting, hotel registration, and $300 for travel expenses. For more information on the Taronda Spencer Award please visit http://soga.org/scholarships/spencer.