NEWSLETTER OF THE SOCIETY OF AMERICAN ARCHIVISTS NOV/DEC 2010 WWW.ARCHIVISTS.ORG archivalarchival outlookoutlook Peddling Information • Leveraging Social Networks (pg. 6) • HBO Digs Archives (pg. 12) • “My First Annual Meeting” (pg. 22) table of contents features archival outlook How to Harvest Social Networking Sites the society of american archivists Jennifer Ricker and Amy Rudersdorf ................................ 6 serves the education and information needs Successes and Challenges of the Montana Digital of its members and provides leadership to help ensure the identification, preservation Newspaper Project Molly Kruckenberg ..................... 8 and use of the nation’s historical record. Improving Accessibility for People with Disabilities NANCY P. BEAUMONT Mark A. Greene ............................................... 10 Executive Director [email protected] HBO Series “Boardwalk Empire” Digs into Archives Jenny Schooley ............................................... 12 TERESA M. BRInatI Director of Publishing A Scottish Adventure in Archives [email protected] Ellen Engseth ................................................ 14 SOLVEIG DE SUTTER Director of Education Public “Crawls” to Oregon’s Archives [email protected] Diana Banning and Anne Prahl .................................. 18 BRIAN P. DOYLE New Year, New Offerings ............................. 20 Director of Member and Technical Services [email protected] My First Annual Meeting LEE GONZALEZ Anna Kephart ................................................ 22 Service Center Representative [email protected] Someone You Should Know: Betsy Pittman ........ 28 TOM JURCZAK Director of Finance and Administration columns [email protected] President’s Message: Transformational Best Practices .......... 3 Amanda LOOK From the Executive Director: I Found It In The Archives! ........ 4 Education Coordinator From the Archivist of the United States: Founding Fathers’ [email protected] Papers Headed for Internet .......................... 16 RENÉ MUELLER Program Coordinator departments [email protected] Washington Beat. .17 CARLOS R. SALGADO National News Clips .................................... 19 Service Center Manager [email protected] Currents .............................................. 29 Around SAA . JENNY SCHOOLEY Editorial and Production Assistant Archivists from China Visit SAA ....................... 24 [email protected] Josephine Forman Scholarship ........................ 24 Call for Volunteers ................................... 25 JEANETTE SPEARS Service Center Representative SAA Ballot Set for March Election ...................... 27 [email protected] NEWSLETTER OF THE SOCIETY OF Archival Outlook (ISSN 1520-3379) is published six times AMERICAN ARCHIVISTS NOV/DEC 2010 On the cover WWW.ARCHIVISTS.ORG a year and distributed as a membership benefit by the WWW.ARCHIVISTS.ORG archival outlook Society of American Archivists. Contents of the newsletter Peddling Information “Helena Newsboys, August 1929” . inscribed with • Leveraging Social Networks (pg. 6) may be reproduced in whole or in part provided that • HBO Digs Archives (pg. 12) the words, “With best wishes—from your friends ‘the • “My First Annual Meeting” (pg. 22) credit is given. Direct all advertising inquiries and general Helena newsies’ on 26th Annual Picnic—Camp Vigilante correspondence to: Jenny Schooley, Society of American 8-8-’29.” The photo is one of 50,000 newspaper pages Archivists, 17 North State Street, Suite 1425, Chicago, IL 60602; 312-606-0722; toll free 866-SAA-7858; fax 312-606- that the Montana Historical Society (MHS) digitized as 0728; [email protected]; www.archivists.org. part of its Montana Digital Newspaper Project. Turn to ∞ Archival Outlook is printed on paper that meets the re- p. 8 to read about the project and how libraries and quirements of the American National Standards Institute— archives in Montana now contact MHS regarding how Permanence of Paper, ANSI Z39.48-1992. to digitize their newspapers. 2 | archival outlook • november/december 2010 www.archivists.org president’s message Helen Tibbo, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hil [email protected] Transformational Best Practices rom September 28 through October 1, Certainly Library of Congress funding through FI attended the Best Practices Exchange (aka the National Digital Information Infrastructure BPE) “Unconference” in Phoenix, Arizona. Despite Preservation Program was an impetus for a good deal temperatures of 105° each day, BPE was a fabu- of the activity. Research, demonstration, and national lous event that yielded important insights for SAA leadership grants from the Institute for Museum members and the archives profession as a whole. and Library Services and the National Historical The theme was “Libraries and Archives in the Publications and Records Commission, along with Digital Era.” other funders, also supported much of the innovation What is BPE? The BPE meetings, discussion list, at BPE this year. But the source of progress and inno- and website are designed for “librarians, archivists, vation was not just funding; it was also establishment records managers, and other information professionals of strategic alliances and collaborative networks. dedicated to managing digital information primarily BPE attendees, many of whom are SAA mem- in state government.” According to its 2010 Web page, bers, worked together on some impressive projects— BPE is “not a traditional conference” because “there impressive in the technical sense, but also from are no speakers in the traditional sense of the word.” social and behavioral perspectives. They developed Instead of typical sessions, there are facilitated and applied new technologies, but also developed large group sessions and small topic-based exchange and applied new workflows and best practices that sessions. The point is for attendees to share their involved people working with the technology and experiences on particular topics. At the end of the delivering information to users in a timely and rel- evant fashion. Many of these projects were far larger day everyone comes back together to discuss the than a single institution could develop and support, major themes that emerged from the smaller sessions. and the collaborative environment produced better Although the notion of a total “unconference” thinking on the problems that government reposito- would in no way serve the needs of SAA members ries face than isolated work generally does. at our annual meetings, there could be small “uncon- SAA affords even greater possibilities for col- ferences” within the larger, formal structure of SAA laboration and innovation than does a much smaller Annual Meetings. Thank you to Richard Pearce- group such as BPE. Two hundred or so people met Moses, BPE host this year, who suggested that SAA in Phoenix this past September for BPE; close to Roundtables and possibly SAA Sections provide two thousand met in Washington, D.C., for the Joint excellent forums for the exchange of best practices Annual Meeting in August. Although many mem- among peers without all the barriers that traditional bers view “SAA” as simply a strategic affiliation on sessions pose. This approach allows for more interac- their résumé and an annual meeting at which one tion and true exchange of ideas than do formal ses- chats and has a drink with old friends, SAA can be sions. I encourage roundtable and section leaders to so much more. Members must take more strategic look at the BPE website and consider experimenting advantage of the fabulous network of colleagues. with their session structure. The Museum Computer Today’s teenagers may believe that social networking Network conference in Austin, in October 2010, also is only instant messaging through a computer and hosted “unconference” sessions in parallel with the posting to Facebook. The more “senior” among us regular program. realize that membership organizations and confer- Best Practices Exchange has evolved significant- ences are long standing and highly effective forums ly over the course of only four years. The first BPE for networking. was held in Wilmington, North Carolina, in 2006. I encourage members to use SAA for all it’s At that meeting most of the participants were just worth. Attend the annual meetings, and when there, exploring the area of digital preservation; identifica- meet new friends, work with long-established con- tion and implementation of best practices seemed a tacts, and welcome student members to the profes- good distance in the future. I missed the interven- sion. Most of all, work the room and get your mon- ing meetings but in four years (five meetings) the ey’s worth out of your dues and registration fees, digital preservation landscape—and especially what seeking out collaborative partnerships that will lead has been going on in state and federal agencies—has to RFP—relentless forward progress—of the profession. changed dramatically. We will all benefit in the process. v www.archivists.org archival outlook • november/december 2010 | 3 from the executive director Nancy P. Beaumont • [email protected] n late October we launched a new public awareness step guide to the campaign (see www.archivists.org/i- Icampaign—I Found It In The Archives!—to address found-it for a downloadable PDF): “We ask all SAA an important desired outcome in SAA’s Strategic Plan: members to join in a common effort in launching I “Using American Archives Month