Why Section Names Matter: The Inclusion of Accessioning

Authors: Sarah Woods, Curator of Historic Properties and Archives at El Pomar Foundation, Committee Chair, and Meaghan O’Riordan, Accessioning Archivist Emory University, Steering Committee Member. In 2020, SAA’s Acquisitions & Appraisals section sponsored a working group focused on creating the first nationally recognized Best Practices for Accessioning. The proposal, prepared and submitted by Rosemary K.J. …

New Additions: Introducing New Leadership for the Accessioning, Acquisition & Appraisal Section

As we welcome in the New Year, we also welcome additions to the Accessioning, Acquisitions and Appraisal Section team! Three new members were elected, joining the section’s leadership in August 2021. Below are short introductions from each new member answering why they joined the committee, why they are excited about the new name change, and …

Lessons Learned During COVID-19 Closure

Jamie Seemiller, Acquisitions Archivist, Denver Public Library, Western History and Genealogy Department At the Denver Public Library (DPL), customer service and access are vital in our community. So when the library was closed for COVID in March 2020, it challenged the core of our mission. The Central Library has been dealt a double whammy with …

Inviting the Archivist In: Rethinking On-Site Appraisal

Dominick Argento's stairway Kate Hujda, Curator of Manuscripts, Minnesota Historical Society I’ll never forget my visit to the home of composer Dominick Argento. It was August 2018 when I arrived at the composer’s doorstep ready to conduct an on-site appraisal of his materials. During the visit, I discovered that his house possessed a narrow stairwell …

Best Practices Sub-Committee: Pre-Custodial Diversity Assessment

The Best Practices Subcommittee, headed by Suzi Noruschat and Meaghan O’Riordan, has started a new project. Many institutions are focusing on doing retrospective projects to assess harmful language in legacy description, especially in the wake of the nationwide protests responding to the murder of George Floyd and during the COVID-19 pandemic when many of us …

Highlights & Accomplishments in 2020 Part 6

Ruth Bryan, University Archivist, University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center The University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center has been collecting COVID-19 stories in text and audiovisual formats and online resources documenting Kentuckian’s experience of the coronavirus pandemic.  The stories collection project is called “In This Together/Juntos en Esto.”  The online resources collection is …

Highlights & Accomplishments in 2020 Part 5

I am Meaghan O’Riordan, Accessioning Archivist for the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives & Rare Book Library at Emory University and Member-at-Large on the Steering Committee for the Acquisitions & Appraisal Section. At the Rose Library, we set goals on our performance evaluation schedule, which runs from May 1-April 30, so by the time we …

Highlights & Accomplishments in 2020 Part 4

Jamie Seemiller- Acquisitions Archivist, Denver Public Library, Western History and Genealogy DepartmentDuring the closure at the Denver Public Library, Western History and Genealogy Department (WHG), I have been impressed at how our staff has pivoted to meet our community's needs. In the archives, we have migrated over 1,000-word doc inventories into ArchivesSpace and offer full-service …

Highlights & Accomplishments in 2020 Part 3

My name is Sarah Woods and I am the curator and archivist with El Pomar Foundation in Colorado Springs, Colorado. At El Pomar, our Foundation archives are not open to the public. They are accessible only through an approved research request. With a lack of people inhabiting our archival spaces, I had the opportunity to …

Highlights & Accomplishments in 2020 Part 2

Suzi Noruschat, Southern California Studies Specialist, University of Southern California Special Collections“Pivot” is a word that has certainly gained in usage during the current pandemic, and we at the University of Southern California Libraries Special Collections have definitely pivoted in several ways in 2020. During the continuing closure of Special Collections, we have put in …