From the beginning of my program, I felt a pull toward archival work. As an English teacher, I certainly loved and appreciated libraries and museums; but the mysteries hidden in the archives and their potential to change people’s lives in profound ways were irresistible to me. I pursued this certificate because I wanted to ensure that I tailored my program choices correctly so I was prepared for the archival world. I also sought archival internships as a way to expose myself to new environments and the professionals who perform myriad archival tasks in unique settings.

One of the first forays I made into archiving was in my LIS 540 class, Introduction to Archives.

We wrote weekly response papers to articles that had a central theme. I enjoyed this opportunity to connect texts and to dialogue with them in my own way. I also experienced the archives from the perspective of a researcher in the reading room and completed the steps to create a mock poster for a poster sessions.

Assignment Three asked us to take concrete research, extend it in a logical but fictional fashion and then create a poster for a poster session. I opted to focus on community archives as not just a repository of information but a community center of unity and education. As I explained in my write-up:

Undoubtedly, community archives are flourishing around the world, both physically and digitally. There is a flood of scholarly articles being published about community archives, their identities and their effects. However, many of the articles focus on just one facet of the studied community archive, which is often social activism being realized through the non-traditional repository. The consistently narrowed focus begs the questions: what else do these community archives do to be social activists? How do they see themselves in the community? What are they trying to accomplish?

Building off the introductory work performed in LIS 540, my classmates and I examined archival theory, current practice and social responsibility in LIS 640, Advanced Archives: Archival Appraisal and Description.

My final paper was actually inspired by readings from LIS 540 that pointed out community archives are, to a certain extent, doing what was done to them in traditional archives by marginalizing less accepted sects, hiding unpleasant truths or restricting access based on "proof" of membership in a minority culture. I took the stance that, archivists are armed with not just archival skills but also the knowledge that “history is written by the victors,” having witnessed the ways traditional archival practice systematically erased or minimized the existence of certain peoples. In the new world of archival practice, archivist must take on the mantle of activist - become "archtivists" - and help community archive initiatives not just to engage in sound practice but avoid making the same mistakes that rewrote history.

LIS 671, Introduction to Digital Curation and Preservation, took what I was learning in my archival courses and situated it within the digital world.

Aided with the excellent second edition of Digital Preservation for Libraries, Archives and Museums by Edward Corrado and Heather Moulaison Sandy, we examined digital assets from front to back and their lifecycle from beginning to end. We performed case studies on existing digital repositories and their current policies. We debated the merits of interoperability between systems; whether or not standardizing metadata would be a useful investment of time and energy; how long term preservation can best be accomplished; and even how the concept of original order fits into the digital landscape of library and information science.

LIS 675 was applicable to both my Archival Studies certificate as well as my Digital Information Management certificate; information about that coursework can be found either by going to the Digital Information Management page or clicking here.