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I attended the Arizona Archival Alliance Annual Summit January 24th and 25th, 2019 in Tempe, Arizona. The focus of the summit that year was the Protocols of Native American Archival Materials (PNAAM), which were endorsed by the Society of American Archivists a few months prior to the summit. The Protocols first appeared in 2005, a product of different scholars and native representatives working together over several days at Northern Arizona University. I am very familiar with the PNAAM for two different reasons: I did an extensive research project about the application of the PNAAM at the Arizona State Museum Library and Archives (ASM) and then subsequently took a summer internship followed by volunteer hours during the school year at ASM.
I had no idea what to expect from this professional development opportunity, but I came into it with high hopes because every archivist I had spoken to was either a member of the Arizona Archival Alliance, a long-time attendee at the annual summit or both. My previous career had left me with a bad taste in my mouth when it came to professional development as I had spent too many hours in uncomfortable chairs listening to presenters drone on. I was pleasantly surprised with the way the summit balanced informative sessions with collaborative breakouts that allowed for processing and discussion. Further, the speakers for each of the informative sessions were not just experts in the library and information science field but also had meaningful experience applying PNAAM within different circumstances; some were even among the original authors of the 2005 document. Many representatives from different tribes shared their knowledge openly, challenging previous notions and asking relevant questions.
Between the two days, there were about ten different sessions with most of the heavy thinking happening on the first day. The second day brought the summit to a conclusion in the first half of the day, devoting the second half to procedural business of the Arizona Archival Alliance. New board members were introduced, motions were brought to the floor and changes to the Alliance were discussed. Though I am a member of the Alliance, I did not understand much of that second day because I was so new to it. I took the opportunity to learn the names of the people sitting on the board as well as the issue the Alliance faces. In the future, I will be able to participate in a larger capacity because of this introduction.
The Significance of the Learning Experience
The Significance of the Learning Experience
What I loved about my attendance at this Summit was that it provided me with the exact learning opportunities that being an online student denies me. It is true that all of my classes have had required discussion posts and interactions, but it is just not the same as being in a room with like minded, passionate people, bouncing ideas off of one another and sharing experiences to broaden one’s understanding. After completing my readings, I often wish for another person (or group of people) to talk about my responses to the readings, ideas that resulted from them and connections I made between the material and the real world.
The Original Authors of Protocols for Native American Archival MaterialsImage Courtesy of tlamproject.org
The first session was a panel comprised of the PNAAM’s authors who spoke about the responses they experienced from when they were first released up until now; what the endorsement of the Society of American Archivists meant to them as authors as well as archivists and Native people; and the goals of the PNAAM not just at their inception but into the future. It was fascinating, but, had it been followed up immediately by another instructional session, the information would have been quickly buried. Instead, the attendees were separated into breakout sessions led by Alliance members; we were tasked with responding to two questions. The first being how has one's institution utilized the PNAAM (pre-endorsement) and the second asking how one's institution will implement the PNAAM going forward.
I felt so relieved to have spent so much time at ASM because I could genuinely speak to my experiences in archiving. I didn’t feel like “just a student” playing at being a professional, noting the great respect for all participants regardless of status. My thoughts were appreciated and responded to by various group members. Competency B7, “Students will demonstrate knowledge of the roles of interdisciplinary, interprofessional, and community collaboration and alliances in the provision of library and information services,” was very much at work here and throughout the conference. As we introduced ourselves and our roles within our various institutions, I saw the levels of experience within the academic world and within the community.
There were Native peoples rich in knowledge of their culture but seeking support for their developing archives and desiring collaborative relationships to accomplish this goal. There were professional archivists - retired and active - trying to understand their roles outside of the stacks as collaborators and builders of community. And there were students, like me, eager to know everything and to see how all the pieces fit together. Each of us had a valued place within this session as our unique experience, knowledge and expertise color the entirety of the archiving world.
The central discussion was about how archival institutions can involve and consult with tribes to ensure respectful and careful description and access to Native materials. Competency C9, “Students will demonstrate an understanding of the values and service orientation of the library and information professions and their applications in their areas of career interest,” was brought to the forefront in this session. Though it is easy to get caught up in the stacks and day-to-day archival business, it is important for archivists to remember they provide access to information, something every human being has a right to. It is the information professional - in this case, the archivist’s - responsibility to reach out to others so the knowledge they present is as accurate as possible but also to make others aware of the resources they may never have known about before. Archives only have meaning when they are used.
Our group’s consensus in response to the two questions came down to making a consistent effort to build relationships with tribes - going beyond an email or a phone call and actually traveling to tribal lands to introduce oneself and request assistance. An endeavor that requires both patience and persistence! The truth is simply that collaboration, while difficult to achieve, will enhance archival materials meanings and usefulness. A well-made point that I had never considered was how archives hold truths and histories that tribes may be seeking. All people want to know their story, where they came from and who they are. Archival materials may well be the key to answering Native people’s questions about themselves. Both sides stand to gain from open and consistent collaboration.
These two sessions set the trend for the rest of the Summit as we would take in information via presentations and panels before breaking to collaborate, brainstorm and share successes. Each session built so well on the previous one that breakout sessions felt like conversations that we were continuously revisiting, each time with new information and perspectives and often with different Summit attendees. We moved forward from the PNAAM authors’ experiences to discussions of what the putting the protocols into everyday practice looks like at different repositories.
Title Slide from Archival Appraisal & Description Presentation
From there, we discussed how we read the histories contained in our archives that were written about Native peoples but not by Native peoples. How do we read against the grain of the accepted historical narrative to find the truth? This particular question is not only a powerful one, but one that I would be grappling with throughout my Archival Appraisal and Description course that I was enrolled in at the time. I was tasked with reading, analyzing and responding to an article in that class called “Oral culture, written records and understanding the twentieth-century colonial archive. The significance of understanding from within.” by Alistair G. Tough. I found Tough to be overly sympathetic to colonial creators of “official records” in Africa in the 20th century, encouraging his audience to see things through officials’ eyes or to keep in mind certain caveats.
I titled my presentation “Reading Archives With the Grain” in a nod to the very thing this session warned against and Tough endorsed. It was so edifying to see that what I was learning in class aligned with the reality of archiving and it enhanced my learning experience to participate in these sessions while also completing my traditional classwork because I was pulling relevant information from so many sources.
The following session focused on the amount of accountability an archivist has for the research and words presented by scholars in their published works. Competency C10, “Students will demonstrate the ability to recognize and analyze ethical issues and dilemmas in library and information settings and propose reasoned courses of action,” was almost the perfect statement to describe what the subsequent breakout sessions confronted. The issue of misinformation being held in our archives is not a new one; records are kept for more than their informational value. But the issue was further extended to how we communicate truth and historical fact and reality to researchers and ensure they make responsible decisions in the information they choose to use and how they choose to share it. The reading room must become an open space of collaboration and conversation - not a solitary location for researchers to sift through the records that have been pulled for them. It is a precarious balance of providing researchers with what they need to be successful without also impressing upon them our own thoughts and opinions; certainly there are times when the right course of action is unclear. Salvation, as it so often does, lies in communication. Changing the use of the reading room space as well as the relationship between the archivist and the researcher are mandatory for archives that wish to truly endorse the PNAAM not just in their words but in their actions.
Quotes from My Presentation's Conclusion
The following day brought short sessions on developing and sustaining relationships between Native communities and non-Native archivists; professional development opportunities for archivists and finally a session on maximizing interns’ potential to truly help archives. I felt a great deal of pride because three of my fellow University of Arizona MLIS students who intern in Special Collections gave fantastic presentations on the work they have done. Though interns are young to the field, the experiences they bring also allow them to envision archival outreach in unique ways. Each of them presented on different projects they took on during their time in Special Collections and it was truly impressive to see the effect they had.
The Significance of the Networking Experience
The Significance of the Networking Experience
Part of the reason I attended this conference is because my mentor, Ms. Jannelle Weakly, strongly recommended it as one that would help me learn and network. Ms. Weakly hired me as a summer intern at Arizona State Museum in 2018 and then kept me on as a volunteer beginning in August of that year. She introduced me to several individuals she had worked with in different capacities throughout her time in the field. Perhaps most exciting was the opportunity to participate in a session with Ms. Melanie Sturgeon, the former head of the State Archives in Arizona as well as the first ever woman to hold that position. Ms. Sturgeon is also the current secretary for the Alliance. We shared the first breakout session and my contributions gained her attention. We spoke briefly following the breakout and I was able to introduce myself and talk with her in more detail about my research and thoughts on the PNAAM. I also met and spoke with various archivists from the University of Arizona campus whom I had never had the opportunity to meet. It was genuinely a great way to mingle and share business cards with archivists throughout the state of Arizona.
Given that archiving is a second career for me, I am no stranger to professional development. I am, however, fairly unfamiliar with positive experiences in professional development. I know there may be conferences that are not as useful or well done, but learning so much and interacting so easily with colleagues at my first conference gave me a great deal of hope that the professional development experience in library science will be enriching rather than excruciating.
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