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From August 1 \u2013 August 6, archivists from around the world descended on Austin, TX to participate in the annual Society of American Archivists (SAA) business meeting. This yearly gathering allows the members to share information in formal and informal settings. It\u2019s also great fun to meet new people and see old colleagues and friends, and learn new skills and ways to work with the archival materials we hold. All in all, it\u2019s an excellent \u2013 if tiring! \u2013 event. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Arriving on Thursday, August 1st<\/sup>, I spent the afternoon with other managers brainstorming ideas and topics for future educational sessions targeting management. On Friday, I spent the morning at the 13th<\/sup> Annual Research Forum learning about new initiatives, transformative practices, and studies. Topics included a study on how contemporary veterans document their lives, and how archives will be able to save their words and photos, as well as how contemporary archivists are describing current and older archival collections with \u201cconscious editing.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n That afternoon I walked to the Harry Ransom Center to get a\nbehind-the-scenes tour of their exhibit space and preparation areas, and\ndiscuss the ins and outs of archival exhibits with about 20 other archivists.\nThat particular meeting is a great example of why I think this conference is so\nimportant: learning from your peers through talking face to face about how we\nare doing similar things, often quite differently, with perhaps similar but\nalways distinctive situations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n These discussions continued throughout the section meetings\nand educational sessions, and naturally continued over lunches, dinners, walks\nto see the bats, and generous helpings of Amy\u2019s ice cream. I had in-depth\ndiscussions with former colleagues about the technicalities of processing large\ncollections, working with the archival management program ArchivesSpace, development\nideas, and different ways to reach out to students, among many others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I also met a number of new archivists by participating in the Navigator program, which matches up conference veterans with first-time attendees. As a conference veteran, with almost 20 SAAs under my belt, I shared some advice on the conference, and hopefully helped some of the newer archivists feel a bit more welcomed. I was so impressed with my navigatees, and look forward to seeing their progress in the future!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two of SCRC\u2019s members presented at the conference. Our Manuscripts and Archives Librarian Liz Beckman gave an inspiring presentation on \u201cSupporting and advocating for student workers and interns.\u201d Our summer intern, Jared Nistler, co-presented on his graduate research with a poster presentation of \u201cA quantitative approach to the status of the magnetic media crisis: from hoping to knowing<\/a><\/strong>” (Hyperlinked). The study is shockingly informative about our current AV migration crisis in archives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I greatly appreciate the support the George Mason University Libraries provides for professional development. Actively participating in conferences at the regional and national level allows me the ability to keep up with emerging trends in the archival world, connecting with peers, and bringing back the information to share with the rest of SCRC. I also appreciate that most of our staff stayed back in Fairfax providing researchers access to our collections, preparing exhibits, managing students, and continuing on grant projects. We\u2019ll meet as a staff to discuss the conference, what we learned, and ways to access the meetings we were not able to attend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Follow Special Collections Research Center on Social Media <\/em>at our Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, and Twitter<\/a> accounts. To search the collections held at Special Collections Research Center, go to our website and browse the finding aids by subject or title. You may also e-mail us at speccoll@gmu.edu<\/a> or call 703-993-2220 if you would like to schedule an appointment, request materials, or if you have questions. Appointments are not necessary to request and view collections.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This year only two members of SCRC were able to attend the SAA Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas. This meeting in particular was a fiery one to say the least. Without further ado, here are our Director’s impressions of the 2019 Annual Meeting! Lynn Eaton – Director From August 1 \u2013 August 6, archivists from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101016,"featured_media":8723,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5,121],"tags":[687,801,802],"class_list":["post-8721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-scrc-interest","category-scrc-picks","tag-professional-development","tag-saa19","tag-society-of-american-archivists"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/saa.jpg?fit=465%2C310&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Ep5i-2gF","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7876,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=7876","url_meta":{"origin":8721,"position":0},"title":"The Society of American Archivists Annual Meeting","author":"Amanda Menjivar","date":"August 27, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The week of August 13th, members of Special Collections Research Center attended the Society of American Archivists' (SAA) Annual Meeting which was held in Washington, D.C. at the Wardman Park Marriott. The Society of American Archivists is \"North America's oldest and largest national professional association dedicated to the needs and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/2018_AnnualMeeting_Logo_resized.jpg?fit=600%2C450&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/2018_AnnualMeeting_Logo_resized.jpg?fit=600%2C450&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/2018_AnnualMeeting_Logo_resized.jpg?fit=600%2C450&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10482,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=10482","url_meta":{"origin":8721,"position":1},"title":"SAA Reflections","author":"Amanda Menjivar","date":"August 14, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"This post was written by SCRC Student Assistant Vilma Chicas Garcia. This past Society of American Archivists (SAA) conference was my first ever. I wasn't sure what I was expecting going in. However, I came out with much more than I ever thought I would. Initially, I thought perhaps speakers\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/SAA.png?fit=1200%2C300&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/SAA.png?fit=1200%2C300&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/SAA.png?fit=1200%2C300&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/SAA.png?fit=1200%2C300&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/SAA.png?fit=1200%2C300&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8085,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=8085","url_meta":{"origin":8721,"position":2},"title":"SCRC at MARAC in Morgantown","author":"admin","date":"April 18, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Mason's Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) was well represented at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference (MARAC) in Morgantown, WV last week. Records Management Specialist Nick Welsh attended, Processing Coordinator Amanda Brent served on the Program Committee, and Research Services Coordinator Brittney Falter and I - Manuscripts and Archives Librarian Liz\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Capture.jpg?fit=815%2C367&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Capture.jpg?fit=815%2C367&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Capture.jpg?fit=815%2C367&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Capture.jpg?fit=815%2C367&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9346,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=9346","url_meta":{"origin":8721,"position":3},"title":"A Journey of Reparation Work","author":"Amanda Menjivar","date":"September 21, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"This post was written by Rachel Lavender, Metadata Specialist. Rachel has a Bachelors of Public History from the University of Wisconsin \u2013 Eau Claire, a Masters of Library and Information Studies from the University of Wisconsin \u2013 Madison, and is currently pursuing a Masters in Applied History from George Mason\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Digital Collections"","block_context":{"text":"Digital Collections","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=557"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/LUNA.jpg?fit=1200%2C959&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/LUNA.jpg?fit=1200%2C959&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/LUNA.jpg?fit=1200%2C959&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/LUNA.jpg?fit=1200%2C959&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/LUNA.jpg?fit=1200%2C959&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9196,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=9196","url_meta":{"origin":8721,"position":4},"title":"Moving into the Modern Archival Age: ArchivesSpace Implementation – Part 1","author":"admin","date":"August 13, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"In January 2020 (which feels like 8 years ago even though it was only 8 months), SCRC made a big change behind the scenes to the way that we store information about our unpublished collections. Many archival institutions use Collections Management Systems, archives-specific databases that archivists use to keep track\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/aspace.png?fit=720%2C227&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/aspace.png?fit=720%2C227&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/aspace.png?fit=720%2C227&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/aspace.png?fit=720%2C227&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9324,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=9324","url_meta":{"origin":8721,"position":5},"title":"Moving into the Modern Archival Age: Archives Space Implementation – Part 2","author":"admin","date":"September 3, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"In my last post on SCRC\u2019s transition to ArchivesSpace, our new Collections Management System, I talked about the steps we took to prepare our collections data to migrate to the new database. Now, it\u2019s time to get into the migration and the details of how ArchivesSpace will ultimately benefit our\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Screen-Shot-2020-08-13-at-9.14.23-AM.png?fit=851%2C361&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Screen-Shot-2020-08-13-at-9.14.23-AM.png?fit=851%2C361&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Screen-Shot-2020-08-13-at-9.14.23-AM.png?fit=851%2C361&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Screen-Shot-2020-08-13-at-9.14.23-AM.png?fit=851%2C361&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/101016"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8721"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8721\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8743,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8721\/revisions\/8743"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Capture2.jpg?resize=273%2C300&ssl=1\")
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