News

During CAA’s Steering Committee election, we will share comments from current Steering Committee members about their work with CAA. Today we hear from Megan Keller Young. Megan was elected for a 2017-2019 term and currently serves on the Steering Committee as the Vice-Chair.

When I first moved to Chicago right after finishing library school, I wasn’t sure how to get my foot in the door. Luckily I managed to find the Chicago Area Archivists and have been gaining knowledge and experience ever since, whether through listserv posts, professional development events, or simply meeting people at the Holiday Party. Being around so many other passionate archivists convinced me to pitch in to help keep CAA going. After a few years on Outreach, I was elected to the Steering Committee, where I have been lucky to work on a variety of projects with my colleagues around the city. The time commitment is minimal (a few hours a month), especially compared to the opportunities CAA offers as a result of all of our hard work. I urge all CAA members to consider serving on the Steering Committee. Joining CAA is a great way to get your foot in the door, but by serving on Steering, you can help hold it open for others.

To volunteer, submit a brief (1-2 paragraphs) Statement of Interest outlining your background and motivation for serving on the Steering Committee toinfo@chicagoarchivists.org. Please include your full name, title, place of work (if applicable), and preferred contact phone and email address.

During CAA’s Steering Committee election, we will share comments from current Steering Committee members about their work with CAA. Today we hear from Jerice Barrios. Jerice was elected for a 2018-2020 term and currently serves on the Steering Committee as the Programming Liaison, Interest Group Liaison, and will be taking on the role of Treasurer following the 2019 election.

What I love about being a member of the CAA Steering Committee is the collaborative spirit found in this group. Committee members come from different settings and have different skill sets, but we are all passionate about serving the Chicago archives community. It is extremely rewarding to work with a group of dedicated, creative professionals and know that your ideas are welcomed and that your perspective is appreciated. Volunteering for the Steering Committee is an enriching experience as well as a chance to give back to an organization that I admire.

To volunteer, submit a brief (1-2 paragraphs) Statement of Interest outlining your background and motivation for serving on the Steering Committee to info@chicagoarchivists.org. Please include your full name, title, place of work (if applicable), and preferred contact phone and email address.

CAA is pleased like to announce the return of the membership referral incentive for 2019! When you refer a friend or colleague to join CAA, you will be entered into a drawing with a chance to win a $15 gift card to Starbucks.

Any member who refers a friend or colleague to join CAA between January 1 and March 12 of this year will be added to the pool. We will pick 3 winners at random at the members meeting in March. Can't make it to the Members Meeting? Don't worry, we will work with you to make sure you get your reward!

When new members sign up, they can simply add your name to the Referring Member field. This field is completely private and so it will not show up on the new member's public profile. Please note, at this time this initiative only applies to new members who join online, not those who send in the new member registration in the mail.  

Not sure who to refer? CAA is not strictly for archivists! Consider colleagues who may work with archives in some way but do not consider themselves archivists: students, records managers, rights and images staff, librarians, historians, or others who simply have an interest in archives and want to learn more. CAA's workshops and behind the scenes tours offer insight into the Chicago archives world which may be of interest to a broader audience. Just don't forget to ask them to put you down as their referring member!

New to CAA? Longtime member? Consider running for Steering Committee election!

During CAA’s Steering Committee election, we will share comments from current Steering Committee members about their work with CAA. Kara Jefts was elected for a 2017-2019 term and currently serves on the Steering Committee as the Chair.

I remember the enthusiasm I felt from CAA members at the first event I attended in the fall of 2016. I was excited find a group of archivists to learn from, as my training comes from an adjacent field. A short time later I found myself serving on the Steering Committee. At first uncertain about the value of my contributions, the experience of serving on Steering has shown me that CAA is truly built to support member growth, and I’ve benefited so much through participation. I encourage anyone who joined our membership with a an eagerness to learn to seek a leadership role. Diversity of experience is one of the things that makes Chicago Area Archivists strong as an organization, so don’t hesitate, volunteer!

To volunteer, submit a brief (1-2 paragraphs) Statement of Interest outlining your background and motivation for serving on the Steering Committee to info@chicagoarchivists.org. Please include your full name, title, place of work (if applicable), and preferred contact phone and email address.

The deadline to submit your Statement is Friday, March 1 at 5:00 pm.

CAA’s new Curating & Exhibitions Interest Group is looking for members! The group is open to anyone who is interested in sharing and learning about best practices, emerging trends, and resources in curating and exhibiting archives and special collections in libraries.

Topics for future discussion include, but are not limited to: Teaching and learning exhibition development for archivists (and librarians), curating exhibitions in academic libraries, exhibition policies, digital exhibitions, diversity and inclusion in exhibition design, interpretive planning, and community-curated projects.

If you are interested in joining the group and staying connected with the updates, please email Carol Ng-He at carolnghe@gmail.com and indicate your interest.

The Archives and Archivists of Color Travel Fund Award seeks to increase the networks and professional opportunities of minority graduate students and early career professionals by sponsoring attendance at the Midwest Archives Conference, to be held this year on April 3-6 in Detroit, MI.

Last year, thanks to the kind generosity of the CAA community and friends, the AAC Travel Fund Award sent three people to MAC 2018 in Chicago. Here is a testimonial from one of the winners, Maira Herrera. She was a graduate student at the time that she received the travel fund award and has since taken the position of Archivist with the Dominican Sisters of Springfield, IL.

What I loved about going to MAC was seeing different archivists interact and hearing their perspectives. I spoke to a seasoned archivist who encouraged me to branch out of Chicago and see how different archives function. She spoke of her experiences and how that has changed her moving forward. It made me understand just how big this community is, and how it will continue to grow.

This experience has taught me the importance of diversity in archives and how we can improve to make this field more accessible to minorities. One panel that I attended, "De-Centering Whiteness in the Archive", discussed this exactly. It was a great way to address the lack of inclusion in archives and understand that there can be room for improvement.

Attending MAC taught me that there is a community out there for novice archivists. It really helped me understand why I wanted to become an archivist and how I can contribute in the future. --Maira Herrera

Fundraising for the AAC Travel Fund Award continues through January, and the deadline for applications for the award is January 31, 2019. All who qualify are encouraged to apply.

As 2018 winds down, we'd like to share some news about our members and remind you that CAA's membership year ends with the calendar year, so now is a great time to renew! Just login, click "View Profile" in the upper right hand corner of the page, and click the "Renew" button to the right of your profile.

Audra V. Adomenas, President, Lithuanian Archives Project, Chicago, IL has been nominated as Central United States Ambassador for the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA). IASA was established in 1969 in Amsterdam to function as a medium for international co-operation between archives that preserve recorded sound and audiovisual documents. IASA is a growing and dynamic organization, which aims to create an international network of cooperation among like-minded professionals. For questions regarding IASA membership, or how you can get involved, please contact Audra by phone at: 312-940-3940 or by email at: LithuanianArchivesProject@gmail.com. There are many exciting opportunities for us in the Midwest to participate in this important work internationally. In October, Audra attended the IASA Conference, which was held in Accra, Ghana. See below for a photograph of Audra with IASA colleagues at the Department of African Studies, University of Ghana. 

IASA has members from 70 countries representing a broad palette of audiovisual archives and personal interests which are distinguished by their focus on particular subjects and areas, e.g. archives for all sorts of musical recordings, historic, literary, folkloric and ethnological sound documents, theater productions and oral history interviews, bio-acoustics, environmental and medical sounds, linguistic and dialect recordings, as well as recordings for forensic purposes. 

Rebekah McFarland, archivist for the Sisters of the Living Word, and Nancy Freeman, director at the Women and Leadership Archives at Loyola University Chicago, received honorable mentions in SAA's 2018 Archives Short Fiction Contest! Take a reading break and check out Rebekah's "Ester Jones Diaz", and Nancy's "Risk Versus Benefit"!

We're always looking to highlight the work our members are doing. Let us know your or your colleagues' news at info@chicagoarchivists.org or by emailing the co-chairs of the Outreach and Member Engagement Subcommittee: Brittan Nannenga (brittan.nannenga@northwestern.edu) and Jill Waycie (j-waycie@northwestern.edu). 

Image description: Audra V. Adomenas, in bright green sweater, with IASA colleagues at University of Ghana, Department of African studies. To the right of Audra is Lindsay Kistler Mattock, University of Iowa. 

CAA now has a way to easily share photos taken by members at our many great events: tours, presentations, workshops, COA, Day of Service, meetings, parties, happy hours, etc.

Images can be uploaded to the new shared photo folder, where they will help document and promote these CAA events.

We encourage you all to start the photo sharing with your images from the annual holiday party this Wednesday!

Please be sure to check out the ReadMe in the folder, for information about CAA’s photo policy, adding images, and photo use/takedown requests.

Questions or comments? Let us know! info@chicagoarchivists.org

Chicago Open Archives 2018 is winding down, but there's still time to visit the remaining events and listen to more podcasts! 

The final roundup of podcasts includes: Greer Martin talking about making connections through COA, Michelle McCoy discussing surprise learning experiences at Chicago Public Library, Andy Bullen discussing archives as a labor of love through his work with Pullman State Historic Site, Jeanne Long talking about Chicago Collections' involvement with COA, and a conversation with Michelle Rinard of the International Museum of Surgical Science.

Check the interviews out on Soundcloud here, and find the list of current and past COA events on our Events page. 

CAA thanks all who attended the tour of the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum on September 21. 14 people attended and experienced a guided tour of the recently re-designed galleries that showcase the lives and inspiring social justice work of Jane Addams and her colleagues.

If you missed this event, don’t worry – there will be more events throughout the year at a variety of dates, times, and locations.

Have an idea for a CAA event? Contact the CAA Programming Subcommittee at info@chicagoarchivists.org with your suggestions.