AAO News

Would you like to attend the 2019 AAO Conference in Belleville? Up to $650 in funding and free registration is available through the Shirley Spragge Bursary for students, new professionals, and archivists in financial need.

The 2019 AAO Conference program follows the theme "Unlocking the Vaults: Access, Outreach & Engagement." Workshops, a reception, a banquet and other social events promise to make for a fantastic time! 

Applications for the Shirley Spragge Bursary are now open. Applications close on March 8, 2019.

To qualify you must be an AAO member and an Ontario resident, and be either:

•  A student enrolled in a recognized archival program (must submit proof of enrollment), or
•  A recent (1-3 years) graduate of a recognized archival program (must submit proof of program completion), or
•  A practicing or volunteer archivist in financial need (must submit proof of employment or volunteering).

The Shirley Spragge Bursary is adjudicated by the AAO Awards Committee. The successful applicant will be announced by the end of March. Interested applicants are required to fill in the bursary application available on the AAO website and demonstrate financial need, an interest in archives education and/or professional development, and confirmed intent to participate in the annual AAO conference.

For more information and to submit your application, visit the Shirley Spragge Bursary page on the AAO website: http://aao-archivists.ca/shirley-spragge-bursary

Hello AAO,

As your devoted OTR Editor trudged through the unplowed sidewalks of Toronto this morning to put the finishing touches on the newest issue of Off the Record, he would be pleased if you'd do him the favour of downloading it at your leisure! 

The Winter 2019 issue is now available for members. 

This issue features up-to-the-minute AAO news and updates, a member spotlight interview with John Lund, a report by AAO Archeion Coordinator Lisa Snider on the recent Ontario Museum Association conference, and a profile of the Archives of Ontario's new exhibit, ANIMALIA. It also includes a piece by yours truly on Alice Munro's short story "Dulse" and the archival narratives of Grand Manan Island, NB.

The still-fresh Winter 2018 issue is now available free to anyone.

Happy reading!

Grant 

OTR Editor

Greetings archival community of Ontario!

You are invited to contribute to the 2018 edition of the Ontario Archival Accessions Register (OAAR). As in previous years, we are asking repositories to submit basic details on new accessions by completing the attached reporting form. We hope to continue building on the last two years’ surveys by encouraging even more institutions to participate, whether they are currently AAO members or not. The aim is to cast the net widely and capture the most comprehensive snapshot of archival collecting possible. We’re planning to use the three years’ worth of data to begin some analysis work on collecting patterns and trends, so the bigger the response rate the better.

Please use the attached form to report material legally acquired by your institution in the calendar year 2018. Completed forms should be directed to: chairs@aao-archivists.ca  T

The deadline to submit responses is Friday, March 15, 2019. The collected data will be made available on the AAO’s website during Archives Awareness Week in April.

Background information and FAQs on the OAAR and the Provincial Acquisition Strategy of which it forms a part can be found on the AAO website.

The nominations for the 2019 AAO Awards are now open!

The Awards Committee is accepting nominations for the Alexander Fraser Award, the James J. Talman Award, and the new AAO Emerging Leaders Award, which are presented to individuals. The Committee is also accepting nominations for the Corporate and Institutional Awards which recognize archives, corporations and other organizations that have made significant contributions to the archival community in Ontario.

Nomination period closes March 15th, 2019.

The awards will be presented at the AAO Conference in Belleville from May 8-10, 2019.

For more information on the awards criteria and nominations process, please visit https://aao-archivists.ca/page-18198.  

Are you an archivist at an independent school? The Association of Independent School Archivists invites you to join us on Slack! AISA is a group that meets twice a year to discuss the opportunities and challenges inherent to our roles, learn from each other, and attend a workshop or bring in a special speaker.

At our last meeting, we signed up for Slack where we have been sharing resources and ideas. Curious about others' displays? How they engage with students? What kind of donations they accept from alumni? We'd love to chat!

Sign up here or email JLoba@appleby.on.ca. 

Consider giving back to the archival community today!

Giving Tuesday is a global movement recognizing giving and volunteering. This year, consider directing your charitable dollars to the Archives Association of Ontario. You can donate directly on the AAO website. You will receive a tax receipt for your contribution.

By donating to the AAO, you will help develop and sustain our programs and services, and assist in offsetting our reliance on grant funding. Our services, including our Archives Advisor and Archeion, Ontario’s Archival Information Network, are widely relied on by the community to improve the accessibility and preservation of Ontario’s irreplaceable documentary heritage.

We truly appreciate your support.

LAC has released Guidelines and Application Form for 2019 DHCP funding on their website. Please note the minor changes in Guidelines. Deadline for submitting a completed application package is January 8, 2019, before 11:59 p.m.EST. 

If you plan to apply and would like advice on your application or to discuss your project, please contact Iona McCraith archivesadvisor@aao-archivists.ca. 

Dear AAO,

Ah, the glories of late October. Waking up in total darkness in a warm bed and hitting the snooze button. Eating too many chocolate bars in the office on the day after Halloween. Laying awake till 2 AM hearing ghosts because you watched that terrifying Netflix show too close to bed. All totally non-specific, shared experiences of the season. But best of all - and definitely for everyone - reading the newest issue of Off the Record! 

The new issue of OTR is now available for members. 

This excellent issue includes AAO news and updates, a member spotlight interview with Liz Mayville, an article by AAO Archeion Coordinator Lisa Snider on bulk uploads, a reflection on a summer's work well done by Louise Curtis, a report on the new Reclaiming Shingwauk Hall exhibition by Krista McCracken, and an article on an exciting new way to process collections using speech recognition by Kathy Traynor. 

All my thanks to these wonderful and talented contributors who make OTR such an engaging publication! 

The still-very-good Fall 2017 issue is also now available free to the world. 

Best,

Grant Hurley

OTR Editor

Call For Papers: Archives Association of Ontario (AAO) 2019 Conference

The Archives Association of Ontario (AAO) is pleased to announce its Call for Papers for the 2019 AAO Conference to be held 8-10 May in Belleville, Ontario.

Unlocking the Vaults: Access, Outreach & Engagement

In 2019 we invite archivists to show us how they are sharing their collections with the wider world. This might be by cutting through cataloguing backlogs, developing digitization and digital archives workflows, or by taking archives to community groups in innovative ways.

This is an opportunity to speak about successes – as well as the challenges faced – in promoting collections, expanding audiences, and fostering engagement with archives. We’d also like to hear about your instructive failures!

The AAO 2019 Program Committee invites proposals which touch on any aspect of the broad theme of improving access to archives.

Session topics may include:

• Providing access via digitization
• Innovative outreach activities
• Engagement with diverse user groups or emerging areas of research and scholarship
• Promoting archives through partnerships
• Strategies for reducing backlogs

Submissions of proposals for papers are invited.

The Program Committee will accept both individual submissions for papers as well as full session proposals for multiple speakers.

Full sessions are 1h15m in duration and may take the form of:

• Conventional sessions (formal presentation of papers; approximately 20 minutes per speaker, with questions to follow as time allows);
• Panel discussion (abbreviated presentation of papers; approximately 10-15 minutes per speaker, with discussion to follow);
• Roundtables (brief 5-7 minute presentations with open discussion); or
• Focused Debate on a specific topic (brief presentations with open discussion & debate to follow).

Full session proposals should include: name and contact information of all the presenters, along with a brief biography, a short session description (500 works, max) and a session abstract (suitable for use in the conference program, 150 words, max.).

Individual paper proposals should include your contact information, a brief biography and a short description of the paper (150 works, max)

Proposals should be sent to the AAO Office using this form.

The deadline to submit proposals is November 30, 2018.

If you have any questions, please contact the Program Committee Chair:

Rodney Carter
Archivist, RHSJ St. Joseph Region Archives, Kingston
 rgscarter@gmail.com

The 2019 AAO Conference will include, depending on student interest / response, a Student Papers session and, possibly a Poster session. A separate call for submissions will be issued early 2019.

A reminder to Institutional Members that Archeion offers two new features:

1.Bulk Uploads

Up until now, you could only manually input authority records and archival descriptions into Archeion one by one. However, if you are interested in adding authority records and archival descriptions in bulk through an Excel spreadsheet that you create, please contact Lisa Snider for more details at archeion@aao-archivists.ca or 1-(800) 208-1936.

If you use AtoM 2.3 in house, the process is very easy. If you use another product or method in house, you can convert that format into the specific Archeion AtoM Excel spreadsheet. Lisa can provide guidance for either type of database, and whether this bulk upload method would work for your situation.

2. Extra Space

Institutional Members receive 1 GB of free space with their membership. If you need more space for digital objects, we offer 5 GB and 10 GB packages. Please contact Lisa Snider at archeion@aao-archivists.ca or 1-(800) 208-1936.