Society of Georgia Archivists annual meeting

The annual meeting of the Society of Georgia Archivists took place November 6-7 in Athens, GA. The meeting theme was "Plans and Strategies for the Future of Archives." A primary focus of the meeting was discussion of issues related to born-digital archival records. There were small group discussion sessions and formal paper sessions focused on the challenges of acquiring, managing, and providing access to these types of records.

As part of this focus, Richard and I presented a poster and product demonstration for BDRM (born-digital records management system). We discussed our development workflow, user training, and product specifications.

Interestingly, many at the meeting were particularly interested in how we got the development project started in the first place -- the internal advocacy and planning we did that ensured a sustained collaboration across departments.

Presenting at the Tri-State Archivists Conference

For the first time ever, the Society of North Carolina held its 2013 annual meeting in conjunction with the Society of Georgia Archivists and the South Carolina Archival Association from October 17-18 at Furman University in Greenville, SC. A number of UNCG Libraries staff members attended and presented at the conference.

On Friday morning at 9am, Richard Cox and I co-presenting on "Collaborating for a 21st Century Archives." I spoke about ways in which archivists can work effectively with library IT staff in order to truly document and provide optimal access to modern archival records. Richard then talked about the development process for our born-digital records management (BDRM) tool, and did a quick demonstration of the tool's key capabilities. We had about 70-80 folks attending our session, and we fielded lots of questions (and some queries from others about how they can use BDRM!).

Yes, that's a corgi photo on the slide

Also, as the second part of our time slot, Rachel Trent from the State Archives and Kathleen Kenney from the State Library discussed the State of North Carolina's efforts to manage the permanent records produced via social media (for instance, the Governor's official Facebook page). Of particular interest to me was their use of a newly-developed product (from a Durham-based start up) called ArchiveSocial. As we proceed in our effort to manage born-digital records across campus, tools like ArchiveSocial will come in handy in documenting some of the campus's most visible social media outlets.

The conference also presented numerous opportunities to talk with colleagues from across North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. I'm a member of both SNCA and the Society of Georgia Archivists, and I always enjoy learning more about what's happening in our neighboring states. Our Thursday evening reception at the Upcountry History Museum was fun (in spite of the fact that the "Snoopy Soars with NASA" exhibit was closed because our reception was outside of their normal operating hours). And, for those who have not visited, downtown Greenville is quite nice -- lots of good restaurants and shops.