mac2019detroit

The Atlanta University Center (AUC) Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums (GLAM) Center for Collaborative Teaching & Learning provides faculty training in object-based pedagogy through the integration of artwork, artifacts, and other primary sources into course curriculum. This collaboration between three autonomous institutions: the Woodruff Library’s Archives Research Center (ARC), the Clark Atlanta University Art Museum and the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, is developing teaching and learning methods to improve visual and archival literacy among AUC faculty and students. A primary component of this initiative is the GLAM Centers digital portal, providing virtual access to images from across the GLAM institutions collections as well as educational resources. The GLAM portal serves as a common platform to find images from all GLAM institution collections in order to promote cross-disciplinary research by curating digital exhibitions in conjunction with physical exhibits, encouraging student interaction with art and archival materials.

GLAMs Museum Education Curator, Martina Dodd, Digital Exhibitions Coordinator, Gayle Schechter, and the Woodruff ARCs Public Services Archivist, Tiffany Atwater, will discuss important lessons learned from collaborating across multiple institutions to build the first three exhibits featured in the portal on the topics of African-American military service, voting rights, and artwork featuring black domestic life. In building a faculty outreach program, teaching in-class sessions in the museum and archives, and building a digital portal, GLAM has increased visibility and discoverability of the cultural heritage resources housed across the institutions of the AUC, the world's largest consortia of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

Despite a couple decades of progress on various technologies to support both digital preservation and archival description, we've still seen relatively little progress on software support for the core activities of selection and appraisal.  There are numerous data elements within born-digital materials that could (but currently aren't) be used to support more effective and efficient appraisal processes.  Recent advances in natural language processing and machine learning are particularly promising. Appraisal isn't a specific point in a digital curation workflow but is instead something that happens at numerous points throughout the process.  The time is ripe for detailed discussions about how and when to introduce software that can support appraisal activities.

This panel - composed of individuals from four states and a variety of institution types -- will explore issues of computer-assisted appraisal.  What are archivists doing now, and what could they be doing in the future?  What types of software are the most promising?  What are the most likely challenges? The purpose of the session is to raise awareness of the potential for computer-assisted appraisal, as well as helping participants (panelists and audience) to understand the implications for work in their own institutions. This panel should be of interest to all archivists responsible for electronic records, especially born-digital records.  No background knowledge is required, though an understanding of archival appraisal principles and practices will be beneficial.

The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) provides an innovative platform to expand awareness and encourage use of archival collections across the MAC region. Speakers from three repositories and a representative from a DPLA state hub discuss sharing digital objects with a national audience and explore the impact of participating in a DPLA Hub.
DPLA is transforming archives through technological change and collaboration with DPLA improves discoverability and accessibility, expands the digital representation of diverse communities, creates value across the network, and encourages the use of historical materials by a wider range of scholars, teachers, students, and the general public.
Speakers will highlight several projects and collaborations across three states. A project underway at Wayne State University to digitize collections from underserved communities includes a new statewide digital portal for the Michigan Hub and educational tools for the cultural content. Marquette University will discuss its work in the consultant network for the Wisconsin Hub and its collaboration with the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee to assist smaller repositories seeking to build capacity and engage digital projects. As one of DPLAs initial service hubs, the Minnesota Digital Library (MDL) will discuss how its premier project, Minnesota Reflections, encourages new uses of digital collections and assists organizations of all sizes to increase capacity for digital literacy.