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Sessions & Meetings


Visit the Schedule-At-A-Glance for a comprehensive list of all Pre-AGM & AGM events and their locations.

   Description
Thursday,
May 8
 

Workshop One
9:00 am - 5:00 pm

Accessioning and Ingest of Electronic Records #14A1 (SAA Digital Archives Specialist Curriculum and Certificate Program)

Workshop Two 
9:00 am - 5:00 pm

Media Rising Workshop: Bringing Audiovisual Collections Back to Life
9:00 am - 12:30 pm
SCA Board meeting (Board members only).
1:30 pm - 5:00 pm SCA Leadership Meeting

All SCA members are invited and encouraged to attend this meeting of the SCA Board with Committee chairs and others. Come meet SCA's leaders and learn how SCA operates. Also investigate becoming a member of a SCA Committee.
Friday,
May 9
 
8:15 am - 8:45 am

New Member Meet & Greet

Please join the Membership Committee at this informal gathering to meet your new colleagues. All new members are welcome, as are returning or veteran members who'd like to welcome those new to SCA.

Plenary address          
9:00 am - 10:00 am

Welcome & Plenary Address

Words of Welcome:

James Eason, President, Society of California Archivists
Clay Stalls, Program Committee Chair and Vice President, Society of California Archivists

Plenary Address:

Alan Hess

Form Follows Pleasure: Modern Architecture and the Palm Springs School

One of the hallmarks of Palm Springs is its "Modern Architecture," based on clean lines, extensive use of glass, and a combination of outdoor and indoor spaces. Architectural critic and author Alan Hess will discuss how a small but talented group of architects were drawn to Palm Springs in the mid-twentieth century and created this home-grown Modernism. The architects included, among others, Richard Neutra, William F. Cody, and William "Bill" Krisel

Eschewing the austere aesthetics of European Modernism, they used new technology and materials to respond to the climate, the spectacular landscape, and especially the pleasures of life in this vacation oasis. Their work resulted in Palm Springs becoming recognized as a true national architectural treasure.

Session 1
10:30 am - 12:00 pm

The Access Tightrope: Balancing Access with Privacy

  • Mallory Furnier,  Autry National Center (Moderator/Presenter)
  • Charlie Holland,  Autry National Center 
  • Michael C. Oliveira, one National Gay & Lesbian Archives @ The University of Southern California

What is privacy for our donors and institutions? Are redacting and restrictions enough or too great a burden? Archivists processing 20th and 21st century materials are in the precarious position of balancing legal and ethical concerns with current access trends that allow for a greater ease of online record distribution than ever before.  Increased access benefits researchers but heightens privacy concerns.  These concerns include the need to protect the privacy of third party contributors, celebrities’ right to privacy and their right to publicity, and other possible abuses of information.  This session will examine these issues and how three archivists and their institutions are managing the tension between access and privacy.  From the personal records of the donor and their correspondents to the records of organizations and businesses, what is privacy in the 21st century?

Session 2
10:30 am - 12:00 pm

Unleashing the Waters: Diversifying Access to Digital Resources on the Los Angeles Aqueduct

  • Jillian Cuellar, UCLA Library Special Collections (Moderator/Commentator)
  • Lisa Crane, Special Collections, Honnold/Mudd Library, The Claremont Colleges
  • Jasmine Jones, UCLA Library Special Collections
  • Steve KutayCalifornia State University, Northridge
  • Eric MilenkiewiczUniversity of California, Riverside Libraries
  • Liza Posas, Braun Research Library, Autry National Center
  • Shilpa Rele, Loyola Marymount University

In late 2012, the panelists of this session were provided an opportunity to conduct digitization and digital projects related to the Los Angeles Aqueduct, which celebrates its centenary in November 2013. In a series of lightning talks, each speaker will discuss the digitization efforts undertaken at their institutions to make records related to the Los Angeles Aqueduct visible to a broader audience. These discussions will include the planning and implementation of digitization processes; building sustainable workflows; using student workers to maximize efficiency; training students in digital project management; and sharing with humanities students the uses for archives. Speakers will also share about forging multi-departmental collaborations; the challenges of conducting digitization projects due to limits on institutional resources: the difficulties posed by integrating new archival description with old ones; and developing landing pages for re-contextualized records. Also to be discussed is the creation of a digital platform, aimed at providing access to Aqueduct-related resources through a centralized portal, thereby facilitating the discovery of these materials and, ultimately, their use in education and research.

Session 3
10:30 am - 12:00 pm

Rex Brandt’s California Watercolors: Stories from the Archives

  • Claire Kennedy, JAB Art Enterprises, Inc. (Moderator)
  • David Keller, Metropolitan Water District of Southern  California
  • Morgan Yates, Automobile Club of Southern CaliforniaArchives
  • Jennifer Martinez Wormser Laguna College of Art + Design

"Rex Brandt's California Watercolors: Stories From the Archives" will examine three different archival institutions and their experiences as custodians of the works of California watercolorist Rex Brandt (1914-2000). These institutions, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Automobile Club of Southern California, and Laguna College of Art + Design, are quite different in their missions and in the scope of their collections. However, they all have fascinating and significant works by Rex Brandt in their archives. This presentation describes how the artist’s output found its way into these disparate collections and how they collaboratively document the artist and his work as we commemorate the centennial of Brandt’s birth in 2014.

LUNCH
12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Lunch on Your Own
FORUM
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

Online Archive of California (OAC) Contributor Meeting

Moderators:

  • Sherri Berger, California Digital Library
  • Gabriela Montoya, California Digital Library
  • Adrian Turner, California Digital Library

Are you a current contributor to the Online Archive of California (OAC)? Are you thinking about becoming a new member? Join us to meet fellow contributors, ask questions of OAC staff, and learn more about new tools and developments.

Coffee/tea and light snacks will be provided.

Session 4
2:15 pm - 3:45 pm

Technology and Archives: Exchange Forum - Programmer & Archivist Collaboration

  • Robin Chandler, UC Santa Cruz Library (Facilitator) 
  • Kim Klausner, Industry Documents Digital Libraries, UC San Francisco
  • Sven Maier, Industry Documents Digital Libraries, UC San Francisco
  • Cristela Garcia-Spitz, UC San Diego Library
  • Matt Critchlow, UC San Diego Library

We live in the era when digital collections became the norm in all archives and libraries. They may contain digitized materials or be born-digital. Regardless of their nature archivists are charged with processing, preserving, and providing access to them. Many archives have been undergoing a shift from working with a stand-alone IT department or consultants to a new organizational structure. Increasingly, archival teams include programmers and developers who are now embedded in archives and libraries. Two teams from UCSF and UCSD, each consisting of an archivist and a programmer, will discuss their collaboration, how they found a “common language,” and share their experience of bridging different working cultures and styles. Successful collaboration between these two groups ensures better understanding of user needs and efficient service to the public. This forum will include presentations by four featured speakers, along with a facilitated discussion between the panel and the audience.

*Session handout available here*

Session 5
2:15 pm - 3:45 pm

"Tear Down These Walls": Introducing the Public to Our Collections

  • Dylan McDonald, Center for Sacramento History (Moderator/Presenter)
  • Chris Lango, Independent Film Writer and Producer
Should the public and donors expect something more dynamic than standard arrangement and description from archival repositories? Does every processed collection provide an avenue for public programming and outreach? Urged on by its non-profit board and a donor to look beyond past practice and figuratively "tear down the archival walls," the staff at the Center for Sacramento History developed a new model for moving high profile collections into the public's eye. The Nathaniel and Jerlean Colley Papers document the career of a pioneering family in California's civil rights struggles. The yearlong project to bring the collection to the public involved the donor's family, staff, volunteers, a filmmaker, sponsors, and the local public television station. In addition to a processed collection, the project entailed multiple public programming and outreach efforts, including the creation of an Omeka website, a Speakers Series event, and the production of a 30-minute documentary which aired on KVIE. This session will discuss how one repository overcame its small staff and tight budget to successfully complete a large-scale project to bring a spotlight on a worthy collection.

Session 6
2:15 pm - 3:45 pm

The Sacredness of Alameda Street: Reflections on the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education Project

  • Tom Hyry, Director, UCLA Library Special Collections (Moderator)

  • Megan Hahn Fraser, UCLA Library Special Collections
  • Kelly Besser, UCLA Library Special Collections
  • Max Felker-Kantor, University of Southern California

The Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education Records (1875-2012) were donated to the UCLA Library in 2011, and Special Collections staff began processing the collection in a warehouse near downtown early in 2012. Director Tom Hyry, Processing Projects Librarian Megan Hahn Fraser and Project Archivist Kelly Besser will present highlights of the collection and discuss the challenges of an experimental project to process more than 1,300 linear feet of institutional records in one year. Researcher Max Felker-Kantor will comment on access to the collection prior to the completion of its processing, the usability of the finding aid and the historical value of the records.

Now completed, this project makes available a wealth of research material documenting board decisions on matters such as building projects, curriculum, enrollment, personnel, desegregation, student unrest, and un-American activities. The collection offers scholars in many disciplines insight into educational, cultural, and social issues central to the history of Los Angeles. The title comes from an August 1963 statement by board member Mary Tinglof in which she describes school boundaries, especially the one along Alameda Street, becoming “as rigid as Berlin walls” and the struggles to bring equal education to all students.

4:15 pm - 5:45 pm SCA Members Meeting & Committee Meetings

All SCA members are invited to this introduction to SCA and its activities, which also includes the SCA election results. Everyone at the meeting has a chance to win two free drawings for a one-year membership in SCA.

Committee meetings will follow, which also makes this a great opportunity to check out possible committees to join.
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
New Member Happy Hour

All new members are invited to join the Membership Committee for happy hour at the Rocks Lounge. A great way to meet new people, discuss the AGM, and talk shop with other archivists.
 Saturday,
 May 10

 
Session 7
8:30 am - 10:00 am

Lightning Talks

  • Li Wei Yang, Huntington Library (Moderator)
  • Paula Jabloner, Computer History Museum
  • Glynn Edwards, Special Collections, Stanford University
  • Katie Richardson,  Pepperdine University Libraries
  • Natalie Zagami López,  Cal PolyPomona
  • Clare Denk, Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences
  • Sue Tyson, Occidental College
  • Rachel Wen-Paloutzian, Loyola Marymount University
  • Laura Treat, University of Texas School of Information
In six minutes, and with twenty slides, nine speakers will discuss issues ranging from archiving e-mail to classroom instruction using archival materials.
Session 8
8:30am - 10:00 am

What the Hell Is It and What Do I Do With It?: Cataloging Challenging Collections

  • Natalie Russell, Huntington Library  (Moderator/Presenter)
  • Charlotte ThaiStanford University Libraries
  • Rand Boyd, Chapman University

"What the hell is it and what do I do with it?" is a question all catalogers have asked themselves at one point or another. This session will present three case studies of challenging collections where this question was asked: the Papers of Octavia E. Butler, a science fiction author; the Stephen M. Cabrinety Collection in the History of Microcomputing, circa 1975-1995, a large collection of pristine computer software; and the papers of Huell Howser, host and creator of the popular television show California’s Gold, and the related California’s Gold Archive. Through these case studies we will cover a wide range of extreme and unusual processing issues including unusual realia and ephemera, the content of computer and audio-visual media, physical housing problems, and concerns about original order or the lack thereof, as well as complicating factors such as privacy, copyright, and availability of resources. The archivists will comment on the challenges and the final or ongoing solutions.

 Session 9
8:30am - 10:00am

Tech, Teens, and Archival Outreach

  • Manuel J. Escamilla, Santa Ana Public Library (Leader/Presenter)

  • Tom Smith, Project GADO

  • Kevin Cabrera, Heritage Museum of Orange County

The workshop leaders will demonstrate examples of community archives using technology to promote their collections to youth volunteers completing cultural heritage projects. These demonstrations will include a working pair of Project Gado digitization robots with instructions given by the inventor highlighting concepts of 3-D printing, open-source Arduino circuits, and automated scanning software to engage youth through partnerships with local museums. Santa Ana History Room staff will demonstrate ways to use Historypin mobile applications in conjunction with health initiative walks in downtown Santa Ana. The third demonstration will provide audience members with the basic instructional materials needed to conduct a low cost photo survey project to encourage volunteers to "think archivally."

These projects emphasize finding new ways to engage youth audiences in archival endeavors and are meant to be easily replicated for other small institutions. Workshop organizers will go over their projects and answer audience questions regarding their implementation.   

Session 10
10:30 am - 12:00 pm

Reinforcing Popular Belief: How Archivists in the Film and Television Industry Define the Cultural Significance of Collections

  • Eric D. Chin, NBCUniversal (Moderator)

  • Jessica Taylor, NBCUniversal
  • Rachel Rosenfeld, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

  • Lynne Drake, 20th Century Fox

  • Joanne Lammers, Writers Guild Foundation

  • Elizabeth Spatz, Disney Consumer Products

Because of the public’s deep fascination with popular culture, archivists managing collections in the film and television industry confront the pressure of preserving materials with powerful cultural significance for our society. Archivists often make key decisions on acquisitions, and develop creative publicity and outreach for their use, based on this public interest. At the same time, archivists must ensure that these collections serve their own organizations.  By successfully engaging both these audiences, archivists in the film and television industry strengthen the relevance, legacy, and public memory of the entertainment productions and icons in their holdings. This panel will examine how archivists grapple with managing the challenges of these collections, as well as with the strong influence of the film and television industry on society.

Session 11
10:30 am - 12:00 pm

LA as Subject Considered

  • Jim Beardsley, Archival Center - Archdiocese of Los Angeles  (Moderator)
  • Claude Zachary, University of Southern California Libraries 
  • Ellen Jarosz, California State University, Northridge, Oviatt Library

  • Kenn Bicknell, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Library & Archive

This panel will examine how, as the leading research alliance dedicated to preserving and improving access to archival material pertaining to Los Angeles, L.A. as Subject has evolved. The discussions will also focus on an example of the consortium's current initiatives, its institutional relationships, its expanding popularity, and its plans for future growth.

Moderator Jim Beardsley will provide an historical overview. Claude Zachary will discuss L.A. as Subject's local synergies with the U.S.C. Libraries, as well as its regional recognition, and national modeling. Ellen Jarosz will cover the group's IMLS services grant, internship program, and related topics. Kenneth Bicknell will reflect on L.A. as Subject's endless possibilities, as well as its diversity, technology, and accessibility.

Session 12
10:30 am - 12:00 pm

Rediscovering Alta California: Increasing Access to 18th and 19th Century Religious and Secular Collections

  • Danelle Moon, San Jose State University (Moderator)

  • Amy Dunning, San Jose Public Library

  • Erin M. Louthen, Santa Clara University 

  • Catherine Mills, History San Jose

  • Deborah Oropeza, Santa Clara University

 The panel will address the challenges and opportunities in making unique, rare and historically significant records from 18th and 19th century religious and secular collections known and accessible to scholars and researchers worldwide. Two of the panelists will focus on the records of the Mission Santa Clara Collection Processing and Cataloging Project, which consists of approximately fifty-eight manuscripts, mostly in Spanish, created by the first Franciscan friars at Mission Santa Clara de Asis. The third and fourth panelists will comment on the access and discovery of the San Jose Pueblo Papers, which are shared by two institutions, History San Jose and the San Jose Public Library.

Luncheon
12:oo pm - 2:15 pm

Awards Luncheon with Speaker Sarah Seekatz

Arabian Nights in the American Desert: The Cultivation of Middle Eastern Fantasies in California's Coachella Valley


Coachella Valley native Sarah Seekatz (UC Riverside) will bring to light the surprising--and intriguing--Middle Eastern flavor of her home region, so clearly visible in the desert around Palm Springs. Here, visitors will see stately date palms sway near a high school with an “Arab” mascot. Residents drive on streets named Cairo, Bagdad, and Medina and even through the city of Mecca. Every year in February visitors to the National Date Festival cheer on racing camels, hobnob with the beauty pageant winners dressed in harem pants, and walk around a fairgrounds decorated with “Arabian” architecture.

These now fading references to the Middle East offer just a glimpse of the Arabian fantasies once promoted by the region beginning at the turn of the 20th century. Linking their warm climate, desert landscape, and burgeoning date industry to the romance of Arabia, local boosters harnessed a national love affair with the “Orient.” As oil embargos, a hostage crisis, international conflict, and changing pop cultural views shifted the way America viewed the Middle East, the Coachella Valley remained steadfast in its adherence to fantastic ideas of Arabia.

 

The SCA Awards Ceremony will follow our luncheon speaker.

Session 13
2:30 pm - 4:00 pm

Minimizing is Maximizing: Integrating the UC Guidelines with Accessioning and Processing Workflows

  • Jillian Cuellar, UCLA Library Special Collections  (Moderator/Commentator)
  • Sara Seltzer, University of California, Irvine

  • Andra Darlington, Getty Research Institute

  • Kate Dundon, UC Santa Cruz

The Guidelines for Efficient Archival Processing in the University of California Libraries (UC Guidelines) provide archivists with a suite of recommendations for effectively managing archival collections using an MPLP approach. While the guidelines are institution-specific, they offer strategies that are of use both within UC and beyond. The speakers will illustrate how they can be implemented by UC and non-UC schools, and public and private repositories to augment accessioning and processing workflows in ways that maximize minimal procedures.

This session is an informal follow-up to the 2013 AGM session on the UC Guidelines. While last year's session concentrated on the development and content of the guidelines, this session's presenters will focus exclusively on their implementation by different repositories.  Seltzer will discuss how the guidelines' value score model has been incorporated with accessioning practices at UC Irvine, and why their use is essential to more efficient processing. Darlington will describe how the guidelines have been applied to processing procedures at the Getty Research Institute, an independent research library. Dundon will discuss how the guidelines have informed the collaborative process of designing procedures for accessioning and processing at UC Santa Cruz.  Cuellar will offer additional commentary on the practical use of the guidelines through experience at UCLA's Center for Primary Research and Training.

Session 14
2:30 pm - 4:00 pm

National History Day and the Archives: a Natural Fit

  • Gwen E. Granados, The National Archives at Riverside (Moderator)

  • Jennifer Albin,  The National Archives at Riverside
  • Kent Byer, Riverside Unified School District, Riverside, California
  • Barbara O. Libolt, History Day Coordinator for the Riverside Unified School District 

Students engaged in the National History Day (NHD) competition are required to conduct research in primary source materials. Student projects often draw in teachers and parents, who have interest in historical events, but for whom archival research is new. Courting NHD teachers and students makes sense for archives and archivists eager to promote their holdings to a new and diverse audience. NHD researchers are not typical K-12 researchers. They are novice historians, looking for original materials on significant themes and relevant events, people, places and stories. Working with novice researchers can be a challenge, but for archives, they also present an opportunity to develop a research community.

Join archivists from the National Archives and educators from the Riverside Unified School District to discuss the significant role that archives and archivists in California can play with NHD researchers. An overview of the NHD competition will be provided. The value that teachers and students gain from archival research will be discussed as will strategies for approaching and working with NHD students and teachers.

Session 15
2:30 pm - 4:00 pm

Extending Archives: Social Media Outreach to New Demographics

  • Leilani Marshall, Sourisseau Academy for State and Local History

  • Stephanie Waslohn, San Jose State University

  • Jill Golden, Hoover Institution Library and Archives, Stanford University

Visual archival material is in wide demand by a new generation of users as shown by the popularity of vintage photography blogs like Retronaut (http://www.retronaut.com/), Shorpy (http://www.shorpy.com/); historical image pages on Facebook (eg, Lost San Francisco, Tragic Hollywood, and Vintage Los Angeles); and of historical photographic memes on the web. Unfortunately, many of these new users are unfamiliar with the sources of their materials, let alone understanding how they are traditionally accessed and used in archives. How can archivists continue to foster and support an interest in archival images among this new generation of users while explaining to them their origins and curatorship by archivists?

This panel will explore such social media and digital media platforms for the access and dissemination of photographic materials  as Pinterest, HistoryPin, and Facebook. It will also examine the potential of archives-run blogs. These tools allow a behind the scenes look into the processing of  materials  and subsequent presentation on the web, as well as increase copyright awareness in casual users.
4:00 pm - 5:00 pm  SCA Board meeting and AGM wrap-up  (Board members only).
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