Reflecting on Reference

I feel like I did a variety of tasks again last week. I finished interfiling the additional accessions into the Bureau of Public Discussion Collection and rearranged the folders into new subseries in the Program Records.  I also remembered to go back and edit the scope and content note to reflect the new order.  I took some time to look through some of the folders in Briscoe for sensitive materials again.  I have discovered that it is the folders with correspondence with names or letters on them that need to be looked at more thoroughly.  Additionally I did some reference, which is always fun.

I helped Dina look through folders for a reference question and I pulled audio tapes from a collection for another reference question.  I recently read a chapter about outreach (reading response to come) which discussed reference as a form of outreach.  While I was performing those tasks for those reference requests I thought about how that is really true.  The patron who gets a full and quick response is going to be satisfied with their experience.  I find that a lot of times people are even surprised by the amount of information that they can obtain from the archives.  A satisfied user is not only more likely to use the archives again but also more likely to tell others about their positive experience.  Good reference services can therefore play an important role in increasing usage and aiding more people in research.

There was another instance this week when a student wandered into the archives.  The archives are located on the 4th floor of the library, off of the stacks.  This girl was trying to find a book but couldn't and wondered if we could help her.  I was watching the desk and couldn't leave, but my fellow intern Mike was in the reading room, so I sent him to help her.  It turned out that she was reading the call number wrong, so it became an educational opportunity.  Hopefully she will now have a positive view of at least the library and its services.  It also underscores the fact that archivists still serve an instructional role in the archives.  It may be talking about the services, educating students on how to use primary documents for research, of just helping people find their way around the library.

Reading Response Seven: Documenting Diverse Populations

College and University Archives: Readings in Theory and Practice

Chapter 5- “Giving It More Than the Old College Try: Documenting Diverse Populations in College and University Archives.”

By Kathryn M. Neal

This chapter is about documenting those who are traditionally underrepresented in archival repositories, focusing in on university archives.  Neal states that it is the university’s responsibility to attempt to interpret the times to meet the developing needs of society.  In order to do this the archives should also attempt to collect materials for diverse groups.  Citing Elizabeth Kaplan, however, best efforts cannot fully capture a collective identity of a group because there are individuals within the group with different identities.  Therefore, collecting materials does not guarantee the documentation of the true of full collective experience.  Archivists should attempt to document and represent several aspects of campus life.

The point that stood out to me the most is that archivists cannot simply wait for records documenting the lives of the traditionally underrepresented people to come into the archives.  Instead archivists need to be proactive in seeking these out.  They need to learn where to look and who to ask.  Forming relationships and establishing trust is also important.  Some groups may be distrustful, so first developing a relationship and understanding can help both the archives and that group document their history.  Cultivating allies such as subject specialists and professors can also help in gaining records.  Outreach is also an important tool.  Specialized subject guides and exhibits can build awareness.  Showing what the currently held at the archives demonstrates to others who may have similar materials that what they have is historically significant and could be donated.  I feel like people do not always understand what archives have and that the diary that they have from his or her time at the university would be a treasure to the archives. 

Another good point raised is that oral history projects can be a good way to fill gaps in the collection.  While I was at Ball State they digitized the Other Side of Middle Town Oral History Project which documented the African-American Community in Muncie.  Currently IU is working on a project to collect oral histories from alumni.  Hopefully this project will be able to collect from students of different backgrounds to gain a full, rich history of Indiana University.  Neal ends by saying that pursuing additional collections and projects may seem daunting, but it is important to stay viable and to fulfill the mission of the university archives.

Neal, Kathryn. “Giving It More Than the Old College Try: Documenting Diverse Populations in College and University Archives.” In College and University Archives: Readings in Theory and Practice, edited by Christopher J. Prom and Ellen D. Swain. Chicago : Society of American Archivists, 2008.

Between the Bureau and Briscoe

I worked on the Bureau of Public Discussion again this week.  I fixed some missing dates on the finding aid and ended up moving some things around again.  Items such as cash vouchers and requisitions were also deemed unnecessary to keep.  After looking through quickly to make sure, those items were removed.  I also found out that there is more stuff to be added.  One box is from a program the Bureau worked on jointly with the League of Women Voters.  I've decided to make this a subseries within the project files.  With that will also be subseries for the Package Library Service, reference requests, and a general one.  There are also other boxes which have some Package Library Briefs.  Neither sets seem to be complete runs, but by combining the two I think we will have everything.  There are more copies of some of the briefs than what we need though, so those will be discarded.  All of the adding and subtracting is going to take some shifting, so there's that to look forward too!

I also continued to look through Briscoe for sensitive materials.  It's really a lot of fun to look through because it's World War II era.  There is a lot of correspondence regarding professors and students leaving for the service and how to handle this.  There was also discussion about which nationalities should be allowed to attend the university and who should get financial help.  It is really interesting to see the decisions made and the thoughts behind them.  It's also exciting when you can flip through a folder and find correspondence from Alfred Kinsey sending along his studies in human sex behaviors to Briscoe to send to Herman Wells.  I try not to get to involved and read too much, but I do have to read enough to make a privacy call.  Also, it is good to get to know the collection better, at least when I am in my permanent job.  That will enable me to better help patrons. 

It seems like a lot of letters of recommendations for former students of Briscoe when he was a chemistry professor are in his dean of faculties papers, but since he doesn't have personal papers there they will stay.  They are 70 years old, so I'm not sure if a restriction is necessary, but I'm flagging them for now until I get the final word.  Even though it's before FERPA, there is an ethical obligation to protect people.  Carrie told me to think about what I would and would not want people to see.  On the other side of that, though, many of these people are likely deceased and it is interesting to see where people are applying and how they were judged at that time.  I feel like Briscoe's considerations about what are important qualities could possibly have research value.  He was a bit harsh...

Exciting News!

The Borns Jewish Studies Program Collection, my first collection of my internship, has been approved!  I just had to add a couple of dates and it was ready to be cataloged.  Today while I was working on my new collection I heard Dina going through the steps of cataloging it.  I just looked and it's in IUCAT, IU's online card catalog, and it's there ready to be used!  The five boxes with just paper got sent out to the ALF.  The box with VHS tapes is still in the archives for now, but the new ALF has a lovely area for films to be stored.  Someday that box can move there, perhaps.  The new area is temperature and humidity controlled ideally for materials on film, instead of paper.

Today I also got to help with a reference question.  It involved going through President William Lowe Bryan's correspondence and pulling out letters to or from K.P. Williams.  I learned that Bryan's papers are actually divided into two collections, covering the first and last part of his presidency.  Bryan was president from 1902 to 1937, so that is a very large span.  The first collection has correspondence organized by sender.  Carrie noted that had to have taken dedication and a lot of time.  I was working with the second collection.  It was divided into sections such has "Willi" which contains correspondence from people with the last name Willis, Williams, Williamson, etc.  They are then divided chronologically, but individuals are not separated.  I took all of K.P. Williams out and he will now have his own folder, as a few others already do.  In theory if this process is repeated for all the individuals it could eventually match the first collection.  But for now researchers looking for correspondence between K.P. Williams and Bryan can have it all in one convenient folder!  I found it fun to look over this correspondence because Bryan began each letter, "My dear ...." and ended them, "yours truly."  We should bring that kind of language back, my dear readers.

I also dove into a new collection.  It is the papers of Herman T. Briscoe, Dean of Faculties from 1940-1957.  The collection is already processed and has an html finding aid the archives website.  My job is to clean it up.  I'm surveying the folders to make sure that there isn't anything that should be restricted, such as tenure discussion.  Hopefully this helps to hone my privacy skills.  Also, the html finding aids tend to get forgotten, so it would be great to get it prepped to become and EAD finding aid, which are kept in a separate place.  There are 23 boxes, though, so I am now surrounded.

Reading Response Six: Pyatt and Privacy

College and University Archives: Readings in Theory and Practice

Chapter 10 – “Balancing Issues of Privacy and Confidentiality in College and University Archives”

By Tim Pyatt

I thought this book would be of particular interest to learning about university archives and with all my prior posts about privacy I decided that the chapter on privacy would be appropriate.

Privacy, Pyatt begins is driven by institutional fear of litigation, but it is impossible to screen or redact everything.  In the chapter Pyatt discusses issues with FERPA, HIPPA, electronic records, public records laws, and sensitive faculty papers.

FERPA and HIPPA are both federal laws that archivists need to understand.  FERPA, or the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, has significantly changed the way that student records are handled.  A 2004 study showed that archivists tend to act conservatively when it comes to student records.  The same study also found that there was confusion regarding what constitute student records due to FERPA’s ambiguous definition and lack of guidance.  The challenge with student records is that they can be hidden in unrestricted administrative or faculty papers, such as a graded paper or letter of recommendation.  Materials in faculty papers before IRBs are also an issue.  The task of handling these records if they are in large amounts can influence accepting a collection, despite potential research value.  A solution offered is to inform the research of possibility of sensitive material and place the burden on them.  The issue I see with this is that the researcher would not know the guidelines for what is sensitive the way that an archivist should and may have different definitions of what is sensitive, however it would save archivists the time of checking everything. 

HIPPA is protected patient privacy which applies to “covered entities.”  Although general university archives are not cover entities, which include health care providers and plans, archivists still have an ethical obligation to protect those records containing protected health information.

Archivists need to be familiar with state statutes for guidance in complying with public/open record laws.  Policies and procedures should then be made to handle requests made for records created under those laws.  Federal law still takes precedent of state, though, so FERPA still applies.  It is also important to note that the Freedom of Information Act only applies to federal agencies and does not create a right to access of college and university archives. 

Electronic records have made the entire process more challenging because it is harder to isolate sensitive materials.  Archivists have to rely on individuals to appraise and manage their emails and trust that guidelines and training are provided and enable employees to make correct decisions. 

Overall, with privacy issues it is important to be educated about laws and gain a better understanding through contact with legal counsel.  Education of patrons and donors can also help in lightening the load placed upon archivists.

Pyatt, Tim. “Balancing Issues of Privacy and Confidentiality in College and University Archives.” In College and University Archives: Readings in Theory and Practice, edited by Christopher J. Prom and Ellen D. Swain. Chicago : Society of American Archivists, 2008.

Midterm Report and Bureau Updates

I can't believe how fast time is going!  My internship is halfway over already.  I have been able to get a great deal of processing experience.  This is good because I’ve been able to get hands on experience with different kinds of collections.  I have worked my way up to a larger collection which has given me more challenges, but has also reinforced the skills that I learned on the smaller two.  I have also had the opportunity to answer more reference questions and learn different resources to go to find answers.  I’ve had to do a great deal of research to find out more about my collections I’m processing, as well which I wasn’t expecting.  Another unexpected learning experience has been what is considered private and what needs to be restricted.  I now feel more comfortable about where to look for sensitive materials and what is to be considered sensitive.  We decided that I wouldn’t work with EAD in my internship since I’m doing that in my job now.  Instead I may have the opportunity to create a small exhibit out of my current collection. 

This last week I spent a lot of time separating the sensitive personnel files from the those not sensitive.  This required making new folders.  In preparation for needing to add file to the beginning of my boxes I had left space.  I went head and shifted things up after this, though, so that I was able to empty a whole box.  The entire collection is now in 12 records boxes and 1 document box.  This is down from 15 originally.  I also typed up a scope and content note and began an administrative history.  I'm feeling increasingly better about this collection and I think I can finish up a good administrative history on Monday.  I just need to do a little more research and tweak things here and there.