AAO News

Hello AAO friends,

Despite April being the cruellest month (especially this particular April), the promising signs of Spring are arriving: warmer days, longer nights and a fresh issue of Off the Record! First of all, I want to thank all the contributors who sent submissions despite the exigencies of the times. I hope you enjoy reading this issue from wherever you may be at the moment! 

AAO members can access the new issue here.

And it is a splendid issue indeed. AAO Archives Advisor Iona McCraith and Archeion Coordinator Lisa Snider offer some COVID-specific advice and resources for working from home. We profile the great work of Paul Leatherdale of the Law Society of Ontario in the Member Spotlight section. And the colleagues and friends of the late Julia Hendry recognize her remarkable contributions to our community. The issue concludes with a fantastic summary of the recent Access + Care: Indigenous Knowledges and Archival Practice symposium. 

The still-fresh Spring 2019 issue is also now open to all.  

I hope that all AAO members remain safe and well, and thank you for your continued support and readership! 

Best,

Grant
Editor, Off the Record

Are you interested in contributing to the Archives Association of Ontario? The AAO Professional Development Committee (PDC) is currently recruiting five new members. Seasoned and emerging professionals, who are members of the AAO, are encouraged to join and serve a two year term.

 PDC supports the archival community by providing basic and continuing education pertaining to information management. The committee seeks to:

• Determine educational needs within the archival community and in conjunction with the AAO Advisor and the Archeion Coordinator.

• Engage in active communication with the AAO chapters and committees in order to support them in the development of workshops.

• Provide educational workshops at the annual AAO conference.

• Develop and deliver educational curricula, in the form of both in-person workshops and through the use of new technologies.

Members must attend approximately 6 teleconference meetings per year and contribute to all committee discussions and activities. 

If you’re interested in joining the PDC or want more information on the mandate of the committee, please contact PDC Chair, Katrina Cohen-Palacios at professionaldevelopment@aao-archivists.ca.

Attention MAIG members:

As a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, MAIG's Annual General Meeting will not be taking place as originally planned at the AAO Conference in May. Instead, information that would normally be presented at our AGM will be sent to you electronically from the AAO Office. Next week, AAO/MAIG members will be given the opportunity to take part in an online poll to approve and select the following: 

    1. To approve the 2019 MAIG AGM Minutes 

    2. To approve the 2020-2021 Financials 

    3. To select a Secretary-Treasurer

In order to take part in this online poll, you will need access to your AAO Account, so we ask that you please try to log into the Members Area of the AAO's Website in advance (https://www.aao-archivists.ca/Sys/Login). Should you have any problems logging into your account, please contact the AAO Office for assistance: aao@aao-archivists.ca or 647-343-3334.

Nominations for the MAIG Executive

The MAIG Executive is currently accepting nominations for the position of Secretary-Treasurer. This role supports the MAIG Executive by taking minutes at our Annual General Meeting and Open House, as well as managing finances. Additional duties include the assistance with the annual MAIGazine newsletter and other special projects as they arise. The position will commence upon the close of the online election (April 29th, 2020) and is a three year term. If you are interested in becoming MAIG's Secretary-Treasurer, please send an email to gillian.shaw@vaughan.ca with a brief biography (50-80 words max) by 5:00pm, Tuesday April 21st, 2020. 

Should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact the MAIG Executive at maig.listserv@gmail.com or visit our web page at https://www.aao-archivists.ca/maig. 

Thank you and take care,

Gillian Shaw, Megan Lockhart and Gina Dewaele

MAIG Executive

As part of its celebration of Archives Awareness Week, the Archives Association of Ontario is pleased to release the fourth edition of the Ontario Archival Accessions Register.

Based on a survey of accessions received across the province in 2019, the OAAR presents basic information on newly acquired records, including the collecting institution, the record creator, a brief summary of the scope and content of the accession, outside covering dates, associated subject headings, reference codes or accession numbers, extent, and information on the relationship of the accession to existing holdings and descriptions (where applicable).

The OAAR was developed as part of the AAO’s Provincial Acquisition Strategy to provide a common place for archives in Ontario to share accessions information in a spirit of openness and transparency intended to encourage cooperation and collaboration in archival acquisition. The data is also made available to allow for analysis of collecting patterns and trends, enabling the archives community to identify gaps in the archival record as we work toward ensuring our collective holdings are representative of the whole province and all its people.

This fourth edition of the OAAR includes contributions from nine archival institutions, together providing information on nearly 300 individual accessions received in the last calendar year.  Participating archives include community archives, university and college archives, specialist archives and the Archives of Ontario.

Download the 2019 OAAR from the AAO website and see what archives in Ontario have been collecting.

AAO Institutional Development Committee

Dear AAO Members,

The last number of weeks have presented unprecedented challenges for all of us. It is the sincere hope of the Board that you, your families, and loved ones are safe and well during these uncertain times. We offer our support however possible.

As you are aware, the AAO made the difficult decision to cancel the 2020 Conference. With this done, we will be moving our Annual General Meeting (AGM) online to a live interactive format. Please save the date for the afternoon of June 25, 2020, as it is important for all members to attend. We have several important matters to discuss, including our 2020-2023 Strategic Plan and we hope to welcome as many of you as possible to our virtual meeting.

More information about the AGM will follow in the coming weeks.

With the AGM rescheduled to June, we will be extending the nomination period for available Board positions to May 4, 2020. We are currently accepting nominations for the positions of Director-Without-Portfolio (2-year term) and Vice-President/President-Elect/Past-President (3-year term). Please be in touch with the AAO Office at aao@aao-archivists.ca should you have any questions.

In regards to membership renewals, we recognize the current situation is creating economic uncertainty and hardship for many. We invite any member who is unable to renew their membership at this time to reach out to the AAO Office at aao@aao-archivists.ca. Our membership coordinator is able to extend the membership renewal date from April 1, 2020 to August 31, 2020 for any member to ensure a continuation of services until at least that date. All those who have had their memberships extended to August 31 will receive a renewal notice at that time.

I would again like to thank our wonderful volunteers for their work and all of you, as members, for your continued support of our association. We have faced a difficult year but are emerging stronger as a community.

Sincerely, 

AAO Board of Directors

In celebration of Archives Awareness Week 2020 and our theme of “Archives Online”, the Archives Association of Ontario has organized an “Ask an Archivist” event, taking place Tuesday, April 7 to Thursday, April 9 between 10 am to 4 pm EST. Each day, a roster of guest host archivists will take over the AAO Twitter account @AAO_tweet for one hour to answer your questions and comments.  

The schedule of guest archivists and their areas of expertise is listed here. Please join us for these conversations on Twitter @AAO_tweet, and don’t forget to tweet about your own Archives Awareness Week 2020 celebrations using the #2020AAW hashtag!

Dear AAO Members,

As you may remember, on October 23, 2019, Deyohahá:ge: The Indigenous Knowledge Centre at Six Nations Polytechnic, the Archives Association of Ontario, and the Archives of Ontario held a one-day symposium exploring how memory workers and communities may respectfully care for and provide access to the many forms of Indigenous Knowledge. Its goal was to provide an opportunity to hear from Indigenous Knowledge Keepers, Elders, and memory workers and to explore linkages between Indigenous knowledges and Western archival practice.

Due to overwhelming response we were unable to accommodate everyone in person. We are pleased to announce that recordings of all speakers are now available for viewing on the AAO’s website.

This event was a joint venture of Deyohahá:ge: The Indigenous Knowledge Centre at Six Nations Polytechnic (SNP), the Archives Association of Ontario (AAO) and the Archives of Ontario, with generous sponsorship from the Toronto Area Archivists Group (TAAG).

Details:

This event was webcast live; visit the Archives Association of Ontario’s YouTube channel to view recordings of the speakers and panels from this symposium.

Click here to see the Symposium agenda. 

You can also view the conversation held by participants on Twitter using #AccessCare2019.

To follow further discussions on Indigenous knowledge and archival practice, subscribe to the Decolonizing Description listserv.

Dear Membership,

As usual, AAO plans to celebrate Archives Awareness Week with our members this year. Given the current situation we know most, if not all, archives are closed to the public and will not be running events. AAO would like to organize a virtual celebration using AAO social media. In honour of our theme "Archives Online", we would like to offer an "Ask an Archivist" event in which a number of people donate some time to respond to questions people tweet, or to chat about what they are doing to maintain a virtual archive presence, what is new in their institution, etc.. 

We would channel all Q&A through the AAO Twitter account using our hashtag for the week, #2020AAW. More details will be sent out to those interested. If you are comfortable using Twitter and can donate some time to respond to tweets next week between Tuesday, April 7 and Thursday, April 9, please email the Archives Advisor at archivesadvisor@aao-archivists.ca by Thursday, April 2nd.

Kind regards,

Communications and Advocacy Committee

Hi Everyone,

Following on the heels of Iona's great message, I too wanted to offer my support as Archeion Coordinator. If you need to get your mind off these intensely chaotic and challenging times we face, even for a short time, Archeion is a virus free zone!

Feel free to browse the descriptions and authority records, search for family connections or even search our cat photos!

https://www.archeion.ca/informationobject/browse?view=card&sq0=cat&onlyMedia=1&topLod=0&rangeType=inclusive

I haven't forgot you dog lovers:

https://www.archeion.ca/informationobject/browse?view=card&sq0=dog&onlyMedia=1&topLod=0&rangeType=inclusive

Ferret lovers, I have one digital object just for you!

https://www.archeion.ca/informationobject/browse?view=card&sq0=ferret&onlyMedia=1&topLod=0&rangeType=inclusive

Institutional Members can update, or add, descriptions, authority records and digital objects. As well, bulk uploads have been very popular. Want to know more about those? Just email me, and I am happy to go through bulk upload options that work for your situation.

Never used Archeion or AtoM before? Or do you feel rusty, and need some training to remind you how to use it? Just email me and I can arrange virtual training by Zoom (even if you don't use Archeion, but want to know how to use AtoM). I can also send you my Archeion manual, soon to be updated to the newest AtoM version we upgraded to last week. Oh and if you are thinking of becoming a member, or may be a future member, don't be shy, contact me!

This is a tough time for all of us, certainly uncharted waters, and to date, I have eaten likely a quarter of the chocolate in the world just out of stress and anxiety. You aren't alone in this, so if Archeion can help you forget things just for a few minutes, that is super! Please don't hesitate to reach out to me, I am happy to answer any questions, and help with what I can!

Cheers

Lisa

--

Lisa Snider
Archeion Coordinator
Archives Association of Ontario
e: archeion@aao-archivists.ca
t: (800) 208-1936

Greetings to Everyone.

As we all struggle to deal with the new reality and concern for our families and friends, we as archivists are still the record keepers, the storytellers who will document this part of our history for future generations, as we also continue to provide access to essential information to keep the wheels turning. Doing so will require new ways of doing business, possibly for some time, but archivists, record managers, librarians, curators are capable of the challenge.  Forced to think outside the box as we are may result in new opportunities, collaborations and innovative ideas that will serve us well in the future.  

As part of the archival community I wanted to assure you that as AAO Advisor I am still here and working to offer information and guidance to any who need support.  So do not hesitate to reach out to me at my contact information below if I can be of help. 

Stay safe and be positive in these challenging times.  

Iona McCraith

e: archivesadvisor@@aao-archivists.ca