Digital Matters: National, Regional, and Local Treasures

Tags

conferences, digital archives, Digital Matters

From time to time we here at ABA world headquarters stop our scheming and planning and take note of what’s going on in the wider archivists world.

After all, there is more to being awesome than coming to ABA events and talking about projects. Sometimes we’re asked to pass along notices related to archivists being awesome in other ways.

What’s that? You’d like an example to help make this more concrete. Very well:

On behalf of the Tri-State College Library Cooperative (TCLC), we were asked to pass along this “Save the Date” for the upcoming “Digital Matters: National, Regional, and Local Treasures“.

WHEN: Friday April 26, 2013, 9:30 am – 4 pm
WHAT:  DIGITAL MATTERS: National, Regional, and Local Treasures featuring

• Seb Chan, Director of Digital & Emerging Media, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum
• Matt Shoemaker, Director of Digital Collections & Systems, Historical Society of Pennsylvania
• Marvin Clymer- Bryn Athyn College of the New Church; Christine Davidian- Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine; Kristine Mudrick/Marjorie Rathbone- St Joseph’s University; Darren Polley- Villanova University, Jan Alexander/Jill Borin- Widener University

WHERE: Chestnut Hill Sugarloaf Conference Center
COST: TCLC/PALA members $35 / Non-members $50

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ABA talks to Samip Mallick

Tags

community archives, digital archives, south asian american digital archive

Samip Mallick is Executive Director, President and Co-founder of the South Asian American Digital Archive, before that he served as the Director of the Ranganathan Center for Digital Information (RCDI) at the University of Chicago Library.

ABA: In a few sentences, tell us what you’ll be presenting at ABA.

SM: I’m the Executive Director and Co-founder of the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA), a non-profit organization newly relocated to Philadelphia working to document, preserve and provide access to South Asian American history through a digital-only archive. In my presentation at ABA I’ll share some of the stories we’ve collected in SAADA over the last four years, the response and feedback that we’ve had from the community, and some of the opportunities and challenges that I see for SAADA in the future. All the stories and materials SAADA collects are freely available online through our website at http://www.saadigitalarchive.org.

ABA: What do you hope audiences will get from your talk?

SM: I hope that the audience will learn more about the history of South Asians in the United States, a community whose history has typically not been included in textbooks, museums or in the archival record. While the focus of our organization and archive is on South Asian American history, I also hope to reflect on other histories that may have been overlooked by traditional archives, including those of new immigrant and other minority communities.

ABA: Which of the following is the best part of being an archivists?

    (a) Preserving history of future generations

    (b) Attending Archivists Being Awesome meetings

    (c) Dust

    (d) What’s an archivist?

SM: Dust makes me sneeze, so everything except for the dust!

ABA: On a scale from 1 – 10, (10 being hardest) how easy would it be for other archivists to implement the project you’re presenting here?

SM: While creating a non-profit organization like SAADA may not be easy, interrogating the archival record and identifying narratives that may have been overlooked is something that all archivists can do.

ABA: Thanks Samip! We look forward to hearing more about SAADA!