Workshops

Workshops will be held virtually and onsite on Thursday, March 13th. Please note that workshop registration is separate from meeting registration and that onsite registration will NOT be available for workshops; attendees must register in advance. Registration closes on February 28th for the in-person workshops and March 7, 2025 for the virtual workshop. Please contact the Education Committee at education@newenglandarchivists.com with any questions about workshops.

Digital Preservation vs. Digital Asset Management: The Differences and Why They Matter
Chelsea Fernandes, Archives and Special Collection Librarian, Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

This virtual workshop explores the differences between digital preservation and digital asset management (DAM), familiarizing attendees with the history of both so that attendees are better equipped to make policy and purchasing decisions at their institutions. Attendees will participate in polling and discussion throughout the workshop. The workshop will focus on the broad concepts of DAM and digital preservation, so no technical knowledge is required. Special attention will be given to exploring the current leading platforms such as Archivematica and Preservica for digital preservation and ContentDM, AM Quartex and Islandora among others for DAM. The workshop will also review platforms that are often used for either digital preservation or DAM but were not designed for either.

This workshop will be virtual.
Time: 9:30am - 12:00pm ET Date: Thursday, March 13, 2025
Participant limit: 30 registrants
Registration closes on March 7, 2025. To register for this workshop please visit the registration page.

Simple DOS Commands for Digital Records Arrangement and Description
Kent D. Randell, Assistant Archivist for Digital Collections, Dartmouth College

Archive like its 1989! Learn how to use five simple DOS commands, in conjunction with Excel and Notepad, to create and run your own Batch scripts and make processing electronic records easier. The aim of this workshop is to let archivists become more self-sufficient with digital records and operate in an environment where electronic records resources may be scarce.

Attendees will learn five commands in the command-line version of DOS, a text-based file operating system that comes packaged with Windows. The commands are: Delete (del), directory (dir), make directory (md), rename, and move. Participants will learn how to get file data out of DOS and into Excel and how to write a simple batch (.bat) script that can delete, rename, and move files. The instructor will also demonstrate creating checksums in DOS and using DOS tools like exif to mine metadata.

NO PRIOR PROGRAMMING EXPERIENCE OR DOS EXPERIENCE NECESSARY!

Participants should bring a Windows-based laptop to the session. The workshop instructor will be able to provide attendees with a temporary laptop (maximum number of laptops: 10). If participants wish to reserve one of the loaner laptops provided by the instructor, participants must email the Education Committee (education@newenglandarchivists.org).

Attendees will be provided a pre-packaged set of files with which to practice sorting, deleting, and renaming. Attendees will then run exif on some files to mine their metadata and output the data to a text file.

This workshop will be in-person.
Time: 1:00pm - 3:30pm ET Date: Thursday, March 13, 2025
Participant limit: 15 registrants
Registration closes on Friday, February 28, 2025. To register for this workshop please visit the registration page.

Facilitation and Project Management for All
Jessica Farrell, Redstart Works

Are you new to collaborative work or are you looking for a new perspective on how to move projects along? "Facilitation and Project Management for All" demystifies collaborative work in the face of all of those #feelings that emerge when working in diverse groups. Significant administrative and planning labor goes into developing anti-oppressive spaces. We will cover topics like setting expectations, making direct asks of your colleagues, building consensus, moving to action, and more. We will explore empathetic facilitation, honest communication, and meeting people where they are. There are several full group discussions, and we will practice an advanced facilitation method called "taking stack". This workshop may be useful if you are working on a community project, committee, or working group; if you are managing a project or program team; or if you aspire to lead or coordinate work in the future.

This workshop will be in-person.
Time: 1:30pm - 3:30pm ET Date: Thursday, March 13, 2025
Participant limit: 24 registrants
Registration closes on Friday, February 28, 2025. To register for this workshop please visit the registration page.

Plenary Speakers

Greg Colati: Evolving the Archives
Friday, March 14

The digital revolution that began in the last century was the beginning of an epochal change in archival expectations and practices. In this century, the growing use of low-investment tools (AI being only one example) to enhance access has generated some discomfort among archivists who fear that vital context is being lost. Let’s talk about how we can use new tools for our benefit while not forgetting the traditions of our profession.

Greg Colati is a High School history teacher turned archivist and digital librarian specializing in digital preservation. He was educated in liberal arts colleges and attended Library school when there was a unit in his class on how to type catalog cards. But, to paraphrase Samuel Clemens, he didn’t let his schooling get in the way of his education.

Greg learned about digitization and digital preservation by working with a group of early adopters who were trying to understand the effect of technology on records and record keeping. As early as 1995 he gave a presentation for the Society of Maine Archivists called “Collections Management with Computers” a quaint sounding name today, but novel at the time.

Since then, Greg has been experimenting with how to leverage technology for the common good and has been a part of national and international efforts to understand and develop the role of technology and the role of archivists in the digital age.

Micha Broadnax: Reconstruction in Archives: Reflections on Organizing the Black Teacher Archive
Saturday, March 15

Join Micha Broadnax, Senior Project Manager for the Black Teacher Archive at Harvard Graduate School of Education, for a plenary talk about her work centralizing materials from nearly a hundred repositories. Micha will share insights on the challenges, opportunities, and tensions inherent in archival work, offering reflections from her experience.

Micha leads the Black Teacher Archive, a grant funded project based at Harvard Graduate School of Education and made possible through the generous support of the Mellon Foundation and Spencer Foundation. In collaboration with colleagues at Harvard Library and across the country, she co-develops workflows and coordinates labor to support the digital centralization of materials created by African American educators in the 20th century. Micha’s professional experience includes roles at Mount Holyoke College, Converse (a subsidiary of Nike, Inc.) and Emerson College. In a consultative capacity, they have collaborated with the Schenectady County Historical Society, the History Project, Documenting the Now, legal and policy scholar Anita Hill, and artist Napolean Jones-Henderson. Micha has a BA in Sociology from Brandeis University, and a MLIS in Library and Information Science from Simmons University.

PROGRAM COMMITTEE - SPRING 2025

• Co-Chair: Margaret Peachy
• Co-Chair: Lia Sansoucy