Presentation

Lockdown Lemonade: Successful Projects Borne Out of Remote Work

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Abstract

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure of libraries and archives, many archives professionals assumed that working remotely afforded them limited opportunities to effectively do their jobs. These intrepid archivists pivoted, and used the lockdown as an opportunity to pursue projects they always wanted to undertake but never had time to pursue.

Kate Dietrick will discuss tackling nearly 14,000 agent records in a systematic, low-tech way after a 2016 migration to ArchivesSpace left the University of Minnesota with duplicate and dirty data.

Daria Labinsky will talk about a massive legacy descriptive metadata cleanup for thousands of images that were described incorrectly, in a racially insensitive way, or not at all.

Joy Novak will discuss the management and oversight of a large-scale, backlog metadata project that provided remote work to nearly one-third of Washington University Libraries’ entire staff.

Donica Swann will discuss managing a remote project conducted by non-Archives staff members that included transcription of 50 oral histories and the digitization of 100 more, while simultaneously supervising Archives staff’s efforts to create more digital content for users.

Derek Webb will discuss how remote students and staff labored to repair the WTMJ TV News Archive, a collection of digitized 1950s–70s newsreels from a local Milwaukee television station.

Attendees will come away from the session with inspiration for projects that can effectively leverage the possibilities of staff working remotely, as well as an appreciation for the impact and value of work once deemed low priority.

How to Cite:

Swann, D., Dietrick, K., Webb, D., Novak, J. & Labinsky, D., (2021) “Lockdown Lemonade: Successful Projects Borne Out of Remote Work”, MAC Annual Meeting Presentations 2021(1).