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We Can Do it! But Should We? Reflecting on Projects and Priorities

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Abstract

What happens when you combine archivists and non-archivists with good intentions, unprocessed collections, institutional push to seek grants, competing pressures and deadlines? At the University of Nebraska at Omaha Archives and Special Collections, this familiar scenario occurred during a period focused on prioritizing Latinx collections including personal papers, Office of Latino and Latin American Studies Records, and oral histories. During our presentation, we will share how archivists attempted to wrangle multiple funding streams to meet processing, outreach, and digitization goals while internal and external forces took a toll. These included stakeholder expectations, the complexities of student employment, campus events, and class collaborations. We will also examine how project goals and converging timelines created gaps that  we felt could not receive adequate attention.  

When we began these overlapping projects, we knew that staying in scope was key to successfully reaching our goals. Yet one element that exemplified scope creep was oral histories. While these are important resources for research and community engagement, they also proved to be an epicenter of angst over funding, labor, and collaborators misunderstanding how archives and digital collections are funded and maintained. Conversely, we experienced a boon in usage of archival materials thanks to outreach events and instruction sessions. In keeping with the conference themes of controlling workload expectations, stretching resources in innovative and practical ways, and cultivating collection relationships, we will highlight successes and setbacks as the scope of the projects grew and then contracted when resources could not match aspirations.

Keywords: Processing, Outreach, Digitization, Grants, Crowdfunding, Relationship Building

How to Cite:

Du Laney, C., Guerra, W., Schindler, A. C. & Schwartz, L., (2024) “We Can Do it! But Should We? Reflecting on Projects and Priorities ”, MAC Annual Meeting Presentations 2024(1).