Extended! Call for Tour Guides: Virtual Archives Crawl @ 2021 Annual Meeting

The SOA Educational Programming Committee seeks members who are interested in leading a tour of their collections in our Virtual Archives Crawl to be held during the 2021 virtual Annual Meeting, June 7-8. We will be selecting four institutions to each lead 10-15 minute tours of their collections.

Highlight your treasures, give a tour of an exhibit, or just share a project that you are especially proud of! We would like to have a variety of collections, institution sizes, and types represented in the crawl. Please note that the Virtual Archives Crawl will take place during regular conference hours–not as an after-hours event.

We hope that this event will be a fun and relaxed way for members to connect with each other during this year’s meeting.

To apply to lead a tour please send an abstract of no more than 300 words to Rachael Bussert, Cochair, Educational Programming Committee. Please include a description of your institution and collecting areas as well as a brief overview of what you would like to showcase on your tour. Extended deadline is Friday, April 16, 30, 2021, 5:00 p.m.

Last Updated on April 23, 2021 by janet_carleton

Call for Proposals: 2021 SOA Annual Meeting: Archives in an Era of Change

The Society of Ohio Archivists’  2021 Annual Meeting will be meeting virtually this June 7-8 thanks to technical support from the Ohio History Connection. This year we welcome proposals that explore the theme, “Archives in an Era of Change.”

We are asking for submissions that address the way that archives have adapted to changes. How did you assess your practices? What did you start, stop, create, or change over the last year. What was a success? As archives continue to adapt and react to social justice reforms, attacks on democracy, what are the takeaways?

Session, poster, and discussion proposal topics can address a broad array of topics, including, but not limited to:

  • Longstanding institutional projects or collections in accordance with the “Archives in an Era of Change” theme
  • Diversity, access, inclusion, and community archives
  • Current and forward-moving tools for archival discovery, maintenance, and/or marketing
  • Outreach and instruction that employs creative or adapted methods, or addresses complex topics
  • Transformative student, intern, and volunteer experiences and projects
  • Unique collection development ventures
  • Best practices and new methods for handling preservation, description, and access to analog, born-digital, or hybrid collections

Continue reading →

Last Updated on April 20, 2021 by janet_carleton

SOA Council Meeting Minutes for March 10, 2021

The Society of Ohio Archivists most recent leadership meeting minutes, from March 10, 2021, can be found on the Council Meeting Minutes page. It includes many between-meeting actions from over the winter.

Interested in SOA over time? Also on that page are minutes dating back to 1997. In addition to documenting actions from the leadership meeting, minutes include reports from the treasurer as well as from committees and task forces.

Last Updated on March 16, 2021 by janet_carleton

Call for Image Submissions: 2021 Ohio Archives Month Poster

This year for the annual Society of Ohio Archivists’ October Archives Month poster we are looking for archival image submissions having to do with nature, outdoor recreation, and outdoor tourism in Ohio, due by April 2. Scroll down for all the details!

For the past year, many have been cooped up indoors and apart from others more than ever before, but the outdoors have always offered an escape! With this in mind, we decided to highlight Ohio’s outdoor spaces in this year’s Archives Month poster.

Does your archive have great images of local parks? People hiking? Picnicking? Enjoying the great outdoors? Ohio is filled with local, state, and federal parks to enjoy, outdoor attractions, and more. Do you have people represented in your archives instrumental to parks development? All of these are examples for wonderful submissions! Continue reading →

Last Updated on April 26, 2021 by janet_carleton

Virtual Meet-Up for Ohio Archivists, March 3, 2021

The SOA Advocacy and Outreach Committee is hosting a virtual informal Meet-Up on Wednesday, March 3 at 3pm via Zoom as an opportunity for Ohio Archivists to get together. As we approach the one-year mark since the world began to shut down due to COVID-19, the Committee thought this would be a good time to have a brief afternoon get together to chat with each other. Please join to chat with fellow archivists!

Meeting Info:
Topic: Society of Ohio Archivists Virtual “Meet Up”
Time: March 3, 2021, 03:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Register here for the Zoom meeting; registration open through meeting time.

We hope you can join!

Questions? Contact the Advocacy and Outreach Committee Cochairs Natalie Fritz and Jenifer Baker.

Last Updated on May 18, 2021 by janet_carleton

Save the Date: SOA Annual Meeting (Virtual), June 7-8, 2021

We now have a date for this year’s virtual annual meeting, June 7-8, 2021! Please mark this on your calendars and watch for a future Call For Proposals!

The Educational Programming Committee is also looking for SOA members to serve on the committee for planning meetings.

Questions? Contact the Educational Programming Committee Cochairs Rachael Bussert and William Modrow.

Last Updated on January 19, 2021 by janet_carleton

Call for Educational Programming Committee Members

Interested in professional development and learning more about the field? The Educational Programming Committee is looking for SOA members to serve on the committee for planning SOA’s annual virtual conference, June 7-8, 2021.

Mission: The EPC plans the Annual Meeting (spring), the fall joint meeting with Ohio Local History Alliance, and professional development workshops. Activities include choosing a conference theme, solicitation and selection of session presenters, selection of plenary speaker, publication and distribution of conference announcements, and soliciting sponsors.

If interested or have questions please contact the Educational Programming Committee Cochairs Rachael Bussert and William Modrow.

Last Updated on January 30, 2021 by janet_carleton

Call for Nominations: President-Elect/Vice President & Council Member

Have you been thinking about getting involved with SOA leadership? If your answer is yes, this is your opportunity!

The SOA Nominating Committee would like to announce a call for nominations for one open SOA Council position and the SOA President-Elect/Vice President.

Self-nominations are welcomed and encouraged, as are peer nominations. All positions are for two-year terms of office and will begin at the Spring Meeting in May.

Candidates must be current SOA members in good standing and be willing and able to attend regular Council meetings and business activities (both in-person and virtually).

Due to COVID-19, the election this year will be held virtually. Candidates will provide a bio and write a response to a question to be printed in the Ohio Archivist prior to the election.

More details about responsibilities and terms can be located in the SOA bylaws. See also the current leadership roster.

I would also be happy to answer any questions about the positions. Please respond to me with any nominations by Friday, January 08, 2021.

Thank you,
SOA Nominating Committee Chair Robin Heise.

Last Updated on December 31, 2020 by janet_carleton

Call for the next Editor-in-Chief of The Ohio Archivist

The SOA’s biannual publication, The Ohio Archivist, is currently seeking a new Editor-in-Chief. The incoming editor will work cooperatively with current editor, Kayla Harris, on the Spring 2021 issue and will take over exclusively for the Fall 2021 publication.

The Editor-in-Chief position is a three-year, ex-officio non-voting Council position that requires attendance at Council meetings. The position requires approximately 8-10 hours of work (2X per year). This managing editor position entails the coordination and management of all the content for our statewide publication, including overseeing work submitted by Associate Editors for columns and features. Again this is a content editorship; it involves very little design or formatting work on the newsletter as that work is completed by the Ohio History Connection. The position is a great opportunity for those who are interested in editorial work, and has been used as a springboard for editing national publications.

If you are interested in applying, please send a CV and a writing sample to current Editor-in-Chief, Kayla Harris, [email protected] by December 1, 2020. SOA Council will review the applications and make a decision by January 2021.

Please feel free to call or email Kayla with any questions. We hope you will consider this great opportunity to become involved in your professional organization.

Kayla Harris, Editor-in-Chief, The Ohio Archivist

Last Updated on November 19, 2020 by janet_carleton

Members Named to SOA Social Justice and Black Lives Matter Task Force

The Society of Ohio Archivists Council is pleased to announce that Jessica Heys (Kettering Foundation), has been appointed Chair of SOA’s new Social Justice and Black Lives Matter Task Force.

Joining Jessica on the Task Force as members are Devhra BennettJones, Madeleine Fix (Nationwide Insurance), Kristen Newby (Ohio History Connection), Penelope Shumaker (State Library of Ohio), and Nicole Sutton (Columbus Metro Library). Sherri Goudy (Nerd Girl History Adventure), SOA President-Elect, will serve as Council Liaison.

The Task Force will be meeting (virtually) for the first time in the near future to discuss its charge and map out a way to recruit non-SOA members.

Contact: To reach out to the Task Force, please contact Chair Jessica Heys or Council Liaison Sherri Goudy. Suggestions or ideas on how to fulfill the Task Force’s mission are welcome.

For more information about the Social Justice and Black Lives Matter Task Force, visit its page here.

Last Updated on April 15, 2021 by janet_carleton