Rediscovering Uniqueness: Archives & Special Collections

at UNO

Amy SchindlerDr. C.C. & Mabel L. Criss Library

U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel Archives

Arthur Paul Afghanistan Collection

Rare Books & Other Special Collections

University Archives

Archives 2.0

• Open• Transparent• User-centered• Technology-savvy• Archivist as facilitator• Open to iterating products• Innovative & flexible• Looking for ways to attract

new users

Archives 1.0• Closed• Opaque• Archivist- and record-centered• Technology-phobic• Archivist as gatekeeper/

authority figure• Focused on “perfect” products• Adhering to tradition• Relying on interested users

coming to the repository on their own

From Kate Theimer, Archives Next Blog:http://www.archivesnext.com/?p=2273

Amy C. Schindleracschindler@unomaha.edu

Thank you!

Archives & Special Collections’ website (we’ll be bigger & better by the end of 2014!): http://libguides.unomaha.edu/ArchivesSpecialCollections

“As feeling becomes commodified and neutered through a variety of online filters, perhaps archives can hack us directly into powerful conduits of meaning and emotion.

How might this happen? There’s the technical stuff — persistent identifiers, blah, blah, blah — vitally important of course. But then there’s the relationship stuff. We have to stop talking about users and start talking about collaborators. We need to stop building services to be consumed, and start opening opportunities to create, to play, to break and to hack. We are all making connections.

Most importantly we need to find and support the people, both inside and outside our organizations, who are driven by passion. The people who care.”--Tim Sherratt (2012), http://discontents.com.au/archives-of-emotion/

Thanks to Mark Matienzo & his “Emotion in the Archives” for bringing this in front of my eyeballs.