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Slides - Download pptx

Presenters:

• Max Eckard, Assistant Director for Curation, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan
• Mike Shallcross, Associate Archivist, Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, University of Michigan
• Liz Gadelha, Archivist for Digitization Services, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan

Description:

As academic and cultural heritage institutions increasingly offer digital collections and services, technical upskilling--the process of acquiring and/or expanding technical skills--has moved from an individual prerogative to an institutional imperative. In this webinar, the presenters will share their experiences with and lessons learned from a series of four collaborative technical skills development initiatives at the University of Michigan’s Bentley Historical Library between 2014 and 2019:

• the ArchivesSpace-Archivematica-DSpace Workflow Integration Project,
• a series of Curation Team Workshops,
• a Technical Skills Pilot, and
• the development of Bentley Audiovisual Quality Control Utility.

The presenters will demonstrate the value of increasing the technical literacy and skills of an entire team (as opposed to focusing on the development of individual skills) and provide information and best practices that will enable and empower other institutions to undertake similar initiatives. The presentation will make the case that an organizational culture that values learning and innovation is essential to successful technical upskilling. While the presenters will focus on projects within archives, the presentation will be of interest to those thinking about technical upskilling across the library.

This webinar will be of interest to individuals in various roles at academic and cultural heritage institutions: archivists, curators, librarians, students, faculty, and staff who might be interested in developing their technical skills and literacy; administrators looking to increase staff efficiency and cohesion; and managers or team leaders who want to tackle more complex initiatives but are unsure of where to start.