Department of Information Studies

An introduction to the section of this InterActions special issue on archives and recordkeeping that focuses on Memoria, voz y patrimonio: The First Conference on Latino/Hispanic Film, Print and Sound Archives and Sixth Institute of the Trejo Foster Foundation for Hispanic Library Education. This conference/institute offered a glimpse of the breadth of Latina/o archival collections, practice, research and concerns. The guest editors of this Latina/o archival section are Clara M. Chu and Rebecca Dean, with contributions by Patrick Keilty, of the UCLA Department of Information Studies.

As science becomes more dependent upon digital data, the need for data curation and for data digital libraries becomes more urgent. Questions remain about what researchers consider to be their data, their criteria for selecting and trusting data, and their orientation to data challenges. This paper reports findings from the first 18 months of research on astronomy data practices from the Data Conservancy. Initial findings suggest that issues for data production, use, preservation, and sharing revolve around factors that rarely are accommodated in use cases for digital library system design including trust in data, funding structures, communication channels, and perceptions of scientific value.

This Latino/a Archival Resources guide is divided into eight sections which include: (1) Latino or Ethnic Archives, (2) Latino and Ethnic Sound Archives, (3) Latino Film and Video Resources, (4) Filmmaking Resources, (5) Latino Museums and Art Galleries, (6) Genealogical Resources, (7) Latino Commercial Media Sites, and (8) Archival and Research Resources. Internet searches were conducted to identify the resources and where a description was found about a resource and a website was available, such information has been included. In some cases ethnic resources were provided because they include Latino/a content or would be of assistance/relevance to Latino/a archival practice, research and/or education.

Since the Memoria, Voz, y Patrimonio (MVP) Conference (2003), the archival literature continues to grapple with issues pertinent to Latina/o archives. Extending the work of the MVP Conference, drawing on the archival and cultural studies literature, and grounded in our experiences with under-represented communities, this epilogue offers our meditations on the future of Latina/o archival and memory practice, research and education. The archives and archivists as social structures and agents, respectively, are viewed through the lens of Pierre Bourdieu’s symbolic power whereby they need to be liberated from the symbolic domination legitimized and reproduced in the classic archives.

Archival Science has been defined as the systematic body of theory that supports the practice of appraising, acquiring, authenticating, preserving, and providing access to recorded materials. In the first of a two-part analysis of the past, present and future of archival education and pedagogy, this article deconstructs the concept of Archival Science by examining the development and evolution of its key ideas and principles, and the historical interplay between them and such constructs as modernism, objectivity, scientific management, nationalism, sovereignty, and colonialism. It argues that education in Archival Science, which traditionally has included elements of both professional practice and scholarship and which has only scantily reflected upon the pedagogies it has employed, has played a fundamental role in perpetuating the cultural hegemony of dominant groups. It has done so by inculcating archival ideas and principles without simultaneously providing sufficient historical analysis of their derivations or original intent, and without nurturing a critical perspective that would encourage sensitivity on the part of future archival professionals and scholars to the cultural and social implications of what are often regarded as “value-neutral” concepts and practices, particularly in terms of their impact on the record-keeping and memory practices of marginalized and under-represented groups.

This article unravels on archival mystery by tracing the creation and archivization of a series of photographs staged by Sharanjit Singh Dhillonn, an Indian immigrant, in Oklahoma in the 1950s. The collection has been digitized and made accessible in the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA), a community archive that is using records to spark conversations about racism, assimilation, and resistance. The article argues that community archives can activate troubling records from the past in order to forge relationships of care and mutual responsibility with their communities now.

Review: Boundary Objects and Beyond: Working with Leigh Star, Edited by Geoffrey C. Bowker, Stefan Timmermans, Adele E. Clarke, and Ellen Balka

Using the reflections of both the instructor and students on lesson plans from three course sessions, this paper argues that a social justice framework can be practically implemented in an introductory archives classroom such that students are imparted with both the rationale for classical Western archival concepts and functions and the modes to critique such functions from a social justice perspective. After a brief introduction summarizing course logistics and the action research methodology employed, this paper proposes a working definition of social justice and discuss in detail what constitutes a social justice pedagogical framework in archival education. Next, this paper describes and analyzes a small group exercise on the concepts of record, provenance, and creatorship, detailing ways in which students can be both taught prevailing archival concepts and encouraged to critique these concepts from a social justice perspective. This paper then addresses a group discussion concerning power, marginalization, and listening for whispers in the archives, revealing how records can be used in the classroom to illustrate complex theoretical concepts. This paper then discusses the effectiveness of an exercise using three real-life human rights case studies to impart the importance of ethical action in archival practice. In conclusion, the challenges of implementing this framework will be discussed as well as suggestions for future research.