8:00-8:45 am

Registration and breakfast courtesy of Grounded Coffee

8:45-9:45 am

Welcome and Keynote

9:45-10:00 am

Break – Vendors and Posters available

10:00-11:00 am - Concurrent Sessions #1

1A

From Applicant to Archivist: Navigating Job Searches and Building Professional Networks

(Session will not be recorded)

• How to Take the Work Out of Networking - Stephanie Bennett, Director, Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History, UNCW

This presentation will discuss networking, especially as a new professional, but it is relevant to anyone's career. We will discuss how to adapt networking to individuals, get comfortable in professional settings, and extricate yourself when you need some time or space at an event or conference. I will also discuss the benefits of networking and how it can lead to collegial friendships to sustain an archives career and beyond.

• Cleared for Landing: Navigating the Job Search Like a Pro - Kelly Spring, Head of Manuscripts & Digital Curation, East Carolina University

Fasten your seatbelt and get ready to land the job of your dreams! This session is your flight plan for navigating every stage of the hiring process—from crafting standout application materials to giving a great interview and negotiating the final offer. Learn how to research, prepare, and communicate with confidence, ensuring a smooth approach and a successful landing. Whether you’re switching career runways or taking off for the first time, this session will help you safely arrive at your next role.

1B

Strategies for Engagement

• From Vaults to Feeds: Social Media Strategies for Special Collections - Emily Murray, Archives Coordinator, Florida Gulf Coast University

Social media has revolutionized how archives engage with their audiences, transforming hidden treasures into accessible narratives that resonate with diverse communities. This poster explores innovative strategies implemented at Florida Gulf Coast University Archives and Special Collections that have leveraged social media to impact key areas of archival practice and amplify the value of our students, staff, holdings, and services. The poster also evaluates how archives can use qualitative and quantitative assessments to measure their efforts to improve user experiences, ensuring social media initiatives align with institutional and community needs.

• Promoting Online Engagement with Archival Materials in a Digital World - Laura Lethers, Digital Project Librarian, NC State University Libraries

The Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries uses a suite of collaboratively developed in-house applications to support digitization. Project staff use these tools to digitize materials for the Expanded Extending Cooperative Extension History LSTA grant in partnership with the State Archives of North Carolina. This presentation will cover how these workflows facilitate the publication of digital surrogates for public engagement.

• You've Got History! What's Next?: Developing a How-To Video Series for Busy Religious Administrators - Amy Archambault, University History Archival Technician, Western Carolina University

How does a completely online community archive support potential donors with finding a permanent archive for their collection!? You create an archival toolkit using videos! In this presentation, I'll share my video series entitled “You’ve Got History! What’s Next?” and the workflow process to create these videos with the goal of helping busy administrators start learning more about archives, preparing records, and the donation process.

1C

Oral History Case Study

• Fixity Amidst Adversity: The Core Sound Waterfowl Museum & Heritage Center Oral History Collection - A Climate Change Case Study - Michelle Witt, former Digital Archivist, Core Sound Waterfowl Museum & Heritage Center; Karen Willis Amspacher, Executive Director, Core Sound Waterfowl Museum & Heritage Center; Max Cawley, Director of Climate Research and Engagement, Museum of Life & Science; and Tara Layne Hinton, Editor in Chief, The Health Humanities Journal of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Since Hurricane Florence devastated eastern North Carolina in 2018, the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum & Heritage Center on Harkers Island has implemented a digital preservation and outreach strategy for its oral history program that not only closed the distance between its historic voices and the world at large, but also helped drive sweeping transformation and galvanize the community as environmental change continues to batter the coast. For Core Sound, digital transformation is a bridge between the past, present, and future.

11:00-11:15 am

Break – Vendors and Posters available

11:15 am -12:15 pm - Concurrent Sessions #2

2A

Expanding Access and Impact: Strategies for Small Archives and Underrepresented Collections

• Small Archives, Big(ger) Impacts; or, You Can Do Digital, Too - Kelly Policelli, Coordinator of University Archives and Special Collections, Elon University

For smaller, lower-tech archives, where the passion for archives is high but the training in digital best practices may be lower, it can be difficult to move past the obstacles to conceive and implement improvements to digital frameworks and infrastructures. This presentation is aimed at providing a supportive venue for archivists at smaller institutions to share their problems and their hard-won solutions in the digital realm.

• Open Casket, Open Minds: Preservation and Access Challenges with the Ellis Photography Studio Film Negative Collection - Natalie Bishop, Dead of the John R. Dover Memorial Library, Gardner-Webb University

This session explores the digitization of 28,000 film negatives from Ellis Photography Studio (Shelby, NC), operated by the Ellis family from the early 1900s to the 1990s. The collection documents rural life but presents challenges like vinegar syndrome, privacy concerns, and sensitive content (crime scenes, casket photography). We’ll discuss project management, ethical considerations, and the use of AI and crowdsourcing for metadata creation, balancing accessibility with sensitivity in our digital repository.

• Building Relationships in University Archives: Documenting the Experiences of the First Black Alumni at Mississippi State University - Jessica Perkins Smith, University Archivist, Mississippi State University

This presentation will share how a University Archivist collaborated with Black alumni from the first years after integration at Mississippi State to develop a robust digital collection, as well as educational panels for the university's Black Alumni Weekend and Black History Month events. The presentation will also discuss how these relationships have led to further collaboration on grants, exhibits, and in the classroom.

Schedule continues into next column.

11:15 am -12:15 pm - Concurrent Sessions #2 (Continued)

12:15-1:30 pm

Lunch provided by Farmer and the Dail

1:45-2:45 pm - Concurrent Sessions #3

3A

Documenting Change: Archives and Digital Outreach

(Session will not be live-streamed or recorded)

• The Memory Work of Social Movements: Documenting Activism in Archival Spaces - Ericka Christie, Ph.D. candidate, North Carolina State University

This presentation will discuss the presenter's research with activists in the Raleigh-Durham area about their archival needs—including their frustration around the lack of transparency in donating to institutional archives, the instability of community archives, and their lack of experience with appraisal and preservation methods regarding their own personal collections—and the creation of a digital toolkit that provides activists with resources for discerning the best fit for their movement materials.

• From Concept to Connection: Lessons from Digital Outreach and Future Directions - Lolita Rowe, Assistant University Archivist for Outreach and Engagement, UNC-Chapel Hill

Digital outreach is key to connecting archives with diverse audiences, but what defines success? This presentation explores case studies of archival outreach, comparing digital strategies in private and public institutions. It examines key factors like funding, risk, and discoverability while balancing resources and sustainability. Attendees will gain insights into effective strategies, common challenges, and innovative methods for enhancing accessibility and engagement in archival outreach.

• Invenire: Bridging the Digital Divide for Small Museums and Libraries - Elizabeth LaFave; CEO/Founder of Invenire

This practical demonstration will showcase the step-by-step process of transforming physical archives into engaging digital experiences using Invenire's methodology. Attendees will see real examples of how small institutions with limited resources have successfully digitized their collections, from initial scanning to final implementation. The presentation will reveal unexpected benefits reported by partner institutions, including increased foot traffic, expanded educational programming, and new "special exhibit" opportunities. Learn specific techniques for creating effective digital hands-on activities that complement physical exhibits and explore how these tools can be adapted for institutions of various sizes and subject matters.

3B

Discussion Forum

• Engaging Archival Interns in Community Archives: Bridging Technology and Tradition - Dr. Vanessa Reyes, Assistant Professor, and Dr. Vanessa Irvin, Associate Professor, East Carolina University’s Library Science Program

This session explores the placement of first-year archival students in community archives. The presenters will lead a discussion on the processes involved in adopting digital technologies, fostering mentorship relationships, and involving project advisory boards. Participants will receive practical insights and best practices for successful outreach and engagement. Attendees will gain valuable perspectives on integrating technology and tradition to enhance the learning experience while supporting both community archives and student career development.

3C

Strategies for Engaging High School Educators Panel

• Engaging Grades 9-12 Teachers in Place-Based Archival Instruction - Alexandra Chassanoff, Assistant Professor, and Elliott Kuecker, Teaching Assistant Professor, UNC-Chapel Hill; Lyric Grimes, PhD Student, and Gabi Benedit, MSLS Student, UNC-Chapel Hill

This panel is presented by a collaborative team from UNC-Chapel Hill, who held a public workshop for grades 9-12 social studies and history teachers in partnership with Durham Public Library's NC Collection. The workshop aimed to help teachers incorporate digital collections and literacy into their classrooms by providing teachers with basic archival education and curriculum ideas mapped to NC grade-level outcomes. The workshop was also created based on the Place-Based Educational approach, which connected primary sources from the region to historical thinking about the students' own communities.

2:45-3:00 pm

Break - Vendors and Posters available

3:00-4:30 pm

Conference Wrap Up, Poster Session, and Vendor Exhibition

Posters

• • Memory Institutions and Social Media: How We Should Present Ourselves to the Public - Grace Zayobi, UNC Greensboro
  • Archival Engagement: Leveraging Social Media to Connect Communities - Zachary Hibbard, UNC Greensboro
  • The Roanoke Colony: Research and Exhibition - Deanna Pate, East Carolina University
  • Acts of Resistance by Enslaved Women in America: Violent and Non-Violent Responses to Oppression - Jennifer Beatty, East Carolina University

5:00-7:30 pm

SNCA Archivist's Happy Hour*

@ Pitt Street Brewing Company

For more information, view the Special Events page HERE.

   BACK TO TOP 