(Draft) Report on the 2010 Arizona Archives Summit

Draft Submitted by Jacque Doyle

Arizona Archives Summit III , held at the Polly Rosenbaum History and Archives Building, Phoenix, Arizona, Thursday and Friday, January 27-28, 2011

Thursday, January 27, 8:30 am – 5:00 pm

At least 53 archivists, librarians and library science students, tribal council representatives, volunteers, museum leaders, and others came together for a fascinating and stimulating two days of brainstorming, planning, and learning and to celebrate and continue to develop a means of documenting the historical materials of Arizona in their many forms.  We enjoyed networking with new and former friends and colleagues, two yummy lunches outside on two lovely days, tours of the Archives building, and being challenged to continue our archival efforts for the citizens of the state.  Note:  I am hopeful that the wonderful PPT files will be shared later.

Welcome and Introductory Remarks	Melanie Sturgeon, PhD, Director History and Archives Division and State Archivist welcomed attendees and  thanked them for coming.  She led the opening discussion around the following points:  Why are we here? Introductions all around Update on past Summits (2009) and 2010 activities (successful regional brown bag lunches, etc.) She introduced the article she co-authored with Linda Whittaker to describes the work and goals of the Summits and the Matrix in The Journal of Western Archives, v. 1, issue 1, article 3, entitled The Arizona Summit: Tough Times in a Tough Land.  Its conclusion states: Western repositories have much to gain and little to lose from statewide initiatives that promote cooperative collection management policies. This is a process that looks outward and seeks common ground. This report is less a case study than it is a continuing work in progress. Our efforts are fueled by the belief that we can do better and rise above the most trying conditions. The Arizona experience clearly demonstrates that even incremental changes have the potential to reap significant benefits. Intended Outcomes for this meeting – to build on previous summits and identify plans for going forward
Arizona Summit Matrix  Survey Results (worked in small groups at tables)	Peter Runge and Jill McCleary described the progress of the Matrix, requested comments and encouraged attendees to participate in the effort.  There will soon be a website for the Matrix to keep the state informed.  N = 12 as of today; more respondents are needed There are continued issues of access, especially of non members to tribal archives, which may necessitate separate access methods and tiers. Several modifications of instrument were identified and the team will take those into account in version 2. Update plans for the summer were discussed and will be shared soon.
Museum Archives Panel Presentation	Tom Wilson, Arizona Museum of Natural History and Roger Lidman, Pueblo Grande Museum discussed and described current efforts at their respective museums, including:  Challenges: $, staffing cut by half, need for donors, challenging areas in ethics, short and long range plans # of museums in AZ is unknown, probably >300 Many commonalities with libraries and archives but some distinct differences as well
UA SIRLS and ASU Public History/Scholarly Communication Collaboration	Dr. Bryan Heidorn shared recent efforts of SIRLS and with Dr. Janelle Warren-Findley presented a plan to offer combined certificates for DIGIN and Scholarly Publishing by 2012.
Statewide Initiatives Updates	Updates on these projects were presented and all attendees were asked to ensure that their organizations were represented.1.      Cultural Inventory Project (Prouty)2.      AZ Memory Project (Prouty)3.      Arizona Archives Online (Lotstein)4.      IMLS Connecting to Collections Project (Sturgeon)5.      Friends of AZ Archives (Preisler)6.      Why Arizona ? (Spindler)
Archival Swap Meet

Friday, January 28, 2011, 8:30 am – 3:00 pm

Welcome and Introductions	Melanie revisited and re-affirmed our progress and goals for going forward.  A traditional welcome was offered Reviewed goals and progress so far
Plateau Peoples Web Portal	Kim Christen and Shawn Lamebull of Washington State University presented the Plateau Peoples Web Portal  This project seeks to create a web-based environment that allows Plateau peoples’ cultural materials held in Washington State University’s special collections and the Museum of Anthropology to be curated by Plateau Tribes. Typically, museums and archives curate exhibitions, annotate and catalogue content based on familiar sets of metadata (information about information). Oftentimes, however, the curation process and the associated metadata are removed from the originating communities. This project aims to create not just a digital portal to view content, but also a different paradigm for the curation, distribution and reproduction of Native peoples’ cultural materials. First and foremost, the project begins from a point of collaboration by working in partnership with the Plateau Center for American Indian Studies at Washington State University and Tribal consultants from the Umatilla, Coeur d’Alene and Yakama nations
Tribal Archives Updates were presented by representatives of these tribal museums and archives, all very interesting and unique	Colorado River Indian Tribes – Amelia Flores Ak-Chin Indian Community – Jocelyn Boothe Hopi Tribe – Stewart Koyiyumpotewa Tonono O’dham Nation – Jeanette Garcia Navajo Nation Museum – Eunice Kahn
Research Ethics/Tri-University Consultation Policy work	Claudia Nelson, director of the University of Arizona Native Peoples Technical Assistance Office described the work of her office and the DATABASE of Research and Outreach in Indian Country which is being updated at this time.  The Tri-University Collaboration Policy is under construction for a variety of reasons.
SIRLS Knowledge River Update	Sandy Littletree provided an update and introduced the many KR students in the audience.
Working Together- plans for next year	Karen Underhill engaged all attendees in a circle to acknowledge the work accomplished today.  Melanie reminded us to respond when the updated Matrix survey tool is distributed. All present thanked the organizers for an excellent and productive working session and noted that we will meet again next year.