NARA's Seattle facility closure, fan fics, and more
This week I cover a variety of topics in the archives and library fields, along with excerpting from my recent article and my friend's fictional narrative. Enjoy!
Hello everyone! I hope you are all having a great week! I thought I’d share my recent article and some other topics.
First and foremost, I’d like to note my recent piece for Issues & Advocacy, an organ of the SAA titled “More than a warehouse: why the closure of Seattle’s National Archives facility matters.” I’d like to quote some of my favorite parts from that article:
“…This decision raises the question: which is more important, access to historic records or selling a public facility in a high-value real estate market?…With such hullabaloo on this topic, one question is relevant: why does this closure matter to us, as fellow archivists?…NARA itself admits that the closure will negatively affect those who use the facility…This closure also stands against NARA’s stated goal that public access is part of its core mission and violates the Society of American Archivists’ Code of Ethics.”
With that, I’d like to highlight some other important news when it comes to the archives world. First of all, SNAP posted something about the SAA nominating committee, while David Ferriero talked about joining NARA on a presidential libraries road trip. That also brings me to some articles about asking an archivist for storing objects, the SAA fundraising, and electoral frustrations with the organization itself. Interconnected with this are the events in the library field. This includes a new online collection of military legal resources added to the website of the Law Library of Congress, the views of an Australian librarian on the Library of Congress, and Australian libraries taking “service to their communities well beyond books.” Of course, Hack Library School was at it again with posts on various important topics, whether emotional labor, how you can never give 100% of effort 100% of the time, and para-professionals. I also was interested in reading how statues of Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass are being added in front of the Maryland State House and how Charles Darwin’s publisher changed his words despite his objections.
That brings me to my friend’s newest fictional work, “The Universe Runs Through It: Cheering Gargantians, Snotty Peridots, Calm Etherians, and a Perplexed Kipo.” In the story, my friend talked about libraries and archives. The protagonist, a space captain, hopes that his words about his homeland (Earth) would be able to add to the library in a floating city, to which the medical doctor/librarian, says that it will help people living there “learn about other planets, to expand their horizons, moving humanity forward.” Later in the story, the captain notes how they put in place a transportation pad in the library, allowing them to return to the future. There’s also an important section about an archives on a magical planet, moved to another location, with one character promising to give another a report about its functioning. That’s because the other character helped design its technological systems. In response, one of the archivists (both are a gay couple), who is character’s dad, states that there are digital copies of all the paper documents they have, along with “photographs of three-dimensional objects, complete with a searchable database” and that all of “the originals remain stored and are constantly cared for.” Later on, readers meet the Chief Archivist, Angella, a purple-skinned, pink-and-purple haired lady.
That’s it for this week. Hope you all have a great rest of your week!
- Burkely