AAO News

a. Archives Awareness Week will be April 2 to April 5, 2024

This year’s Archives Awareness Week (AAW) will be held from April 2- 5, 2024! The theme this year, “Access your Archives”, will be a warmup for the upcoming conference! We encourage everyone participating in Archives Awareness Week to use the #2024AAW hashtag.

April is #ArchivesAtoZ

Throughout April 2024, the AAO Instagram will also take part in the annual Archives of Ontario-led #ArchivesAtoZ social media campaign to promote the Archeion service and descriptions in the database. See Danielle Manning’s listserv announcement for more details about the campaign and consider joining.

Instagram reels

As part of AWW, we are bringing back our featured Instagram reels from you! On Thursday, April 5, 2024, the AAO will publish a series of short vignettes submitted by membership via our Instagram account. We are asking volunteers to submit recorded (sound and video) answers to any or all of the following questions. Examples from your collections will be encouraged!

• Tell us about a unique outreach initiative your archive has been working on.
• How do you provide access to your archives collection?
• In what ways do you make your collection accessible or hope to?
• What challenges do archives face in making records accessible while respecting users and donors? 
• What archival process or specific record in your collection keeps you up at night? 
• Developments in new networks and collaborations.

Follow @archives.assoc.ontario on Instagram to watch! 

Twitter Takeover

As per tradition, the AAO will be hosting a Twitter Takeover event. On Tuesday, April 2, 2024, a roster of guest archivists will take over the AAO Twitter account @AAO_tweet to answer your questions and comments related to work in the archives. Let us know if you would like to book a one hour slot! Teams are welcome! 

Share your events

We encourage members to program events and engage in social media initiatives. If you would like us to promote your own AAW event, please let us know prior to March 15, 2024 so that we can include it in The Original Order of Things newsletter and feature it on our website. 

How to participate 

If you would like to participate in any of these activities, please contact Tiffany Ribeiro at webadmin@aao-archivists.ca prior to March 15, 2024. 

Use the #2024AAW hashtag and tag us in your posts.

Check out the Archives Awareness Week page for more information. 

Fundraiser

As a part of Archives Awareness Week, we are asking for your donations in support of the Shirley Spragge Bursary program, which provides financial assistance for students, new professionals, or archivists in financial need to cover the registration and travel to the AAO's annual conference.

The larger the fund grows, the more budding archivists it can help. Those early-career connections and experiences are invaluable, often leading to new connections, new jobs, or even the confidence, inspiration, and resolution to stick with a profession that can be difficult to break into.

So this Archives Awareness Week, consider offering a hand-up to those following in your professional footsteps. And, if you're hosting an event or have a newsletter, consider promoting this fundraiser to your community! You never know who is willing to help out.

 Visit the bursary page for more information or donate now! Donations over $20 are eligible for a tax receipt.

b. Nominations for the 2024 AAO Awards are now open!

Nominations are being accepted for the Alexander Fraser Award, the James J. Talman Award, the AAO Emerging Leaders Award, the Corporate Award & the Institutional Award. Due April 8, 2024. Visit the Awards page for more information.

c. New online resources available

Student resources

The AAO’s Student and New Professional Outreach Committee released a compilation of Student resources now available on our website. Resources were curated to help students and new professionals become more familiar with various aspects of archival work. The resources are primarily introductory, guidelines, or reference tools. Thank you to the various AAO members who submitted resources for this list.

Digital Resource Hub 

The Digital Resource Hub is provided and updated by the AAO Digital Access and Preservation Committee (DAPC).

Access to the Digital Resource Hub is restricted to AAO Members. Being a member provides you full access to the following resources: 

• upcoming external digital workshops 
• asynchronous online workshops/courses 
• online digital resources for grant writing/funding, processing, description, access and much more 
• digital archives tools for risk assessment, migration, and processing 
• content-specific preservation information

d. AAO’s 2024 Conference

The Archives Association of Ontario announced that the 2024 Annual Conference will be held virtually from May 8 to 10 on the Whova platform. The theme of the conference is “REDACTED]: Access, Privacy and Addressing Ethical Accessibility.”

The 2024 Conference call for papers is now closed. The due date for poster submissions has been extended to February 25, 2024.

Stay tuned to the conference page for the upcoming program announcement. 

e. Upcoming workshops from the AAO’s Professional Development Committee

We have a number of upcoming workshops hosted by the AAO’s Professional Development Committee. Registration is available through our website. 

• Copyright Basics Workshop - February 29, 2024
• Getting Started with Archeion - March 8, 2024
• The AAO’s Professional Development Committee presents Safe Spaces for BIPOC Records Professionals - March 26, 2024 
• The AAO’s Professional Development Committee presents Safe Spaces for Records Professionals with Disabilities, Chronic Illnesses, and the Neurodivergent - March 27,  2024 
• The AAO’s Professional Development Committee presents Safe Spaces for LGBTQ2S+ Records Professionals - March 28, 2024

f. Upcoming workshop from the AAO East Est Chapter

The AAOEe is pleased to offer the following in-person workshops:

• Getting started with Digital Preservation: a simple way to begin your digital preservation program using (mostly) free tools - March 6, 2024
• Unlocking the Past: Keys to your Home’s Story - April 20, 2024