News

Congratulations to the Chicago Area Archivists 2020 Member of the Year Award winner Carol Ng-He! 

Carol initiated the Curating and Exhibitions Interest Group, recognizing that there was not a local professional group focused on exhibits and displays in libraries, archives, and special collections institutions. Since its official inception in 2019, she has recruited nearly 40 individuals to the group, and hosted four programs both on site and virtually to maximize impacts and attendance. 

By identifying a local need for our profession and working within CAA to provide opportunities for members, Carol has contributed to the growth of the CAA community and expanded professional development and scholarship.

Congratulations Carol! Her win was announced at Wednesday's members meeting. Carol will receive a framed Member of the Year certificate. For more information on both the Member of the Year Award and the Janet Olson Award, check out the Awards page. 

Carol Ng-He is currently the Exhibits Coordinator at the Arlington Heights Memorial Library. She was formerly the School and Community Program Manager at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Aside from her involvement with CAA, she also co-leads the Exhibitions Special Interest Group and serves on various committees at the Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA). Carol has published articles and chapters on library exhibitions, art and museum education, and community art development in the Journal of Museum Education, Teaching Artist Journal, and Visual Inquiry, among others. Carol holds an MA in Art Education from the School of the Art Institute is Chicago and a certificate in Museum Studies from Northwestern University. Carol is a 2019 ALA Spectrum Scholar and a MLIS candidate at San Jose State University.   

CAA's #JoinCAA2020 Membership Drive ends in TWO DAYS! We’ll announce the drawing winners during the virtual meeting on March 18.

Enjoy some more quotes from the Holiday Party Sound Booth, and make sure to join, refer, or renew!  

“My favorite part of any CAA event is when I look out over the crowd and I hear everybody’s talking to each other, everybody’s having a good time, everyone is engaged and this is obviously a vibrant and thriving organization.” -- Janet Olson

"I really love being a member of Chicago Area Archivists because it's just such a great group of people. You know, even if I fell out of the archives world, I would still want to see these people." -- Nathalie Wheaton

Prizes and incentives include:

• New members: The first 10 new members to sign up before March 18 will receive a CAA-branded journal!All new members who join during the drive will be entered into a drawing to win a swag item from the CAA Shop!

• Referring members: If someone referred you to CAA, add their name in the Referring Member field and they could win too! We’ll hold a drawing during the members meeting for 3 referring members to win a $15 Starbucks gift card. 

CAA Steering Committee elections are just over a week away. Voting will open on March 25 and run through April 1. Read candidate statements at this link.

Candidates will also have a chance to introduce themselves at this Wednesday's CAA Annual Members Meeting, which will take place virtually. Register for the meeting here.

Dear Colleagues,

For the health and safety of our members during the COVID-19 outbreak, the CAA Steering Committee has decided to hold our Annual Members Meeting via videoconference. We will still meet from 6-8 pm on Wednesday, 3/18, and we will still have the same agenda, only we won’t be face-to-face.

Realizing that this decision may change some people’s ability to attend the meeting, we will extend registration to Tuesday, 3/17 at 5pm. It’s important for all attendees to register, as call-in info will only be sent to those who have signed up for the meeting. You may register here:

http://chicagoarchivists.org/event-3750378

While we will miss seeing everyone in person, Steering is confident that a virtual meeting is the right thing to do given the circumstances we are all living under at this moment. We look forward to seeing you online on Wednesday.

Please do not hesitate to reach out to any of us with questions.

Wishing you good health,

Your Steering Committee

Hathaway Hester (Chair)

Laura Alagna

Rene Aranzamendez

Jerice Barrios

Ashley Gosselar

Dan Harper

Michelle McCoy

Rebekah McFarland

We’re launching a new Member Spotlight Series, in conjunction with CAA’s 2020 Membership Drive!

For this series we’ll be turning the spotlight on CAA members to share their experiences of getting interested in archives and working in the field, and how they have been involved with CAA and benefited from membership.

CAA Member Spotlight Series: Hathaway Hester

We're kicking off the series with Hathaway Hester, current Steering Committee Chair and long-time member of CAA.

Where do you work, and how long have you held your position? 

I’ve worked at the National Association of REALTORS® Library & Archives since 2015, and have held my current position as Manager since 2018. Our Archives documents the history of NAR and the development of the real estate profession in the United States. While I’m primarily an archivist, I also contribute some library work as well. We have the largest real estate library in the world, by number of volumes, and have a user base of over 1.4 million. My colleagues and I are certainly kept busy!

How did you get into archives work? 

Before I went to grad school, I had a couple jobs in special libraries and a job doing historical research. I followed this path to its logical conclusion and ended up focusing my studies on archives and special collections at Dominican University.

What is your favorite thing about your job? 

The work is extremely varied. Through this job I have the opportunity to do research, work with collections, oversee projects, give presentations, write articles, develop my management skills, report metrics, and travel to NAR meetings and conferences.

Do you have a favorite collection or item in your repository?

I’m not sure if this counts as my favorite, but I literally would not be able to do my job without our collection of Board of Directors minutes. I consult them daily!

How long have you been involved in CAA and in what capacity?

I’ve been a member since 2006, but didn’t start volunteering with CAA until about 6-7 years ago. First I was a member of the Professional Development Subcommittee (now known as Programming), then went on to cochair that subcommittee for a few years. In 2018, I was elected to the Steering Committee and this past year have served as CAA’s Chair.

What is your favorite thing about being involved in CAA?

I’ve learned so much from my CAA colleagues and made some amazing friends!

What is your favorite thing to do in Chicago?

One of my favorites is Midnight Circus in the Parks, an organization that brings circus shows into communities across Chicago while raising money for local parks. I go to their shows every year; not only do I get to see amazing performers, but I get to support three of my favorite things: Chicago neighborhoods, our parks, and circus arts.

Share your story! If you are interested in being highlighted for the Member Spotlight or nominating another member, please contact us at info@chicagoarchivists.org.

Here is your slate of candidates for the 2020-2022 CAA Steering Committee!

Ashley Howdeshell

Assistant University Archivist

Loyola University Chicago Archives and Special Collections

 

Kendra Long

Archivist

4S Bay LLC/Sarowitz Family Foundation

 

Erin Matson

Librarian and Archivist

Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago 

 

Andy Meyer

Director of Archives and Special Collections

North Park University    

 

Andrew Thompson

Accessions Supervisor

University of Chicago, Special Collections

Please join us at the CAA Annual Meeting on March 18 to meet the candidates in person. You may register for the meeting here:

http://chicagoarchivists.org/event-3750378

Voting will take place March 25-April 1. Ballots will be sent to the membership via email.

Wrap-up: Curating & Exhibitions Interest Group Virtual Meetup on “How to Create Digital Exhibits with Library Collections and Archives”

On February 20, 2020, the Curating & Exhibitions Interest Group hosted its first virtual meet-up with a topic on “How to Create Digital Exhibitions with Library Collections and Archives.” Three panelists were featured in the event including:

• Rachel Shaevel, Metadata Librarian and Cataloger at the Chicago Public Library and Co-chair of Digital Exhibits Committee, Chicago Collections Consortium

• Gretchen Neidhardt, Cataloging and Metadata Librarian, Chicago History Museum, and Co-chair of Digital Exhibits Committee, Chicago Collections Consortium

• Andrew Bullen, Information Technology Coordinator, Illinois State Library

Moderated by Carol Ng-He, Exhibits Coordinator, Arlington Heights Memorial Library, and Founder & Organizer of the Interest Group, the meet-up covered presentations on examples of digital exhibits that are developed by the Chicago Collections Consortium and the Illinois State Library. The panelists walked us through the process from selecting the online platforms, their main features, pros, and cons, as well as the challenges and their solutions. Issues about digitization, image optimization and web editing for the exhibit were addressed. Joshua Lynch from the Illinois Digital Heritage Hub (IDHH) who was in the audience was invited to make a brief introduction of IDHH and the possibility of hosting digital exhibits on their portal.

A total of 54 attendees participated in the event. 

We are extending the nomination period for Steering Committee candidates until Monday, February 24, 2020. If you have ever had the notion to run for CAA Steering Committee, now is the time to act! We are in danger of being out of compliance with our by-laws because we currently do not have enough candidates to fill the four open Steering Committee positions. 

We need members like you to serve on Steering to keep CAA the active and vibrant organization that it is. Being on Steering is a great opportunity to get to know your colleagues, to gain leadership skills, and to learn about the inner workings of a not-for-profit organization. Please consider running!

Here are the details:

Service on the Steering Committee is open to all CAA members in good standing. Steering Committee members are elected to two-year terms. Those elected must be able to commit to monthly in-person meetings with some work conducted virtually between meetings.

Candidates for the 2020-22 term will be elected by a vote of CAA members cast electronically soon after the Annual Members Meeting on Wednesday, March 18. Candidates will have an opportunity to introduce themselves at the annual meeting.

To volunteer, submit a brief (1-2 paragraph) Statement of Interest outlining your background and motivation for serving on the Steering Committee to info@chicagoarchivists.org. Please include your full name, title, place of work (if applicable), and preferred contact phone and email address.

If you have any questions, please contact info@chicagoarchivists.org.

CAA's #JoinCAA2020 Membership Drive continues into its second week!

Today we’re debuting some quotes from your colleagues' recordings at the Holiday Party Sound Booth! Find out what your fellow CAA members value most about the organization, and don’t forget to join, refer, or renew!

"The Chicago Area Archivists is a really great opportunity for you to test out your own leadership skills." – Andy Steadham

"What I love about being part of CAA and what has really shaped me as a professional, I've been able to test out and confirm and affirm through this organization." – Morgen MacIntosh-Hodgetts

"I’ve worked with a number of different organizations. I found out about several of them just from my acquaintances here at CAA, so I really value CAA and I love coming to the holiday party every year just to see friends." – Jane Kenamore

Remember: the first 10 new members to sign up before March 18 will receive a CAA-branded journal! If someone referred you to CAA, add their name in the Referring Member field and they could win too! We’ll hold a drawing during the members meeting for 3 referring members to win a $15 Starbucks gift card. 

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to stay tuned throughout the drive for more on why you should #JoinCAA2020

DEADLINE EXTENDED! We are now accepting candidate statements of interest through February 14.

Are you interested in becoming more involved in the Chicago archives community? Consider volunteering to serve on the Chicago Area Archivists Steering Committee. Not only will you get to work closely with some of your colleagues in the profession, but CAA service is a great way to gain valuable experience in preparation for service in regional and national archival organizations.

What does the Steering Committee do? The Steering Committee is tasked with:

·        Supporting programmatic goals for the organization

·        Responding to the needs of CAA members

·        Representing CAA within the larger profession and to the general public

·        Setting standards to ensure the sustainability of CAA

Think you aren’t experienced enough to serve on the Steering Committee? Think again: any organization needs fresh viewpoints to remain vibrant. And CAA is meant to serve the needs of all of its members, including those who are new to the profession.

What are the requirements? Service on the Steering Committee is open to all CAA members in good standing. Steering Committee members are elected to two-year terms that begin and end at the Annual Members Meeting. Those elected must be able to commit to monthly in-person meetings with some work conducted virtually between meetings.

Candidates for the 2020-22 term will be elected by a vote of CAA members cast electronically after the Annual Members Meeting on Wednesday, March 18.

To volunteer, submit a brief (1-2 paragraph) Statement of Interest outlining your background and motivation for serving on the Steering Committee to info@chicagoarchivists.org. Please include your full name, title, place of work (if applicable), and preferred contact phone and email address.

Statements of interest will be distributed to CAA members 30 days prior to the Annual Members Meeting. Candidates will also have an opportunity to introduce themselves at the meeting on March 18.

The deadline to submit your statement is Friday, February 14 at 11:59 pm.

Please send general questions or comments to info@chicagoarchivists.org.