Celebrating Archives Month with SCRC Staff Highlights (Part I)

Happy Archives Month! In honor of the Society of American Archives' 2023 American Archives Month theme, "The Power of Collaboration," we are featuring the amazing people who make up the Special Collections Research Center and do the work of acquiring, arranging, describing, preserving, teaching, and providing access and research support with our collections, highlighted in a series of blog posts throughout the rest of the month.  

Victor Betts, Student Success Librarian for Special Collections

How would you describe what you do, in one sentence?

I provide research support and access to archival materials and help people think critically about archives and historical records.

What is your favorite thing about your job?

Working with students and community partners and discussing all things archives in relation to their own research and projects. I especially like working with first-time users of archives and seeing them get excited or fascinated by archival research.

Anything else you'd like to add? 

I suppose most people associate archives with the humanities, arts, and social sciences, but I think students, faculty, and researchers would be surprised that we have lots of relevant materials that pertain to their field, research, and areas of interest. You get to access the rich, institutional knowledge that directly impacts today's research and scholarship.

Cathy Dorin-Black, University Library Specialist

How would you describe what you do, in one sentence?

I manage the accessioning and processing of archival materials, making them accessible to the public.

What is your favorite thing about your job?

My favorite thing about my job is to train students on the principles of archival processing, including assessing the appropriate level of time and detail to spend on each collection.

What is something that most people probably don't know about your work, or about archives in general?

Archives are not all old!  They can include something that happened yesterday.  The items you create today could be the archives of tomorrow.

Anything else you'd like to add?

We work with all kinds of older technology, like film reels, computer disks, and videocassettes and sometimes have to become tech wizards to salvage data from them.

Brian Dietz, Lead Librarian for Collections Stewardship and Discovery

How would you describe what you do, in one sentence?

My role has recently expanded, but my job has been to manage the Libraries' digital special collections--through digitization, born-digital processing, and digital preservation--in order to support long-term access and use by researchers.

What is your favorite thing about your job?

My favorite part of my job is working with colleagues to solve problems, especially, designing and developing new tools to support new approaches to working with our collections.

What is something that most people probably don't know about your work, or about archives in general?

I think the word "archive" has come to mean "save" in the wider world. But...we don't keep everything. I love deleting stuff (cautiously).

Anything else you'd like to add?

I appreciate our collections and how they document many important facets of the relationship between humans and natural and built environments. I also really enjoy the support there is in the SCRC and Libraries to take on new and challenging opportunities to support the sustainability and use of the collections. My work has led to some really great experiences, not to mention many friendships. Happy Archives Month.

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Check back throughout the rest of the month to hear from other folks in the Special Collections Research Center, and feel free to reach out using our contact form if you have any questions about archives and using our collections.