ARST/LIBR 596 - Treaty 8 Tribal Association

ARST/LIBR 596 – Treaty 8 Tribal Association

Organization
Treaty 8 Tribal Association

Address
Please note that this position is remote/hybrid.
10233-100th Avenue
Fort St. John, BC V1J 1Y8
Canada
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Supervising Librarian/Archivist
Name: Richard Arias-Hernández
Email: richard.arias@ubc.ca

Purpose of the project:

The purpose of this project is to provide an opportunity for students to assist the project team of Cultural and Digital Humanities experts with preparing materials in the Ridington Dane-zaa Archive for upload into Treaty 8 Tribal Association’s archive database (ArchiveEra) for formal repatriation and governance by source communities.

Summary of activities required to carry out the project:

  • Data entry, updating existing records in the Ridington Dane-zaa Archive Metadata Workbook with additional metadata copied from catalogues and fieldnotes.
  • Quality Control | Data cleaning: checking and editing records for standardized date formats, spelling of names and places etc.
  • Media inventory to reconcile the physical materials with digital surrogates.
  • Digitization services (scanning textual materials primarily) and/or research to identify an appropriate service provider.
  • Media formatting and file management to meet the requirements for batch upload into the ArchiveEra database.
  • Analytics and visualization reporting on datasets within the collection
  • Reporting on workflows and work completed.

Expectations of the end result of the project, for both host and student:

Expectations for Student:The student will contribute to the preparation of materials for repatriation and the implementation of decolonial methodologies facilitating Indigenous data governance practices. This hands-on work will provide valuable professional skills that will be an asset for digital archive work and for collaborative work with Indigenous communities striving to implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action for libraries and archives and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Expectations for Host: The Host will benefit from the professional skills of a trained archivist or librarian to help with archival description and arrangement and make materials in the RDA accessible to the source communities in their preferred form.

Time periods in which the project could be supervised:

  • Summer Session, Term 1 (May – June)
  • Summer Session, Term 2 (July – August)

Is there a deadline by which the project must be completed?

August 31, 2025

Considering the project requirements, please suggest suitable coursework as pre-requisite or co-requisite:

Students in the First Nations Curriculum Concentration with a focus on collections and information management would be ideal.

Applications will be assessed on a rolling basis.

Professional Experience application
To apply for this position, complete the online application form, including a resume and cover letter.

ARST/LIBR 596 – Simon Fraser University, Archives and Records Management Department

Organization
Simon Fraser University, Archives and Records Management Department

Address
8888 University Drive
Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6
Canada
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Supervising Librarian/Archivist
Name: Shamin Malmas
Email: smalmas@sfu.ca

Purpose of the project:

The Archives and Records Management Department (ARMD), in collaboration with the Information and Technology Services Department (ITS), has been providing in person training on records retention, file classification, and document management tools to university employees over last several months. Due to the large demand for our new training, ARMD has decided to develop a series of online tutorials, using SFU’s Learning Management System (Canvas). Once completed, the tutorials will allow for on-demand access to important records and information management training resources for SFU employees.

Summary of activities required to carry out the project:

Using the training materials already developed by ARMD and ITS, the professional experience student will create 1-3 training tutorials using SFU’s Learning Management System (Canvas). The professional experience student will also be responsible for testing the tutorials with a small user group and incorporating feedback prior to publishing the tutorials. If time allows, the professional experience student will write a blog post about their experience for ARMDs blog and develop a communications strategy for advertising the tutorials to SFU employees.

Expectations of the end result of the project, for both host and student:

The student will gain experience developing tutorials using a learning management system, conducting user consultation, receiving and incorporating user feedback. The student will also gain experience writing and publishing blog posts and developing a communications strategy.

The host will ensure the student is appropriately supervised and provided with training and resources to complete the project.

Time periods in which the project could be supervised:

  • Winter Term 1 (September – December)

Is there a deadline by which the project must be completed?

December 15, 2025 is the target date, although the timeline is flexible.

Considering the project requirements, please suggest suitable coursework as pre-requisite or co-requisite:

This placement would be prefect for a student with an interest in records management and instruction. Ideally, they will have completed ARST 516 Management of Current Records, LIBR 513 Information Asset Management, and/or LIBR 534 Instructional Role of the Librarian.

Applications will be assessed on a rolling basis.

Professional Experience application
To apply for this position, complete the online application form, including a resume and cover letter.

Research Support Librarian

BC Electronic Library Network Librarian

LIBR 539K (3) Topics in Material Culture for Information Professionals [cross-listed with ARST 556Q]

PREREQUISITES:

MAS students should enroll in ARST 556Q.

MLIS and Dual students: Some electives can be taken in conjunction with the MLIS Core courses; consult with the MLIS Program Chair for recommendations.

GOAL: International in scope, but grounded locally, this course will introduce students to the theoretical, historical, and methodological context for the care and stewardship of material culture collections in libraries, archives, and museums (and beyond). Students will gain a critical awareness of the context of ideas of heritage and material culture broadly, of how material culture was collected or stolen from around the world, as well as the ways that institutions and individuals are seeking to repair these legacies today. Students will also gain an introductory understanding of the practical skills required for the management of material collections, including understanding key policies and an introduction to daily practices of collections care and provenance research.

OBJECTIVES:

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

  • Identify and analyze the historical issues facing contemporary collections of material culture in libraries, archives and museums.
  • Analyze and discuss how institutions manage, preserve, and create access and barriers to material culture.
  • Apply an Information and Archival Studies approach to evaluating the policy, legislation, and governance implications for material culture collections.
  • Evaluate the key challenges facing individuals, institutions and communities who care for or steward collections of material culture.
  • Communicate the theoretical trends and concerns in the study of material culture and contribute to material culture research.

CONTENT:

  • Caring for objects, belongings and information
  • Objectivity and Scientific Empiricism
  • Hungry museums: Collecting and extracting around the globe
  • Settler colonialism and extractive collecting on the Northwest Coast
  • Cultural heritage in an international perspective
  • Repatriation and return: Laws, policy, protocol
  • Classification and control of material culture
  • Digital repositories and data stewardship
  • The idea of property
  • Caring for collections
  • Reparative work in museums

ARST 556Q (3) Topics in Material Culture for Information Professionals [cross-listed with LIBR 539K]

PREREQUISITES:

MLIS students should enroll in LIBR 539K.

MAS and Dual students: Completion of the “Term 1” MAS Core courses

GOAL: International in scope, but grounded locally, this course will introduce students to the theoretical, historical, and methodological context for the care and stewardship of material culture collections in libraries, archives, and museums (and beyond). Students will gain a critical awareness of the context of ideas of heritage and material culture broadly, of how material culture was collected or stolen from around the world, as well as the ways that institutions and individuals are seeking to repair these legacies today. Students will also gain an introductory understanding of the practical skills required for the management of material collections, including understanding key policies and an introduction to daily practices of collections care and provenance research.

OBJECTIVES:

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

  • Identify and analyze the historical issues facing contemporary collections of material culture in libraries, archives and museums.
  • Analyze and discuss how institutions manage, preserve, and create access and barriers to material culture.
  • Apply an Information and Archival Studies approach to evaluating the policy, legislation, and governance implications for material culture collections.
  • Evaluate the key challenges facing individuals, institutions and communities who care for or steward collections of material culture.
  • Communicate the theoretical trends and concerns in the study of material culture and contribute to material culture research.

CONTENT:

  • Caring for objects, belongings and information
  • Objectivity and Scientific Empiricism
  • Hungry museums: Collecting and extracting around the globe
  • Settler colonialism and extractive collecting on the Northwest Coast
  • Cultural heritage in an international perspective
  • Repatriation and return: Laws, policy, protocol
  • Classification and control of material culture
  • Digital repositories and data stewardship
  • The idea of property
  • Caring for collections
  • Reparative work in museums

LIBR 547 (3) Learning by Making with Digital Technologies

PREREQUISITES:

MAS students: Completion of the MAS Core courses, plus permission of the instructor.

MLIS and Dual students: Some electives can be taken in conjunction with the MLIS Core courses; consult with the MLIS Program Chair for recommendations.

GOAL: In a social space for collaborative learning through making, learners gain confidence through self-directing mastery of an information technology, lead and participate in technology workshops, and critically examine the cultural contexts of information technologies through their full life-cycle.

OBJECTIVES:

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

  • Rely on experience and theory to ground your critique of technologies to be used in specific, real-world information settings.
  • Question power and inequality throughout an information technology’s life-cycle (e.g. material creation, design, use, decay, repair, disposal, etc.) and in cultures of making.
  • Structure and implement a self-learning plan to gain and demonstrate confidence, knowledge, and skills for a specific information technology.
  • Design a collaborative learning space for others and with others to acquire technology skills while balancing active learning and social critique.

CONTENT:

  • Self-directed learning
  • Design & making as a way of knowing/learning
  • Making & makerspaces
  • Information technology key concepts
  • Designing technology workshops
  • Social critique of technology
  • Information technology life cycle:
    • Raw materials and design
    • Production, assembly, and distribution
    • Adoption, use, and disposal
  • Repair culture & planned obsolescence

ARST 596 – Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre (VHEC)

Organization
Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre (VHEC)

Address
50-950 West 41st Avenue
Vancouver, BC V5Z 2N7
Canada
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Supervising Librarian/Archivist
Name: Ada Alster
Email: adaalster@vhec.org

Purpose of the project:

This project builds on previous ARST 596 placements at the VHEC, continuing a focused effort on the Centre’s audio-visual holdings. This project will prioritize the digitization, description, and preservation of materials for inclusion in the CBC Audio-Visual Collection.

The CBC Audio-Visual Collection consists of audio and video recordings produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that document Holocaust history, survivor testimony, postwar justice, and commemoration. The collection includes cassette tapes and VHS recordings primarily from the 1990s to early 2000s.

The primary goal of this project is to enhance access to this media collection by digitizing selected CBC VHS tapes, applying archival standards for description, and implementing strategies for long-term preservation and public access. These activities align with the VHEC’s broader mandate to make Holocaust-related resources available for education, remembrance, and research.

A key achievement of a previous project was identifying, creating, and making part of the CBC collection accessible through the VHEC’s online catalogue, focusing on CBC audio-cassette recordings. This project will build on that work focusing on VHS tapes adding to the volume of publicly available materials in this collection and further this medias digital preservation.

Summary of activities required to carry out the project:

  • Digitize selected CBC VHS tapes using VHEC’s in-house equipment
  • Conduct post-digitization quality control
  • Migrate files to preferred preservation and access formats
  • Create RAD compliant archival descriptions
  • Carry out digital preservation tasks including generating MD5 checksums and exporting and documenting descriptive and preservation metadata
  • Create entries in the VHEC’s CollectiveAccess web-based content management system
  • Support appraisal activities and make deaccession recommendations and decisions

Expectations of the end result of the project, for both host and student:

For host:
Additional CBC records will be described and uploaded to the VHEC CMS, advancing the Centre’s digital preservation goals.

For student:
The student will gain hands-on experience digitizing media (e.g., VHS), performing quality control, writing RAD descriptions, assessing rights and preservation levels, and using digital preservation tools (e.g., terminal, ExifTool).

Time periods in which the project could be supervised:

  • Winter Term 1 (September – December)
  • Winter Term 2 (January – April)
  • Summer Session, Term 1 (May – June)

Is there a deadline by which the project must be completed?

No deadline, as timelines are flexible based on student availability.

Considering the project requirements, please suggest suitable coursework as pre-requisite or co-requisite:

  • ARST 515 Arrangement and Description of Archival Materials
  • ARST 550 Management of AV, Non-Textual Archives (preferred)
  • ARST 555 The Preservation of Digital Records (preferred)

Applications will be assessed on a rolling basis.

Professional Experience application
To apply for this position, complete the online application form, including a resume and cover letter.

Coordinator II – Library Indigenous Initiatives

LIBR 569S (3) The Information Worlds of Climate Justice

PREREQUISITES:

MAS students: Completion of the MAS Core courses, plus permission of the instructor.

MLIS and Dual students: Some electives can be taken in conjunction with the MLIS Core courses; consult with the MLIS Program Chair for recommendations.

GOAL: What opportunities are there for information professionals to contribute to learning about, mitigating, and adapting to the earth’s rapidly changing ecosystems? Through this course we investigate climate change and climate justice informed by theories and approaches (ways of thinking & taking action) from a range of perspectives and knowledge systems (e.g., Indigenous & Black climate scholars, creatives & community-based climate organizers; international climate reports; fossil fuel industry research; and information professionals’ research and activism). Our inquiries will help us identify, question, envision, and strategize opportunities for information professionals to align their practices towards climate justice, while staying alert to forces that derail well-intentioned initiatives (e.g., denial, disinformation, despair). You are encouraged to develop your own ways of thinking about and taking action towards climate justice through engagement with assigned material, class guests, your colleagues, class assignments and activities.

OBJECTIVES:

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

  • Identify types of information that matter to (are valued by) different groups working on climate related initiatives (e.g., climate research, climate action, climate justice).
  • Describe ways that contemporary information systems and platforms are leveraged to influence climate change awareness and denial.
  • Illustrate the tensions between climate action and climate justice concerns from historic and contemporary examples (e.g., lack of relationship building and collaboration with First Nations communities).
  • Locate, assemble & present information from knowledge sources that feature historic, ongoing, or future-oriented engagement with climate change by IBPOC and other equity-seeking communities.
  • Contribute to collaborative, evidence-based, climate change mitigation and adaptation projects within information organizations.
  • Explain the influence of disinformation, denial and despair on mitigation and adaptation actions.
  • Recognize theories of social change that motivate and influence climate action and climate justice decisions.
  • Elaborate upon potential roles for information professionals in an uncertain and unsettled future.

CONTENT:

  • What is responsible inquiry on Musqueam territory?
  • Approaches to & Theories of Social Change
  • Questioning Economic Logics & Elite Capture
  • Disinformation & Denial
  • Climate Change & Data
  • Climate Warnings & Care
  • Imagination
  • Information & Computing Technologies and Climate Change
  • GLAM-Based Climate Initiatives
  • Repair & Maintenance
  • Longer-term Thinking & Adaptation
  • Imperfect Information, Systems & People
  • Information Matters: Indicators, Measurement & Stories