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After the Historical Society joined ArchivesSpace as a Charter Member in 2013, I served as an Inaugural Member of the ArchivesSpace User Advisory Council from 2014-2017. Thanks to ArchivesSpace members who contribute code, funds, and time to its further development, ArchivesSpace is a truly collaborative, leveling tool. I believe that the greatest benefit of adopting ArchivesSpace is the community. Making the technology available to every type and size of institution and providing archivists who staff them opportunities to join forces bridges divides between institution sizes and types and leads to greater understanding of our profession. To that end, I would advocate for continued support for Diversity Partnerships and look for innovative ways to include those repositories who cannot afford even the very small membership category. As your representative, I would strive to bring your ideas and concerns to the Governance Board to aid in the future development of ArchivesSpace in a way that is inclusive of institutions of all resource levels.
Laurie Sather
Head of Technical Services, Hagley Museum and Library
I am the Head of the Technical Services Department at Hagley Museum and Library, where I supervise Hagley's archival processing and cataloging projects; manage the collections management system (ArchiveSpace), the online public access catalog (EOS), and the public finding aids database and public MARC catalog. I supervise the management of the library and archival collections, including accessioning and space management of 45,000 linear feet of archival material, 300,000 volumes of published works, and over seven terabytes of born-digital materials.
In 2015, I was a Visiting Professional Fellow in the Office of the Chief Information Officer at the Smithsonian Institution. Prior to my current position, I was the public services librarian for the Special Collections Department at the University of Delaware Library, a project archivist at Drexel University Archives, and a PACSCL Hidden Collections Project collections processor. I hold an MLIS from Drexel University, an MA in Media Studies, and a BA in Theatre Arts, both from the Pennsylvania State University. I am also a Certified Archivist.
At Hagley Museum and Library, one of my duties is to manage the archival collections data in the collections management system (CMS) and in the public database for finding aids, which in this case are now one and the same - ArchivesSpace. Before Hagley adopted ASpace, we used Archivists' Toolkit (AT), which many of you know was only a back-end system.
I believe I will be a valuable member of the Governance Board because we at Hagley were not early adopters of ASpace. We took workshops for five years, watched the development of ASpace unfold, and waited. We formed a team and researched other CMS options available (paid and open-source), determining our wants, needs, deal-breakers, and dream features. We spent over a year testing different systems, using sandboxes containing our data, and speaking with vendors. After all that research and testing, we decided to go with ASpace; it was and is the best software for our repository. I believe the fact that our decision to switch to ASpace was a calculated and deliberate choice, one based on thorough research and careful examination, positions me to provide valuable insight as to the needs of repositories at the "very small" level. Much of my daily work relies upon ASpace. I hope my experiences with the program will benefit the current user community and those considering it.