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Maggie Hughes
Archival Processing Manager, The Huntington Library
I’m excited for this opportunity to run for the ArchivesSpace Governance Board as an institutional representative for medium-sized institutions and serve Aspace and the wider community. I believe I would be a valuable member of the board because I have extensive experience with, and a range of perspectives on, ArchivesSpace. I’ve been using ArchivesSpace since 2014 at four different institutions, primarily in positions where I have been involved in implementing ASpace, including developing institution-specific trainings and workflows. The Huntington Library is in an ongoing implementation of ASpace, which I see as a 5-10 year process, realistically (not including ongoing maintenance). Additionally, I was a member of the ASpace Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) for four years (2017-2021), and served as Vice Chair and Chair during those terms. My past experiences with TAC were professionally and personally fulfilling and edifying, and I’m excited about this opportunity to learn from colleagues on the board and contribute to the mission and strategic direction of ASpace in a new way.
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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, 10,000 linear feet of audiovisual material, 300,000 volumes of published works, and over seven eight terabytes of born-digital materials.
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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 (ASpace). 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 I took workshops for five years, watched the development of ASpace unfold, and waited. We formed I was part of a team and researched researching other CMS options available (paid and open-source), determining our wants, needs, deal-breakers, and dream features. We The team spent over a year testing different systems, using sandboxes containing our data, and speaking with vendors. At Hagley, we never withdrew our support/membership, despite investigating other options. After all that research and testing, we decided to go with ASpace; , because it was and is the best software for our repository.
I know this is an unconventional candidate statement, and maybe for many, it may make you uncomfortable that I didn't immediately install ASpace at my institution. Why would you elect me to serve as a Governance Board representative instead of someone devout from the start? I believe the fact that since 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 A large portion of my daily work relies upon ASpace. I hope my experiences with the program will benefit the current user community and those considering it.