Announcement of 2024 ArchivesSpace Diversity Partnership Program

Owned by Christine Di Bella
Last updated: Mar 22, 2024
3 min read

In the wake of the George Floyd and Breonna Taylor murders, and in the spirit of protest that followed, the ArchivesSpace community began a conversation about what it could do to promote diversity and inclusion while combating systemic racism in our field. That continuing conversation has led to a series of initiatives that we will undertake in the coming years, including the ArchivesSpace Diversity Partnership.

Begun in 2021 as a three-year pilot program, the ArchivesSpace Diversity Partnership offers support for implementing the ArchivesSpace application to institutions that are themselves or primarily serve communities underrepresented in the ArchivesSpace community. Participating organizations receive, at no cost to them:

  • ArchivesSpace membership

  • ArchivesSpace hosting and technical support from a Registered Service Provider

  • introductory and specialized training

  • ongoing user support

  • new to the 2024 program: consultant hours to use for migration, workflow development or other activities that will help with implementing ArchivesSpace

These commonly used resources for implementing ArchivesSpace are being offering as a package for the purposes of this program, but participating institutions may decline individual items if they are not wanted. All ArchivesSpace Diversity Partners will be ArchivesSpace members for the duration of the program.

The ArchivesSpace Governance Board recently approved the continuation of the program, with a new cohort to begin in July 2024.

Eligibility

Eligible organizations include:

  • academic Minority-Serving Institutions such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs)

  • non-profit or community archives primarily run by or serving BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color)

  • tribal archives

Eligible organizations cannot already be an ArchivesSpace member or client of a hosting provider. An organization also cannot be a unit of a parent institution that does not meet these criteria. (Please note: if this describes you and you are interested in getting involved in ArchivesSpace in a different way, we welcome you - please contact us at ArchivesSpaceHome@lyrasis.org.)

Term

July 1, 2024-June 30, 2027

 

Responsibilities of ArchivesSpace

  • Provide, at no cost to the Partner, the implementation resources selected by the partner institution, which may include membership, hosting, training, user support and technical support. Resources will be provided according to the standard terms of these offerings.

  • Provide opportunities for partner institutions to connect with each other and others in the ArchivesSpace community.

Responsibilities of Partners

  • Actively work to implement ArchivesSpace at their institution.

  • Attend occasional ArchivesSpace Diversity Partnership meetings and provide feedback about their experience implementing ArchivesSpace and participating in the ArchivesSpace member community. It is anticipated that all meetings will be online; travel support would be provided if a meeting were to be held in person.

  • Present at several ArchivesSpace community events during the three-year program period

All information held within a Partner’s ArchivesSpace implementation remains the sole property of the Partner, to be used or shared at their discretion only. Any information about progress of individual implementations of ArchivesSpace and any institution-specific data collected in meetings or feedback opportunities will be kept confidential.

To Apply

There is a short Expression of Interest form to complete. The Expression of Interest asks for some information about the applicant institution and why becoming an ArchivesSpace Diversity Partner is of interest to them.

Expressions of Interest should be submitted to ArchivesSpaceHome@lyrasis.org by April 12, 2024.

All applications will be evaluated according to the criteria established for the program. Some applicants may be contacted for further discussion about the program and their interest as part of the evaluation process.

We expect to select and notify the new cohort of Partners by June 1, 2024.

To Learn More

Members of the ArchivesSpace team are happy to talk about the program at any time - please contact us at ArchivesSpaceHome@lyrasis.org.

ArchivesSpace offered an information session about the 2024 cohort and application process on February 20, 2024. A recording of that session is now available.

https://youtu.be/zZw3_0YOzRA

The slides associated with this recording also available.