Panelist for Together in the Archive: Building Collaborative Relationships between Archivists and Librarians

Librarians and archivists employ different tools, expertise, and standards to evaluate, process, and utilize collections of materials. While our goals of making collections accessible to users have many commonalities, an awareness of the differences in our methods can be an asset when working collaboratively across departments, with donors, and with our audience. Strong working relationships can be developed between the librarian and archivist when both parties bring their differing approaches and backgrounds into processing, teaching with, and promoting archival and special collections. Partnerships between the expert collection managers, the archivists, and the library's most visible outreach face, instruction or specialized research librarians, allow both to advocate for the collections using their connections, shape the outward perception of an archive or special collection, and bring a deeper understanding of the practical applications of archival material to the patrons.

Panelists in this interactive session will encourage attendees to explore the ways that librarians and archivists can effectively share ideas and approaches to collaborative projects across departments. Librarian and archivist attendees will engage in terminology exploration, voluntary role-playing exercises, and discussion to strengthen our understanding of interdepartmental communication. Participants will also be given the opportunity to share their own successes or failures in collaborating with their fellow librarians or archivists.