Fall 2026 // news
Dr. Elliott Kuecker and I have co-authored a new book, Teaching Future Archivists: Contemporary Archival Studies Curriculum
Pre-order: http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/teaching-future-archivists-9798216195894
Description: With ready-to-go lesson plans this book is for archival studies instructors, both new to creating curriculum and those looking to refresh their courses.
The contemporary memory worker — or those who work in archives and public history positions — must go to work aware of the ethical, political, and practical discussions that have been happening in the field for the last thirty years. They are also expected to know the foundational conversations that have allowed the field to flourish and grow. It is thus essential that the classrooms that prepare future archivists and adjacent professionals integrate not only foundational theory, but contemporary concepts, into their curriculum. With this need in mind, this book combines canonical and contemporary archival theory and debates with concise summaries of important readings and figures, flexible assignments, and hands-on in-class workshops across several foundational subject areas within archival studies. This book is a resource for new archival studies programs that need to create curriculum from the ground up, or for seasoned instructors who want to invigorate their lesson plans and provide hands-on activities to their students.Each chapter in the book focuses on specific archival functions such as acquisition, description, outreach and access, and preservation, among others) and outlines the use of different pedagogical techniques instructors can adopt in their classroom. The authors also share practical insights, strategies, and guidance based on experiences developing, adapting, and implementing curriculum for future archivists and records managers. This book provides an overview of historical and current debates in the field alongside essential components for educators working in contemporary archival studies.
In October 2026, I’ll be attending “Envisioning Critical Futures for Archives as Data” a symposium hosted at the University of Toronto exploring “how sociocultural data from historical records are collected, manipulated, stored, visualized, extracted, and interpreted, with a focus on the fair and ethical consideration of creators and people represented in these records.”
We will also be presenting Mapping the Future of Data Stewardship: A Framework for Research Data Management Core Competencies with Bradley Wade Bishop, Angela Murillo, and Ayoung Yoon at the Research Data Alliance 27th Plenary Meeting, London, UK, 6-8 October 2026.
In November 2026, I’ll be presenting two papers at ASIS&T on research projects in progress:
“Crossing Methodological Borders: Articulating a LIS Visual Information Research Agenda” with Zack Lischer-Katz and Rhiannon Bettivia
“Data Curation Core Competencies: A Survey Validation of Data Professionals to Inform Education and Employment” with Bradley Wade Bishop, Angela Murillo, and Ayoung Yoon
I am also working on a special issue in an upcoming Library and Information Science Research focusing on Information-as-Potentiality with Zack Lischer-Katz, Rhiannon Bettivia, Isto Huvila, Annie Chen, and Travis Wagner
Recent Publications and Presentations
“Engaging Students with Digital Oral History Collections” with Camilla Crane, 2026 Society of American Archivists Annual Conference, New Orleans, LA, July 30, 2026.
“Professionalization Pathways in North American Digital Curation: A Current Look at LIS Education, Training, and Professional Development” with Ashley Rockenbach, Journal of Education for Library and Information Science (in press).
“The Finding Aid in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” with Travis Wagner, Diana Marsh, and Yingying Han, Archival Education and Research Institute, Vancouver, BC, July 2026
“Assessing Born-Digital Stewardship in Practice: The DigiStew Research Project”, Archival Education and Research Institute, Vancouver, BC,July 2026
“Validating Research Data Management Core Competencies: A Survey of US Data Librarianship Current Practices to Inform the Curricula” with Bradley Wade Bishop, Angela Murillo, and Ayoung Yoon, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, May 3-8, 2026.
“It Definitely Got My Mind Whirling: Building Community Partnerships for Teaching with Primary Sources” with Elliott Kuecker, Lyric Grimes, Gabi Benedit, Archival Science https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10502-026-09547-8