University of Maryland

GENERAL UPDATE: Summer of SNAC

Summer’s heating up—and so is SNAC! With the recent heat wave, July brought a wave of new energy and activity across the Cooperative. Below we will introduce you to the main points, including changes in leadership, progress on Mellon-funded initiatives, renewed working group momentum, and planning for our biggest fall yet.

A Leadership Transition Worth Celebrating

First, we pause to extend our deepest gratitude and congratulations to Daniel Pitti, SNAC’s founding force and now officially Patronus Emeritus, on his well-earned retirement. Daniel’s vision, expertise, and dedication laid the foundation for all that SNAC has become and everything to come. We can’t thank him enough!

With that, we warmly welcome Jerry Simmons as the new Director of SNAC. Jerry steps into this role with a wealth of archival leadership and consulting experience, and we’re thrilled to have him guiding us forward. Specific to SNAC, Jerry worked alongside a cohort of colleagues from various institutions to develop the SNACSchool program as we know it today. A more formal announcement will be forthcoming from the University of Virginia and the University of Maryland, and we will share this via link here as well.

During this transition period, we also worked to reorganize and revitalize the SNAC Working Groups.

  • The Editorial Standards Working Group, now co-Chaired by Ugoma Smoke (UMD) and Chris Tanguay (MIT), and the Technical Infrastructure Working Group, which is still seeking a Chair ($500 honoraria!), have reorganized with new members. Dr. Diana Marsh is serving as the interim Chair of the latter for the time.
  • The Outreach Working Group, Chaired by Scotty Beland (UMD), has combined the former Communications Working Group and Research and Reference Working Group.
  • The SNACSchool Team, still currently headed by Jerry Simmons, has ingested some new Trainers and is currently recruiting attendees to planned SNACSchool events and a future Train the Trainer session.
  • Robbie Hott (UVA) has returned as the Lead Technical Consultant for the IndigenizeSNAC project, and brings a wealth of history and experience in the development of SNAC.

IndigenizeSNAC & Mellon Grant Update

The UMD Mellon project continues to grow momentum under the leadership of Dr. Marsh and Dr. Shelbi Nahwilet Meissner. Emerging from a previously paused IMLS-funded project, the team is now moving forward with staffing, development, and partnerships.

  • The first job posting for the Metadata Specialist position is live (note: Workday login required), with the other 5 positions slated to follow, including a Developer and Project Manager positions.
  • A revised version of OpenRefine is prepped for testing—especially relevant to our collaboration with the Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition and the Tribal Nation Authority File effort.
  • Early planning has begun to revise a newly devised Controlled Concepts Module and potentially incorporate the National Museum of the American Indian Cultural Thesaurus. Stay tuned!

Highlights

  • IDG Members Ia Bull (UMD), Rebecca Ridge (University of Oklahoma), and Ugoma Smoke presented “Indigenizing Archival Search: Interventions in Colonial Knowledge Structures” at the NAISA Conference on June 27, 2025.
  • Revisions planned for The Editorial Guide for Indigenous Entity Descriptions in SNAC, last updated in 2022.
  • A more formalized Outreach Plan has been approved as a roadmap for the rest of 2025 in terms of strategic planning and goal setting, planning and execution of SNAC events, and promotion of SNAC overall. This includes the development of a Brand Kit and the hopeful relaunch of SNAC social media efforts.
  • SNAC events planned for the rest of the Fall are seeing interest with several attendees registered for our program. For a list of events and to register please go to https://portal.snaccooperative.org/node/521.
  • The Indigenous SNAC Edit-a-thon slated for November 14, 2025 continues to iron out plans for the in-person component planned in conjunction with the beginning of the ASIS&T Annual Meeting in DC. Stay tuned for exciting developments!

Looking Ahead

In addition to SNACSchool and Mellon projects, we’re planning:

  • Development of a SNACLite prototype
  • Creating a SNAC “course catalog” for SNACSchool offerings
  • Refreshing our newsletters and using the SNAC Bulletin for broader updates
  • Designing a pamphlet or other takeaway for conferences and outreach