OPEN ACCESS: “Piloting Reparative Description and Metadata in SNAC via the Indigenous Description Group”

IndigenizeSNAC team members along with other members of SNAC’s Indigenous Description Group were happy to provide an open access article for the Society of American Archivist’s Descriptive Notes blog!

Abstract

Archivists have recognized the need to rethink how this knowledge can be better represented, not only to heal previous harms but also to make information more accessible and usable for communities. A number of professional organizations and working groups have been developing inclusive description policies, resources, and approaches that can be leveraged in a wide range of institutional contexts. In March 2023, we launched Indigenous Description Group (IDG)–modeled after SNAC’s Enslaved Description Group (EDG)–within SNAC’s Editorial Standards Working Group. The goals of the IDG are to 1) improve accessibility to archival collections for Indigenous Tribal communities; 2) mitigate harm caused by extractive collecting processes; and 3) engage in reparative description across systems, at scale, and in an interoperable way.

 

Authors

Ia Bull; Lindsey Chapman; Tiffany Chavis; Lydia Curliss; Mik Hamilton; Diana Marsh; Worthy Martin;  Lee Miller; Veronica Pipestem; Ugoma Smoke; Amanda H. Sorensen; Melissa Stoner