The Twin Cities Archives Round Table is pleased to announce the fourth annual Minnesota Archives Symposium (MAS), sponsored by the Minnesota Historical Society. MAS is a local educational and networking opportunity for archivists, librarians, records managers, curators and other information professionals. We seek to broaden opportunities to share knowledge and insights among peers at a local level. The Symposium will be held on Monday, November 2nd.

This year’s topic will be: Bridging the Gap Between Our Digital and Physical Collections

Call for Proposals:

The focus of many institutions and special collections lately has been on all things digital.  For this year’s symposium we would like to take a step back and think about how our digital presence relates to our physical holdings. Can we leverage our digital collections to help drive use of our physical ones? Do our patrons understand the relationship between the two; and if not, how can we help make that clearer? What is and should be the relationship between on-site use and digital use? How do we attract audiences to our digital collections, and then how do we measure them once there?

Such a broad and important topic can be examined from many angles, both theoretical and experience-based. Please think about what you can share with the broader group to facilitate a better understanding of the issues at hand and possible techniques and tools to address them. We look forward to hearing from you!

Questions to consider include:

• How can we increase the visibility of our digital content?
• What tools and metrics are available for describing and measuring the use of our digital content?
• How can we communicate (both to our organization and the public) the use/significance of our digital content?
• How can we better engage our audience for digital content?
• How do we prioritize our digital vs. our physical collections?

We encourage both novices and experts to submit your story in a proposal or session idea. Varied session formats are welcome.

Details for Submission:

• Full sessions should be 60 minutes in length, include time for Q&A and can include multiple presenters.  In addition to traditional sessions, and individual speakers, we accept alternative session ideas such as lightning rounds, breakout sessions, Pecha Kucha, etc.
• If you have a great idea for a topic but need presenters, let us know — we may be able to pair like-minded presenters together.
• Include full contact information with submissions, including name of presenters, preferred method of contact, and institution or school if applicable.
• Please include a 500 word or less abstract and working title for your presentation.

Deadline for submission is  Monday, August 31, 2015.

Submissions should be sent via email to the Twin Cities Archives Round Table or submitted online at Google Form.

Registration:

Save the Date!!! The Minnesota Archives Symposium will be held at the Minnesota Historical Society from 11:45 to 5:00pm on Monday, November 2nd. Registration is FREE, but we will ask that participants register their intent to attend soon. Look for more details on registering for this event on the TCART listserv and website.

Questions?

Questions should be sent to the Twin Cities Archives Round Table or Lori Williamson at lori.williamson@mnhs.org or 651-259-3252.