Hi everyone,
Jazmine and I met on Tuesday for onboarding and I am incredibly grateful to be following someone so strategic, organized, and thorough. A very big thank you to Jazmine, Lisa, and Amanda. Their excellent documentation has already greatly eased the transition of this first week. It is clear Archeion has been well cared for in their hands over the years.
As mentioned in the announcement, I am currently the Digital Initiatives Librarian with the University of Toronto Libraries. For seven years I have managed UTL's multi-repository AtoM instance in collaboration with U of T archivists and IT staff. Prior to joining UTL in my current role all the way back in 2013, I was a contract archivist at various institutions. I will be working part time as Archeion Coordinator separately from my permanent and full time job at U of T, though my role at U of T also involves a lot of AtoM work. I know this is a new context for someone who is staffing this role and I am open to your questions and feedback. Please do not hesitate to email me at any time with your Archeion questions, support needs, or to schedule a Zoom meeting. I will respond promptly even though my Archeion hours are not always regular business hours - I am already making good use of "scheduled send" emails, like this one.
I shared this with the hiring committee and also want to share with the AAO listserv that I applied for this role because I care a great deal about ensuring the sustainability of Archeion and the Archeion Coordinator service. As a provincial discovery portal, Archeion powers researcher access to Ontario's documentary heritage, but, importantly, it also powers the management of online descriptions from archives and memory institutions that may not otherwise have capacity for AtoM technology infrastructure. The Archeion service creates capacity across our community while also helping us develop shared standards and practices - a natural benefit that occurs when many of us use the same technology, whether we host AtoM at our own institution or use Archeion. I am happy to share my
application for the Archeion Coordinator role to expand more on the perspective and experience I will bring to Archeion for the next year.
I am very grateful and excited for this opportunity and have many ideas percolating about Archeion. Please know that if I am quiet in outreach or e-blasts during this first month it is because my initial priorities are responding promptly to support requests and reviewing the wealth of documentation, training, and work plans already in place. I want to understand and assess member needs and use cases to efficiently and strategically support you all over this next year in collaboration with the Board, secretariat, and AAO volunteers. More outreach to come - and I promise shorter emails in the future.
All the best,
Kelli
