Collecting Campus Culture: Collaborations and Collisions

Abstract

From the 2007 implementation of Illinois Wesleyan University’s institutional repository (IR), an archivist and special collections librarian and a scholarly communications librarian have worked on its development and expansion from each position’s unique perspective. They have found themselves united on some fronts, but divided at times on big picture questions such as the definition of campus culture and the extent to which the IR should contain products of that culture, how best to describe and structure collections, and who should be responsible for certain collections. Through regular dialogue on these concerns and efforts to understand each other’s perspective, the colleagues’ joint interest in promoting and preserving a broad history of campus culture is being achieved. Examples of how these issues are navigated, recommendations for realizing similar outcomes, and insights into the work remaining are provided

Preservation strategies for student affairs records at the University of Venda in South Africa

“…The records and archives department was established in 1990 as part of the library to preserve institutional memory (Sulej 2009). Archives repository preserve research activities and creative efforts of students' records of the university (Miner & Kahl 2012). The university archivist was appointed in 2015.…”

“…Management of student affairs records is an integral part of comprehensive archives and records management programme (Popoola 2007). The study conducted by Miner and Kahl (2012) indicated that most of the African universities lack an integral strategy to manage student affairs records throughout the records' lifecycle. The interconnectedness of divisions is an integral part of managing university records that raises issues of archiving student affairs records.…”

Assessment of the management of student affairs records

“…Beyond this background of goals and university objectives, the university archives pursue the project amid an increasing attention to collaborate with the Student Affairs Department (SAD) to ensure the collection of the student affairs records (SARs). Archives are seen as a means of documenting the outcomes of research and creative efforts of students, staff and faculty and of addressing the need for storing and accessing records of the university (Miner and Kahl, 2012). The Records and Archives Department aims to improve access to archival collections.…”

“…The study conducted by Wagner and Smith (2012) during their pilot project on records management found that to improve records management guidance was to recognise the need to make information easily accessible through online platforms; however, the study never indicated at what point records will be made accessible to the users. The establishment of archives provides access to the university records as well as evidence of student life culture (Miner and Kahl, 2012).…”