Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): Welcome everyone. I'm going to just pause for a few minutes. You can look at this lovely intro slide. But we're gonna wait for some people to come into the room.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): Oh, Brenda, I think you're muted
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): well.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): there's nothing like doing that in front of a whole audience of people right
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): sorry about that folks. Let me start again.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): Hello! And welcome to this informational session on the Archives Leadership Institute. I'm delighted that you're here, and I'm Brenda Gunn, Associate University Librarian for Special Collections and preservation at the University of Virginia, and also I'm going to be serving as the Director of the Archives Leadership Institute for the next 3 years.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): It's great to have you here. We plan to share information, general information about the Institute for whom it is been designed a little bit about the curriculum as well as details about the application
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): process and cost. I'm joined here today by my colleague on the steering committee, Stephen Booth, and he's going to lead you through the webinar.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): And just a second, let me say ask you to use the QA button
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): for questions that you might have.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): We'll save QA. For the end of the webinar, but you can. As they come to you, you can put them in the QA. And I'll be keeping up with those and make sure we get those, answered.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): as we go along.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): All right. Okay, Steven. I think we're ready for you.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): Alright. Thank you, Brenda. Hello, everybody, and good afternoon. And welcome to this informational session on the Archives Leadership Institute. As Brenda mentioned, I am Steven Booth. The archive manager of the Johnson Publishing Company Archive at the Getty Research Institute, and I have the pleasure of being a member of the 2024 Ali Steering Committee. It is great to be with you today to share some general information about the Institute
Steven D. Booth (he/him): for whom it has been designed, and the curriculum as well as details about the application process and costs. So let's get started.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): The Archives Leadership Institute, commonly known as Ali is a Grant program of the national Historical Publications and Records Commission. and was conceived by NHP. Rc. Leaders to fill a gap in the professional development and continuing education offerings for mid career archivists.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): Ali has a competitive peer reviewed application process that if successful results in a 3 year, grant to administer the Institute.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): In 2,008 Nhprc. Launched the first Ali Institute at the University of Wisconsin-madison, with 25 members in the cohort.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): Madison held a grant for 5 years, and subsequent iterations of Ali have been held at Luther College, in Decorah, Iowa, Berea College, in Berea, Kentucky, and Purdue University, in West Lafayette, Indiana.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): The next iteration will be at the University of Virginia. Over the 13 years A. Li. Has been held most years have welcomed 25 into the cohort. All total. There are over 300 archivists and memory workers in the ali alumni network.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): We're happy to feature a wonderful group of memory workers, not just archivists to work with the cohort at Uva
Steven D. Booth (he/him): the faculty has evolved with the program and with the vision of each instance of the Institute.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): Our faculty are recognized for their excellence in the field and for their ongoing contributions to building capacity and leaders.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): Mary Brackett is a senior director in the University of Virginia's Organizational Development program.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): Micuba Foster is the librarian of the College of Worcester, and is one of the leaders of the Archiving. The Black Web Project, funded in part by I. Mls.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): Elise Gerard is the Executive Director of Communications with the University of Virginia Library.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): Catalina Piott Escara is the Associate Dean for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility for the University of Virginia Library.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): Mario Ramirez is the associate Dean and chief librarian at the City University of New York. and Christina Thompson Shutt is the executive director of the Abraham Lincoln, Presidential Library and Museum.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): We're also very proud of the leadership team. We've assembled
Steven D. Booth (he/him): the previous iterations of Ali have also had a facilitator who connects themes from one day to the other, and that has worked really well, and we're grateful to have Mary Brackett in this role. In addition to her faculty role.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): our steering committee, A. Li. Alums, include Stephen Booth.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): Audrey Eagle, Jung
Steven D. Booth (he/him): Katrina Jackson and the director and PI. Of the grant is Brenda Gunn.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): the steering committee, and the director will be with the cohort during the in person experience.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): This leadership team has worked closely together as members of Saa's council in research projects and in professional committee work.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): We know what each other's about and appreciate each other's individuality perspectives and values.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): We have a core set of beliefs as they relate to this program. We believe memory workers can lead from where they are from the middle as well as the top of a hierarchy.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): We believe memory workers can be empowered to influence, change within themselves their work and their organizations.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): We believe memory workers can demonstrate experience in any context. You take your beliefs and values with you wherever you go.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): and we believe memory workers can't ignore the history in your place, wherever that may be. place will be a focus of this year's of next year's Ali program.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): So who should apply? Our application was very explicit in our vision for this Institute.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): and we believe this statement captures that vision. Well.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): there is room here for capacity building, no matter where you work.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): So what are the requirements to apply? Well, one should be a memory worker in any archivable setting.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): We realize that Ali may seem to be designed for academic archivists, where we are explicitly stating that it is designed for individuals in any archivable setting.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): applicants should have 5 or 15 years of management
Steven D. Booth (he/him): team program or project lead experience, or a combination of these
Steven D. Booth (he/him): and candidates with less experience may be considered.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): And so what is the AI experience? It is immersive.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): I'm sorry, Brenda. I think I skipped a slide. Yes, I did. So let me go back, you guys. so who should apply? Why should you apply, you should apply. If you're interested in building your leadership capacity.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): Many Ali alums have gone on to be leaders in professional associations, such as Saaa, for example. In fact, 5 of the last 6 Saa Presidents have participated in Ali.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): You should apply, if you are interested in broadening and strengthening your professional networks.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): gaining confidence in your leadership skills and engaging with your chosen field. You have chosen to be here in this field, which may find you in different settings as leaders of this Ali iteration. We're interested in learning more about what impact Ali has had on the field.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): And you should apply. If you're interested in being an agent of change.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): Change is ongoing.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): It isn't one big development or shift from current thinking or practice changes in every evolving landscape, and you should apply. If being an agent of change energizes you.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): So now, what is the AI experience? It is immersive, which includes
Steven D. Booth (he/him): being in an environment that is not your normal day to day. and being completely involved and attentive during all activities. it is intensive
Steven D. Booth (he/him): which requires focus and concentration over a short period of time. Many alums call out the intensive aspect of the experience as a key element of its effectiveness for individual growth.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): Ali is interactive
Steven D. Booth (he/him): which will foster cohort cohesion and encourage contributions from all. and we will use a variety of liberating structure frameworks for cohort interaction.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): It is inspiring.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): The power of inspiration will come through exposure to new ideas and possibilities, and as you all may have experienced inspiration changes the way we perceive our capacities and capabilities.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): and lastly, it is in person
Steven D. Booth (he/him): which will include networking idea, exchange, shared learning, learning from others experiences and immediate access to faculty.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): So where will Ali be held?
Steven D. Booth (he/him): There will be 2 components of the Ali at Virginia, experience in person and virtual
Steven D. Booth (he/him): in person. A. Li will take place at the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, which is a unesco world heritage site.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): The image on this slide
Steven D. Booth (he/him): features the academic village anchored by the rotunda, and composed of the original student and faculty residences referred to as lawn rooms and pavilions.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): The main classroom will be in the Harrison's Harrison Small Building.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): which is the home of the Albert and Shirley Small special Collections library. The Harrison small building is just at a frame. On the right of this image.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): The second component of the Ali experience will be a virtual convening surveys have indicated that alums have a desire for a continued connection with their cohort. After the in-person experience is over.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): Nhprc. Built that long tail, as they have called it, into the Grant requirements. And so, for all I and Virginia, the cohort will have a quarterly virtual convening on a topic of their choice
Steven D. Booth (he/him): in this institute we want to reflect on the places we occupy and the stories they tell.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): We want to question how leaders may celebrate belonging inclusion and representation. On one hand, while complicating narratives and correcting them on the other.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): We want to inspire the cohort, to lead change in their institutions and lead transformation in the profession.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): We want to address tension in place and in community relationships.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): And lastly, we want to discover the power of place with experiential learning. We believe that the University of Virginia provides an interesting backdrop to explore these objectives.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): The academical village was designed in the nineteenth century for experiential learning and community building
Steven D. Booth (he/him): both great ideals and what we want to replicate.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): But these opportunities were exclusively for white men.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): We took our inspiration from the American Association of State and local history's 2022 meeting theme which focused on the power of place.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): We've also examined some literature work on cohort-based learning and found value in Lyon and Coon's article outlining 4 learning components for a cohort audience.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): They include group learning, executive and peer coaching
Steven D. Booth (he/him): action learning activities and individual development.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): The thematic areas in which we will weave those 4 components are self-knowledge and individual growth.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): organizational leadership. responsible stewardship and partnerships.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): On Monday our faculty will be covering topics dealing with conflict. courage to have difficult conversations and assessing personal risk discussions on values as well as in a working genius. Assessment
Steven D. Booth (he/him): will be done together. Led by Mary Brackett.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): We'll spend Tuesday and Wednesday on the theme of organizational leadership, and we'll be exploring communication topics. deia elements, change, leadership and management
Steven D. Booth (he/him): which has been a recurrent theme endorsed by alums. And we'll also explore context and culture within one's own setting and the community in which you are situated.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): We'll spend the final 2 days broadening our scope a bit to consider community collaborations and strategies for transformational relationships. We'll look at resources available. The stakeholders you can identify and interact with, and how to be an advocate for yourself, your program and your partnerships.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): We plan to include several ways that the cohort can create aspects of their own experience. We believe these cohort-based decisions will aid in cohesion and capacity, strengthening
Steven D. Booth (he/him): the cohort creation. Elements include operating guidelines for the week. which will be led by Mary
Steven D. Booth (he/him): to assist the cohort establishing their own common ground rules and understandings for the work that they will be doing.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): The other element includes the mentoring experience.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): Mentoring will begin in the month following the
Steven D. Booth (he/him): Institute, and will contain for 12 months. Mentoring models might be one on one mentoring. possibly with former alums as mentors, or any leader in the field.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): The other option is group mentoring with one or 2 mentors and a group of Mentees.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): and the last option is peer mentoring. Where the cohort mentors each other.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): another element will be the virtual convening topics.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): We see the cohort emerging as self facilitators in the virtual portion of the Institute. The continued bonding of the group can happen by moving away from dependence on the steering committee for direction and organization.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): We envision transitioning the A. Li. Alums to a generative community of practice, of self governance and sustainability.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): Topics could include an analysis of the A census report. Trauma informed practice in an archival setting.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): long range budget, planning, fundraising.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): donor and stakeholder relations.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): mindfulness and contemplative practices and crisis and tragedy, response. Preparedness. The last element is projects. Previous institutes have asked cohort members to identify a project that they would work on when they return home.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): These were all individual projects looking inward. We want the cohort to ideate and decide on what projects they will do.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): That would be impactful on the profession. In other words, looking outward. we intend to marry the idea of a cohort project with a challenge from Researchers Heather, Soica, and Rob Smith to explore the impact of a Li on the profession.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): A more direct way of doing so would be to create projects that are explicitly for the improvement and transformation of the profession.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): We feel that group projects may contribute to a higher rate of completion. and we intend for the cohort to cocreate what projects will be done. and how they will scale, so that completion within 12,
Steven D. Booth (he/him): sorry within 9 to 12 months is reasonable.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): On your screen you see a picture of the Rotunda and the memorial for enslaved laborers. Both of these places will play a role. In the Institute.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): On the left is an architectural image
Steven D. Booth (he/him): of the of the renovation and new construction for Uva's main library. We may have some learning experiences taking place in that building. and on the right is the Harris's small building, which I mentioned previously, where special collections is located. This will be the home base for the Institute.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): All previous institutes
Steven D. Booth (he/him): have housed the cohort together, and Ali and Virginia won't be an exception.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): we have reserved a block of rooms for the cohort at Bond House, which is one of the newer facilities on Campus
Steven D. Booth (he/him): Bond House's name for the civil rights leader, Julian Bond, who was a member of the UVA faculty.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): Bond House, is a suite style dorm that features 4 bedroom apartments. Each bedroom is single occupancy.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): The apartment has 2 full bathrooms, a living area, and a full kitchen.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): The dates for the 2024 Ali Institute are set for June sixteenth, through 20 s cohort members will arr on Sunday, June sixteenth, and we'll begin with an evening reception and dinner.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): The cohort will depart. Charlottesville on Saturday, June 20. Second.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): As has been the case with all previous institutes, there is a cohort fee which is $500.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): This fee supports the overall cost of the Institute. but this is the only out-of-pocket expense for the cohort other than any sundries you might want to purchase in Charlottesville. or the few evening meals when the cohort is on their own.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): The grant covers the cohort's lodging. Transportation to and from Charlottesville.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): Breakfast and lunch is also covered by the grant as is most dinners.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): The grant also covers a $600 stipend for each member of the cohort to support your attendance to the Institute
Steven D. Booth (he/him): applications will open on December first, 2,023, and close on January twelfth, 2,024.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): The review process will begin immediately, and will take approximately 5 weeks.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): We anticipate extending invitations to the cohort by March fifteenth, and we'll want a quick turnaround on acceptance, so that we can begin making travel arrangements
Steven D. Booth (he/him): to Charlottesville.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): The cohort will meet virtually in September and December of 2024, and then again in March 2025,
Steven D. Booth (he/him): for the application process. We plan to use a Quatrix form.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): All details plus the form will be located on the Ali website. The yeah. URL will be on the last slide of this presentation.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): In addition to standard questions, we're asking applicants to make a 2 to 3 min video
Steven D. Booth (he/him): or audio recording.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): and you'll be prompted to record directly into the form
Steven D. Booth (he/him): the video or audio should address the applicant's commitment to being an agent of transformation. And what do you aim to transform?
Steven D. Booth (he/him): We'll also ask you to share a brief
Steven D. Booth (he/him): up to 200 words description of the significance of a space that represents a personal place of power and context.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): For example, your work environment, organizational environment or community space.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): Additionally, applications will require a brief leadership. Resume not to exceed 2 pages, and by leadership resume. We mean a resume that emphasizes your leadership management or project lead activities.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): And, as mentioned, previously, applications are due by January twelfth, 2024,
Steven D. Booth (he/him): before we open for questions. I want to acknowledge that the University of Virginia
Steven D. Booth (he/him): and Charlottesville are on the ancestral lands of the monarch and Indian nation. and that the Ali. Learning, experience will take place on these lands.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): We acknowledge with respect that we will live, learn, and work on the traditional territory of the Monoca and Indian nation, and we pay respect to their leaders and knowledge keepers, past, present, and emerging
Steven D. Booth (he/him): as I close, I like to take this opportunity to thank the NHPR. C. For its ongoing support of the Archives Leadership Institute and Program Officer, Nancy Melley, who is an alum of A. Li
Steven D. Booth (he/him): I also want to thank the University of Virginia Library for sharing some of the costs of this program.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): After this presentation you can always contact the leadership team at this email address and make sure you follow the website for updates about the Institute and the experience.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): I'll turn it back over to you, Brenda.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): Thank you, Steven? I wanna acknowledge that our facilitator steering committee member and faculty member, Mary Brackett, has joined us.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): Mary probably has been doing some of her organizational excellence work this morning, and she was coming from that over into our webinar. So we're glad you're here, Mary.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): So we're ready for questions now. I don't see any questions in QA. So there's Mary.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): Glad you're here. Katrina Jackson, as as Stephen said, Katrina Jackson and Andre Eagle you round out the steering committee, and they had other commitments today.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): So I know that you have questions on your mind, and we'd love to answer them.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): While we're you know, while you're ideating on the questions I could.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): Let's see, one of the things that people were really interested in. The last week was,
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): a lot of questions about leadership. And what? How did we define leadership? And we really want to leave that up to you. What you need to do with your resume is put your put down your experiences, using the leadership lens
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): and I think I mean, if you have specific questions. We're happy to answer those, but there seem to be a lot of concern or worry around. What is leadership?
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): We have some questions coming in.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): Where will the Powerpoint slide for this webinar be stored?
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): We can store that on the website. I'm happy to do that. But what I did after the November first Webinar was. I emailed
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): the slide deck to all of the folks who had registered or who were in attendance at the webinar. So I can do that again. For for this group
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): we have a question about Ali covering flights to and from Virginia. That is absolutely correct. It's part of the funds that we receive from Nhrc. Your transportation.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): 2 Charlottesville and back home will be covered.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): whether it is by airplane if you're nearby and and want to drive your car, we'll cover mileage. Some people might come by train, so whatever that is, it'll be covered, and we can do that from here using a contracted travel agent. So we'll try to minimize that work on your end, and we'll
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): just be able to charge it directly to the grant.
So
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): thank you for that answer. Or for that question
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): regarding the 2 page leadership resume, is it okay to have gaps? Say, if one job was not leadership. Then the next job was in that position. Abs. Yes, absolutely. Ii don't think that we're approaching this like we would a job interview where gaps might call attention to themselves. We're not. We won't be looking at that. We'll just be looking at.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): You know what you want to tell us about your your experience.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): Could you provide some guidance to an archivist who has worked for several years as an independent archivist or as an archival consultant?
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): for Steven might want to come in on this and share some thoughts. I will say that we have had
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): consultants and independent archivists and cohorts in the past.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): So it's not an unusual situation at all for for
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): for us to have
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): memory workers who are not part of a an organization
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): in the cohort. When you say, that's
Steven D. Booth (he/him): that's true, Stephen. Yeah, I think that's absolutely true. I think any archivist where there's corporate business or museums, community archives
Steven D. Booth (he/him): should apply. Don't count yourself out just because you don't work in an academic institution. I think independent archivists are would make great applicants and would have a lot to share and contribute to the cohort experience. At Virginia. So yeah.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): definitely apply.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): And another question about leadership experience. This one is Does that experience need to be in an archives, or can it be in a previous career?
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): Okay, I'll go. I'll jump in.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): I'll jump in and say
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): that we are asking for a leadership. Resume?
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): We're not necessarily asking for the leadership to be within the archival context where
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): we're wanting you to be in an archival context at the moment.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): But whatever your experience is, we want you to. Really keep that the leadership lens
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): on this resume. So whether it's leadership
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): on a team or a project or
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): out in the community, or managing a a group of people in A, in a workplace.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): We have a question about detail about our daily schedule that we envision.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): for instance, readings, discussions, activities, lectures, etc.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): We're still, I'll say we're still working on what the daily activities look like.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): However,
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): we'll, we're gonna approach this. It's gonna be a very active
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): room, a very active learning, setting and environment will have activities. Liberating structures will be one of the
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): one of the things that we'll use pretty regularly to stimulate conversation and discussion, and I know Mary is
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): an expert at that. I've had the good fortune to work with Mary on a number of occasions here at Uva Library, where she has introduced us to liberating structures.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): And would you want to say something about that, Mary?
Mary Brackett: Yeah, thank you. Brenda. Yeah. The the schedule for each day loosely follow. Sort of a gathering in connection time. In the be in at the beginning of the day. There's some optional activities before we're formally coming together. So you might have a chance to take a walk on our beautiful grounds. Do some group, Yoga, that kind of thing. Then we come together formally. We will have
Mary Brackett: activities, small group work panel discussions, workshop lecture. So it's a combination of structures for the bulk of the day.
Mary Brackett: And then we'll have some activities where we do little Mini field trips each day that correlate and support the theme of the day we've built in downtime for folks, cause I don't know about y'all, but I've gotta recharge after I've been with lots of people for some hours and then we'll reconvene as a group. For for dinner. So that's the basic structure of each day.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): Thanks much, Mary.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): One of the things that you may do in advance, and Mary can correct me on this is, do the doing, the working genius assessment?
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): there's not a whole lot of reading to do associated with that. But that will be an activity that we'll do in advance
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): what factors other than the video statement and resume go into deciding on the cohort.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): So
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): this question may be getting at, what is our evaluation rubric?
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): And we.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): Audra, is taking the lead on that sketching out what our evaluation tool will be. And she's just started working on that. And we'll put that on the website so everybody can be
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): aware of
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): of how we're going to evaluate the video statement in the resume. Those are the 3 elements
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): that are going into our evaluation. Nothing other than that but we will have an evaluation tool, and we'll share that on the website.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): Let's see.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): we have a question to clarify details of the group project that takes place after the June Institute. What is the desire deliverable for this group project?
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): I think, number one. We would like a project that is scalable, that can be completed within the 9 to 12 month period, and that that may sound like
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): that's not even an answer to the question. But we really did have some some challenges with
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): cohort members finishing the projects and
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): and so we're wanting to tweak that a bit and make it a group or group project or a pairing, so that there's some accountability between the cohort members for the project.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): I think, one of the things that happened in the past is that with an individual project, you go back
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): to your place of work and you get caught up in the day-to-day, or you get new projects that are handed to you, or in some of the cases, people switched jobs. So the thing that they were doing for their place of employment no longer was even relevant.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): so I think the what the projects look like are really going to be a discussion during the week. And it's one of the things we feel strongly about and having the cohort
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): create what that experience is gonna be the thing that we have settled on, which is very broad is that we would like for the the projects to be geared outwardly
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): meaning out towards the professor, and then not inwardly towards your organization.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): Because we would like to help this broader research. Of how does the Archives Leadership Institute
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): help? and what kind of impact does it have on the profession.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): Stephen or Mary, do you have anything to add to that
Steven D. Booth (he/him): that question? No, that's
Steven D. Booth (he/him): great answer, Brenda, and there's an follow up quote. There's a question right after that one that similar and it says, Can you give some examples of projects done by previous years? So yeah, my year that I was in. Ali was 2015 and decora
Steven D. Booth (he/him): and my project at the time I worked at the National Archives and Records Administration, primarily dealing with Presidential and Vice Presidential records. And so my particular project was to write a case, study about some
Steven D. Booth (he/him): vice Presidential photographs of Cheney that we released to the public, and what that process looked like and what the results were.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): The project itself was completed. Well, the project was a part of my work. But the case study. Once I get back to my institution, I was never able to do it just because of different priorities that my
Steven D. Booth (he/him): institution the Supervisor has. So that's an example of what Brenda just talked about. How often times members of the cohort would go back to their institutions and not complete their projects. And a lot of times not completing it was out of their control. So this is why we really want to emphasize the cohort and the groups within the cohort to come up with collaborative projects that they can work on together that way. It's a little bit more feasible to complete, and also that one person doesn't feel like they have to do it all on their own.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): Thanks, Steven.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): You have a question of how this iterations. Curriculum is the same or different from past ones.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): I think it's very different from the very first iteration
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): which was in Madison, and it's the that's II attended Madison in 2,010, and one of the things that the steering committee for Luther, and then Berea wanted to do, because
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): most of us had attended Ali during the Madison years was to do something different. And what we did was have a facilitator that
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): stayed with the cohort through the week. We had a steering committee
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): we built in a steering committee that would stay with that would help craft the curriculum and also stay with the the cohort during the in person experience. We've carried those 2 ideas over.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): we're we're changing some things about the the idea of mentoring and how the cohort experience is mentoring
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): Luther and Berea. And if you don't know the steering committee for those 2 iterations for the same group of people.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): So the curriculum for those 6 years are very much the same.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): and the mentoring aspect was that the cohort members would be mentees of the steering committee members. And
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): and I think there were some really good relationships and long-term relationships that resulted out of out of that model.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): We wanted to build in more agency for
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): the cohort in this iteration. And that's one of the aspects, too. And I think about this co-creation elements that we built in
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): that's unique to Ali uva and and ideas of the steering committee.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): None of the others have had that sort of component. And we're really, we're really proud to bring that to to the cohorts that will come through here in the next 3 years.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): Let's see
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): what? Oh, I think another big thing is that we are building the Institute around a central theme of place. We were really really taken by the American Association of State Local histories.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): Annual meeting theme of place and their articulation of place. And the University of Virginia, Steven said in one of the slides, it's a very good. It has a very good background and a setting to talk about space and place, and how you
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): you present yourself and go out into the world as a leader. In the various places that you're in.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): Can y'all think of anything anything else that's different.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): I think topically. Are we hitting pretty much the same topics.
Mary Brackett: Yeah, Brenda, one thing, of course, I don't have the experience of knowing what the other curriculums were. But one thing that struck me as we were building out, the curriculum is, we're very focused on what's top of mind for folks today. So, for example, there's an emphasis on anti-racism training Dei from a leadership perspective that she may not have seen, you know, 1012 years ago?
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): Here's a question.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): can you explain why experience is capped. At 15 years there was a mention that there could be less than 5, but not someone with more than 15,
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): I think, in our in reflecting on our conversations, the steering committee's conversation at the planning session that we had in September we were
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): We were interested in
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): getting people coming up and and capturing potential and helping folks who
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): were further along than
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): you know.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): new, but catching them as they were emerging. And then years beyond 15 years we had conversations about.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): how much longer are they going to be in the profession? Have they already
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): reach their leadership, capacity, and potential? We really work.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): wondering about what Ali could do for those folks that had that much experience in the field.
Mary Brackett: If if I may add in on that just a little bit, Brenda. The steering committee also really grappled with trying to ensure to the extent possible. We could bring folks together who had sort of similar similar levels of experience. And so,
Mary Brackett: we, what we didn't want to have happen is a lot of disparity between somebody who is relatively new in the field and someone who's been very, very experience. We wanted everyone to have that really cohort aspect in terms of their experience.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): Thanks, Mary.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): The question of the experience and leadership backgrounds are those in archives, or will experience in other disciplines also be considered?
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): Yes. yes, they will.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): Could you explain the $500 participant fee versus the $600 stipend. What is the timing on these financial investments from either side?
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): The $500 participate? Fee is the fee is consistent with fees that
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): all of the Ali instances have asked. I think $500 may be less than Luther and Berea, maybe the same as Madison. I can't. I'm not sure that was a long time ago, but it is. We tried to keep that fee as low as possible while
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): actually being able to contribute to
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): the cost sharing of the grant. Essentially, that is, helping to pay for some of the
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): the lodging and the meals.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): The $600 is direct expense. From Nhrc. We argued that we wanted to offer the cohort.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): some, you know, financial
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): support for attending a week long Institute. So.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): however, you need to spend that $600 to get yourself to get yourself here. And be able to participate in the intensive environment, whether that's
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): arranging for childcare or elder care, or you know.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): pet care whatever whatever you need to get here. So that's the difference in the 2 numbers we'll see how it goes this year. I know it. It sort of is a disconnect, because because it seems like it could, you know?
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): one could just offset the other. But they're 2 different pots, streams of money, one is
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): it's income, but it's considered as cost sharing.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): and the other is a direct direct
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): expense from NHPR. C.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): And we would want to get we would want those
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): we would want the Skype in to be timed pretty soon. On your arrival for it to be
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): for it to be something that's helpful to you, and then we probably would be asking for the participants. Fee
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): in April or May before you arr.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): There's a question about transportation, and if you're flying, do you have to fly into Charlottesville?
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): I don't know. I don't think so. You could fly into dullest, as this person is asking. There's also Richmond
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): is in a nearby airport. Richmond is about an hour away. Dulles is what a 2 h, hour, hour and a half drive.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): and what we would probably do if we have people who are coming into those 2
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): airports would probably send Renavan and meet you at the airport and bring you to Charlottesville
Steven D. Booth (he/him): and Brenda. Can I just add that? Yes, please the
Steven D. Booth (he/him): The cost for transportation is a part of the grant. So if you have to take, have a layover in a city. We're we're gonna cover that, too. So applicants shouldn't be worried about trying to get to Charlottesville. We're gonna make sure you get there as safely as possible, and that cost is a part of the grant.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): Thanks for mentioning that, Steven.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): What's the motivation for the audio or visual statement. Isn't that formally frowned upon as a potential way to introduce bias into an application process?
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): I remember the conversation that we had about the application process where we had. One of us had read an article in the literature about audio and visual statements being
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): a something that could cut down on on bias, and I think the
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): the thing that was compelling to us was was that the Arl association of Research libraries were beginning to use that that model.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): And Brenda, can I just add that in previous iterations?
Steven D. Booth (he/him): The application process included. Applicants had to write several essays so, for example, when I applied for Ali and decora, I believe the requirement, there were about 6 essays, and each essay you had to meet the word count, and I think each essay was about 2 pages long. And so it was really time consuming
Steven D. Booth (he/him): really, really intense in terms of making sure you answer the questions, or address them as
Steven D. Booth (he/him): best as possible, and to submit all that material at one time. So we really tried to look at ways to lower the barriers to apply to the program. And this was one aspect of that.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): Yes, definitely. And
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): I think Arl is only doing video. And we realize that not everyone may be comfortable with doing video. So we added audio in
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): as an alternative. And like, Steven said, we really have thought about streamlining.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): streamlining this as much as possible, so that it's not an onerous burden on on the folks to to apply.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): But at the same time. We've
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): attempted to make prompts that are tied into this underlying theme of of the
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): of the Institute. and would be meaningful from that perspective.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): Would it make sense to apply if your current role is not in leadership? But you have taken on projects and been the leader of those projects?
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): Yes, it would make sense. I think we are. We explicitly
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): say that Project lead is one of the areas of leadership that you should. You should. That gets a green flag. Yeah.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): have have you had individuals who work for the Federal Government? Absolutely. Steven, weren't you? You were with the yeah. I was at the National Archives when I applied for Ali. So yes, we've had plenty of
Steven D. Booth (he/him): government applied to the program and participate
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): right. Our our program officer at Nhrc was in my cohort and 2010. We've had people from
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): the other parts of the National Archive system.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): Had people from different federal agencies. So yeah, we're we definitely have
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): and and were really thrilled to have them there. They certainly cover an area of the archival field that brings.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): you know, a tremendous amount to any conversation.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): See.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): here's someone I've been in a loosely archives adjacent position since 2 2019 since I don't hold an archivist or memory worker, worker, title, and don't work directly in archives. Is it appropriate for me to apply to Ali?
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): It's my goal to hopefully eventually transition back into an archive-centered role.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): Have? It's hard to answer that question.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): Because I don't. I don't. I'm not sure what archives adjacent position looks like for you. I mean, we've had records, managers. If you consider that to be an archives adjacent position, we've had
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): consultants who are covering a range of different activities.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): We've had curators, museum curators.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): So I think my advice would be to apply. And
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): you know, make your leadership case.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): I am in an archives leadership position now. But I am not a trained archivist. Rather. I've been in archives. Adjacent positions have done quite a bit to advocate for archives
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): feels like I'm coming in backwards.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): One of the things that we're not asking for is
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): a resume that focuses on your jobs or focuses on your education. We've asked for your leadership experience we don't get. We don't want to get caught up or or know about where you got your archives degree.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): We know that there are barriers to even getting an archives degree, and that people come into the archives field and the memory worker field from a lot of different directions. So
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): yes, it's I would say it's appropriate.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): There's a question about
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): a previous cohort or the acceptance rate for previous cohorts. We've always had 25, I think Perdue might have had a cohort of 20. I'm not really sure but
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): Madison, Luther, and Berea had 25,
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): and I don't know the number of applications for every
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): every year during the Berea Luther years the most applications we received was 75, so that would have been but one third acceptance.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): Right?
Okay.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): can you please explain what you mean by archival context?
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): But but I'm
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): what I mean by archival context. And Mary and Stephen might jump in if I don't hit it right on the nose. But
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): context for me is the is this the situation you're in or the environment you're in? It's
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): and I tend to use archival context or the context to talk about place and space in
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): in in kind of the
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): this. Aol. I want to say context again. But this Ali program?
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): yeah, I think it's
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): it's it's your situation. It's your setting that you're coming from.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): Stephen used the phrasing that I'm curious about. And that's memory workers, not just archivists. What is the distinction from the AI perspective.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): Brenda, I can take that one so that phrasing was used in the context of talking about our faculty members. One thing that's different from the previous iterations of Ali. Majority of the faculty were all archivists. Whereas
Steven D. Booth (he/him): next year our faculty
Steven D. Booth (he/him): have backgrounds in organizational leadership backgrounds in dia librarians, deans of libraries. And so these are all individuals who
Steven D. Booth (he/him): either work within the library or archival setting, but bring a different set of skill, sets to the table versus just being an archivist. And so that's the distinction for our Ali cohort.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): Thanks, Stephen.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): How brief or long do you expect for the statement on place and space to be? Did you
Steven D. Booth (he/him): 200 words
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): there? Here's a question about examples of past group projects. I think, Stephen, you gave a really good example of yours. But there were other projects that were related to strategic planning.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): digitization projects. assessment projects.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): assessment like backlog assessments, preservation assessments, things like that.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): If we got grants and want to put that on the leadership, resume, would it behoove us to do abstracts for those grants.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): I would say, that's up to you. Remember, you only have 2 pages to really make your leadership shine. So if you have space included. If you don't, then I think just including what the grant is and what your role in a Grant project.
Steven D. Booth (he/him): It's it's sufficient.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): We are at 1 59, and we have a hard end at 2,
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): and there's 8 more questions in in the QA. And I'm wondering. I think I'll be able to get those from
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): from our webinar host, and and so what I can do is answer them, and those can be up on on the website. So I'll get to the questions that we weren't able to answer
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): today. I thank you so much for all of the great questions, and for your interest in
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): in Ali we hope to see your interest come in beginning December first.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): Thank you again, Steven and Mary, for being here. Thank you, Sean Mccord, who's in the background, making sure the webinar is running smoothly.
Brenda Gunn, UVA (she/her): And we'll sign off now bye, everybody.