Interviewer: I would like to ask you to introduce yourself for the record just so we know who you are,
your name, your pronouns, institution, job title, and anything else you might like for folks to know about you.
RacheL My name is Rachel Winston. I use she/her pronouns. I am the Black Diaspora Archivist at the University of Texas.
And in this position, I work collaboratively with several different units on campus to create a library
special collection documenting black people and communities from the Americas,
including the Caribbean. Interviewer: So that's some of your current job description.
Can you talk a little more about kind of your duties included in your current job, and what maybe a typical day on the job looks like for you?
So as an archivist, I spend a considerable amount of time doing kind of what one might consider typical archival work.
So work that really centers around collecting,
preserving, and making collections, records, documents accessible. And so that, these days, happens in the most expansive definition of that possible.
So we're talking born digital materials, we're talking, certainly, historical, kind of typical, analog historical documents, art, rare books.
So it keeps things interesting. I don't know that I have a typical day, which I actually really enjoy.
So I do have the typical archival duties folded into my general work, but I do a lot of outreach.
I do a lot of professional service. I worked with TDL before on TCDL,
the conference. I'm pretty involved with SAA, the Society of American Archivists, and just collaborating with different units across campus.
The Black Diaspora Archive, over the past six years, has become an engaged partner in different aspects of campus life.
And so it's been really exciting to see different partnerships,
whether it be faculty members, or centers, or individual students really engage with the content in the archive.
Interviewer: I think hearing about kind of that professional development, those partnerships,
relationships, and outreach is something that I think that perspective is really
helpful and I think will be for other people interested in what's going on in archives.
Rachel: I definitely see that as the new way of archives.
I feel like, these days, you're gonan be pretty hard-pressed to find an archival position that is just strictly processing,
so spending most or all of your time in that dark room, tucked away in the basement, or the bowels of a building.
And certainly when I entered the field as excited as I was about archives,
I knew that I just didn't have that disposition to spend all of my time working with records in that way,
so I kind of came to this field with an experience in and an excitement for outreach work,
and I'm really grateful that that is something I get to do a lot in this position.
Interviewer: Maybe that leads me to some of the kind of the biggest goals for your current job.
Sounds like media outreach is a big part of that.
Rachel: So the biggest goal for you, kind of, my ultimate charge is to help build an outstanding collection for research, for self documentation,
for the record, right?
I want so, so much for this collection, this collection being the Black Diaspora Archive, to have the the widest ranging,
expansive collections of documents created by, and for, and about people of color throughout the Americas, and for the
collections that are collected, that are acquired by the Archive, to be done so in the most thoughtful and ethical,
equitable way possible. So kind of loading on all of the things as I do this work is important to me.
And I think so far that that we've been able to do. I, certainly, while I am the only black diaspora archivist, I couldn't do this work alone.
So I do lean heavily on the guidance and counsel of my colleagues, both on campus at UT and in the wider profession.
Interviewer: So I should ask maybe a little about your educational and career background, and what brought you into the archives.
Rachel: So I am a trained anthropologist. My bachelor's degree is in Anthropology and French.
I also have had experience in the public affairs and public service sector, and kind of through
those channels led me to museums and kind of cultural and cultural heritage institutions,
cultural spaces. And I spent several years kind of interning in grant funded jobs and part time jobs, internship, project based work.
It's rough. It can be a tough field to break into, kind of doing public programming, events in those spaces.
And so it was in a community archive in my hometown of St. Louis that I had my first experience working directly with collections.
I came on board as an intern to help with some public education initiatives.
And because the staff was small, I ended up working in the collections. And that is what turned me on to archives.
I really kind of--When you're in it, when you're in the collections spaces, when you are handling those primary sources,
there's nothing like it, to see the actual material that then curators would use for these grand
exhibitions that would be helping people to engage with and learn from and those kinds of things.
So really kind of getting to the source of what the whole operation in these cultural spaces was about was really exciting.
And so through that experience, I wanted to go back to school.
I attended the iSchool at UT to get a foundation in collections management,
so I knew I had experience, and interest, and skills in the outreach piece, in the public programing piece,
but to have a better understanding with collection, and how to--what best practices were like.
I mean, I could guess, but you know, I wanted to know.
I certainly never, at this point in time back then, never saw myself in a university archive.
I tell students, when I work with undergraduate students who--moreso in the before times, right--who come to the archive for class visits,
And I would, you know, one of my openers is, "How many of you have been to an archive before?" And depending on the level of the class,
whether it's a lower division or upper division class, it depends.
But most often, it's rare that I have like zero people who have yet to set foot in an archive, and I tell them they are all ahead of the game as far as I'm concerned.
I tell them I work in one, I go to one for work pretty much every day,
and I never darken the door of my university's archive.
But just being at UT for graduate school, and getting to know the wonderful resources
on campus, and having the learning experience in the master's program,
being able to see that I could exercise a lot of my interest and skills in the cultural heritage space within academic or university setting,
I just didn't know that there was a connection there.
I always kind of thought, if you want to do community based programs, you need to be in the community.
And so it's been wonderful to be able to bring that perspective and my passion for that
to the university setting and be able to do some things with that at UT.
I appreciate it.
And I think that's something that even for the short time that I've been in the field as an archivist, I've definitely seen that change.
I feel like now you see more. Granted, they're not everyday, right?
They're not flooding our inbox with job announcements and postings.
But you do see more initiatives, more dedicated funding for positions that center within libraries or kind of GLAM
institutions that are affiliated with the university to do more dedicated community facing work.
And so it's just really encouraging, right? Especially when we think about everything: the community these institutions are in and that
long history and just the resources that we're able to leverage for the benefit of others.
It's important to have community input and buy in.
Interviewer: Can I ask, so you work as the Black Diaspora Archivist.
What kind of digital work do you do? Rachel: So most of my digital work is focused on supporting digital collections.
So those take shape most often in two different ways.
So there are curated digital collections, so online exhibitions,
so working to digitize the material, and then provide the metadata in time to upload into online platforms and make them accessible that way.
And also, collections more on just the general collection side, so I have worked most often,
most recently, actually, with oral history collections.
I had a student working with me for most of this year, and we worked together to develop an oral history collection.
And so as an archivist, that's been a really cool experience.
And granted, my intern, Briana Davis, did most of the heavy lifting, so I don't take credit for that.
But to help design a project for an oral history project, from inception through accessibility, has been
really great. Often, we just get the audio cassettes or the VHS tapes and then work to make them accessible.
So that's been great. So at this stage in the game, it's completing all of that backend metadata, preparing
the finding aids, and ensuring secure access to all of the content that is included in the collection before it is made widely available,
which soon comes. So I'm excited about that.
Interviewer: Can I ask, was that in Austin, or was there a specific focus of the histories you were collecting?
Rachel: Yes. So this oral history collection includes seven interviews of women who are members of the Delta Xi chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.
It is the first black Greek letter organization that was established on UT's campus.
And so these women who are interviewed certainly are all trailblazers in their own right.
But it was really fantastic to hear them speak to my my intern at the time, who was finishing up her degree at UT,
connect with these women about their time at UT and their professional journey since the things that
they built, and designed, and experienced as members of the sorority and also just as women on campus,
as black women on campus, and the things that they've done since is so exciting.
And all of them are really engaged. They help to fund a scholarship that provides funding for an intern to work in the archives.
So it all kind of connects that way. And again, it's really great to be able to connect with collection creators and donors. Again, in an archive,
you don't always get that experience.
So to be able to be in contact with the folks whose life and work that is being documented is really special and something that I enjoy.
Interviewer: I look forward to that. And you said that that was something that you initiated, that like
you've seen from kind of conceptualization and coming through here to access?
Rachel: Yeah, yeah. And so getting ready for this project, I did, as any
archivist, information professional does, right, I scoured all the documentation I could find about best practices, and what worked for people,
and what didn't. Again, so often with collections, but specifically oral histories,
they come to the archive well after the fact. So to be in the archive, helping to really design an oral history project was a really neat experience.
And so this is an open, growing collection. And so it'll be great to see kind of how it grows and changes in its next iterations.
I will say, too, that none of this could be done without the support of UT Libraries, and specifically, the team working on the DAMS.
Just, I guess recently, earlier this year, the UT DAMS
was equipped to handle AV material,
and so the first AV collection that's in it actually comes from the Black Diaspora Archive, which was, yeah, a really, really exciting achievement.
So the first oral history collection that's in the library's DAMS is in a collection
called the Shankleville Community Oral History Collection.
And that collection is a series of interviews from members and descendants of the Freedom Colony of Shankleville, which is located in East Texas,
talking about their experience growing up there, the history of the region.
And again, just kind of allowing us as folks in this contemporary moment to really understand the significance of not just freedom colonies,
but that the people and the work that contributed to these regions that have such an impact for all of us.
That legacy is so important, and so it has been a privilege to be able to work to preserve that and now make it accessible for folks everywhere,
especially folks in the region.
You know, we're in Austin, not East Texas, so I'm really glad that this project has helped to increase the reach of access to the collection.
Interviewer: There are a couple of threads in there that I really like about kind of collaboration with libraries,
and it makes me think about the distinction between libraries, archives, and how much is there, how much should there be?
Rachel: What is the line? What is the boundary? Like, keep asking those questions.
Even when you're in the field, even when you are in your first, second, third archivist job,
always ask those questions because I don't think that anything is as absolute as sometimes it can feel.
And sometimes just asking the question like, "Why are we doing this?
Can we do something different?" or, "We haven't done this before." And that just means we haven't done it before. It doesn't mean we can't do it now.
That approach has been something that I embrace.
Never be afraid to do something differently, to try something new, whether it's brand new or just a different way of completing the same workflow.
Why not? Let's continue to question, right?
Why are there these these boundaries? I don't know. Sometimes we just we all need to be asking more questions, I think.
In a question, self-reflection and asking ourselves, asking questions of the institutions, but also also of ourselves in our personal praxis.
Interviewer: As I ask these questions,
I'm definitely thinking about that because we've written them in kind of this digital libraries perspective and your title is an archivist.
Rachel: Yeah, I've found myself more frequently in the past couple of years in kind of digital libraries conversations, but I was hesitant to join.
So my first year on the TCDL committee, TDL reached out and asked me to join and I was like,
"Who, me? Like what? I'm just an archivist. What do I have to contribute to,
certainly conversations around digital libraries, but then a whole conference?"
And so I reached out to some folks I knew who were more involved with TDL and had been to TCDL,
and they kind of helped, again, questioning me, "Well, why wouldn't I?
Let's unpack this, Rachel. Why would you feel that your your work is not relevant?"
"OK, well. I see. Thank you." Questioning is important.
So, yeah, even as an archivist, I, at first, kind of struggle to see that myself.
But I think that--and this might be jumping ahead in your questions--
I think that digital librarianship, like archives, right,
is something that is woven throughout different workflows, and institutions,
and policies, and protocols in a way that sometimes we don't point to a name as,
"Oh, well, that's digital librarianship." Right? And so it's important to to name it and also create space for those conversations.
Digital librarianship is just so big. And because of that, I think maybe some people may not--
Well, I can speak for myself. I didn't, as an archivist, didn't automatically see the fit.
But it's there. Because digital librarianship is so big,
there is something on the table for everyone.
I came into the field kind of with very isolated ideas, everything was very kind of compartmentalized for me.
Well, if it's a digital library, then it's like the Bibliotheque in San Antonio, one kind of digital entity.
And I really struggled to see how multifaceted and inclusive this kind of work is.
I thought, "Well, I want to be an archivist, so my work is really going to be with analog material and the physical collections,"
not even thinking that if we are collecting the contemporary moment like this, that's going to include digital records, too.
I just came in kind of with blinders on and met colleague who shared the same approach.
So I'm really excited for you that you are kind of opening up your thinking now.
And when you get into the field, it will help you to be that much more capable and effective.
Interviewer: Well, thank you for helping me and kind of all of us to do that.
So now that you came in with kind of this compartmentalized view, and now a few years in,
how would you define digital libraries or digital librarianship? Rachel: I see digital librarianship as being able to provide access and direction to
information or resources that are held in the online space or within digital platforms.
So something that is super large. Well, I consider myself an archivist and often, will kind of shy away from that title of librarian.
I do think that there are aspects of digital librarianship, certainly, that fall into an archival workflow.
I would say, kind of as an extension of that, that digital libraries are really suite of tools, and platforms, and resources to collect, curate access,
create, engage with information in the digital realm.
Again, something that's really expansive and inclusive because that's how I see both digital
libraries and librarianship, is something that is multifaceted and interdisciplinary,
but really human driven, right? The platforms, and the online hosting mechanisms for accessing storage, and all of that are
created by people, for people to hold information that people have created or deemed important.
Right? So that's one thing we can never forget: the human side of things, for sure.
Interviewer: As an archivist, how do you think the digital aspect of your job will change in the next five years?
Rachel: I know for a fact that as an archivist,
I am going to work more and with increasing frequency with born digital material and born digital
collections. This is just my personal experience as kind of a "traditional archivist".
Every once in a while, I have some born digital things, and a lot of times it's digital reproductions,
so even oral histories, right? These are digital files that have been created from analog media.
But I see it as inevitable soon that the traditional archival workflows that I
am most familiar with will really need to be evaluated and maybe remixed,
redesigned, reconsidered to support more born digital collections.
I've done a little bit of this with the Benson Collection and the post-custodial
archiving work that happens with the Benson and partners from across Latin America.
And while post-custodial archival praxis is just one example, I certainly think that on a smaller scale,
more digital work will become a part of the lifecycle of a collection in an archive.
Interviewer: You mentioned earlier kind of digitization that you do for some of your projects.
How much like digitization work affects your current job in daily life, and then how shifting to born digital materials--
They both have digital in the name but how different are those processes, and how do you see that like shifting the kind of day to day work for you?
Rachel: So right now, digitizing collections really is done
on an as-needed basis, so by patron request, by creator or donor request, researcher request.
That's how I tend to approach it. Or certainly for preservation purposes, if something needs to be digitized for that.
So. Hmm. For large scale digitization,
I do rely heavily on my colleagues who did work with digitization in PCL or are part of the digitization unit in PCL, Preservation and Access,
so I certainly don't have, as an archivist at the Benson, we are limited in what we're able to do in-house.
And so for a kind of larger scale, or more careful, or intensive kind of digitization work that needs to happen,
we work collaboratively with our colleagues in PCL. And even for collections I have worked with that do have any kind of digital component,
I almost always seek the counsel of my colleagues who do more kind of digital archive work,
whether that is their title or just part of their job function.
So I think I'll continue to work collaboratively with those folks.
I think that while the
type of work and demands of the collections that I work with will require more technical attention and care,
and certainly, I can provide those, and my colleagues who are working with them in similar situations will do that,
I think that having that expertise is always helpful.
Someone who is kind of constantly in that space, who is aware of the emerging trends and best practices, and can provide some guidance.
You know, I do the best I can, but I make mistakes, right? We all do.
And so it's great to have just someone you can talk to on staff, who understands the kind of
local practices and local workflows, and can help navigate or circumvent challenges.
Ultimately, it's about providing the best care to the collections we're working with, right?
So working with colleagues to help make that happen. Interviewer: What do you think that's like LIS or MSIS programs, like the one at UT,
should be teaching students about digital work in libraries and archives?
Rachel: Yeah. So I think back to my time at the iSchool. I took a digital archive class, but outside of that,
I don't know that I spent a lot of time in my studies critically thinking about the impact.
Certainly, I did in that class. But outside of that class, critically thinking about digital workflows in,
again, kind of "traditional" archival responsibilities.
And so I think
one of the best things that iSchools and information programs can do now is to help provide some guidance in an understanding in
the the the bigness of digital libraries, right,
to kind of help folks see the large table that is digital libraries and know that in whatever kind of specialization you're seeking or experience
you want to get out of your iSchool education, that there's something on this table for everyone.
Even though technology changes, a lot of the skills, and kind of problem solving,
and critical analysis, and thinking that these systems and workflows require is transferable.
Right? Yeah, the platform changes, but a lot of times needs are--they don't always stay the same, but they kind of can stay in the same realm.
And so I think just talking about digital librarianship, about digital libraries, digital workflows
more, and certainly that could have happened since I was in graduate school.
It was several years ago now, but I'm excited to see.
I'm excited to see what comes of that. Interviewer: Do you have advice for students who are interested in pursuing that,
how to get that idea about how big digital libraries are and thinking critically about like digital workflows and things,
whether in a digital position or in more traditional libraries and archives workflows?
Rachel: I think for some of us, and I am in this number, that when you throw kind of "digital" in front of anything,
I kind of have a reaction like, "Oh, is this for me? Oh, I don't know if I'm interested.
I'm not a tech whiz. I don't really, you know, like I know just enough to be dangerous, but by no means am I a specialist."
And so kind of just breaking down what can feel like something that is overwhelming or intimidating is helpful.
So I think as in the graduate school experience,
certainly seeking out opportunities to just familiarize yourself with the
conversations that are happening about, and around, and within digital library spaces,
but also kind of allowing yourself to be uncomfortable in those situations and not shying
away from things that might not quite seem like they fit into what you might want to do.
I think some of the most exciting projects in work that comes out of the field are when
you see these connections between things that seem so disparate or when you're able--For me,
right,
when I'm able to see an archival collection reimagined or transformed or the meaning from it may be different because of a digital tool, or a platform,
or because it was made available, what's been able to happen.
So really allowing ourselves to carefully, right,
always concerned about the people, because it always comes down to people and
caring for people and the experiences that are represented in our collections,
but allowing ourselves not to be intimidated so much by the digital,
but rather seeing it as a tool, a method to create and preserve and kind of imagine anew.
Interviewer: What do you love about digital work in libraries and archives, and what keeps you motivated to work in this field?
Rachel: I love the creativity, kind of going back to what I was just talking about.
I really enjoy being able to
see things differently, to experience things differently, to access things differently.
And so often, digital platforms and tools provide that experience.
So whether it's being able to facilitate research that is happening states, or oceans, or continents away
because things are now available online, to even being able to reinterpret or present in new ways
collections or content gleaned from collections in kind of within the digital humanities lens.
And so there's just so much that's possible. And like we were talking about earlier, things are changing and developing all the time.
So I think the digital allows for creativity in a way that is really compelling and that we might not experience otherwise.
So that's kind of what always for me, that's the sexy side of it.
How can we use this? How can we experiment?
How can collections--How can these tools be used to highlight parts of collections?
How can collections be made richer or more accessible with these tools?
And so seeing kind of where that synergy lies is fun.
Interviewer: Is there anything in the collection that you really love? Rachel: I do love artist books.
Those are something I really--I would get lost in time in the stacks, just kind of perusing artist books.
Those are always so fascinating to me, from multiple levels.
Just the construction, the actual mediums used, the content that is shared. Yes.
And it's a little premature,
but this oral history collection will likely be one of my favorites just because the process has been so interesting.
The full lifecycle of an oral history: to develop it and to see it happen with the help
of an intern colleague and then kind of these last stages of making it available.
It's so hard to pick. I feel like every collection I work on is my new favorite.
So ask me this question again, like in a few weeks, in a couple of months, and I'll have a new favorite because I'm working on a new collection.
Being an archivist is fun, that way you get to shift.