Skip to main content

NAAB Masterclass - Ken Dahl

Ken Dahl of the City of Saskatoon Archives, applied to the SCAA Professional Development fund to attended, in Edmonton March 11-14 , 2019, the "NAAB Masterclass." This is his experience:

In 2019, the National Archival Appraisal Board (NAAB), in an attempt to standardize archival appraisals across the country came up with the idea of offering a “Masterclass” to those interested.  Not only is NAAB trying to standardize things, they are also hoping to bring in experienced archivists to become new appraisers and increase the number of practicing appraisers.  In February and March of 2019, NAAB offered three different sessions (of this class) in Fredericton, Edmonton and Ottawa.  I have been doing NAAB appraisals for a number of years now, the last five have been as a practicing NAAB appraiser.  I was the only one at the class who had done any previous appraisals, this appraisal experience was, for the most part, beneficial.
 
The course itself was very well run, and I found it to be particularly worthwhile.  The main instructor was Elwood Jones, who has been a member of NAAB (and its predecessor group) since 1971, and chair of the Ontario region of NAAB from 1976 to 2013.  So, clearly, he knew what he was talking about.  We also heard from a number of other archival appraisers (via Skype) throughout the four day class, and their differing expertise in terms records types, was really noticeable and valuable.  We have done one “in-house” appraisal here at the City of Saskatoon Archives, and, I believe, that in the future archival institutions in the province might look to this as a possible avenue to explore.  The information introduced to us in the class and the various appraisal methodologies that can be employed, should be beneficial to us at the City Archives and any future in-house archival appraisals we might do.
 
The course ended with a take home assignment that is to be graded.  I am still waiting to see how that all goes.  Fingers crossed!
 
Ken Dahl

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Talking About If These Places Could Talk: Snapshots of Saskatchewan by Crista Bradley

  Talking About If These Places Could Talk: Snapshots of Saskatchewan Crista Bradley When I was granted a one-year research sabbatical leave from the University of Regina Archives in July 2019, I was able to move forward with a project that’s been on my mind for several years.   The objective of the sabbatical was to research and write a children's book and companion educator’s guide that would help kids connect with Saskatchewan archives and further develop their understanding of our province’s diverse history. The year was rich and the pace was vigorous as I worked to review the professional literature on youth outreach and archival/historical products designed for children, identify a theme and format for the book, and investigate publishing options.   With support from a SCAA Professional Development Grant, I attended Canada History’s Historical Thinking Summer Institute, to help me frame my approach to packaging historical informati
Post a Comment
Read more

Friends of the Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan (FOPASK)

  Greetings, fellow FOPASKers. A few days ago Friend Ron sent along a couple of photos he had discovered in his family archive, which he sent along with this request: We have this photograph of Sprucedale Farm  It appears to be in southern Saskatchewan from  the lack of trees and rolling hills. With all your connections, would you have any way of finding out where this was located? I believe the owners were Don and Kate McLaren but I have been unable to find their names anywhere. With your sleuthing abilities perhaps you might come up with something.   With great appreciation,         Ron D About the gopher's sleuthing abilities, pshaw, although I did check a couple of books of Saskatchewan place names, finding Spruce Bay and Spruce Lake, both in the parkland zone on the NorthWest side. As Ron notes, Sprucedale doesn't look like a good fit. There is also the date on the barn, 1910, when there was still land to be settled on in southern areas of the province.  As for sleuthing,
Post a Comment
Read more

Gopher Gazette: the sourdough starter edition

From time-to-time we welcome the input from our friend the Interim Gopher, Bill Armstrong, of the Friends of Saskatchewan Archives (FoSA) in contributing stories and additional insights to "Outside the Box." Salutations to all those flour-coated FOPASKers out there. The gopher has stumbled upon a commentary that explains why you are sitting by your stove at 3 am, waiting for the bread to be baked, or punching a mound of dough at any hour of the day. Bet you didn't realize what you were doing was so culturally significant.. https://heritagesask.ca/news/blog/the-stuff-of-life-the-living-heritage-of-bread-in-a-time-of-change Turning to another matter, the photo of the fowl supper, which produced some wicked punning from members Ralph and Frank, also brought a query about what happened to the Matador Co-op Farm. A link to story that appeared in Prairies North magazine proved a dead end. The gopher did discover that the farm continued into the second generat
Post a Comment
Read more