Announcements

The Midwest Archives Conference will hold its 2020 Annual Meeting May 6-9, 2020 in Des Moines, Iowa. An election year presents a year for choice in leadership, but it is also about the power of decisions. Who makes them, where they are made, when they are made, and most importantly what decisions do you make as an archivist. The Program Committee invites session proposals touching on the theme "Decision 2020" from all areas of archival practice and research and from allied fields. The Program Committee particularly encourages submissions from early professionals, archivists of color, and members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Topic Possibilities Include But Are Not Limited To:

• Collections acquisition/accession representing a group(s) story that is missing from the archival record.
• Collaborating with, starting, or otherwise participating in community archives.
• Decisions regarding collections management tools and cleaning up legacy metadata.
• Research on diversity- and inclusion-related topics.
• Methodology and approaches to, and/or studies of decolonizing the archives.
• Collections management decision-making.
• Centennial of women's suffrage.
• Decision-making and archival labor: lone arrangers, appropriate compensation in the archives and appropriate use of temporary positions, and acknowledgement of archival labor, from students through professionals (also unpaid labor).
• Archivists' voice (Make your voice be heard!): Archival advocacy, both for your own archives and advocating for communities represented in your archives.
• Getting things done when you are the only archivist in the room or when making major decisions is not in your job description.
• Archivists' choice: why did you pick the archives profession?

The Program Committee will also consider outstanding proposals not related to this theme or these topics.

The deadline for submitting proposals for the 2020 MAC Annual Meeting is Friday, September 6th at 5 p.m. EST.

If you have any questions about the proposal process, please contact the 2020 Program Committee co-chairs, Marcella Huggard and Benn Joseph.

A spreadsheet for brainstorming session proposals is available at this link; the full call for proposals and link to the webform is available on the MAC website.

Regards,