Archives Awareness Week 2024 

This year’s Archives Awareness Week (AAW) will be held from April 2 to April 5, 2024! The theme this year, “Access your Archives”, will be a warmup for the upcoming conference.

April is #ArchivesAtoZ

Throughout April 2024, the AAO Instagram will also take part in the annual Archives of Ontario-led #ArchivesAtoZ social media campaign to promote the Archeion service and descriptions in the database. See Danielle Manning’s listserv announcement for more details about the campaign and consider joining.

Instagram Reels

As part of AWW, we are bringing back our featured Instagram reels from you! On Thursday, April 5, 2024, the AAO will publish a series of short vignettes submitted by membership via our Instagram account. We are asking volunteers to submit recorded (sound and video) answers to any or all of the following questions. Examples from your collections will be encouraged!

• Tell us about a unique outreach initiative your archive has been working on.
• How do you provide access to your archives collection?
• In what ways do you make your collection accessible or hope to?
• What challenges do archives face in making records accessible while respecting users and donors?
• What archival process or specific record in your collection keeps you up at night?
• Developments in new networks and collaborations.

Follow @archives.assoc.ontario on Instagram to watch!

Twitter Takeover

As per tradition, the AAO will be hosting a Twitter Takeover event. On Tuesday, April 2, 2024, a roster of guest archivists will take over the AAO Twitter account @AAO_tweet to answer your questions and comments related to work in the archives. Let us know if you would like to book a one hour slot! Teams are welcome!

Share your Events

We encourage members to program events and engage in social media initiatives. If you would like us to promote your own AAW event, please let us know prior to March 15, 2024 so that we can include it in next month’s newsletter and feature it on our website.

How to Participate

If you would like to participate in any of these activities, please contact Tiffany Ribeiro at webadmin@aao-archivists.ca prior to March 15, 2024.

Posting about events? Use the #2024AAW hashtag!

Check out the Archives Awareness Week page for more information.

Fundraiser

As a part of Archives Awareness Week, we are asking for your donations in support of the Shirley Spragge Bursary program, which provides financial assistance for students, new professionals, or archivists in financial need to cover the registration and travel to the AAO's annual conference.

The larger the fund grows, the more budding archivists it can help. Those early-career connections and experiences are invaluable, often leading to new connections, new jobs, or even the confidence, inspiration, and resolution to stick with a profession that can be difficult to break into.

So this Archives Awareness Week, consider offering a hand-up to those following in your professional footsteps. And, if you're hosting an event or have a newsletter, consider promoting this fundraiser to your community! You never know who is willing to help out.

Visit the bursary page for more information or donate now! Donations over $20 are eligible for a tax receipt.