What does archival outreach mean to you? For us here at the Tufts Archival Research Center (TARC), it might mean venturing out to community events like commencement, reunions, and Tufts Community Day (often armed with just a table, some TARC merch, a few giant reproductions of materials in our collection, and a dream). Or it might look like welcoming people into our space by hosting open houses, class visits, exhibits, and events in our Reading Room. Or it might mean collaborating with other departments on campus to cross-promote our work!
Traditionally, most of this outreach is done in person. But new technologies, mediums and opportunities for outreach and connection are always emerging, which means... hello, digital outreach! Digital platforms have gifted us with the ultimate opportunity to reach out to students, other members of the Tufts community, and the public at large with content we hope you'll find educational, informational, and hey, maybe even entertaining! At present, our digital outreach platforms include Instagram (you can follow us @tuftstarc!) and this blog, which from now on will be known as "Elephant in the Reading Room."
Welcome to this digital space, where we'll be highlighting our collections, demystifying our work, and sharing more behind-the-scenes action of all TARC's moving parts!
It is our hope that our new approach to digital outreach will help us thoughtfully and intentionally engage with our users, while simultaneously educating users about our collections and fostering a welcoming space for learning about TARC collections as well as archival processes and research. We hope to answer questions such as: what materials does TARC have? How can I use TARC's digital resources? Who are these gorgeous, fabulous, and mysterious people doing things like answering my questions about TARC's collections, digitizing documents for me, teaching my class when we visit the archives, and uploading my senior honors thesis to the Tufts Digital Library, amongst what I can only assume are many other gorgeous, fabulous, and mysterious responsibilities?
At the core of this new approach lies our belief that digital outreach is a legitimate and important archival responsibility. It's not simply cultivating an online presence, writing blog posts, and posting on Instagram about certain robotic cockroaches that we may or may not have recently accessioned into our collections (although that's certainly part of it—and by the way, stay tuned @tuftstarc for more information on a robotic cockroach that we may or may not have recently accessioned into our collections). It's publicizing a consistent TARC identity to encourage users to learn about the work we do and utilize our resources. It's using every tool at our disposal to connect with our user community and, hopefully, grow it. It's making an active and conscious effort to utilize our digital spaces to educate, inform, and engage.
To accomplish this, TARC has formed what we affectionately refer to as "DOT," or the Digital Outreach Team. This team is comprised of archivists from all sections of TARC's operations—public services, technical services, digitization, collections management, and more! DOT meets biweekly to discuss TARC's digital outreach strategies and policies, as well as brainstorm and create content.
DOT has a lot in store for digital outreach! You can look forward to monthly blog posts here on Elephant in the Reading Room on all sorts of topics ranging from collection spotlights to Tufts history to new accessions. We will be creating digital content for our Instagram that includes videos introducing TARC staff (you can view our first one featuring Alex Bush, our Public Services and Instruction Archivist, now!), resources describing "how to TARC" (AKA how to make an appointment, how to request materials, how to place a digitization order, etc.), and content showcasing items from TARC's collections. Finally, keep an eye on the Featured Collection section of our website, which will now be updated monthly in accordance with Tufts history, celebrations, and current events!
As always, we want to hear from you! If there's anything you'd like to see from us outreach-wise, please feel free to send us an email at archives@tufts.edu. Thanks for checking out Elephant in the Reading Room, and stay tuned!