Discover Archives Steering Committee: Terms of Reference

Created by Amanda Tome, last updated by Emily Sommers on November 13, 2024

A. Background B. Purpose C. Composition D. Membership E. Chairs F. Meetings G. Decision-making H. Communication I. Roles and Responsibilities

A. BACKGROUND

  1. Discover Archives is a publicly accessible, web-based database providing descriptions of archival holdings from repositories at the University of Toronto and its federated colleges.

  2. Discover Archives:

    • increases discoverability of U of T archival holdings by the public

    • provides a central space to search across multiple repositories

    • enables U of T repositories to manage their archival descriptions in a central, web-based database according to community standards and best practices

  3. Participating repositories:
    • Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library
    • OISE Library
    • Richard Charles Lee Canada-Hong Kong Library
    • Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library
    • Trinity College Archives
    • Trinity College, John W. Graham Library
    • University of St. Michael’s College Archives
    • University of St. Michael’s College, John M. Kelly Library, Special Collections
    • University of Toronto Media Commons Archives
    • University of Toronto Archives & Records Management Services
    • University of Toronto Mississauga Library, Archives & Special Collections
    • University of Toronto Music Library, Archives & Special Collections
    • University of Toronto Scarborough Library, Archives & Special Collections
    • Victoria University Archives
    • Victoria University Library - Special Collections
    • Wycliffe College, Ruth Scott Archives

B. PURPOSE

The Discover Archives Steering Committee (DASC) is a group of representatives from the repositories participating in the University of Toronto (U of T) Discover Archives service. The main purpose of the Discover Archives Steering Committee is to set policy, develop standards, and create documentation for the use of the Discover Archives platform at U of T. To that end, the committee meets twice a year to discuss issues and challenges that arise with Discover Archives as well as maintain documentation on the service’s software and U of T’s use of it.

See DASC page in the UTL staff directory.

C. COMPOSITION

The Discover Archives Steering Committee consists of 1 representative from each participating repository and 2 representatives from ITS.

D. MEMBERSHIP

Member Repository / Unit
Kelli Babcock (co-chair) ITS
Emily Sommers (co-chair) UTARMS
Sunny Lee ITS
Hana Kim East Asian Library
Rachel Beattie Media Commons Archives
Rebecca Shaw Music Library
Nat Johnson-Tyghter OISE Library
Zhuohua (Nicole) Yang Richard Charles Lee Canada-Hong Kong Library
Natalya Rattan Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library
Sylvia Lassam and Lindsay Grant
Secondary contact: Rebekah Bedard		 Trinity College Archives
Trinity College, John W. Graham Library, Special Collections
Jessica Barr and Simon Rogers
Secondary contact: Teresa Wong		 University of St. Michael’s College Archives
University of St. Michael’s College, John M. Kelly Library, Special Collections
Cal Long
Secondary contact: Chris Young		 UTM Library, Archives & Special Collections
John Yolkowski
Secondary contact: Lindsay Gibb		 UTSC Library, Archives & Special Collections
Jessica Todd Victoria University Archives
Bailey Chui Victoria University Library - Special Collections
Allison Graham Wycliffe College Archives

Membership list also maintained in the UTL Staff Directory.

E. CHAIRS

  • The Discover Archives Steering Committee is co-chaired by the Digital Initiatives Librarian (ITS) and one repository representative. The latter member will serve a term of 2 years.

  • The current co-chairs are Kelli Babcock and Emily Sommers

F. MEETINGS

The Discover Archives Steering Committee meets 3 times a year (once per term)

G. DECISION MAKING

The Steering Committee must have consensus in order to make a decision or move forward with a proposal. If a representative cannot attend a Steering Committee meeting and it cannot be rescheduled, they can send a representative in their stead. In the case of straightforward decisions, they can communicate their opinions to the other members before the meeting.

H. COMMUNICATION

The Discover Archives Steering Committee will communicate, in between meetings, using the listserv: DASC-L@LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA

I. ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

DASC and its members are responsible for

  • Bringing concerns and issues from other departmental staff to DASC

  • Reporting developments and decisions back to other departmental staff

  • Maintaining documentation on the use of the Discover Archives software

  • Setting policy for general UofT wide usage of the Discover Archives platform

  • Advising on specific departmental usage of the Discover Archives platform

  • Facilitating training on the Discover Archives software for new staff and student assistants

  • Facilitating training for the staff of new repositories that join the project

  • Keeping up with developments (new editions, fixes, etc) for the Discover Archives software 1

  • Liaising with the wider archival community on issues relating to the Discover Archives platform 2

DASC co-chairs are responsible for

  • Organizing and announcing meetings
    • Including booking meetings

  • Creating the agenda and encouraging its population

  • Taking and distributing minutes

  • Communicating with new repositories and arranging for their incorporation in the project

  • Acting as spokespeople for Discover Archives (or assigning such responsibilities to others, where appropriate).

  • Managing the DASC listserv

  1. Currently, the Discover Archives software is AtoM. ↩

  2. Currently, the Discover Archives wider archival community includes Artefactual Systems. ↩