*Lighting the Way: A National Forum on Archival Discovery and Delivery*

*Monday, February 10 to Wednesday, February 12, 2020*

*Stanford University, Stanford, California*

*Call for participation open November 13-December 15, 2019*



Stanford University Libraries invites *archives, library, and technology
workers and those in related fields *to self-nominate as participants
for *Lighting
the Way: A National Forum on Archival Discovery and Delivery*
<https://lightingtheway.stanford.edu/>, funded by IMLS grant
LG-35-19-0012-19. The forum event will take place over two and a half  at
Stanford University in Stanford, California from February 10-12, 2020, with
approximately 50 participants. Grant funds will allow us to fund partial to
full travel costs, meals during the event, and lodging for most
participants.



*To apply, please complete the application form* *at the following link:*

https://stanforduniversity.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3rB4EodppwcFkdD?source=ecfl



The application form requests information about you, your responsibilities,
and your work related to focus of the project. The initial call for
participation will be open from November 13 to December 15, 2019. Our
project team will be reviewing the nominations on a rolling basis, and will
respond no later than January 10, 2020. Information gathered in the
application form will be used to select participants for the Forum, to
inform Forum planning, and to identify opportunities for the project team
to follow up with you. *Your responses will not be shared beyond the
project team and its participant advisors.*



We describe what people and systems do to find, access, and use material
from archives and special collections as archival discovery and delivery.
The “front-end” systems involved in this work include those supporting
search and presentation of archival description, delivery and presentation
of digital objects, request management systems, and interpretation and
crowdsourcing. A major challenge in this area is determining how to
effectively integrate those systems to work together as a coordinated
whole, to support the needs of users and library and archives workers. We
seek to get an in-depth understanding of how these systems can and should
work together to support archival discovery and delivery, and to develop a
forward-looking agenda describing an ethical, equitable, sustainable, and
well-integrated future for access and use of archives and special
collections.



To be successful, the project relies heavily on participation from those
thinking and working around the topics of practical, technological, and
legal and ethical concerns related to discovery, access, and use of
archives and special collections. This includes a wide variety of roles
across multiple disciplines, job functions, and organizational contexts,
such as (but not limited to) the following:



   - *Archives, special collections, and other library staff*, including
   archivists, librarians, managers, and administrators, who represent the
   primary functional stakeholders in front-end systems integration. We invite
   nominations across organizational contexts (academic libraries, public
   libraries, museums, community archives, historical societies,
   grassroots/nonprofits, corporate, consortia, and government archives) and
   job function or specialization (arrangement and description, public
   services, metadata management, and digital collections).
   - *Technologists*, including software developers, user experience
   designers, product managers, systems architects, and technical leadership.
   We invite nominations from those who work in archives and libraries or
   those with related interest and experience. This includes those who work
   within the context of libraries and archives, as well as those who work for
   vendors, consortia, or other software and service providers.
   - *Those with interest or expertise in terms of legal and ethical
   concerns related to archives and special collections*, such as
   intellectual property, inclusive description, cultural sensitivity, risk
   management, and open access.



Our goals for the project include providing an inclusive and welcoming
environment for participation and collaboration. *We strongly encourage
self-nominations from individuals who identify with underrepresented or
marginalized populations as well as those whose work relates to
underrepresented or marginalized populations* (e.g. collections relating to
such populations).


If you have any questions or feedback about our project, please contact
Mark A. Matienzo, the project director, at [log in to unmask], or visit
the project website at https://lightingtheway.stanford.edu/.



*This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and
Library Services, through grant **LG-35-19-0012-19*
<https://www.imls.gov/grants/awarded/lg-35-19-0012-19>*. The IMLS is the
primary source of federal support for the nation’s libraries and museums.
To learn more, visit www.imls.gov <http://www.imls.gov>.*



--

*Mark A. MATIENZO *| *✉* [log in to unmask] | ☎ +1 (650) 683-5769

Assistant Director for Digital Strategy and Access

Digital Library Systems and Services, Stanford University Libraries

https://library.stanford.edu/people/matienzo

*My pronouns are they/them*