Researcher and archivist workflows are inherently dependent on each other, but points of friction can arise where different ways of working intersect. Often, these pain points overlap, and the solution for one may lend itself to the benefit of the other. Sometimes differing expectations are incompatible and compromises must be found. In either case, improved communication between archivists and researchers would provide better outcomes than the culture of silence that often pervades the archivist-researcher connection. How do geographical distance, staffing constraints, financial limitations, and time restraints impact the relationships between archivists and researchers? Where do archival labor and management intersect with digital research? And most importantly, how do we identify and remedy these sources of friction to create a more cohesive, human-centered, accessible workflow that benefits both parties? Explore these questions and their possible solutions with a panel of archivists, researchers, and project managers.

Attendees will learn perspectives and solutions from peers and counterparts. The sense of community between these roles will be bolstered as different facets come to light, allowing both researchers and archivists to understand that they are not singly experiencing workflow pain points, and that the solution for one may lend itself to the benefit of the other. Based on the experiences of many, attendees will leave with an understanding of possible systems adaptable to their own workflows for more effective methods of collaboration within archivist-researcher relationships.

Melica Stinnett has ample experience in a service role at the UConn Archives and Special Collections working with researchers, students and employees, and other archivists. She is in charge of the document request fulfillment, which is currently a multi-step, layered process. Garrett, a postdoctoral fellow at Greenhouse Studios with a masters in Classics and an MLIS, has a grasp on both the research and the archival side of the process with experience curating and leading digital humanities projects from conception to publication. Paige Roberts, Director of the Archives and Special Collections at Phillips Academy in Andover, MA, has vast experience in managing and working in an archive, working with students and researchers, and has a plentiful research background herself. Fiona Vernal, Director of Engaged, Public, Oral and Community Histories (EPOCH) and Associate Professor of History and Africana Studies at the University of Connecticut, has an extensive background in both research and digital humanities project curation, including Hartford Bound, which examines the convergence of three great migrations of African Americans, Puerto Ricans, and West Indians in the Greater Hartford region as housing policies chiseled residential segregation into the city’s landscape through ArcGIS mapping and an interactive website. Finally, moderator Greg Colati is the director of the CTDA, has experience working in both small and large institutions, and is currently leading a statewide diversity program at the CTDA called CTDA in Context, a call for critical reflection and action based on acknowledging the power and inherently political act of documenting histories.