Archivists have made considerable efforts in recent decades to address the challenge of making archival records more useful. They have attracted new researchers by using various methods: from launching books and exhibits, handing out brochures, and sending press releases, to hosting lectures and, more recently in the digital age, launching websites and blogs, digitizing records, and posting archival records on websites like Flickr. However, these methods amount to a scattered approach that seeks out a variety of new users -- often in the wider society -- while the majority of potential users, often connected to an archives’ own sponsoring institution, still too rarely take advantage of the archives at their doorstep. These people may have never used an archives and likely think they do not need to do so. This thesis addresses the issue of how, in effect, to create users of archives among this group by a more direct approach to them than the typically scattered and more general one. The study of such efforts by archives is the study of archival public programming. Although current public programming efforts at university archives do bring in new users from the campus community, a more targeted approach might address this concern by attracting far more of them. Particularly on university campuses most students, faculty, support staff, retired professors, and administration do not make use of and may even be unaware of the campus archives. Archives on university campuses are repeatedly challenged to prove their usefulness in order to warrant continued funding from campus administration. I argue that this thesis offers university archivists (and other archivists) a tool with which to work to raise statistics of new users in order to satisfy university administrative metrics for sustainability. This thesis will test this approach through a case study of eleven University of Manitoba Faculty of Arts professors who have not used archives much or at all. Academics are often looking for new sources for their research. By understanding the usefulness of archives to their work, they may discover a vast new source of information in a variety of local, national, and foreign repositories and become more comfortable in navigating archives. The thesis will also discuss any weaknesses discovered in the testing of the approach and suggest improvements. In addition, it will discuss how such an approach might be phased in to archival work at a university archives such as the University of Manitoba's Archives & Special Collections as a feature of day-to-day work, rather than a one-time exercise.

This thesis explores some possible approaches to better integration of archives with communities and engagement of archives with local community development initiatives. The study suggests that innovative usage of archival material can facilitate community engagement in the knowledge-based economy and support a broad range of community economic development initiatives. Archival public programming and the need for archivists to actively engage with existing and potential users is included in the discussion. Brandon, Manitoba is used as an example of a community that could benefit from the establishment of community archives.

Archivists have made considerable efforts in recent decades to address the challenge of making archival records more useful. They have attracted new researchers by using various methods: from launching books and exhibits, handing out brochures, and sending press releases, to hosting lectures and, more recently in the digital age, launching websites and blogs, digitizing records, and posting archival records on websites like Flickr. However, these methods amount to a scattered approach that seeks out a variety of new users -- often in the wider society -- while the majority of potential users, often connected to an archives’ own sponsoring institution, still too rarely take advantage of the archives at their doorstep. These people may have never used an archives and likely think they do not need to do so. This thesis addresses the issue of how, in effect, to create users of archives among this group by a more direct approach to them than the typically scattered and more general one. The study of such efforts by archives is the study of archival public programming. Although current public programming efforts at university archives do bring in new users from the campus community, a more targeted approach might address this concern by attracting far more of them. Particularly on university campuses most students, faculty, support staff, retired professors, and administration do not make use of and may even be unaware of the campus archives. Archives on university campuses are repeatedly challenged to prove their usefulness in order to warrant continued funding from campus administration. I argue that this thesis offers university archivists (and other archivists) a tool with which to work to raise statistics of new users in order to satisfy university administrative metrics for sustainability. This thesis will test this approach through a case study of eleven University of Manitoba Faculty of Arts professors who have not used archives much or at all. Academics are often looking for new sources for their research. By understanding the usefulness of archives to their work, they may discover a vast new source of information in a variety of local, national, and foreign repositories and become more comfortable in navigating archives. The thesis will also discuss any weaknesses discovered in the testing of the approach and suggest improvements. In addition, it will discuss how such an approach might be phased in to archival work at a university archives such as the University of Manitoba's Archives & Special Collections as a feature of day-to-day work, rather than a one-time exercise.

This thesis explores some possible approaches to better integration of archives with communities and engagement of archives with local community development initiatives. The study suggests that innovative usage of archival material can facilitate community engagement in the knowledge-based economy and support a broad range of community economic development initiatives. Archival public programming and the need for archivists to actively engage with existing and potential users is included in the discussion. Brandon, Manitoba is used as an example of a community that could benefit from the establishment of community archives.

Public programming is a distinct component of archival professional practice, although it has not always been so. Academic public programming is an even relatively newer phenomenon, but is gaining momentum as university and college archives seek to align themselves with an emerging engagement-based instructional paradigm that now widely informs academia. Postmodern insights have challenged archivists to reconsider the traditional view of records as static objects, frozen in perpetuity, and instead understand them as part of a never ending dynamic process encompassing multiple narratives and meanings. Academic archives in particular have begun exploring ways in which they might engage students in a new learning environment - through a new type of public programming that emphasizes the archivists’ unique role in knowledge creation. Academic archivists have a unique opportunity to insert archives into the curriculum and facilitate student engagement and inquiry, while supporting the academic mission of their parent institution. This thesis will explore ways to insert university archives more fully into the teaching function of the university. The thesis will conceptualize how university archives could be included in an interdisciplinary program offered by such archives, or in conjunction with other departments and faculties, that is designed to enhance student learning through the development of critical thinking skills and knowledge creation.

Public programming is a distinct component of archival professional practice, although it has not always been so. Academic public programming is an even relatively newer phenomenon, but is gaining momentum as university and college archives seek to align themselves with an emerging engagement-based instructional paradigm that now widely informs academia. Postmodern insights have challenged archivists to reconsider the traditional view of records as static objects, frozen in perpetuity, and instead understand them as part of a never ending dynamic process encompassing multiple narratives and meanings. Academic archives in particular have begun exploring ways in which they might engage students in a new learning environment - through a new type of public programming that emphasizes the archivists’ unique role in knowledge creation. Academic archivists have a unique opportunity to insert archives into the curriculum and facilitate student engagement and inquiry, while supporting the academic mission of their parent institution. This thesis will explore ways to insert university archives more fully into the teaching function of the university. The thesis will conceptualize how university archives could be included in an interdisciplinary program offered by such archives, or in conjunction with other departments and faculties, that is designed to enhance student learning through the development of critical thinking skills and knowledge creation.

Community engagement and relevance are topics prominently discussed in the museum field. Conversations about public history and social justice, however, are less common. Combining these two ideas and thinking broadly about how museums, particularly historic houses, can stay relevant in their community by adopting a community-centered mission, this thesis uses Casey Farm as a case study. By conducting interviews with the site managers and market manager alongside surveying market vendors and visitors, this thesis compares the museum’s perspective of their relevance with the lived experiences of visitors. Ultimately arguing that historic houses should prioritize community interests when creating programming to retain audiences to the museum. Studying how Casey Farm partners with Coastal Growers’ Market to increase community relevance by aligning with the goals of the Food Movement, this example can encourage other historic house museums to use the resources at their site and seek out possible partnerships in their community.

The following report documents my 480-hour internship from August 17th, 2015 to January 29th, 2016 in the Education and Public Programs Department at the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC). I worked closely with the Marketing and Visual Art Departments. I chose the organization to experience an environment that commits itself to presenting high quality performing and visual arts. This paper assesses the CAC’s history, present day status, and future outlook. It also offers suggestions on how certain aspects can be improved in order to extend the organization’s longevity. Over the course of five months I observed strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to the organization. Additionally, using knowledge gained from my Arts Administration classes and personal observations, this paper offers predictions as to the organization’s future.

The study sought to develop a framework for access and use of documentary heritage at the National Archives of Zimbabwe (NAZ). This followed the realization that access and use is the raison d'être for national archival institutions yet the level of utilization has for a long time been lamented to be low. The researcher therefore took a holistic approach and investigated the issues of bibliographic, intellectual and physical access to archives. Using a grounded theory research approach framed within the constructivism ontology and the interpretivism epistemological research paradigm, this study employed the observation technique, interviews and content analysis to collect the empirical evidence that was needed to develop a framework for access and use of the documentary heritage in the custody of NAZ. The study extensively discussed the methodological issues involved in the study as grounded theory is a rarely used approach in Information Science studies. An extensive discussion was therefore offered to enable readers to follow and appreciate how the not so common approach was actually employed. The findings of the study showed that the position of NAZ as a public information resource centre was threatened by many obstacles that were compromising the accessibility and use of the documentary heritage in its custody. Such hindrances included the absence of a national policy on access to public archives, the absence of an institutional access policy, the absence of a standing committee on access and use of archives, lack of a budget, increasing backlogs of unprocessed archives, misconstrued public perception, the absence of special facilities for the physically challenged, centralised access to archives, access restrictions placed by legal instruments as well as limited use of digital technology, no use of the print media and Web 2.0 technologies. Using the findings of the study, the researcher offered a framework for enhanced access and use of archives to serve as a baseline on which archivists may reflect and improve on their practices. / Information Science

Archival work concerning outreach and accessibility is getting increasingly more attention. As a consequence the role of archives and archivists in society has, and continues to change. A common conception is that the roll of the archivist has transformed from a passive curator towards an active mediator of information. This thesis aims to investigate how that change affects archival outreach and public programming. The purpose of the study is to illustrate how archives can use public programming to emphasize outreach and access. The study is mainly focused on two series of lectures at Stockholm City Archives which are a part of the archive´s public programming. Observation is used as a method to study the lectures where I as an observer and participator has taking part of the lectures both physically at the archive as well as online. Postcustodial theory is used as a framework and starting point for the analysis. A postcustodial era emphasizes the need for archives to work with outreach, accessibility and to focus on people rather than records. The analysis is therefore focused on exploring if and how the lectures at Stockholm City Archives can work as a way to highlight the archive as a postcustodial archive. A postcustodial archive where access and outreach is an important part of how the archive communicates with society as well as a significant part of the archive´s self-conception. Archival experiences affects the way the lectures communicate to the people attending the lectures. The lectures works as a way for people to experience the archive both as a place as well as a way to experience the archival records. What kind of experience that is emphasized varies between the different lectures. Usually experi­ence is associated with musems and not as commonly with archives. However, this study proposes that experience can play a key roll in shaping people´s idea of what an archive is. This is a two years master’s thesis in Archival Science.