Curating Learning Resources

Here's an inspiring and insightful article by Sally Whiting on ContentsMagazine analyzing the role of the archivist and the traits and responsibilities that make his work so valuable to content producers.

She writes: "Applying archival principles to content strategy makes for solid content—I can demonstrate this, and I exercise it in my work."

As content curators will increasingly need to learn more about archiving, organizing and preserving what they curate, this article provides an inspiring set of considerations about the key value of context and provenance.

In addition she poses some important questions about what could actually be done by better curating our own content archives:

"Archives are accustomed to a passive role, asking reflectively what their patrons want to find.

As they work to help researchers tell their stories, it’s easy for archives to forget to keep shaping their own."

Inspiring. Rightful. 8/10

Full article: http://contentsmagazine.com/articles/digital-archives-the-content-strategist/ 

(Image credit: girl picking from the books - Shutterstock)

Since graduating from library school, I’ve fielded occasional questions about archiving “as a professional in the field.” Then comes the second question, “So, what kind of archive do you work in?” But I don’t. Although I was trained as an archivist and care deeply about archives, I’ve been an editor or a content strategist on most of my recent projects. And though I sympathize with archivists’ anxiety about their continuing relevance, I’m also excited for them, as I am for anyone who has content worth sharing