Association of Canadian Archivists upcoming events

Access & Privacy Special Interest Section (7 May 2026)

Thu, 07 May 2026 17:00:00 GMT

The ACA Access & Privacy Special Interest Section (SIS) will be holding a meeting for anyone interested on Thursday May 7th at 11 am MT (1pm ET).

Please feel free to join the meeting if you’re interested in information access and privacy as a social value, citizen right and as it pertains to your institutional holdings.

The SIS seeks to establish a foundation for archivists to openly connect and share perspectives on access to information, access and privacy practices, and archival access more broadly.

If you’re interested in matters relating to the acquisition and management of personal information, or access more broadly as an archival duty, please feel free to join the group.

Topics of interest include access services and barriers to accessing archives, user experience and access to archives, access rights, understanding privacy, how access & privacy laws apply to public & private sector archives, and the various challenges that coincide with disclosure. Identifying steps and strategies for implementing privacy compliant business practices can also be considered.

The group will be open to tabling concerns of archivists related to privacy ethics & principles and access to information issues for general awareness and knowledge sharing.

Zoom link will be sent to registrants the day before the meeting.

Online Workshop: Preserving Moving Image Film and Outsourcing Digitization (21 May 2026)

Thu, 21 May 2026 18:00:00 GMT

Preserving Moving Image Film and Outsourcing Digitization

Thursday May 21 at 2:30 - 4:00 EST

Instructor: Christina Stewart

This workshop is designed for all archivists with the goal of demystifying the world of moving image film and its digitization. Nearly all archives have film materials, but not the traditional equipment to make the content accessible. This workshop aims to make that content come to life again by focusing on where and how to start a digitization project. The topics covered will be film identification and preservation, understanding digitization services, budgets, what questions to ask vendors, and finally how to prep your film materials for digitization. By the end of the workshop, archivists will have a clearer understanding of their materials, the services they will need, but also the confidence to talk to vendors. Participants are asked to bring questions and collection scenarios for discussion.

Zoom link will be provided to registrants the day before the workshop.

Special Interest Section Indigenous Archives (29 May 2026)

Fri, 29 May 2026 18:00:00 GMT

ACA 2026 Virtual Conference (8 Jun 2026)

Mon, 08 Jun 2026 15:00:00 GMT

For archivists handling the everyday operations of today’s archives, the connection to archival theory and academic concepts learned at school or read in academic publications can be somewhat tenuous. Particularly in smaller organizations where limitations of staff and resources can necessitate practical, creative, and out-of-the-box solutions - the abstract role of archival theory can be hard to discern.

The ACA 2026 Virtual Conference explores the connections (and disconnections) between theories of archival practice and the daily realities and challenges archivists face. We will hear about the work being done by archivists across (and beyond) the discipline to address challenges particular to circumstance, whether it be engaging systematically marginalized communities, preservation on a budget, or implementing the Reconciliation Framework released by the Steering Committee on Canada’s Archives.

“How Do I Make This Work for Me?” Utilizing Transcription Tools to Enhance Collection Discoverability (8 Jun 2026)

Mon, 08 Jun 2026 17:30:00 GMT

“How Do I Make This Work for Me?” Utilizing Transcription Tools to Enhance Collection Discoverability.

Offered as part of the ACA 2026 Virtual Conference, this workshop is ticketed separately from conference registration.

Monday June 8 at 1:30 - 3:00 EST

Instructors: Caitlin Bakker, Crista Bradley, Alyssa Hyduk

Gladys Arnold, a teacher turned journalist, worked for the Regina Leader-Post before travelling to Europe in 1935. After working as a freelance journalist for the Canadian Press, she became their Paris correspondent, ultimately serving as the sole Canadian correspondent in France at the start of the Second World War. Her correspondence and memoirs, now preserved at the University of Regina’s Dr. John Archer Library & Archives, offer a vivid picture of a time of great historical significance.

Yet, for all this primary source material, there is still a disconnect. While many of her materials have been digitized, the digital copies have not been made publicly available due to the lack of transcription and metadata, both of which require a sizeable amount of staff time. Making Arnold’s work more discoverable is essential to ensuring that her voice can be heard, and that these first-person accounts can be studied and shared. While open-source machine learning tools can generate preliminary transcripts, human review is essential to correct errors and omissions, and the volume of material makes in-house review impractical. 

To address this challenge, we explored different platforms to assist with AI transcription of these materials, with the hopes of not only transcribing many of Gladys Arnold’s letters, but also to raise awareness of this signification Saskatchewan resource.

This workshop aims to introduce learners to different transcription tools, highlight the benefits and drawbacks of each, and offer best practices for using AI for transcription projects.

Learning outcomes for this workshop will be:

1: How to identify collections which will benefit from transcriptions tools and what to prioritize

2: Knowledge of some of the more accessible transcription tools and their benefits/drawbacks

3: Tips and tricks for building AI prompts to suit your project

Zoom link will be provided to registrants the day before the workshop.

Instructor Biographies

Alyssa Hyduk, MLIS, CNA Alyssa has been involved in the archival community in Canada since 2015 and is the University Archivist at the University of Regina where she oversees private records, collection development, reference and research. Her interests include cultural memory acquisition, digitization and preservation, AI in archives, and archival appraisal.

Caitlin Bakker, MLIS, PhD Caitlin Bakker is the Discovery Technologies Librarian at the University of Regina, where her portfolio includes the Library Services Platform, discovery and publishing systems, metadata, and authentication services. Her interests include research and publishing ethics, open science and scholarship, metadata and systems interoperability, and evidence synthesis.

Crista Bradley, MA (Archival Studies) Crista Bradley is the University Records & Information Management Archivist and an Adjunct Professor in History at the University of Regina. She oversees the Archives’ outreach, instruction and records management programs and collection development for university records. Her research interests relate to the extension of archives to specialized groups.

Introduction to Digital Preservation Workshop (8 Jul 2026)

Wed, 08 Jul 2026 18:00:00 GMT

Introduction to Digital Preservation

Wednesday July 8 at 2:00 - 3:30 EST

Thursday July 9 at 2:00 - 3:30 EST

Instructor: Mary Grace Kosta

This two-part workshop series will provide an introduction to digital preservation with a focus on strategies for archives with limited resources. The topics covered will include:

Preservation issues concerning digital records
Preservation strategies and actions (including fixity checks for integrity)
Open Archival Information System (OAIS) reference model
National Digital Stewardship Alliance (NDSA) Levels of Preservation
Documentation including policy
Workflow steps: inventory, select and acquire, ingest, store, access
File formats
Metadata
Hardware and software needed (write blocker, floppy disk reader, DVD and CD player, software like DROID and Bagger)
Storage options (cloud, NAS server, tape, consortium)
Navigating institutional barriers including budget constraints, institutional resistance, technical barriers

Zoom link will be provided to registrants the day before the workshop.

Introduction to Digital Preservation Workshop (9 Jul 2026)

Thu, 09 Jul 2026 18:00:00 GMT

Introduction to Digital Preservation

Wednesday July 8 at 2:00 - 3:30 EST

Thursday July 9 at 2:00 - 3:30 EST

Instructor: Mary Grace Kosta

This two-part workshop series will provide an introduction to digital preservation with a focus on strategies for archives with limited resources. The topics covered will include:

Preservation issues concerning digital records
Preservation strategies and actions (including fixity checks for integrity)
Open Archival Information System (OAIS) reference model
National Digital Stewardship Alliance (NDSA) Levels of Preservation
Documentation including policy
Workflow steps: inventory, select and acquire, ingest, store, access
File formats
Metadata
Hardware and software needed (write blocker, floppy disk reader, DVD and CD player, software like DROID and Bagger)
Storage options (cloud, NAS server, tape, consortium)
Navigating institutional barriers including budget constraints, institutional resistance, technical barriers

Zoom link will be provided to registrants the day before the workshop.

Special Interest Section Indigenous Archives (31 Jul 2026)

Fri, 31 Jul 2026 18:00:00 GMT

Basics of Email Preservation Workshop (19 Nov 2026)

Thu, 19 Nov 2026 19:00:00 GMT

Basics of Email Preservation Workshop

Thursday November 19 at 2:00 - 3:30 EST

Instructor: Jonathan Ennis

This workshop offers an overview of the fundamentals of email preservation, exploring why preserving email is both essential and complex. Participants will be introduced to common email preservation formats, methods for downloading email from several major providers, approaches to processing and providing access using ePADD, and best practices for determining which emails should be preserved.

The session builds on a presentation originally delivered for the Society of American Archivists’ Archivists of Religious Collections Section and incorporates research developed in preparation for collecting and preserving email accounts from Moravian congregations and agencies. The updated workshop will include refreshed content reflecting recent developments in the field, as well as practical insights drawn from this evolving case study.

Instructor Bio:

Jonathan Ennis received his undergraduate degree from Moravian University in 2008 and his master's in Library and Information Science from Drexel University in 2011. He has been working at the Moravian Archive, Bethlehem, since 2018. He is responsible for the Archives' digitization projects, including scanning and maintenance of digitized material, processing and storage of born digital material, and digitization requests from researchers.

Zoom link will be provided to registrants the day before the workshop.