Chat with USC Shoah Foundation Archivists for #AskAnArchivist

Have you ever wanted to know what it takes to become an archivist? Or what the archivists at the USC Shoah Foundation are working on today? Or have an archiving problem of your own you’d like some advice on?

Now is your chance to get those questions answered. The Society of American Archivists is promoting #AskAnArchivist Day Thurs., Oct. 30 on Twitter. It is an opportunity for archivists across the country to interact with anyone interested in their profession by answering questions with the hashtag #AskAnArchivist.

To join in the discussion, tweet @USCShoahFdn and use the hashtag #AskAnArchivist to ask its archivists Sandra Aguilar and Daryn Eller a question.

Aguilar, archivist, and Eller, archival assistant, work in USC Shoah Foundation’s Information Technology Services (ITS) department. Aguilar, who joined the staff about a month ago, interprets and formats information and details about the interviewees and the interviews to be brought into the database systems of the Visual History Archive. She is also a liaison between USC Shoah Foundation’s research specialists and database programmers to develop ways for the testimonies to be searched and experienced. Her past experience includes working with film and television archives.

Eller works with the USC Shoah Foundation Institutional Audio-Visual Collection, a database of the Institute’s personal recordings of everything from early staff meetings and interviewer trainings to press conferences. She organizes and describes these items so that they can be easily accessed by staff as well as researchers interested in the history of the Institute.

Aguilar and Eller are ready to talk about why they became archivists, what makes the Visual History Archive unique, their day-to-day tasks, advice for upcoming archivists, and more.