University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, School of Information)

In this Early Career Research Development project, Dr. Diana Marsh will conduct a research study on Native American and Indigenous archival collections discovery and access. This research draws on a collaborative co-design process with an Indigenous advisory board, Tribal project archivists, and Indigenous focus groups to investigate Social Networks and Archival Context—a platform for aggregating distributed archives—as a case study in increasing Indigenous archival discovery and access. The project will support the training of an Indigenous information studies scholar, as well as professional development training for four Tribal project archivists, an Indigenous library science student, and an Indigenous film student, while providing space for Indigenous students and professionals interested in these topics through focus groups. The results of this research will create a replicable model to support community researchers in successful archival discovery, and contribute evidence-based approaches to reparative description across the archival field.