Happy 2024, TARO Community!

The new year brings new members to the TARO Steering Committee. Congratulations and thanks to Katelin Dixon, Susannah Broyles, and Laney Chavez as they join TARO’s leadership team! Thanks also to Kristi Nedderman and Kathryn Slover as they rotate off Steering, and to Maristella Feustle, Rachael Zipperer, Molly Tepera, and Aaron Choate for their continued service. Finally, thanks to the other folks who threw their hats in the ring for the election, and to all the TARO community members who took time to vote.

2024 Steering Committee members:

• Chair: Matthew Richardson, Texas Medical Center Library, matt.richardson@library.tmc.edu
• Vice Chair: Katelin Dixon, Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, Texas Tech University, katelin.dixon@ttu.edu
• Secretary (2023-2024): Rachael Zipperer, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, rachael.zipperer@tpwd.texas.gov
• At-Large Member (2023-2024, 2-year term): Molly Tepera, UT Dallas McDermott Library, molly.tepera@utdallas.edu
• At-Large Member (2024-2025, 2-year term): Susannah Broyles, The Wittliff Collections at Texas State University, s_b623@txstate.edu
• At-large Member (2024-2025, 2-year term): Laney Chavez, Harris County Archives, laney.chavez@cco.hctx.net
• UT Libraries Representative: Aaron Choate, UT Libraries, achoate@austin.utexas.edu
• Immediate Past Chair: Maristella Feustle, University of North Texas Libraries Music Library, maristella.feustle@unt.edu

The TARO Steering Committee is currently reviewing the 2022-2025 Strategic Plan and will soon be sharing specific charges with the TARO Sub-Committees (Standards, WebTech, Education and Outreach, etc.). Stay tuned for details on upcoming initiatives to make TARO better for repositories and users alike!

We’re also working to make sure TARO has an up-to-date list of Repository Representatives and contact information for each participating repository. TARO representatives should expect an email soon confirming their information.

The annual TARO Brown Bag will be held during the Society of Southwest Archivists’ Annual Meeting, May 1-3, 2024. This virtual event will offer updates on TARO initiatives as well as an opportunity to give feedback and ask questions.

Continuing on the Outreach and Education front, two separate full-day, in-person TARO Workshops are being planned. The workshops will be in Northeast and Southeast Texas, though exact locations have not been finalized yet.

A few TARO ArchivesSpace users have been in contact with Lyrasis about developing a TARO Plug-in for ArchivesSpace. This should make it easier to get EAD exported from ArchivesSpace ready for import into TARO. More news coming soon.

Finally, you may have heard talk of a new version of the Encoded Archival Description standard, EAD 4.0 from the Society of American Archivists (SAA)’s Technical Subcommittee for Encoded Archival Standards (TS-EAS). An initial request for comment went out to “archival aggregators as well as software providers and developers,” and several members of TARO’s leadership team contributed comments. If/when a further call for public comment is opened, TARO will publicize this call and encourage more members to comment.

https://www2.archivists.org/groups/technical-subcommittee-on-encoded-archival-standards-ts-eas/major-revision-of-ead-call-to-act 

I think that’s more than enough for now. I’m looking forward to the year ahead and encourage anyone to reach out with questions, ideas, or offers to join Sub-Committees!

-Matt

Greetings all!

And Congratulations! TARO is the recipient of the Texas Historical Records Advisory Board’s Advocacy for Archives award!

The Advocacy for Archives Award recognizes outstanding achievements and lasting impacts on the archival community and the historical record in Texas. The 2022 recipient of this award is Texas Archival Resources Online (TARO). TARO advocates for archives by coordinating with Texas repositories to create standardized, searchable online finding aids and offering a centralized portal for identifying and locating participating collections. TARO staff also train Texas archives personnel on how to use the software and employ the standards required to streamline access on the TARO platform, txarchives.org. THRAB members believe TARO has helped revolutionize access to the historical record in Texas and looks forward to the growth and continued success of the project.

“The TARO steering committee is thrilled with this wonderful honor from THRAB that acknowledges the tremendous efforts of the countless volunteers across the dozens of member repositories contributing to this project,” said TARO steering committee chair Samantha Dodd of Southern Methodist University. “The award will also raise the profile of TARO and perhaps encourage even more repositories to join.”

Thank you all for your continued support and dedication to TARO. It is truly a group effort to develop and sustain this aggregation. Participation is voluntary and free, ensuring access and opportunity to make materials freely accessible and available to communities around the globe. In order to continue to maintain such a wonderful tool, we rely on the members and stakeholders. Help us continue to grow and keep TARO going by running for a position on the steering committee, or volunteering for a subcommittee:

Steering Committee Nominations Open

The call for nominations is now open. TARO is seeking nominations to fill three positions: Vice Chair/Chair-Elect, one At-Large Member, and Secretary. Nominations are accepted (by this online form) until Tuesday, October 18, 2022 at 5pm CST. Detailed descriptions of each open position can be found in the TARO Governance Plan and the online nomination form linked in this email. We also welcome any questions about the open positions or the nomination and election process. Please reach out directly to the current Chair, Vice Chair, or any of the Nominating Committee members if you are interested in nominating a candidate or running yourself and would like more information.

Penny Castillo, Independent Contractor, drpencil9@gmail.com

Kristi Nedderman, Dallas Municipal Archives, kristi.nedderman@dallas.gov

Kathryn Slover, University of Texas at Arlington, Kathryn.slover@uta.edu

Wanted Volunteers for the Outreach and Education Committee (ASAP)

Looking for volunteers to join the outreach and education subcommittee, no experience or expertise needed. Members of this subcommittee will be focusing on: Updating the TARO Today website and documentation, create training resources (documentation, videos, etc.) based on TARO members’ needs, and disseminating information through the various TARO channels and outreach events. If you have a passion for TARO (don’t we all?), and an interest in education and outreach, please contact Robert Weaver (robert.g.weaver@ttu.edu) to join this outstanding subcommittee!

Wanted: Volunteers for the Website & Technology Subcommittee (ASAP)

Looking for volunteers to join the Website & Technology Subcommittee (WebTech). Do you process collections and write finding aids? Do you work with patrons and search for collections? Or perhaps you get to do a variety of tasks and have TARO bookmarked as one of your frequently used resources. Oxygen, ArchivesSpace or none of the above? Do not feel intimidated. Testing different kinds of searches, or submitting finding aids, or surveying our users, there is something to do for everyone. Whatever your expertise level, WebTech wants you! Please contact Ada Negraru: anegraru@mail.smu.edu to join our friendly subcommittee!

Monthly Analytics and Statistics

September usage statistics are now available and can be viewed/downloaded from our Wiki page.

Strategic Plan

NEH implementation grant completed? Check! What’s next? Steering invites your feedback on the future of TARO. The 2022-2025 Strategic Plan is open for comments and suggestions. Please submit all feedback by November 20^th, 2022.

Until next time!

Cheers~