The Society of American Archivists was founded in 1936 and is North America's oldest and largest national professional association focused on the needs and interests of archives and archivists. Review their core values and code of ethics here. Do you think their core values and ethics align with an abolitionist archival praxis? Why or why not? How will you adopt these values and ethics in your work during this course? Are there other values and ethics you think you should adopt in addition to these?

Every archival repository will have its own set of rules and guidelines to follow when working with their archival holdings. Some rules include not using flash photography, not having any food or drinks, etc. This page from the Society of American Archivists outlines some universal guidelines and rules you will find across archival repositories. Are there any guidelines listed that might cause barriers to access?

Information resources reflect their creators’ expertise and credibility, and are evaluated based on the information need and the context in which the information will be used. Authority is constructed in that various communities may recognize different types of authority. It is contextual in that the information need may help to determine the level of authority required.

Experts understand that authority is a type of influence recognized or exerted within a community. Experts view authority with an attitude of informed skepticism and an openness to new perspectives, additional voices, and changes in schools of thought. Experts understand the need to determine the validity of the information created by different authorities and to acknowledge biases that privilege some sources of authority over others, especially in terms of others’ worldviews, gender, sexual orientation, and cultural orientations. An understanding of this concept enables novice learners to critically examine all evidence—be it a short blog post or a peer-reviewed conference proceeding—and to ask relevant questions about origins, context, and suitability for the current information need. Thus, novice learners come to respect the expertise that authority represents while remaining skeptical of the systems that have elevated that authority and the information created by it. Experts know how to seek authoritative voices but also recognize that unlikely voices can be authoritative, depending on need. Novice learners may need to rely on basic indicators of authority, such as type of publication or author credentials, where experts recognize schools of thought or discipline-specific paradigms.

from Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, Association of College & Research Libraries