BACKER: Building Archival Capacity for Keeping Electronic Records

BACKER: Building Archival Capacity for Keeping Electronic Records

We are pleased to announce that CoSA is the recipient of an IMLS National Leadership Grant in the amount of $475,000 over three years to develop and deliver new and expanded technical assistance, educational programming, and training to state and territorial government archives to strengthen their digital records preservation and accessibility capacities. The project includes 1) updating self-assessment tools and best practices for digital preservation programs; 2) direct assistance and mentoring to improve digital preservation programs, including digitization planning and related policy development; and 3) accelerating development and implementation of digital preservation planning and cultural competence awareness and skill-building educational and training programs in a variety of formats in order to facilitate continued learning and sharing among archives staff. The work of the grant is named BACKER: Building Archival Capacity for Keeping Electronic Records.

Cultural Competency Workshop

Cultural Competency is not reflected by the diversity of your staff and patrons or the amount of outreach to underserved communities. It is reflected in your and your staffʻs ability to function with awareness, knowledge, and interpersonal skill when engaging people of different backgrounds, assumptions, beliefs, values, and behaviors. This workshop provides the opportunity to examine personal perceptions and strategies that will increase your ability to practice inclusion through a culturally competent lens.

This workshop provided participants the four skills to employ Cultural Competency and the five stages individuals and organizations can implement to improve relations with internal and external communities.

Learning Objectives:

Upon completion of this workshop, participants were able to:

  • Define Cultural Competency and how its integration at three levels is required to be successful
  • Examine critically your interaction with people of different cultures, not limited to ethnicity
  • Identify the five stages and where you and your organization are on the continuum of Cultural Competency
  • Practice four important skills to employ Cultural Competency
  • Identify the multi-level model for implementing Cultural Competency
  • Design methods to improve relations with internal and external communities
  • Combine cultural-mindedness with culturally centered communication skills for effective relationships with all people forming the basis for culturally competent organizations, communities and societies

Workshop Recordings

Cultural Competency Resources

Please visit our Cultural Competency page for access to resources.

BACKER Resources