Shelley Sweeney (archivist)

Shelley Sweeney (born 1959) is the Head of the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections. She helped found three archival organizations and is a charter member of the Academy of Certified Archivists. She wrote, with colleagues, the code of ethics for the Canadian archival profession.

Education and career

Sweeney graduated from Alberni District Secondary School in 1977 and subsequently received a Bachelor of Arts in Latin from the University of British Columbia in 1981.^[1] She was among the original ten students to enter the first Masters of archival studies program in North America at the University of British Columbia, receiving her Masters degree in 1985.^[2] Her thesis was entitled: "A Comparative Study of the Record Keeping Practices of the Anglican, Baptist, and United Churches in British Columbia." She studied under archival theorists Terry Eastwood and, for a brief time, Hugh Taylor. In 2011, she was awarded a 50th Anniversary Alumni Service and Leadership Award from the School of Library, Archival and Information Studies at the University of British Columbia in recognition of her support of the program and her work as a role model in the field.^[3]

After completion of classwork, she accepted a position as University Archivist at the University of Regina, from 1983 to 1998.^[4] She was appointed Head of the University of Manitoba archives in 1998 and, subsequently, Coordinator of FIPPA (Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act) and later, PHIA (Personal Health Information Act) for the University.^[5] Responsibility for these two additional portfolios ended when the University's organizational structure shifted the FIPPA Office to the Vice-President Administration in 2008.

Sweeney was the first person to receive a doctor of philosophy degree with an emphasis in Archival Enterprise from the University of Texas at Austin in 2002, having taken a two year educational leave from the University of Regina from 1995 to 1997 in order to complete course work.^[6] She studied under Dr. David B. Gracy II. Her dissertation was entitled: "The Source-Seeking Cognitive Processes and Behaviour of the In-Person Archival Researcher." Sweeney teaches the section on description within the first year Archival Studies course at the University of Manitoba.

Professional activities

Sweeney was Editor of the ACA (Association of Canadian Archivists) Bulletin from 1985 to 1987 and President of the association from 1998 to 2000, among other positions.^[7] She served as Secretary of the international Academy of Certified Archivists from 2003 to 2005.^[8] She helped found the Saskatchewan Council of Archives in 1986, the Saskatchewan Archivists Society in 1988, and the University Special Interest Section of the International Council of Archives in 1992.^[9] She wrote, with the assistance of colleagues, the original "Code of Ethics for Archivists" for the Association of Canadian Archivists.^[10] From 2006-2008, she was Secretary General of the Bureau of Canadian Archivists, appointed by the ACA and representing Canadian archival professional interests abroad. She was appointed the ACA representative on the Sectoral Committee of the Canadian Commission on UNESCO in 2009. In 2011 she was named a Fellow of the Association of Canadian Archivists.^[11]

Consulting

Sweeney has written three reviews of Canadian university archives: with Ian Forsyth. “The Jewel in the Crown: An External Review of the Queen’s University Archives” 2004;“External Evaluation of the University of Calgary Archives’ Strategic Research Plans” 2002; and “State of the Archives: An External Review of the University of Saskatchewan Archives,” Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, 1995.

Notes

Selected bibliography

• “Provenance of Archival Materials,” Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science. (electronic version) [in progress].
• “The Ambiguous Origins of the Archival Principle of ‘Provenance,’” Libraries & the Cultural Record. 43, 2 (2008): 193-213.
• “Andrew Suknaski,” The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan. Regina: Canadian Plains Research Centre, 2005.
• “Merging or Diverging?: The Creation of the Information Superprofessional,” Archifacts. [New Zealand] (December 2001): .
• With Jan Horner and Carol Budnick, “Manitoba Borders: Women Writing Over the Line: A Historical Overview of Ten Manitoba Women Writers”/Frontieres Manitobaines: Des Excrivaines Qui Ont Franchi La Ligne,” Manitoba Women’s Directorate, 2000.
• With Lois Yorke, “The Bright Promise: A Commentary on the National Archives of Canada and the English Report One Year After the Appointment of the National Archivist of Canada,” Association of Canadian Archivists, 2000.
• "Ethics Wrangling in Canada: Or, Is It Ethical to Argue with the Ethics Committee?" New Zealand Archivist. II, no.4 (Summer/December 1991): 13.
• "An Act of Faith: Access to Religious Records in English Canada," Archivaria. 30 (Summer 1990): 42-54 .
• "Sheep That Have Gone Astray?: Church Record Keeping and the Canadian Archival System," Archivaria. 23 (Winter 1986/87): 54-68.
• "A Guinea Pig's Perspective on the UBC Master of Archival Studies Programme," Archivaria. 18 (Summer 1984): 263-7.

External links

• University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections staff page