SESSION 3:
"Beyond the Elevator Speech: Embedding Advocacy into Daily Practice"
 
OVERVIEW: The purpose of this session is to discuss the ways that government archivists can intentionally embed an advocacy mindset into all aspects of their work. Advocacy is often viewed as a separate activity from collections management, preservation, or reference. Other times it is tacked onto the end of a project or event as an afterthought. Still other times we wait to do advocacy work until we’re asked questions or there’s talk of budget reductions for the program. All of these approaches are reactive, rather than proactive. They also risk diluting the message of advocacy because we’re trying to retrofit a project or we’re rushing to produce some sort of awareness initiative. These approaches don’t take advantage of opportunities that are available in our daily work to raise awareness about what archives do and why they matter.   
 
This session presents a case study from King County Archives, focusing on the methods we developed over a two-year timeframe to consistently embed advocacy into our daily practice and the specific actions we took as a result. Staff collectively engaged in a number of strategic thinking exercises early on to determine where advocacy would be the most meaningful, then agreed upon a series of action items to implement. At the Archives, all staff are considered advocacy experts, and each one looks for ways to promote awareness of the archives and integrate that awareness building into their daily work. We consider ourselves both public servants and advocates for the Archives program and the archival profession and feel that the two responsibilities are inextricably linked.
 
The Archives has developed a two-pronged approach to embedding advocacy. One area of focus is internal and directed primarily at County government leadership, records management colleagues, and County staff members generally. The second area of focus is external and public-facing, directed at County residents and the larger research community. This session will explore those approaches, using specific projects and initiatives as examples.
 
GARA COMPETENCY AREA: "Training, Advocacy & Outreach"
 
PRESENTERS: Hannah Soukup, County Archivist and Archives Program Manager, King County and Alycia Ensminger, County Archives Education and Reference Specialist, King County
 

   
Hannah Soukup   Alycia Ensminger 

Certified Archivist Hannah Soukup holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Montana and an MLIS from Simmons University in Boston. Before moving to Seattle in 2022 to be the King County Archivist, she worked as a poet, teacher, oral historian, researcher, and copyeditor. Her research interests include accessibility and advocacy in archives, alternative information organization systems, and community archives.
Alycia Ensminger is an Education and Reference Specialist at the King County Archives in Seattle, Washington, where she connects the public with government records. Her background spans libraries and archives, including roles at the Washington Talking Book & Braille Library, The Seattle Public Library, NBBJ Architecture and Design Archives, and the Andy Warhol Museum Archives. She holds an MLIS from the University of Pittsburgh and is especially interested in how archival reference can support advocacy efforts and bring greater visibility to historically marginalized voices.