This panel, sponsored by the University of Michigan Chapter of the Society of American Archivists, explores the role that archivists play in maintaining authentic and authoritative information in the digital age. This panel will be held on Saturday, March 29, 2008 from 11 a.m.-noon in the Rackham Conference Room - East.

Julie Herrada is the Curator of the Labadie Collection at the Special Collections Library of the University of Michigan. The Labadie Collection was established in 1911 when Joseph Labadie, a prominent Detroit anarchist, donated his library to the University of Michigan. Although the Collection was originally concerned mainly with anarchist materials, its scope was later widened considerably to include a great variety of social protest literature together with political views from both the extreme left and the extreme right. Topic: Julie Herrada will address some of the issues and concerns that arise when we really start representing "underrepresented" groups in our archives and the costs of doing so in terms of donor support, public perceptions, and profile among academic institutions.

David Horrocks is the Supervisory Archivist at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library. He directs the reference and collections management programs. Topic: Declassification and other access to presidential materials has become increasingly codified, while authority for action is increasingly shared and dispersed. David Horrocks will discuss what this means for archivists and researchers."

Elizabeth Yakel is an associate professor in the School of Information and coordinator of the Preservation of Information specialization of the Master of Science in Information program. Her research interests include use and user services for archival materials, particularly focusing on the digital realm, and the development of recordkeeping systems. Topic: Web 2.0 applications in archives are ushering in an era of shared control over collections. Elizabeth Yakel will discuss the implications for the authority of archival work, archivists, and collections.