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SNAC

Updates for the

SAA Description Section Annual Meeting

Friday, May 22, 2026

Jerry Simmons

Ugoma Smoke

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Introductions and Land Acknowledgements

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Visit and Explore: SNACcooperative.org / About

State of the Cooperative tradition resumed / 3-11-2026

SNAC’s Enslaved Description Group resumed meeting and projects

Technical Infrastructure Working Group rebooted

New chair! Maristella Feustle, University of North Texas Library

OpenRefine plugin demo / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR0_HhtFAaQ
ArchivesSpace plugin demo / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2ze2Irtmc4

Professor Robbie Hott, former SNAC returns to lead development

Technical enhancements by SimpleThread (Charlottesville, Va.) coming to a close:

ISO 636-3 Language and Script codes implemented
Controlled vocabulary manager nearing implementation

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SNAC Outreach and Training:

Chair of SNAC’s Outreach Working Group is Scotty Beland (UMD)

New Social Media coordinator is Jill Higgs.

Follow us on Instagram @snaccooperative

Visit the SNAC Information table at SAA in July!

New SNACSchool 5.0 launched February 25, 2026

Upcoming Summer and Fall SNACSchool events

Register here: https://portal.snaccooperative.org/snacschool

June 3, 1-3 EST / Train the Trainer (if you’ve completed SNACSchool)

July 8, 1-3 EST / Research and Reference SNACSchool

July 29, 1-5 / SNACSchool Create and Edit / In-person event at Tulane

August 26, 1-5 EST / SNACSchool Create and Edit

September 23, 1-3 EST / Research and Reference SNACSchool

October 14, 1-5 EST / SNACSchool Create and Edit

December 14, 2:30-4 pm EST / Tech Workshop (topic TBD)

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Webinar title

Updates: Edit-a-thons

2025

SNAC Edit-a-thon: November 14, 2025

Location: Folger Shakespeare Library
Event: Hybrid (In-person & Virtual)
Collaborative SNAC record editing session
SNAC entity records

Demo/Training
Review
Update

2026

SNAC Merge-a-thon: November 12, 2026

Location: TBD
Event: Hybrid or Fully Virtual (TBD)
Duplicate SNAC entity records

Demo/Training
Reconciling
Merging

Description Section

Folger Shakespeare Library

Washington, D.C.

Photo Taken: 11/14/2025

I wanted to briefly highlight two collaborative SNAC community events that focus on improving entity records, metadata quality, and linked archival description work.

First, the SNAC Edit-a-thon took place on November 14, 2025, at the Folger Shakespeare Library as a hybrid event with both in-person and virtual participation.

The Edit-a-thon was a really great collaborative event with strong participation. It created space for people to work together directly in SNAC through demos, training, and hands-on editing.

A major focus of the event was working with SNAC entity records connected to Indigenous CPF description work. Participants spent time updating records and discussing descriptive consistency.

Then looking ahead, the SNAC Merge-a-thon is planned for November 12, 2026, with the format still being determined as either hybrid or fully virtual.

While the Edit-a-thon focused on reviewing and improving records, the Merge-a-thon will focus more specifically on duplicate SNAC entity records and reconciliation work.

Together, these events support collaborative stewardship of SNAC data and help strengthen the quality of entity description work across the cooperative.

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Webinar title

Updates: SNAC Editorial Standards and Policy Working Group

Description Section

SNAC Editorial Standards and Policy Working Group (ESWG)

Chair: Ugoma Smoke
Review of SNAC 12 Editorial Policies

https://portal.snaccooperative.org/editorial-policies

LCSH Indigenous Headings Project Task Group

Approved LOC Subject Heading List: https://classweb.org/approved-subjects/2509a.html

Indigenous Description Group (IDG)

Chair: Evangeline Marie Giaconia
Advisory Body for Mellon Grant (UMD)
Seven Teams:

Enslaved Description Group (EDG)

Chair: Bernetiae Reed
Mellon grant proposal Draft

The EDG is continuing to work on the Mellon proposal.

Focus on Slavery Era Entities Description System (SEEDS)

Enslaved Events (Chronology/BiogHist feature/model in SNAC)

Subgroup Committees of the IDG

NABS Dataset Upload Committee

Chair: Veronica Pipestem
Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition Dataset

Editorial Guide Committee

Chair: Ugoma Smoke
Editorial Guide for Indigenous Entity Descriptions in SNAC (Revising Volume 2.)

https://portal.snaccooperative.org/node/595

Project Management
Community Interfacing/Relationship Building
Metadata and Collections

SNAC Development and Tech
DevTech (Indigenous issues)
Training and Outreach
Evaluation

I want to give a quick overview of some of the key working groups and subgroup efforts that are currently active within SNAC, especially those focused on editorial standards, Indigenous description, and related collaborative projects.

SNAC Editorial Standards and Policy Working Group

First, the SNAC Editorial Standards and Policy Working Group, or ESWG, is chaired by myself. This group’s current focus is on reviewing and refining SNAC’s 12 editorial policies. A big part of this work is making sure our standards stay consistent and usable across different contributors and institutions.

We’re also engaging with external authority work, including the LOC Subject Headings Indigenous Project Task Group, which connects to the approved LCSH subject heading lists.

Enslaved Description Group

Next, we have the Enslaved Description Group, or EDG, chaired by Bernetiae Reed. This group is currently working on a Mellon grant proposal and continues to develop work around the Slavery Era Entities Description System, or SEEDS.

A key focus here is also thinking through how we represent enslaved events and experiences in SNAC, including how biographical and chronological information can be structured in more meaningful ways.

Indigenous Description Group

Then we have the Indigenous Description Group (IDG), chaired by Evangeline Marie Giaconia. The IDG began around 2022 as part of SNAC collaborative efforts focused on Indigenous-centered archival description and is now transitioning into an advisory body for the Mellon-funded grant project at the University of Maryland.

This work is part of IndigenizeSNAC, a Mellon Foundation–funded initiative that enhances SNAC’s ability to support Indigenous community research by improving access to distributed archival collections. IndigenizeSNAC addresses barriers that can make Indigenous-related materials difficult to find, and the IDG will provide advisory coordination through seven focused teams working to strengthen Indigenous-centered archival description across SNAC.

Within the IDG, there are also a couple of key subgroups I want to highlight.

The NABS Dataset Upload Committee, chaired by Veronica Pipestem, works with metadata compiled by the Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, a Native-led nonprofit maintaining a digital archive of Boarding School records.

The dataset, includes a name authority file for federally recognized Tribal Nations based on official Tribal websites and the National Congress of American Indians Tribal Directory.

And another is the Editorial Guide Committee, which I chair. This group is currently revising the Editorial Guide for Indigenous Entity Descriptions in SNAC, specifically Volume 2, and working through how guidance is structured and applied in practice.