Mission
ASU Library’s Community-Driven Archives (CDA) Initiative is reimagining and transforming 21st century academic libraries and archives by developing and implementing innovative solutions that address inequities, erasure, and trauma. Our award winning initiative advances ASU’s research and public service mission by creating a collaborative culture that models reparative justice, diversity, inclusion and broadens access to and preservation of knowledge.
Vision and Values
Empathy and Reparative Action
We seek to…
- Build relationships with historically marginalized communities in Arizona by cultivating trust and mutual respect.
- Acknowledge the legacy of White supremacy in Arizona and historical trauma by dismantling traditional power structures that exclude.
- Break cycles of erasure through the collaborative development of CDA collections, programs and services.
- Ensure community members are truly able to engage at all levels of the preservation process and share stewardship responsibilities.
Collective Memory and Knowledge
We aim to…
- Work with communities to redefine the traditional definition and function of an archive.
- Center the lived experiences and knowledge of Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) memory keepers.
- Create intergenerational and intersectional safe spaces that support lifelong learning and reimagine archives as spaces of inclusion.
- Support community-driven projects that use archival material, storytelling and memory keeping as healing tools.
Equitable Access
Our initiative…
- Provides free access to archival training, archive starter kits, technology and other educational resources that empower our patrons.
- Supports community archivists as they establish their own archives outside of the university for future generations.
- Facilitates the donation of archival material to ASU Library’s Black Collections, Chicano/a Research Collection, Greater Arizona Collection and University Archives.
- Provides access to our collections in our reading room and digital repository.
- Improves metadata to enable culturally relevant searching and access to archival collections and library resources.
More than research and preservation, CDA is helping historically marginalized communities process and remember by centering their knowledge. Seeing yourself in history, probably for the first time, and then reflecting on it leads to personal and collective healing. We humanize ourselves and others when we take action, work with archives, and share our stories.
Nancy Liliana GodoyDirector and Associate Archivist
News and blog
More news
LGBTQ+ Studies Collection a repository rich in legacy
Arizona State University’s LGBTQ+ Studies Collection isn’t just a repository for historically underrepresented communities; it’s a celebration of resistance and survival. The collection, located within the Community-Driven Archives Initiative, is the largest archival repository for LGBTQ+ history in...
MLK's 1964 speech at ASU subject of new, continuing exhibit
On June 3, 1964, Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech at Goodwin Stadium, then the home of Arizona State University’s football team. The speech was titled “Religious Witness for Human Dignity” and was delivered just days before the Civil Rights Act was passed by the U.S. Senate. “The bill must pas...
Wrapping up first year of the IMLS Memory Keeper Fellowship
Community Driven Archive Initiative (CDA) and Labriola just wrapped up their first year of in-person mentoring for the Memory Keeper Fellowship funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences (IMLS). It is bittersweet to see the first year of the fellowship come to an end however we would lik...
Thunderbird archives: These walls do talk
At most universities, if you want to learn about their history, you must enter a library and dig through an expansive archive. At the Thunderbird School of Global Management on Arizona State University’s Downtown Phoenix campus, a good portion of its history is displayed on its walls. Spread out ov...