Our spaces
Our CDA team implements services and programs that successfully create safe spaces that promote life-long learning, equity and justice through community-driven archives.
Community Driven Archives Memory Lab
The Memory Lab allows people to explore how archives intersect with other forms of memory keeping and creative expression, showcasing a free do-it-yourself (DIY) preservation area and our Technology Lending Program. Visitors can learn from our CDA team as we digitize our collections in order to make them accessible on PRISM, ASU Library's digital collections repository.
The Memory Lab is located on the Concourse Level of Hayden Library, Room C55b. Stay tuned for upcoming events and workshops!
Luhrs Reading Room
Hayden Library, First Floor, Room 101
An open study space that showcases exhibits and a curated book collection focusing on Arizona history. You can browse for books on ASU Library’s One Search. If you’re not affiliated with ASU, you can become a registered borrower with the library. Please view the Community Borrower Loan Policy.
Wurzburger Reading Room
Hayden Library, First Floor, Room 138
Our archival collections can be viewed by appointment in the Wurzburger Reading Room. Please make an appointment at least five business days prior to your visit by contacting Ask an Archivist.
Instruction services and archival processing
The CDA team is passionate about embedding community-driven archives and resources into teaching and research opportunities. We enhance learning experiences at ASU by supporting students, staff, faculty and existing university-wide programs through class visits. If you want to submit an instruction request, please contact us.
On a daily basis, we appraise, arrange and describe archival material from Black Collections, Chicano/a Research Collection, Greater Arizona Collection and University Archives. We are deeply dedicated to ensuring responsible stewardship of ASU Library’s archival holdings and strive to engage patrons of all ages and educational levels. In order to make collections accessible, we create finding aids that contain detailed information or metadata about each collection. ASU Library provides access to finding aids in English and Spanish on Arizona Archives Online.
Programs and projects
Archives Glow Podcast
Archives Glow, a podcast about community history, memory and healing, is meant to empower BIPOC and LGBTQ communities through storytelling. We are amplifying the voices of these communities and providing a safe and accessible space for those to relate and heal.
Recovering ASU’s BIPOC and LGBTQ History Campaign
We are working with students, faculty and alumni to implement a university-wide campaign to ensure that University Archives accurately reflect our communities. This means looking at old and new collections in different ways and looking for clues that tell us more about inclusion, representation and relationships. We are also looking for archival silences or gaps in the record. Our goal is to amplify the voices of students, staff and faculty who have traditionally not been heard or seen in the historical record. In addition, we are an institutional partner of Project Stand, a national initiative to preserve social justice movements in marginalized communities and universities.
Black Collections Symposium
We have planned and hosted symposium events that center the voices and stories of Black memory keepers, archivists, and the ASU community. At the 2023 Black Memory and Storytelling Symposium, speakers and guests reimagined 21st-century archives as spaces of inclusion and justice.
Queer Elders and Ancestors Project
Since 2015, ASU Library has been working with local community partners to preserve Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) history. In 2022, CDA launched the Queer Elders and Ancestors project in order to document and celebrate the lives of individuals who have made a tremendous impact.
Improving educational pathways
CDA Escuelita “Little School” Program
Our team is introducing community archives and the importance of preserving Arizona’s history to students and teachers. We are developing a Kid Archivist toolkit with lesson plans and activities to distribute to educators and schools.
Community Archivist Fellowship Program
With grant support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, CDA is establishing a Community Archivist Fellowship Program for Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) who are currently attending community and Tribal colleges. ASU Library seeks to support the development of a diverse workforce in libraries and archives by introducing underserved and underrepresented students to archival theory at the community college level.
Read more about supporting the next generation of BIPOC community archivists
Knowledge River Program
ASU Library has a partnership with the Knowledge River (KR) program at the University of Arizona School of Information. CDA archivists mentor Knowledge River Scholars who are current graduate students preparing for a career in libraries and archives.
Visualizing CDA means thinking about how the future of archives depends on children and young students, and nurturing the growth of the next generation of community archivists. Our program, CDA Escuelita, seeks to empower K-12 students, plant seeds that their knowledge and stories are important, and implement creative exercises that support lifelong learning.
Jasmine TorrezAssistant Archivist of CDA