Annotated Bibliography of Information Resources on Migrant Community Archives

Abstract

As information service professionals, librarians need to keep abreast of the current research interests and trends. On one hand, the recent refugee crisis has brought the spotlight on migrants and migration. On the other hand, increased migration has led to ethnically diverse and multicultural societies problematising the monochromatic ideas of nation and culture in the process.

The two together have the potential of revolutionising the information service profession, in New Zealand and across the world, in two distinct ways – 1) the need to cater to the demands of a heightened research interest in migration, migrants as well as in the related issues of host society-diaspora relationship, and expressions of this relationship in literature, institutional and societal practices, 2) the need to serve information needs of a user populace that reflects the ethnic and cultural diversity of the present day nations and institutions.

This is already evident in the demands on archival services, as various migrant communities, as minority communities, seek to find out and assert their role and their place in the host nation’s and society’s history/story. At the same time, in the field of archival studies, there is an enhanced awareness of: 1) the potential role of traditional archival practices in silencing certain voices and in marginalising minorities, and 2) the need to rethink traditional archival theories and practices. As a result, community archives movement and migrant community archives are focus of increased cross-disciplinary academic attention and interest, and a cutting edge area of research.

The proposed annotated bibliography will offer an online advisory tool for reference librarians, from New Zealand and in other places, helping them support research on the topic. The bibliography will be created using Zotero referencing software and made available as an online Zotero library. It will provide brief descriptions of information sources that deal with various aspects of the topic and encourage a nuanced and informed engagement with it from a New Zealand as well as global perspective.