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Sam Sfirri, Collections Archivist

Tell us about what you do at ZSR Library?

I work as part of the Special Collections & Archives (SCA) team to make our archival collections accessible to researchers. Generally speaking, my job is to manage a wide variety of tasks related to bringing in (or “accessioning”) archival documents (or, the created and/or collected materials of informational value from an individual person, family, organization, usually in the form of paper, photographs, objects, computer files, etc.) and preparing (or “processing”) them for research use. Typically, this involves addressing conservation/preservation needs, figuring out the underlying organizational method of their creation/accumulation, and then describing everything in a “finding aid,” the single, comprehensive document that provides as much information as possible for a researcher to understand what is in the collection and how it relates to our other collections. This is all teamwork and I am part of the team, where I take and give direction on various parts of this process with my esteemed colleagues.

What is a typical day in your work life?

Every day is unique! Every collection is unique! (Pretty much) Every document is unique! The typical day involves planning for processing collections, fielding and asking very specific questions about our collections, going into our on- and off-site storage areas and to find boxes and folders of collections material, entering and editing information in our information management system, managing processing tasks for everyone who takes part in processing archival collections at SCA, and, of course, accessioning and processing archival collections myself!

What is your favorite book/podcast/movie?

Relating to archives, I plan on spending a fair amount of my personal reading addressing the relationship between the authenticity of documents and how we, as researchers/readers, should approach our sources to determine their trustworthiness. I just ordered a few books by Paul Ricoeur and others, specifically to develop a better understanding of what “hermeneutic of suspicion” means in this context. Relatedly, I want to read more about the work of Luciana Duranti and Terry Eastwood on the modern interpretation of “diplomatics,” a branch of paleography (the study and academic discipline of historical writing systems, not dinosaurs) that involves the study of old official documents and determining their date of creation and authenticity. My dream is to teach a class on these topics so that our students can pursue their interests here at WFU and beyond with confidence, to help them develop the skills to spot (un)reliable sources more readily.

Also, “Best In Show” is a perfect movie, but that’s more of a fact than an opinion. There was also a stretch of time when I only read Samuel Beckett and Thomas Bernhard, for better or worse. I try to watch as much soccer as I can, but for time constraint reasons, I usually end up listening to pundits (who are not American) talk about it when I make dinner and do dishes.

What is your favorite project you have worked on in your career?

In my previous position, I was fortunate to work closely with Harvey Finkle, a photojournalist who has documented social, economic, cultural, and political issues across the city of Philadelphia, the United States, and the world. Over a four-year period, I worked on the technical and intellectual aspects of transferring his collection of photographic prints, contact sheets, negatives, slides, and digital images to the archive; worked on processing those materials with my colleagues; planned for the digitization of his prints; and worked closely with him to write the metadata for the digitized prints. All of this work was done to make his materials more widely accessible to researchers, which is what our work is all about!

I am excited to play a part in bringing collections from similarly awesome people doing important work to the ZSR Library and giving our researchers access to that material as best we can.

What is something we can’t know by looking at you?

I practice the piano every day and want to continue composing music every day, too. There was a period from around 2007 to 2017 where some of my pieces were performed around the United States, Europe, and Japan, so it would be nice to pick that back up again, to continue talking with old colleagues and to make new friends, too.

Is there something you want to tell us about yourself?

Hot take: Dancing is way more beneficial to our health and happiness than we could ever imagine, even (especially?) if you are terrible at it, like me.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever gotten?

Specific to archival work, I abide (professionally) by these three mantras passed down organically through the archives community: “Preservation is Access,” “Always Be Processing,” and “It Depends.”