As the electronics records archivist for the Washington State Digital Archives, Debbie Bahn plays a key role at the first digital archives in the U.S.

Bahn now can claim she also is part of a team of contributors that earned a national archives award.

The Society of American Archivists recently announced that Philip C. Bantin, director of the archives and records management specialization at Indiana University, is the 2017 recipient of its Waldo Gifford Leland Award for his book, Building Trustworthy Digital Repositories: Theory and Implementation.

Bahn is one of 41 international archivists, educators and practitioners who contributed to Bantin’s book.

“It’s exciting for the editor and the other contributors to be recognized for doing something we love,” Bahn said. “As a complete volume, the case studies fill a gap in the literature about digital repository practice.  I wrote about Washington State Archives’ partnerships with county auditors and clerks in providing online access to county recordings and superior court case files. In the constantly-changing field of digital archives, repositories must share and learn from each other.”

The award is given for writing of superior excellence and usefulness in the fields of archival history, theory and practice.

“Debbie is a nationally recognized expert in digital archiving,” said State Archivist Steve Excell. “She freely shared her knowledge and expertise as a contributing author on this project. We are very proud the book that Debbie helped write has won the 2017 Waldo Gifford Leland Award.”

You can read the news release from SAA about the award here.

The Digital Archives, located in Cheney, is part of the Washington State Archives, a division of the Office of Secretary of State.