When MSLIS student Deborah Walters was offered a graduate assistantship to work in the Alpha Tau Omega Archives, she viewed it as a "unique opportunity to have a hands-on independent experience in archives" that she couldn't pass up. Alpha Tau Omega (ATO) is a social fraternity that was founded at the Virginia Military Institute in 1865. Its archives are among the national fraternity collections housed at the Student Life and Culture Archives at the University of Illinois.
While Walters was not familiar with ATO or involved in Greek life as an undergraduate at Lehigh University, she has learned a lot about the fraternity through her work. Now in her second year of the assistantship, she has been interviewed for two podcasts with The ATO Show, discussing the unknown history of the first ATO Congress and ATO astronauts, adventurers, and more.
"Through the archives, I've learned about the history of student publications, photography (one of my favorite topics), campus activism and philanthropy, leadership training, communications, fraternity administration, and alumni relations," said Walters. "I also have a ton of niche fun facts at the ready now, such as how five ATO members became NASA astronauts!"
One of Walters' main responsibilities as the ATO graduate assistant is to answer all reference questions regarding the ATO collection. Because most of her reference work serves ATO National Headquarters staff and alumni, she has focused on helping ATO use its archives to discover more about the fraternity's history.
Walters decided to pursue a degree in LIS while she was working as an undergraduate at Lehigh University's Special Collections and interacting with the university's archivists and librarians. She developed an interest in archives and special collections, particularly topics like accessibility, reparative description, and community engagement.
"Learning more about archival theory and standards of practice in classes such as Administration and Use of Archival Materials (IS 562) with [Adjunct Associate Professor] Scott Schwartz has helped me become better at processing and engagement, and on a deeper level, to also critically think about why archives exist and how we do the work we do," she said.
In addition to her work at the ATO Archives, Walters has held graduate hourly positions with the American Library Association Archives and the U of I Student Life and Culture Archives/Archives Research Center. She is currently vice president of the University of Illinois student chapter of the Society of American Archivists. Outside of work and school, Walters enjoys cooking, crocheting, scrapbooking, playing bass, and exploring coffee shops in Urbana. After graduation in May, she plans to enter the archives field armed with the experiences that she has gained through her hands-on assistantship and MSLIS coursework.
"I would love to continue working in a university environment and making an impact by improving access to archival materials through improved description and archival engagement," said Walters.