Edward Benoit III

Interim Director & Associate Professor

Dr. Benoit coordinates the archival studies and cultural heritage resource management programs at LSU.

Areas of Expertise

Community Archives
Participatory Archives
Archival Pedagogy
Non-traditional Archival Materials
Climate Change

Biography

Edward Benoit, III is the Interim Director and Associate Professor in the School of Information Studies at Louisiana State University. He coordinates the archival studies and cultural heritage resource management programs. He received an MA in History, MLIS and PhD in Information Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. His research focuses on participatory and community archives, non-traditional archival materials, climate change, and archival education. He is the founder and director of the Virtual Footlocker Project, which examines the personal archiving habits of the 21st century soldier in an effort to develop new digital capture and preservation technologies to support their needs. He also directs PROTECCT-GLAM, an IMLS-funded project focused on identify climate-change-related risks for GLAMs.

Dr. Benoit is also an affiliated faculty member in the LSU College of Art & Design's Doctor of Design in Cultural Preservation program.

Research Focus

Participatory & Community Archives

Dr. Benoit’s research focuses on participatory and community archives, non-traditional digital collections, and climate-change risks to cultural heritage. He pairs Virtual Footlocker personal-archive studies, GLAM risk modeling, and immersive archival-education methods to craft preservation frameworks that protect born-digital artifacts and empower communities to steward their own records.

Education

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Ph.D.

Information Studies

2014

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

M.A.

History

2009

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

MLIS

2009

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Accomplishments

ALISE Excellence in Teaching Award

2023

LSU Distinguished Teaching Award

2024

LSU Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award

2024

Media Appearances

Dr. Ed Benoit, New Interim Director at the LSU School of Information Studies

Listen with LOUIS  online

2025-02-28

In this episode we interview Dr. Ed Benoit, who was recently named Interim Director of the LSU School of Information Studies (SIS). Dr. Benoit discusses what makes the LSU SIS a unique and growing program, what makes him excited about directing the program, what discussions they are having about the future of information science, and more!

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How LSU researchers could help protect Louisiana, nation’s cultural heritage from climate change

LSU Reveille  online

2023-01-21

This will be done using geographic systems analysis, which means “instead of looking at physical maps, you’re overlaying data on top of maps so that you can see how things interact,” explained Edward Benoit III, one of the researchers and an associate professor in the LSU School of Library and Information Science.

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How and what you can salvage from flood damage

WAFB 9  online

2016-08-18

"Once these waters have receded and you're coming into your home, it may seem counterintuitive, but the best thing you can do for these photographs and books that you want to save is actually take a bind, fill it with clean water and put them back in," explains Ed Benoit III, a conservator with LSU. "You want to prevent them from drying to each other, you want to prevent the mold from setting in."

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Articles

Technology use in designing curriculum for archivists: Utilizing andragogical approaches in designing digital learning environments for archives professional development

Preservation, Digital Technology & Culture

2019

Technology has a significant impact in archival institutions. The creation and need to preserve digital records require archivists to have the necessary training, and ongoing professional development. In addition, technology is embedded in many archival processes, making knowledge of technology use vital for archivists. While technology may be a challenge for archivists in terms of archival management, it also presents a useful means to support training and professional development. This paper is based on the experimental research conducted by the researchers, as instructors, in developing curriculum based on theories of andragogy for the purposes of developing intentional curriculum for professional development of archivists in digital learning environments.

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Inventing and implementing future-ready archival education

Pedagogy

2021

The Archival/Preservation Education SIG panel engages with community-responsive master's-level archival education. Seven ten-minute individual presentations and audience discussion traverse the decision points in managing curricular change; presenters bring perspectives from multiple states."" Audio Preservation as Metacognitive Archival Education"" by Sarah Buchanan discusses how audiovisual archiving experiences support the continual development of students' metacognitive skills during their graduate program

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The genre of love-me binders: US military veterans documenting their service

Archivaria

2023

The US government lacks robust and accurate records of its military personnel. In this context, we argue that attending to veterans’ recordkeeping practices matters to honouring their service to the nation. However, recordkeeping skills are not currently part of the official curriculum of active service members or veterans. Considering this situation, we ask, How do veterans in the US document their service? What are the uses of veterans’ records and recordkeeping practices?

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Research Grants

Social Tagging of Amateur and Professionally Produced Moving Images

Society of American Archivists Foundation

2016

Virtual Footlocker Project: Developing a User-Centered Framework for Digital Preservation of Active Duty and Veteran Personal Records

Institute of Museum and Library Services

2018

PROTECCT-GLAM: Risk of The Environment’s Changing Climate Threats for Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums

Institute of Museum and Library Services

2022

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