Harrison Inefuku, Candidate for Nominating Committee

Professional Experience: Digital Repository Coordinator, Iowa State University, 2012–present.

Education: MAS, MLIS, University of British Columbia, 2011; BFA in Graphic Design, BA in Visual Culture, University of the Pacific, 2007.

Professional Activities: Society of American Archivists: Archivists and Archives of Color Roundtable, Co-chair, 2015–present, Webmaster, 2012–2014; Harold T. Pinkett Minority Student Award Selection Committee, 2015–present; ARL/SAA Mosaic Program Advisory Group, 2013–present; ARL/SAA Mosaic Program Selection Committee, Chair, 2013–present; Mosaic Scholarship Committee, 2010–2013 (Chair, 2011–2013); Midwest Archives Conference: Annual Meeting Program Committee, 2014; National Historical Publications and Records Commission: Electronic Records Start-up Projects Grant Reviewer, 2012.

Select Publications: “Putting the titles together: Building diversity in the archival profession,” Synergy: News from ARL Diversity Programs 11 (2014): 4–6; “Whatever happened to art and design?: Using archival practice to manage the impact of academic restructuring on institutional repositories,” Journal of Library Administration 53 (2013): 209–222.

Awards and Honors: Society of American Archivists Mosaic Scholarship, 2009.

Select Presentations: “Wrangling bits and herding cats: Donor relations in the digital era,” lightning round at Midwest Archives Conference Annual Meeting, 2015; “Brave new world: The intersection of institutional repositories and university archives,” panel session, Society of American Archivists Annual Meeting, 2013; “Working on your perfect pitch: Elevator speeches from the field,” lightning round, Society of American Archivists Annual Meeting, 2013; “Maintaining continuity and legacy through academic restructuring: Applying archival description to institutional repositories,” poster, Association of Canadian Archivists Annual Conference, 2013; “Democracy, representation and archives: Acquisition policies in South African university archives,” presentation hosted by the Association of Hawaii Archivists and the University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2011; “Documenting art in small galleries: The InterPARES 3 approach,” presentation at DOCAM (Documentation et conservation du patrimoine des arts médiatiques) Summit, 2010.

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Question posed by Nominating Committee:

SAA’s strategic plan emphasizes the importance of diversifying the profession using a broad definition of diversity (race, culture, geography, institutional type, sexual orientation, age, constituent group, etc.). How is SAA currently cultivating a diverse group of future leaders for the organization, and how would you strive to represent this diversity within the slate of candidates?

Candidate's Response:

A diverse group of leaders, with a variety of lived and professional experiences, is vital for SAA to be an agile organization that is responsive to the needs of the profession and its members. While SAA cultivates future leaders in a number of ways, two stand out as particularly meaningful for me: SAA’s sections and roundtables and SAA’s scholarships and travel awards program.

SAA’s sections and roundtables are vital to ensuring diversity in the profession and provide an avenue for leadership development. They allow archivists with shared professional interests to engage in networking, problem solving and advocacy at a national level. SAA’s roundtables, in particular, are highlighted as prime opportunities for students and new professionals to begin their professional engagement.

Over the past decade, SAA has demonstrated its commitment to the diversification of the profession by launching the Mosaic Scholarship, administering the Forman Scholarship on behalf of the General Commission on Archives and History of The United Methodist Church, and partnering with the Association of Research Libraries to offer the ARL/SAA Mosaic Program, all intended to attract individuals from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups to the progression. As a past recipient of the Mosaic Scholarship, who has benefitted greatly from the relationships built during my first SAA Annual Meeting in Austin, I am compelled to serve the profession. I believe other awards recipients will feel the same way.

Although I have enjoyed meeting fabulous archivists at SAA’s Annual Meetings and at other archival conferences and events, finding a diverse slate of candidates will require looking beyond my own network of colleagues and friends. The organizational structure of SAA and allied groups, and SAA’s awards and scholarships programs, provide a strong foundation for identifying a diverse slate of candidates highly qualified to serve in leadership positions. I would reach out to SAA’s sections and roundtables, to find candidates who serve, represent and hold expertise in various institutional types, demographic groups, and professional concerns. Looking at regional and local archival organizations will find leaders from diverse geographic locales. Finally, I would look at awards and scholarship recipients and the leadership of the SNAP roundtable and student chapters to identify new professionals who are passionate about archives and energized and ready to engage with the profession.

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