Sarah Quigley, Candidate for Nominating Committee

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Sarah Quigley

Director of Special Collections and Archives

she/her

 

We need leaders who will help us figure out how to do what we can with what we have. It’s critical that we elect candidates who understand the burnout our colleagues are experiencing and can calibrate the ambitions of SAA with the labor available to achieve our goals.

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BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT

I am currently the director of Special Collections and Archives at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Libraries. Prior to assuming this role in July 2022, I spent thirteen years as an archivist at Emory University’s Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, eventually rising to head of Collection Processing. In my role at Rose Library, I arranged and described numerous collections across all our collecting areas, supervised students and professional archivists, and led our efforts to increase transparency in our descriptive practice and develop inclusive description guidelines. As a director, I am focused on strategic growth and “post-pandemic” rebuilding.

I have a strong track record of professional service at both the national and state levels. I’ve been a member of SAA since 2005 and have served as a steering committee member and chair of the Issues and Advocacy Section, co-chair of the 2022 Program Committee, and a member and chair of the Committee on Public Policy (COPP). As chair of COPP, I led efforts to implement a multiyear strategic plan and facilitated communication across SAA and partner organizations. I served as president of the Society of Georgia Archivists in 2015 where I also helped to implement the organization’s first multiyear strategic plan.

I’ve taught arrangement and description in workshops and graduate programs and have published and presented on the Rose Library’s inclusive and user-centered descriptive practices. I’ve worked closely with a team of archivists since 2021 to develop and publish best practices for creating ethical temporary positions in archives. We are currently expanding that work to include additional research and case studies for a CLIR-funded Pocket Burgundy publication, due out in 2024. I received both my bachelor’s degree in history and my master’s degree in information studies from the University of Texas at Austin.

DIVERSITY STATEMENT

Each candidate prepared a diversity statement according to SAA guidelines.

In my career I’ve approached DEI work on two fronts: 1) considering my immediate sphere of influence and how I personally contribute to safe and accessible professional spaces, and 2) considering how I can contribute to dismantling systems that have made our profession hostile to difference. Systems are exceedingly slow to change so it’s critical that we all can identify where our individual power lies and take concrete steps to ensure we're using it to create more access. Most of my DEI work has been in the realms of archival descriptive practice and professional labor practices. My advocacy for ethical labor practices is particularly informed by my own background.

I grew up in a small town in a rural community in a blue collar, union family. I’m a first-generation college graduate, the first in my family to attend graduate school, and the first to identify as a white collar worker. My first professional job as an archivist, a two-year project position, paid so little that I had to work a second job and still could not afford my student loan payments. My background and early professional experiences have made me particularly sensitive to class issues and structural barriers to financial stability in GLAM professions, which we know disproportionately affect archivists of color. They fuel my work to discourage the use of temporary positions for core operational work and drive my advocacy as a manager for fair labor practices. I’ve collaborated to develop best practices for temporary labor in archives and have successfully advocated for the conversion of two temporary positions to permanent. I’ve done my best to consistently work on both the personal (creating best practices) and systemic (advocating for permanent positions) levels to create a more inclusive profession.

Members of SAA’s Nominating Committee have a unique opportunity to use their personal agency and influence to choose candidates that may in turn use their elected positions to improve the systems within SAA and the profession more broadly. The past several Nominating Committees have done tremendous work to diversify the slates of candidates standing for election and, as a result, we’re making progress in building a safer profession for marginalized individuals (for example, the 2018 endorsement of the Protocols for Native American Archival Materials). If elected to the Nominating Committee, I look forward to working with my colleagues to continue this excellent track record of selecting diverse candidates and helping to make SAA a safe and accessible organization for all archivists.

QUESTION POSED BY NOMINATING COMMITTEE

SAA depends on volunteers to lead the organization and guide activity in support of the strategic plan. Given the demands of our current social environment and need for work-life balance, what keeps you committed to SAA? Why should one volunteer?

CANDIDATE'S RESPONSE 

SAA, as the largest national professional organization for archivists, is a powerful tool for influencing the profession and creating positive change. Being active in this organization has introduced me to a network of colleagues that have had great influence on my professional practice. I’ve also been able to find others who are passionate about the same things I am and organize ourselves to address significant issues in the profession. I connected with the group who wrote Best Practices for Temporary Labor in Archives because of a conversation during the Annual Meeting. We’re now working on an extended version of the document supported by CLIR, which we hope will have a significant impact on labor practices in GLAM fields. Finding opportunities within SAA to do good for the entire profession is what keeps me committed to volunteering. I genuinely care about this profession and SAA is the best way I know to help the profession continuously improve.

I know that others have not had the same experience in SAA that I’ve had and may be skeptical about serving. I don't blame them, but in the 18 years that I’ve been a member of this organization I’ve seen so much change. The organization is more inclusive than it was when I joined, it’s easier to get involved than it used to be, and I’ve seen the organization use its influence to improve the profession. I think SAA can continue to address the needs of our profession if we, as volunteers, continue to be engaged and thoughtful about how we lead the organization to create the change we need.

In a moment where we’re all expected to do more with less professionally and personally, it can be really difficult to find either the time or the energy for volunteer work. Our profession (and our culture more generally) is long overdue for a reckoning over “doing more with less.” We're well past the point where there’s any more we can do and we cannot keep asking people to give us time and investment they just don't have. SAA has an opportunity to help us address this issue. We need leaders who will help us figure out how to do what we can with what we have. It’s critical that we elect candidates who understand the burnout our colleagues are experiencing and can calibrate the ambitions of SAA with the labor available to achieve our goals. We also need leaders who recognize the potential SAA has to be an organization that can advocate for archivists. If elected to Nominating Committee, I’m committed to helping find leaders who can strike the balance between keeping SAA moving forward and ensuring our agenda is humane and accounts for the capacity our members have to offer.

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