Jamie Martin, Candidate for Nominating Committee Member

I am the Corporate Archivist for IBM Corporation, a role I've held for almost ten years. Previously, I spent eight years as senior archivist for the Target Corporation, so I've spent almost my entire professional archives life within business archives. I received my BA in geography and women's studies from the University of Minnesota and my MLIS from Dominican University. In 2013, I received my DAS Certificate and attended the Archives Leadership Institute. I take continuing education courses to stay current on best practices and changing technologies. I am active in the profession, especially within business archives. Most recently, I co-taught the SAA course Managing Business Archives in October 2023 and wrote the chapter "Managing Archival Programs: Steering Your Craft Through a Sea of Change" for the recent SAA book, Managing Business Archives, published in 2022. Over the past several years, I've served on a variety of committees, and presented at several conferences, including SAA, MAC, Henry Stewart DAM, and the Society of Business Archives Section of the International Council on Archives.

Professionally, I focus on advocating the value of archivists and archives programs, especially within an institution. It has never been more important that we in the archives profession advocate for the value of factual records, access to public information, and give voice to those typically underrepresented. We need to promote the importance of archivists as skilled, trained professionals.

DIVERSITY STATEMENT (Each candidate prepared a diversity statement according to SAA guidelines.)

Diversity comes in many forms. Our organization is incredibly diverse, with members representing academia, government, business, non-profit, religious archives, and more. We all preserve historical records for generations to come. There is room for all types of archives and archival thought; there is no "one size fits all" type of repository or archival practice. We all bring different backgrounds and life experiences to the profession. SAA should be a place in which all archives professionals and memory workers feel welcomed and can contribute. I manage an archives collection for a large, global, Fortune 50 company. Unlike a public-facing repository, my constituents are the employees of my organization. My mission is to document the history and experiences of my institution and its employees—which means I need to gather as many voices and perspectives as possible for true representation. Through collaboration with business affinity groups, I've worked to identify and actively collect records that document historically marginalized or underrepresented groups. I've also used oral histories to gather information when traditional records could not be found. There is more work to be done, but the result has been a deeper, richer collection that better represents many different experiences and not just a few.

As one employee out of three hundred thousand, my ability to directly change institution-wide policy is limited, but there are still ways that my team and I can have an impact. Archives policies have been updated to provide transparency and equitable access to company employees. We proactively call attention to stories of people with diverse backgrounds, finding opportunities to shine a light on those "hidden figures" in the tech world who never received their just due. We analyzed the collection and our policies, uncovering descriptive language that defaulted to white and male, and a bias towards a North American-centric viewpoint despite the institution's large global footprint. Changing this dynamic won't happen overnight, but my team and I are committed to change by updating processing guidelines surrounding descriptive language and proactively collecting from global teams. As a business archivist, I have a need to demonstrate advocacy efforts within my institution but also within SAA. The business archives community is a small but active group within SAA, and is sometimes under-represented. I would love to see closer collaboration between all component groups in order to take advantage of specialized areas of expertise. Such collaboration would only strengthen DEI activities within SAA.

QUESTION POSED BY NOMINATING COMMITTEE

The Nominating Committee plays a crucial role in shaping the pool of candidates from which the elected leadership of SAA will emerge. What motivates your desire to become a part of the Nominating Committee? What traits and backgrounds do you consider important when selecting potential candidates? Share your strategies for inspiring members to participate, and discuss how you plan to create a candidate slate that enhances diversity and inclusion.

CANDIDATE'S RESPONSE 

I enjoy connecting people to one another and bringing people together to tackle complex ideas and challenges. As an organization, SAA is blessed to have professionals with many different experiences and skillsets. Looking towards the future, the strength of our organization should come from its diversity and differing perspectives. I believe this is especially vital as SAA seeks to enhance DEI within the profession. The strategies to advance DEI that work in one institution may not work in another. The challenges that repositories face may also differ. As a member of the Nominating Committee, I would seek candidates who represent as wide a pool as possible in order to share best practices and potential strategies. Candidates should be open-minded, willing to learn from each other, and willing to expand their definition of diversity. It is critical that we ensure that all members' voices are heard. If we want to see DEI reflected in our collections and our repositories, then we also need to see DEI reflected in our committees and working groups. I would be honored to participate in the Nominating Committee.

2024 ELECTION HOME