Jessica Tai, Candidate for Nominating Committee Member

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT

I am currently the Processing Archivist for Institutional Records and Faculty Papers at The Bancroft Library. Prior to my role at UC Berkeley, I was an Archivist at Yale's Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Project Archivist at UCLA Library Special Collections, and a Research Team Member for the Community Archives Lab at UCLA. I received a BFA in photography from the Ontario College of Art and Design, and an MLIS with a concentration in archival studies from UCLA.

I have spent much of my career developing and advocating for the implementation of reparative archival description within special collections and archives. I have undertaken this work through a variety of means, including: chairing the Reparative Archival Description Working Group at Yale library, teaching workshops, participating in panels, contributing to a forthcoming SAA book on reparative description, and publishing "Cultural Humility as a Framework for Anti-Oppressive Archival Description," in the Journal of Critical Library and Information Studies special issue on Radical Empathy in Archival Practice.

I was awarded the Mosaic scholarship and Pinkett award during my graduate program and have been an active member of SAA ever since. I served in a section leadership position in the Visual Materials section, and have also been appointed in leadership positions including the 2020 Program Committee and 2023 Harold T. Pinkett Student of Color Award committee.

My current professional interests within university archives at UC Berkeley is to support students involved with activism work in documenting their experience on campus. I've developed a workshop series to introduce students to archival best practices and frameworks for ethical documentation of activist movements, with a focus on centering historically marginalized student voices.

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

Cultural humility is a critical guiding principle from which I approach DEI work, as it requires one to undertake a lifelong practice of self-reflection, commitment to challenging power imbalances, and encourages institutional accountability. This is of particular importance, given that "diversity" alone does not hold transformational power without the pairing of equity and inclusion. I believe that for DEI work to effect real change, it can't be relegated to a specific person or committee, but must be made through ongoing concerted efforts to shift organizational culture to one that values and supports anti-oppressive and anti-racist models of practice.

As a mixed race, second-generation Chinese American, my lived experiences have contributed to my approaches both as an archivist and as a colleague. I recognize the privileges that I hold, as well as the limitations of my own perspective, and am constantly listening and learning from others. I find this to be particularly critical when engaging in my own DEI work. In my role at Yale, I chaired the library's Reparative Archival Description Working Group (RAD), which was charged with developing reparative archival description principles and practices that aim to remediate or contextualize harmful, racist, and outdated language used in archival description and to create archival description that is accurate, inclusive, and community-centered. In leading the group, I developed a set of guiding principles for us to undertake our work, including cultural humility, transparency in our practices and workflows, dismantling white supremacy, and collaboration and consultation with community groups. These have been important and helpful frameworks, particularly as a group within a predominantly white institution, to approach this work with care and intentionality.

By embracing an ethics of care and cultural humility on both the individual and institutional level, we may begin to shift long seated practices that cause harm, especially to marginalized communities. I am drawn to serve on the Nominating Committee in order to identify candidates committed to these principles. Even when it means working harder, slower, and with more intention and care, part of what motivates me to continue doing the work is my sense of responsibility to eliminate the barriers that prevent meaningful engagement in our profession. An important component of making those changes is identifying people with wide ranging professional and lived experiences to collaboratively build diverse, equitable, and inclusive opportunities for leadership in the archival profession.

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 

It is the responsibility of the Nominating Committee to not only build a diverse slate of candidates, but to seek leaders who are committed to cultural humility, accountability, and thinking creatively about how to lead the future of the archival profession. This charge is crucial for fostering leadership that resonates with the varied needs of our membership and the broader archives community.

For those who have experienced marginalization within the archival field, it is easy to feel like leadership within SAA is not for them. As a member of the Nominating Committee, I would advocate to directly recruit previous SAA scholarship and award winners with a focus on those awarded to previous students of color. As a beneficiary of SAA graduate school scholarships myself, I attribute those experiences to building my feeling of inclusion in the profession. However, without any formal follow up with these scholarship and awards programs, these early innovators can fall off the map.

My motivation for serving on the Nominating Committee is to identify leaders who have evidenced a clear commitment to DEIA principles. I believe in looking beyond one's CV to examine the real impact individuals have made, whether that be in their institutions or communities. I view this opportunity as a responsibility to leverage my privileges and connections to amplify new voices and build a more equitable, sustainable, hopeful future for our profession.

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