- About Archives
- About SAA
- Careers
- Education
- Publications
- Advocacy
- Membership
The Acquisitions and Appraisal Section will be holding a runoff election during its annual meeting in Atlanta, Georgia on Thursday, August 4th from 3:30-5pm. Due to a tie in the regular election, this runoff election is for one of the member-at-large positions on the steering committee. The two candidates who tied are Mat Darby and Juile I. May. Their candidate statements are below.
Education
M.L.I.S., University of Texas at Austin (2000)
B.A., English, University of Delaware (1997)
Professional Experience:
Head of Arrangement & Description, Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, University of Georgia (2013-present); Archivist for the ExxonMobil Historical Collection, Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin (2004-2013); Processing and AV Archivist, Russell Library, UGA (2001-2004); Archivist, Lower Colorado River Authority, Austin, Texas, 2001; Project Archivist, Hardy-Heck-Moore, Inc., Austin, Texas, 2000-2001
Professional Activities:
SAA: member since 1998; member, Acquisitions & Appraisal Section Steering Committee (2014-2016); member, 2009 Annual Meeting Host Committee; member, 2008 Annual Meeting Program Committee; Chair and Vice/Chair of the Manuscript Repositories Section Steering Committee (2007-2009) and member (2005-2007)
Academy of Certified Archivists: member since 2005; Chair and member of Nominating Committee (2011-213)
Association of Centers for the Study of Congress: member since 2013
Society of Georgia Archivists: member since 2013; Chair, Education Committee (2016); Local Arrangements Committee (2014)
Society of Southwest Archivists: member since 1998; member, Finance Committee (2014-2016); Treasurer (2012-2013); Executive Board (2008-2012)
Georgia Disability History Alliance: member and co-organizer of annual symposium (2013-present)
Appraisal impacts much of what we do as archivists. In our initial negotiations with donors, appraisal, in tandem with collecting policies, allows us to focus our conversations on the core of what the collection in question really is and why it makes sense for our institution. When it is possible to conduct initial appraisal in the field, we save time, space, staff and other resources that would have been expended later. During processing, we may refine or adjust our appraisal decisions further, resulting in more concise collections, knowing that collections bloated with extraneous records can impact negatively the researcher experience and obscure materials with significant research value. If you consider the wealth of digital content created today, and the knowledge and resources needed to adequately manage these records, appraisal takes on even greater significance. Strategies among archivists and institutions may differ, but ultimately appraisal is an opportunity for us to think holistically, bringing to bear what we know about existing collections, research trends, and available resources, to better manage our repositories.
The work of the Acquisitions & Appraisal section is important because many archivists, from new professionals to those later in their careers, are eager to learn about, discuss, or share experiences related to this core archival function. The A&A section is uniquely positioned to be a conduit for information sharing, collaboration and dialogue. By bringing to the fore important appraisal-related topics through section projects (such as the Best Practices Subcommittee), insightful and interactive presentations at the annual section meeting, and outreach initiatives, we are able to reach a wider swathe of members with an interest in these issues.
Having served on the steering committee for the past two years, I have been involved with some of the steering committee’s initiatives, particularly social media. In that time, the section launched a blog, established a Twitter presence, and initiated Third Thursday discussions of appraisal and acquisitions issues. As a result, the section has reached a larger number of members and other archivists. I would like us to proceed in this vein, engaging more archivists and providing additional opportunities for members to share and discuss their ideas. Twitter chats, like the one we recently did with the SNAP roundtable, can be an effective, immediate way to connect with each other. The interviews with archivists that have appeared on the section blog, Assigning Value, have highlighted our colleagues and their work. If I were to continue as a member of the steering committee, I would like to see us develop other means for sharing each other’s projects and ideas, such as cases studies and articles.
I am the Managing Director of Library & Archives at Brooklyn Historical Society and responsible for accessioning and description of archival collections. Since joining Brooklyn Historical Society in 2006, I have been involved in several grant-funded archival projects: the CLIR Hidden Collections Survey project that resulted in over 1,400 archival collections receiving collection or series-level description using Archivists’ Toolkit; and IMLS-funded Cultural Heritage Archives Research & Technology (CHART) project to digitize historic Brooklyn images and deploy them to a shared website with Brooklyn Museum and Brooklyn Public Library (www.brooklynvisualheritage.org). I participate in local and national archival organizations, speaking on behalf of BHS’s archives with special attention toward intellectual property in cultural heritage institutions. I also supervise staff, including four full-time professionals, one part-time Cataloger, and one Acquisitions Intern. I hold a Masters in Information and Library Science with a Certificate in Archives Management from Pratt Institute, a Bachelors in English from Indiana University, and an Associate’s Degree in Applied Photography from Rochester Institute of Technology. I am currently pursuing the Digital Archives Specialist (DAS) certificate.
With the increase in born-digital records coming our way, I think this Section can continue to be very useful to others in applying the same theories of appraisal to a different set of materials and help to establish guidelines for doing so consistently and efficiently. I think this section can also offer language and examples that provide assistance in advocating for responsible practices given the large quantity of materials the 20th and 21st centuries are offering to repositories.
I am a new member to the Committee and will continue to get a feel for the Section’s interests, but would like to incorporate my knowledge of intellectual property into the appraisal and acquisition conversation and how that establishes trust with donors, especially living artists, and builds the collections in transparent and favorable ways. I have created policies and procedures to facilitate a large amount of incoming acquisitions into my institution and would be interested in sharing those through a central resource page. This past year, I implemented an Accessioning as Processing approach to Acquisitions with the help of an intern and think that experience could be shared with a larger community also.
