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Thank you to all of our excellent candidates for standing in the 2020 Archives Management Section election. Please take some time to review their candidate statements and get to know them so you can make an informed choice.
You will be voting for:
Ballots will be managed by SAA staff through Survey Monkey; please keep an eye on your inbox for when the ballot opens!
Professional title, institution, or affiliation: Chief Librarian, National Security Research Center, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Biographical Information: Chief Librarian and Archivist; Los Alamos National Labs: 2019 – Present. Head of Collections Management; Clark University: 2008-Present. Coordinator of Archives and Special Collections; Clark University: 1998-2008. Manager of Video Archives; National Hockey League: 1993-1997. Archivist; Philadelphia Flyers: 1986-1993. Education: Doctor of Arts in Library Leadership, Simmons College: 2008. Master of Public Administration, Clark University: 2003. Master of Science in Library and Information Science, Drexel University: 1992. Master of Arts in History, University of Wisconsin, Madison: 1985. Bachelor of Arts in History, University of Delaware: 1983. Professional Activities: Society of American Archivists: Chair of Archives Management Section, 2011-2014; Archives Management Section Steering Committee: 2014 – 2016, 2019-2020. College and University Section Steering Committee: 2002-2005. Serve as a mentor in SAA’s Mentor / Mentee Program: 1994 – Present. Academy of Certified Archivists: Member, 1991-present; Treasurer, 2008-2012; President: 2014 – 2017.
Candidate Statement: I would like to use my institutional knowledge as a former leader of the Archives Management Section to help it continue to grow so it can help archivists become better managers. This section is important to the profession because every archives needs to be managed. As a result, if the section can enhance the quality of how archives are run, it will have made an important contribution to improving the profession. Since I have considerable experience managing archives (having done so in the academic, business, and government sectors), I have a lot of managerial know-how to share with others. I want to facilitate the spread of positive managerial practices to help improve the archival community.
Professional title, institution, or affiliation: Archivist and Special Collections Librarian/Assistant Professor, Pacific Lutheran University (Tacoma, WA)
Biographical Information: I am the Archivist and Special Collections Librarian/Assistant Professor at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington where I manage all operations of the Archives and Special Collections unit. From 2015 to 2018, I worked as an Archival Operations and Reference Specialist at the University of Illinois Archives Research Center. I have served SAA through leadership roles with the Students and New Archives Professionals Section, the Women Archivists Section, and the Committee on Public Awareness, as an intern for the Publications Board, and as a co-host for the "Archives in Context" podcast. I am also a member of the Northwest Archivists and am currently serving on the Local Arrangements Committee for the 2021 conference.
Candidate Statement: As a new manager since 2018, the opportunities I have had to learn from and collaborate with other archives managers has been invaluable. Whether navigating a personnel issue, beginning a strategic planning process, or creating new policies and procedures, my decisions as a manager have been informed by discussions and collaborations made possible through networking and community building within organizations like SAA.
I have benefitted from discussions and resources emerging from the Archival Management Section and I hope to play a role in the leadership of this group as Secretary. In addition to bringing experience serving SAA in a variety of capacities to this role, I also bring the perspective of a new manager. Many archivists find ourselves in management roles without any formal training. I hope to continue the work of this Section to build a supportive community that can provide resources and learning opportunities for new managers and professionals. The COVID-19 pandemic presents new and pressing challenges for archivists working in management roles. How do we advocate for archives workers and programs during times of financial crisis? How can we serve as effective managers and mentors while working remotely? I believe that the Archives Management Section is an position to help lead discussion and resource sharing on these topics and to build relationships with other sections focused on similar initiatives.
Professional title, institution, or affiliation: University Archivist, Tulane University
Biographical Information: I am the University Archivist at Tulane University, my twelfth year in that position, and currently finishing my 27th year working in the University Archives. I originally came to Tulane with a BA in Anthropology (Historic Archaeology) from the College of William and Mary to enroll in Tulane’s Ph.D. program in Anthropology. While working towards my doctorate, I began working as a paraprofessional in the library’s Special Collections departments, gaining experience with published and manuscript collections before ultimately landing in the University Archives as assistant University Archivist. Along the way, I completed a master’s degree and earned archival certification, which I have successfully recertified twice. In 2008, I was promoted to the University Archivist position. Thus, I have experience in working on ‘both sides of the fence’ in archives management. As a member of archival societies, I have served on national, local, and regional annual meeting planning committees, as well as holding other positions, and am currently serving a two-year term on the Executive Board of the Society of Southwest Archivists. I have also just become the Louisiana liaison for the SSA Newsletter (May 2020). I am the author of Tulane University (2016), one of Arcadia Publishing’s Campus History series. I am the incumbent Recording Secretary for the Archives Management Section, and a member of the Steering Committee for the Section.
Candidate Statement: Being a part of the Archives Management Section for the past eleven years has enabled me to confer with other archivists who have the same goals and face the same challenges that I face. By sharing our experiences, we can discern where common gaps in support (financial, administrative, cooperative, or educational) exist so that we can begin to build creative bridges over the gaps. As part of the leadership team, I hope to be able to facilitate and contribute to the dialog, to find solutions to help fill those shortfalls, and perhaps to better situate ourselves to handle whatever pops up in the future. For the past nine years, it has been my privilege to record and post the minutes of the Archives Management Section annual meeting, and to participate in discussions concerning the content and direction of the Archives Management Section and website. I would be pleased to continue contributing to our profession as Recording Secretary for the Archives Management Section in this capacity for another year.
Professional title, institution, or affiliation: Archivist, Jimmy Carter Library, NARA
Biographical Information: EXPERIENCE: National Archives & Records Administration (NARA), Jimmy Carter Presidential Library & Museum: Archivist, 2009-Current; Archdiocese of Atlanta Office of Archives & Records: Interim Director, May-July 2009; Assistant Archivist, 2008-2009; University of South Florida, Tampa Library, Special Collections Department: Graduate Assistant and Project Archivist, 2007-2008; ASIANetwork Freeman Foundation: Student-Faculty Fellow, 2006
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE & CONTRIBUTIONS: Archdiocese of Atlanta: Archives Advisory Board, Member, 2008-2009; Crisis Management / Disaster Manual Committee, Member, 2009 || Georgia Archives Institute, Vice-Chair, 2019 || Society of American Archivists: Privacy & Confidentiality Roundtable, Web Liaison, 2010-2013; Membership Committee “Key Contact” Sub-Committee, Georgia Representative, 2015-Current || Society of Georgia Archivists: Membership Committee, Member, 2009; Website Assistant Manager, 2009-2010; Website Manager, 2010-2011; Website Redesign & Redevelopment Ad Hoc Committee, Chair, 2010-2011; Listserv Manager, 2012; Annual Meeting Program Committee, Member, 2013; Secretary, 2013-2014; Strategic Plan Task Force, Member, 2014-2016; Membership Committee Chair, 2015; Vice-President, 2015; President, 2016; Past-President/Nominating Committee Chair, 2017
Candidate Statement: Hello! My name is Brittany Parris and I am submitting my candidacy as Secretary for SAA's Archives and Management Section. I have over a decade of experience in both archives and serving in leadership roles at various levels of committees and regional/national organizations. I am a detail-oriented individual and previously have served as Secretary for a state-level archival organization. I uphold the importance of accuracy, context, and timeliness in my professional service. As an alumna of OPM's Emerging Leader Program, I have a keen interest in the intersection of personal leadership philosophy and the work that we do, particularly in terms of management issues that archivists face.
Professional title, institution, or affiliation: Director, Special Collections Research Center. George Mason University
Biographical Information: Lynn Eaton has worked in special collections for a little over twenty years, starting out as a project archivist. She received her MLS from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and then spent over 15 years at Duke University’s Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. She worked in the areas of digital collections, technical services, and research services as part of the Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising, and Marketing History. She served for three years as the Special Collections Librarian at James Madison University in Harrisonburg.
Lynn currently serves as the Director of the Special Collections Research Center at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. She works with an excellent staff building services, collections, and outreach to the students, faculty, and surrounding community. Her current research interests include undergraduate instruction, community archives, and outreach.
Candidate Statement: I am interested in serving in a leadership position with the Archives Management Section. I’m impressed with how much the section has developed over the past few years. This section fills a need in the profession, and I would like to work with the other members of the leadership to help promote resources and educational opportunities (i.e., workshops, interactive discussions, presentations, etc.) for early, mid, and later career archivists. There is information and training needed at each stage of one’s career, and it is helpful to have a range of voices in the leadership and in the body of the organization. I believe that the Section can be of real assistance to the profession in shepherding interesting and informative events and reaching out to other sections to promote our work and how we are able to serve our fellow archivists.
Professional title, institution, or affiliation: University Archivist and Head of Special Collections, Kansas State University Libraries
Biographical Information: Cliff Hight is Associate Professor at Kansas State University Libraries, where he serves as Head of the Richard L. D. and Marjorie J. Morse Department of Special Collections and as University Archivist. He also is a lecturer in the School of Library and Information Management at Emporia State University. Previously, he worked at the Royal Gorge Regional Museum and History Center and at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. He received an MSIS in archives and records administration and an MA in history from the University at Albany, State University of New York.
Cliff is an active member of SAA, currently serving on the Dictionary Working Group and previously serving on the Acquisitions and Appraisal Section Steering Committee. He also is a member of the Kansas State Historical Records Advisory Board and the Access to Memory (AtoM) Foundation Roadmap Committee. He participated in the 2019 Harvard Leadership Institute for Academic Librarians and the 2014 Archives Leadership Institute.
Candidate Statement: The work of this section is important to the development of leadership and management capacity in individuals and the broader profession. I believe all of us lead and manage at some level, and I would be honored to help achieve the section’s mission of continuing to identify relevant issues that are important to archives workers. I appreciated the opportunity to attend the 2019 section meeting and learn of efforts to develop archives management instruction opportunities. It would be a privilege to help section leadership and other stakeholders in expanding the educational resources available for archives leadership and management.
Professional title, institution, or affiliation: Assistant Dean for Special Collections and the Gallery, Seton Hall University
Biographical Information: Sarah Ponichtera manages a unit comprising Seton Hall’s museum and archives. Department activities, which previously centered around increasing interactions with the collections through exhibits and research, have now shifted to digital access, and a number of projects are now underway to allow both undergraduate students and advanced researchers to benefit from the collections remotely. Previously Sarah worked as Project Manager for the Edward Blank YIVO Vilna Collections digitization project, which aimed to virtually reunite pre-war collections in New York and Vilnius, Lithuania. Sarah holds a PhD in Yiddish and Comparative Literature from Columbia University and translates Yiddish genre fiction in her spare time.
Candidate Statement: Although I arrived in archival management through a circuitous route (comparative literature rather than an MA or MLIS in archives), having radically shifted my way of doing things in the past has actually set me in good stead to manage the current dramatic shift our field is facing. In the coming years all of us will have to think creatively about how to do our work under unprecedented circumstances. Many challenges and difficulties lie ahead, or have already come upon us. It is more important than ever that we respond to these changes with integrity, making decisions with reference to what our core mission continues to be. As in Ovid’s Metamorphosis, we may ask what stays the same when outer appearances have changed completely? For me that answer lies in the task of archives to document the human experience as fully and completely as possible, seeking out voices that are not easy to hear, and acting quickly to preserve the safety and completeness of the historical record.
I would be honored to take part in supporting others around the country leading their archives through this tumultuous period, and work hard to support initiatives brought forward by the community. Right now it is difficult to say what form of support our community would most benefit from, but I will contribute my best problem solving skills and sheer stubbornness to get things done.
Professional title, institution, or affiliation: Head of Archives, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Biographical Information: I lead the Archives Department at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries, managing a team of 7 including professional archivists and graduate student interns as well as conducting the university’s records management program. Before that, I was the Special Collections Librarian and University Archivist at Mississippi University for Women in Columbus where I conducted all aspects of archival practice. I am a Certified Archivist and member of the 2017 cohort of the Archives Leadership Institute with a MLS from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (2010). I have been active in SAA since 2013 and was a member of last year’s Program Committee, as well as a past president, secretary/treasurer, and board member of the Society of Mississippi Archivists.
Candidate Statement: As someone making the transition from early- to mid-career and who has progressed from being a lone arranger to managing a paraprofessional to leading a team of accomplished professional archivists, I have found the work of this section critical to helping me navigate issues of managing change, working with limited resources, and being a better leader and a better steward of collections in my care. The expertise and insight this section has to offer will be even more important in the difficult years to come and I am committed to promoting that dialog within the section and to others throughout the profession.
Professional title, institution, or affiliation: Head of Special Collections & Archives
Biographical Information: Christina Zamon is currently the Head of Special Collections and Archives at Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA. Prior to that, she was the Head of Archives and Special Collections for Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts for nine years. Throughout her career, she worked as the archivist for the National Press Club, rare book acquisitionist at the Folger Shakespeare Library, and cataloger at the Frick Art Reference Library. Christina is the author of, The Lone Arranger: Succeeding in a Small Repository and received her MA in History and MLIS from the University of Maryland.
Candidate Statement: I have been a member of the Archives Management Section for a few years now and have worked in a managerial role for 7 years across two different institutions. I have also participated in the section's discussions and was a panelist a few years ago during a section meeting.
I am looking forward to joining my colleagues to address the pressing issues of tight budgets and low salaries for employees, mentoring and supporting employees to keep them within the profession and support them for increasing responsibilities, addressing inequities within the profession, as well as advocating for the profession at large. I hope that by working with my colleagues on these issues we can make some real changes for the better.
Professional title, institution, or affiliation: Director, Special Collections, University of Nevada, Reno
Biographical Information: Kimberly Anderson is Director of Special Collections at the University of Nevada, Reno which she joined in 2018 after serving as the Lead for the Digital Scholarship and Initiatives Department at Iowa State University. Prior to returning to practice, she was an assistant professor and director of the Archival Studies Program in the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee’s School of Information Studies. She earned her doctorate in Information Studies and her MLIS with a specialization in archival studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. She began her archival career at Northern Arizona University where she was responsible for student supervision, content licensing, and processing. Her research interests are influenced by her practice – previous and current – in university archives, special collections, police records and law libraries. She studies critical archival practice, its historical development in North America, and the means by which it is learned and adopted.
Candidate Statement: Over the past few years I have grown in my career to really appreciate the management track. It is personally fulfilling to coach and learn from staff, to problem solve, and to direct strategies. I would like to offer my time and energy to the Steering Committee of the Archives Management Section. I just participated in the “Managing During COVID-19” meeting and found the connection, idea sharing, and just the opportunity to be with colleagues who understand very helpful. I would like to contribute to the section’s work of peer learning and knowledge-sharing. For the past several years I have been adopting different management tools and concepts, working to heal historical and/or new tensions between units and people, and leading through rapid change. In addition, I have been doing this work while leading efforts to decolonize and improve our efforts towards defaulting to equitable, diverse, and inclusive perspectives and practices. These are the places where I am coming from and I would welcome the opportunity to assist others who are working through similar challenges.
