2016 Candidates for Description Section Steering Committee

Martha Bace is our candidate for Vice-Chair/Chair-elect:

Biography:
Although I’ve lived in Alabama for a significant portion of my adult life, I am a Texan by birth and heritage.  After graduating from Vestavia Hills High School in Birmingham, in 1973, I received my bachelor’s degree in history from Austin College in Sherman, Texas, in 1977.  After graduation I worked at the University of Alabama in Birmingham in the bookstore for a year and a half before entering library school at George Peabody College for Teachers (now part of Vanderbilt).  I received my MLS in August 1979 and began my first job in September as a halftime cataloger/halftime reference librarian at the University of Montevallo, just south of Birmingham.  I left Montevallo in August 1985 and moved to Magnolia, Arkansas, where I worked in the Magale Library at Southern Arkansas University.  I spent seventeen years at SAU, and during that time I wore a wide variety of hats.  The only two areas I did not work in were government documents and archives.  In the spring of 2002, I returned to Alabama, to Tuscaloosa this time, to be a monographs cataloger in the University of Alabama Libraries.  In October of that same year, I was appointed to the department head position where I remained for four and a half years later.  In the fall of 2007, I moved into what is now known as the Division of Special Collections as a processing archivist.

Statement of Interest:
Over the course of my 37 years in the library profession, I don’t think any have been as satisfying as the last nine have been.  I transitioned from a cataloging librarian to a processing archivist in October 2007, and the change has been very rewarding.  I look at processing manuscript collections in much the same light I did when I cataloged books.  I get great satisfaction when a finding aid I created helps a researcher locate the piece of information they need.  I look forward to assisting the Description Section in being that place where ideas and information about how we can best spread information about our archival materials are fostered and encouraged.
 
Cyndi Shein is our candidate for Secretary:

Biography:
Cyndi Shein is the Head of Special Collections Technical Services at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) University Libraries, where she is leading efforts to improve access to and discovery of archival materials. She previously held positions at the Getty Institutional Archives; the University of California, Irvine (UCI) Libraries Special Collections and Archives; the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) Libraries; and the National Baseball Hall of Fame Museum Library and Archives. She earned a BA in English from Westmont College (Santa Barbara) and an MLIS from San José State University.  She earned her Digital Archives Specialist (DAS) certification from SAA in 2013. Cyndi is currently a member of the SAA-ACRL/RBMS Joint Task Force on Holdings Metrics; an advisor for the OCLC Demystifying Born Digital Expert Advisory Group; a member of the Archives Leadership Institute 2016 cohort; and a peer reviewer for the Journal of Western Archives.
 
Candidate Statement:
As archivists we count on the Description Section to facilitate discussion, evaluation, and communication of innovative ideas, best practices, and standards that inspire and/or govern archival description. I have long been a beneficiary of the fine work done by the Description Section and would like an opportunity to contribute to that work by serving as secretary.

Karen Spicher is our candidate for steering committee:

Biography:
Karen Spicher is an archivist at the Beinecke Library, Yale University, where she processes and creates finding aids and catalog records for personal papers and other collections of literary and historical manuscripts, and provides reference services to readers. Karen is cataloging coordinator for Beinecke’s Manuscript Unit, represents special collections on an range of Yale-wide technical services committees, led development of the Yale Library’s Manuscript Cataloging Guidelines, and recently began chairing a task force developing local procedures for agent and subject records in ArchivesSpace.  A member of SAA since 1995, Karen has served as chair of the Manuscript Repositories Section and co-chair of the Performing Arts Roundtable. She is currently District 1 Representative for SAA’s Key Contact program.As a member of the Music Library Association/ALA Rare Books and Manuscripts Section Joint Committee for Early Printed Music, she is part of an editorial team developing Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (Music) A former chair of the New England Archivists Education Committee, Karen has developed and co-presented an RBMS workshop on “Cataloging Manuscript Music” and was co-developer and instructor for an SAA workshop, “Applying DACS to Single-Item Manuscript Cataloging.”

Statement of interest:
Through my work in processing and providing reference services, I have learned how standards for archival description and discovery systems affect reader access and the outcomes of research.The Description Section has an essential role in supporting standards and practice, and this is especially important as archival practice incorporates linked open data and other new technologies. I am interested in serving on the steering committee as an opportunity to work with colleagues in building on the Section’s past achievements and exploring emerging issues affecting archival description.

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