2020 Elections

2020 IAAS Elections 

Thank you to all of our excellent candidates for standing in the 2020 International Archival Affairs 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:

• One Vice Chair/Chair-Elect (or Co-chair), for a two-year term; and
• One Steering Committee member (three-year terms). 

Ballots will be managed by SAA staff through Survey Monkey; keep an eye on your inbox for when the ballot opens! 

Vice Chair/Chair-Elect Candidates

The following candidates are running for the Vice Chair/Chair-Elect (or Co-chair) position:

Natalie Baur

Independent scholar and consultant based in Mexico

Statement of Interest

I am enthusiastic about the opportunity to serve as Junior Co-Chair for the IAAS Section of SAA. My interest in international archives issues and my experience working and collaborating across borders will help me to creatively approach this role and develop new ways for SAA members to share and be involved with international archival efforts. I am particularly interested in helping to create visibility of international archival collaborations and the role of archival institutions in the global health pandemic.

Biography

Natalie Baur is currently an independent scholar and consultant based in Mexico. Most recently she was professor in the Masters in Archival Conservation at Mexico’s National School of Conservation, Restoration and Museology. Formerly, she was the Digital Preservation Librarian at El Colegio de México in Mexico City, an institution of higher learning specializing in the humanities and social sciences. Previously, she served as the Archivist for the Cuban Heritage Collection at the University of Miami Libraries and was a 2015-2016 Fulbright-García Robles fellowship recipient, looking at digital preservation issues in Mexican libraries, archives and museums. She holds an M.A. in History and a certificate in Museum Studies from the University of Delaware and an M.L.S. with a concentration in Archives, Information and Records Management from the University of Maryland. She is the co-founder of the Desmantelando Fronteras webinar series and the Itinerant Archivists project. Her work at the Cuban Heritage Collection and collaborations with the Digital Library of the Caribbean have allowed her to strengthen her knowledge and interest in the social and political history of the Caribbean while getting to know and work with librarians and archivists from the region. In 2014, Natalie co-founded the Itinerant Archivists project with fellow Archives Leadership Institute cohort-members Christian Kelleher and Francine Snyder. She also served as co-chair of the Latin American and Caribbean Cultural Heritage Archives roundtable from 2013-2015.

Karen Trivette
Head of Special Collections and College Archives, Gladys Marcus Library at the Fashion Institute of Technology-State University of New York (FIT)

Statement of Interest

I am running for the Junior Co-Chair seat on the Steering Committee of SAA’s International Archives Affairs Section. I have always had an intense interest in international matters, both personally and professionally. I have been the College Archivist for the Fashion Institute of Technology--State University of New York since 2008. FIT’s  archival holdings, as well the users who consult them, are extremely diverse as to national origin. When I began at FIT, I decided to adopt and employ the International Council on Archives’s International Standard of Archival Description (General) (ISADG) as a structural standard since it focuses on sharing descriptive data internationally. ISADG is complemented nicely by SAA’s Describing Archives: A Content Standard, which dictates how to express each ISADG informational element. Together, these standards make for a complete archives description program.

I have been a member of ICA for many years and have particularly been interested in its Section on University Archives (SUV). I presented at the ICA-SUV Conference in Salamanca, Spain in 2018 where I discussed my use of ISADG and its natural association with Access to Memory (AtoM), the archives management program created by ICA and now operated by Artefactual Systems in Canada.

I seek out international connections and have presented at many international conferences including ones held in Italy, Germany, The Netherlands, France, Slovenia, and Norway. Currently in play is a proposed paper for the next ICA Congress to be held in Abu Dhabi, UAE. in 2021.

I am the Vice Chair and Board member of the Access to Memory (AtoM) Foundation as well as the Chair of the AtoM Foundation’s Roadmap Committee, which is charged with developing the third incarnation of the software. On both the Foundation Board and the Roadmap Committee, I work with outstanding professionals from other countries who individually and collectively bring a freshness of perspective to create the archives management program of the future.

I co-founded and co-host the podcast, An Archivist’s Tale, which began recording and distributing episodes in February 2018; to date my co-host and I have interviewed archivists from 17 countries. We love hearing the breadth of perspective as it relates to archives practice. We strive to learn, and help listeners to learn, the similarities and differences that make archivists so universally critical to the world’s cultural memory.

Since this is a leadership position, I would like to stress my current and past leadership roles, especially within SAA. I have served on the Editorial Board of SAA’s journal, American Archivist, since 2016. I am the Guest Editor of its upcoming issue dedicated to design records. Also, over the last year, I have served SAA’s College and University Archive Section as a member of its Steering Committee. Along with C&UA colleagues, I have co-hosted weekly “Coffee Chats” as an online forum for participants to discuss a wide array of matters in common and those especially associated with managing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lastly, I am very excited to apply the solid leadership lessons I learned from being a member of the 2018 Archives Leadership Institute cohort to the operations of the IAA Section.

My interest in an international perspective of archives practice is deep, broad, and proven. I would very much appreciate your vote and the opportunity to serve SAA’s IAAS to the best of my ability.

Biography

Associate Professor Karen Trivette is the Head of Special Collections and College Archives in the Gladys Marcus Library at the Fashion Institute of Technology-State University of New York (FIT); she is the first incumbent to hold this position and has held the post since 2008. At FIT, she supervises four staff members, oversees the care and provision of over 6000 linear feet of special collections and archives materials, and administers a robust internship program. She earned her Bachelor of Arts from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in Art History and graduated With Distinction. She earned a Master of Library Science from the University at Albany-State University of New York with a concentration in Archives and Records Management. After graduation, she became a member of and reinstituted the University at Albany’s chapter of Beta Phi Mu, the international honor society for Library and Information Science Master-level graduates. She has worked primarily in art archives and art libraries except for a three-year post at the New York State Archives for which she advised practitioners/constituents throughout New York State on matters of archives and records management. She has presented at many local, national, and international archives conferences and has written and/or edited many publications on topics ranging from fashion forecasting history to archives facility renovation. She also has planned or worked with colleagues to plan many exhibitions focusing on or augmented by special collections and archives materials.

Steering Committee Member Candidates

The following candidates are running for the section steering committee:

Jessica Bedol

Archives Intern, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland 

Statement of Interest

Jessica is an active participant in the SAA mentorship program. She is also a member of the Chartered Institute for Library and Information Professionals and the Society of California Archivists. As an archives student whose work is reliant on the worldwide network of libraries and archives to gain access to resources, Jessica has had to rethink and reconstruct the research for her final writing project as the COVID-19 crisis developed. This has provided her with insight into how academic projects can lose traction when faced with unexpected crises and how they can be supported in the archives. The new course of her project, which was originally solely focused on opera manuscripts and the 18th-century book trade, will reflect her experience researching during COVID-19. In pursuing a career in archives and Member-at-Large for the IAAS Steering Committee, Jessica is driven to explore methods to support and advocate for the preservation of cultural heritage, especially where local and global crises affect the archival community. She ultimately hopes to contribute to conversations that will be instrumental in creating guidelines to preserve in the present and prepare for the future.

 Biography

Jessica Bedol is a student at the University of Edinburgh, where she is completing a Master of Science in Book History and Material Culture. She is an archives intern at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS) in Glasgow, where she processed, catalogued, and rehoused the Edward Watson Collection. She is also a volunteer at the Musical Instrument Museum of Edinburgh, where she spearheaded a project to inventory and make storage recommendations for the as-yet uncatalogued Shackleton Music Book Collection. She holds an MA in Musicology from California State University, Long Beach and a JD from the University of Southern California where she concentrated on copyright, the preservation of cultural heritage, and the international trade of intellectual property.

Kate L. Blalack, MLIS, CA, DAS

Senior Archivist and Registrar - American Song Archives

The Bob Dylan Archive®, Woody Guthrie Archive

Statement of Interest

Kate is interested in how creative expression builds bridges in human relationships on an international level. Music is a driving force in keeping world arts connected, and she hopes she can bring a diverse point of view to the IAAS Steering Committee. She also has a strong background in studio art, counseling, digital archives and librarianship. Kate’s primary areas of focus and interest are social justice, international relations and politics, folk-history, music and visual arts.

Biography

Kate has been a member of the Society of American Archivists for over twelve years. During her time with SAA she has most recently served as Chair of the Independent Archivists Section for 2019-2020.

Kate started her professional archival career in the Edmon Low Library at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma. In 2013 she began as Archivist for the Woody Guthrie Archives at the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She is currently serving a dual role as Senior Archivist and Registrar for the American Song Archives, which encompasses both the Woody Guthrie Archives and the The Bob Dylan Archive®.

James Lowry

Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Library and Information Studies, Queens College, City University of New York

Statement of Interest

I’d welcome the opportunity to contribute to the IAAS by serving as a steering committee member.

I bring with me experience of working in different national and international contexts and with international archival organizations and networks; I believe this experience has prepared me to make an informed input to the IAAS’s work. I have good knowledge of some of the pressing issues in the international archival community today including copyright, personal data transfer, technical standardization, shared archival heritage, trafficking and restitution, and co-operation for disaster response.

A section such as IAAS needs to be responsive to the priorities of its members and the SAA and American archival profession more broadly, as well as to rapidly changing circumstances. I can see that there could be useful work for the IAAS to do in fostering international professional solidarity in the wake of the worldwide pandemic, particularly in regard to the economic impact on archival programs, job security, project funding and the changing informational needs of communities globally.

The international and intercultural exchange of ideas and views can be enriching, so I believe that the IAAS plays an important part in the SAA, fostering an outward looking profession that contributes to and benefits from an international archival community. I would be glad to help take that work forward.

Biography

James Lowry is an Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies at Queens College, City University of New York. He holds a PhD from University College London and he is an Honorary Research Fellow and former co-director of the Liverpool University Centre for Archive Studies in the United Kingdom. Prior to that, he was Deputy Director of the International Records Management Trust, leading records and archives projects across Europe, Africa and the Caribbean, including projects for international organizations such as the African Union and the International Criminal Court. He began his career in Australia, where he also obtained his MLIS.

His research is concerned with information and governance, particularly in colonial, post-colonial and diasporic contexts. His current projects include Displacements and Diasporas, exploring the technical and theoretical problems connected with disputes and claims over displaced archives. He is also collaborating with colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles, on the Refugee Rights in Records project, which seeks solutions to the informational problems experienced across borders and by displaced people. His recent publications include Displaced Archives, an edited collection published by Routledge in 2017, and a new volume, Disputed Archival Heritage, is in preparation. James is convenor of Archival Discourses, the International Intellectual History of Archival Studies research network, outgoing Chair of the Association of Commonwealth Archivists and Records Managers, and a member of the Programme Commission of the International Council on Archives.