2026 IAAS Elections: Slate of Candidates

OPEN POSITION: Junior Co-Chair

(Two-year term: First year as Junior Co-Chair and second year as Senior Co-Chair)

Candidates (1 TOTAL):

1. Sandra Varry

Biographical Statement:

Sandra Varry is the Head of the Special Collections Research Center at the NC State University Libraries. She holds an MFA, an MLIS, and has been a member of SAA since 2008, and a member of the Academy of Certified Archivists since 2013. She has participated on committees in the Society of North Carolina Archivists, Society of American Archivists, including past Chair of the Visual Materials Section. She is an active member of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section of the Association of College & Research Libraries/ALA and belongs to the International Council on Archives. In her previous role at Florida State University, she was Heritage & University Archivist and a past President of the Society of Florida Archivists. She is an alumna of the Archives Leadership Institute, 2015. Her personal research revolves around institutional archives and records management, photographic history and archives, and developing experiential learning opportunities for staff and students at her home institutions and as part of professional organizations.

Candidate Statement:

As a member of SAA since 2008, I have participated in many sections and meetings and have felt the organization and its membership a base of support in my career. My strengths in professional practice are coordinating, facilitating, and supporting others, as well as developing policy and standards for institutions and organizations. My most recent work included updating the Guidelines for College & University Archives for SAA with a team of members, and as a member of the Programming Committee for the 2025 RBMS Annual Meeting. I would leverage these strengths to continue the exceptional programming the section has developed, and work with the steering committee to implement long and short-term goals. I would continue to find ways to engage a worldwide audience in topics of importance including standards, open source applications for archivists, and ways to create community across borders, cultural differences, and politics to the benefit of archives, archivists, and their communities.

OPEN POSITION: Member-at-Large

(Three-year term)

1. Ryder Kouba

Biographical Statement:

I am currently the Archives and Special Collections Librarian at Duke Kunshan University, a Joint Sino-Foreign University located in Kunshan, China (between Suzhou and Shanghai). Previous jobs include the American Center of Research in Amman, Jordan, the University of Hong Kong, and the American University in Cairo. I received my MSIS from the University of Texas at Austin in 2012.

Candidate Statement:

I previously served on the IAAS committee from 2013-2017, I am excited for the opportunity to serve as a Member-at-Large and help continue the great work being done. Currently being based in China (and having been abroad the past 12 years), I hope my experience can help building connections between IAAS and other archival organizations and archivists from around the world.

2. Brian Jirout

Biographical Statement:

My name is Brian Jirout, I am currently a curator and archivist in Michigan State University Libraries’ (MSUL) Special Collections department overseeing two major collecting areas: Africana and Radicalism. Previously I was Archivist and Instructional Services Librarian at SUNY Cortland which included several responsibilities: university archivist, special collections manager, instructional duties, and liaison to the departments of History and Philosophy and to the International Studies program. I also have prior experience in corporate archives, as a museum curator, and adjunct teaching history courses. I received my MLIS in Archives Management from Simmons University as well as a PhD in History of Science from Georgia Institute of Technology, and a B.A. magna cum laude with Honors in Geography and International Affairs from Florida State University.

Candidate Statement:

Internationalism is a core principle of my professional and personal being. Within two months of my time at MSUL, I am supporting a committee that is organizing a joint MSUL - University of Pretoria, South Africa conference intended to foster professional development and international collaboration between MSU and universities in Africa. During my time at SUNY Cortland, I participated in a faculty exchange allowing me to travel to Romania for professional development where I met with archivists and archival science faculty at Babeș Bolyai University. The Archival Landscapes lecture delivered by Bogdan-Florin Popovici was an excellent primer for my trip. I hope to serve with IAAS to connect with other internationally-minded archivists and foster further scholarship and scholarly activities, such as Archival Landscapes, that bring our global profession together.