2013 Local Government Records RT - Candidate for Chair

CHAIR

Donna Morales Guerra

In terms of service, I am the current Chair of the Local Government Records Roundtable for 2012-2013. I will be ending my participation in August on the Government Records Steering Committee as Local Government Representative, 2011-2013. I have also recently been elected at our annual meeting in May 2013 as Chair of a newly created Diversity Committee for my regional organization, the Society of Southwest Archivists.

Professionally, I have been the Project Archivist since February 2012 at Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas, for the Claude and ZerNona Black Papers, a San Antonio-based, African American civil rights collection with a strong municipal government and urban issues component (Claude Black was a minister, civic activist, and city councilman for the City of San Antonio). Before coming to Trinity University, I was the City Archivist for the Municipal Records and Archives, San Antonio, Texas (November 2010 - February 2012), where my work had an emphasis on outreach and increasing the presence of digital online content. It was then that I became interested in SAA service with government records groups. I was also the Senior Curatorial Associate at the Archive of World Music, Harvard Music Library for 10 years.  There I focused on processing and digital preservation of archival audio collections, working with best practices and standards.

As the work I do with the Claude and ZerNona Black Papers constantly reminds me, the connection of people to local government issues and records is crucial. Following that, I am passionate about as wide access as possible not only to government records, but to all cultural and political heritage. I am especially interested in re-committing to fair use principles by all archivists in the delivery of online content.

This past year as Local Government Records Chair has led me to wonder at how quiet our mailing list is. For this next term, I would wish to solicit feedback from the 327 people listed as members of our Roundtable about inspiration to "raise our voices." I know that we are all working on interesting projects, and that we encounter questions for which our colleagues might have a helpful response. I believe we could all benefit from giving local government records a good "shout out."