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Thank you to all of our excellent candidates for standing in the 2019 Manuscript Repositories 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; 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:
Danielle Butler
Archivist, Butler Center for Arkansas Studies
I am currently an archivist at the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, the Arkansas history and genealogy department of the Central Arkansas Library System, in Little Rock, Arkansas, where I am ASpace administrator. I completed an undergraduate degree in History at Ouachita Baptist University in 2014, and completed a Master’s in Public History at UA Little Rock in 2016. I became a Certified Archivist in 2016. I previously served as project archivist for a CLIR Digitizing Hidden Collections Grant for three participating manuscripts repositories and as project archivist for a Japanese American Confinement Sites digitization grant.
I currently serve as Vice-President of the board for the Arkansas Women’s History Institute, Vice-Chair of the Site Selection Committee for the Society of Southwest Archivists, and as a member of the Access Practices & Outreach sub-committee of the DLF Born Digital Access Working Group. I enjoy serving these organizations and growing professionally in these roles. I would love to extend that service, in greater part, to SAA. Over the past four years of membership, I have watched SAA engage with issues of diversity, technology, and outreach in a changing archival world. Manuscripts repositories are uniquely situated to create a more inclusive archival record, engage our diverse stakeholders more intentionally, support the cultivation of diverse workplaces, and fully embrace technological innovation in ways that institutional archives aren’t. I hope in serving as Vice-chair/Chair elect for the Manuscripts Repository section of SAA, I can assist the section in facilitating discourse and action around these initiatives.
Leslie Van Veen McRoberts
Head of Special Collections, Michigan State University
Leslie Van Veen McRoberts is the Head of Special Collections at Michigan State University. Prior to joining MSU, she served as the Local History Archivist at the Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture at Salisbury University, a Processing Technician at the Walter Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs, and the Eastern Michigan University Archives. She earned a Master of Science in Historic Preservation with a Historic Administration concentration from Eastern Michigan University, a Master of Library and Information Science and a Graduate Certificate in Archival Administration from Wayne State University. Currently, she serves on MARAC’s Diversity and Inclusion committee, and the Local Arrangements Committee for the Cambridge, MD fall conference. Previously, she served as a co-chair and steering committee member of SAA’s Women Archivists Section (WArS).
I would like to participate in an active role as the vice-chair/chair-elect for the Manuscripts Repository section. Building relationships amongst seasoned colleagues, new professionals, and students is critical to the success of any repository. Opportunities created among colleagues can foster new and innovative ideas which have the ability to generate a more profound experience within the organization. By joining the leadership of the manuscript section, I hope to increase participation by gauging the immediate and long-term needs of the membership; we all need mentorship, to be encouraged, and support from others in and around the profession.
Steering Committee Member Candidates
The following candidates are running for the section steering committee:
Laura Bell
Archivist, Special Collections & Archives, RLB Library, University of Baltimore
Currently I am an Archivist in the Special Collections & Archives at the University of Baltimore where my main responsibilities involve collection management and collection processing, as well as archival accessioning and the creation of online finding aids. I also develop physical and digital exhibits, coordinate social media outreach, work with students and volunteers on archives projects, and am part of the library's digital preservation task force. Before my current position, I worked and interned in university archives and special collections, and in government and museum archives and libraries. I earned my Master of Library Science (MLS) degree with a Specialization in Archives and Records Management from Indiana University, Bloomington in 2018 and my B.A. degree in English from St. Mary’s College of Maryland in 2014.
I have been a member of SAA since 2016 and am currently the Students and New Archives Professionals (SNAP) Section (SNAP) Section, Ex-Officio, New Professionals Blog Editor. Last year, I presented at the 2018 SAA Research Forum during the Annual Meeting. During graduate school I was Vice-President (2016-2017) and later President (2017-2018) for the Student Chapter of Society of American Archivists at Indiana University, Bloomington. I have enjoyed participating in SAA and am excited for the opportunity to contribute further as a member of the Manuscript Repository Section Steering Committee.
Patrick Dollar
Processing Archivist, UNC Greensboro
Patrick Dollar received his MLIS from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2015, with a concentration in Archives and Records Management. He also earned a BA in English and Journalism from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2010 and an MA in English from UNC Greensboro in 2012. Since 2017, Patrick has worked as the Processing Archivist for the manuscript collections at UNC Greensboro’s Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives. He also serves as the department’s systems administrator for ArchivesSpace and for the Born Digital Records Management System. Prior to becoming Processing Archivist, Patrick worked at UNC Greensboro’s Special Collections and University Archives on a two-year processing project, as a student worker, and as a volunteer. He has held other archival and library positions at the State Archives of North Carolina, Duke University, and UNC-Chapel Hill.
I am excited to run for a position on the Steering Committee for SAA’s Manuscript Repositories Section. I have worked with manuscript collections for over 5 years, and as a new professional, I want to increase my participation in SAA and to foster the profession. I previously served on the SAA Career Development Subcommittee and am active in the Society of North Carolina Archivists (SNCA). Thank you for your consideration.
Ryan Lee
Curator of 19th Century Mormon and Western Manuscripts, Brigham Young University
Ryan Lee is the curator of 19th Century Mormon and Western Manuscripts in the L. Tom Perry Special Collections at Brigham Young University’s Harold B. Lee Library. He has held this position since September 2013. Prior to working at BYU, he was an archivist and metadata specialist at the LDS Church History Library in Salt Lake City from 2008-2013. Ryan received an MLS with a specialization in Archives and Records Management from Indiana University in 2006. Ryan is an active member of the Conference of Intermountain Archivists (CIMA) where he is currently serving as Treasurer. He is also a Certified Archivist as of 2011.
In running for a member of the Steering Committee of the Manuscript Repository Section, I look forward to the opportunity to mingle with other archivists in manuscript repositories and explore the challenges that we all face, which may differ from other members of SAA. These challenges might include donor relations, collection development for manuscript collections, interaction with document dealers, primary source literacy, outreach in an academic setting, and many others. These challenges and how to address them are not usually taught in current Library and Information Science programs, so manuscript curators are left to learn them through on-the-job experience. While these can be helpful, I believe these issues should also be addressed for fully in the annual meeting and in workshops and other learning opportunities provided by SAA. And, I feel like in recent years these needs are not being met, and offerings for continued education are lacking. I would welcome the opportunity, as a member of a leadership organization like the Steering Committee, to aid in increasing these offerings throughout the profession, and to continue partnering with other organizations, like ACRL and RBMS, to ensure that manuscript curators and archivists are properly trained and feel confident in their unique roles and positions within the profession.
Lori Myers-Steele
Collections Archivist, Berea College Hutchins Library, Special Collections and Archives
Education: Graduate Certificate in Archival Studies, East Tennessee State University (2012); MA Culture and Colonialism, National University Ireland, Galway (1998); Teaching Certification, University of Wisconsin-Madison (1996); BS Political Science, Texas Christian University (TCU) (1991).
Professional Experience: Collections Archivist, Berea College Hutchins Library, Special Collections and Archives (2014-Present); Project Archivist, Berea College Hutchins Library, Special Collections and Archives (2012-2014).
As Collections Archivist at Berea, I curate manuscript collections: appraising, arranging, describing, preserving, and providing access to materials related to the study of Southern Appalachia and the Berea area. Additionally, I curate the Berea College records and serve as the college’s records manager. Responsible for maintaining our content management system, I have recently completed the migration and input of all collection finding guides and accessions into our system. I instruct numerous sessions with undergraduate classes and provide one-on-one consultations for our students. I provide general reference services and promote student, faculty, and researcher use of collections through instruction, workshops, and student, staff, and faculty initiatives.
SAA participation: SAA member since 2012. Member various SAA sections.
Other Activities: Midwest Archives Conference (MAC) member, 2012-present; Kentucky Council on Archives (KCA) member, 2012-present; Archon Users Group, member 2017-Present
Ronald Rozzell
Archivist, Butler Community College
I live in Kansas. I read books. I like history. Archiving is a pretty great job.
Education: MLIS with a concentration in Archives from Emporia State University
Professional Experience: internship at Kansas Historical Society, Archivist at Butler Community College
SAA Participation: SAA member since 2014, currently taking DAS and A&D classes for certification, Certified Archivist Exam passer
Enough about me, right? I work at a community college currently. I am the head/sole archivist at the college and am building an archive from the ground up. I am very interested in getting involved in SAA and very interested in Manuscripts. I believe that getting a position in the committee would be very beneficial to me and I would show my gratitude through my work and dedication.
Thanks.
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Society of American Archivists
Manuscript Repositories Section
Created | 29 June 2004
Last updated | 28 September 2018
