2026 Election: Candidate Statements

Thank you to all of our excellent candidates for standing in the 2026 MDOS 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:

• 1 Vice-Chair (3 year commitment, as Vice-Chair, Chair, and Past Chair) 

• 2 Steering Committee members (three-year terms). 

• 1 Steering Committee member (one-year term).

• 1 Communications Liaison (two-year term). 

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

Candidate Name

Palash Bosgang, Bard College 

Please provide a brief biographical statement:*

I am currently the Digital Preservation Manager at Bard College’s Stevenson Library—Archives & Special Collections. In this role, I serve as the site administrator for our Institutional Repository, which houses the digital component of our primary manuscript collection, including Senior Theses, as well as various archival and other departmental digital collections. I oversee the preservation of our stored digital archival content, including images, audio, and documents and also specialize in digitizing our archival AV collections and making these materials accessible for discovery through collections in our Institutional Repository.

Beyond Bard, I chair the Digital Advisory Committee of our state’s regional library council. Through this position, I helped establish a Digital Preservation Special Interest Group that convenes regularly to exchange best practices and explore useful tools and workflows.

I was appointed earlier this year to the SAA Preservation Section Steering Committee as Program Chair, and put together this year’s panel discussion for our annual section meeting entitled: “Preservation in the Digital Era: Resources, Strategies, and Real-World Implementation.”

I’ve benefited greatly from my involvement in these roles and truly enjoy collaborating with other preservation professionals. The SAA has also played a vital role in my professional development—I’ve completed both the DAS and A&D certificate programs and will be co-presenting at this year’s Archives*Records Conference in New Orleans as part of the Technology and Digital Stewardship Session: “Preserving Together: Strengthening Regional Capacity for Sustainable Digital Stewardship.”

Please provide a candidate statement that details your interest in serving on the MDOS Steering Committee:*

After attending this year’s MDOS annual meeting, I was struck by how much overlap exists among different SAA sections and how much opportunity there is for collaboration across them. As someone involved with the Preservation Section, I am particularly interested in building stronger connections with MDOS and developing communities of practice around shared concerns in digital preservation, metadata, and stewardship. I would be excited to contribute to the Steering Committee by helping foster collaboration, knowledge sharing, and stronger connections across related sections.

Steering Committee Member Candidates (three-year term)

The following candidates are running for the section steering committee:

Candidate Name

Tyler Cline, UNC Charlotte 

Please provide a brief biographical statement:*

Tyler Cline is the digital archivist at UNC Charlotte, where he has worked since 2017. His primary responsibilities are for the appraisal, ingest, arrangement, description, preservation, and access for born-digital records. Tyler earned his Digital Archives Specialist certification in 2015, served on the DAS subcommittee from 2019-2021, served as Chair of the Electronic Records Section in 2025 and past chair in 2026, and currently serves as an interim member of the MDOS steering committee.

Please provide a candidate statement that details your interest in serving on the MDOS Steering Committee:*

I'm excited to help shape the future of MDOS, and bring over twelve years of experience working with digital records. In my day-to-day work I collaborate closely with my library's metadata librarian, digital production team, and collections management archivist to develop and implement functional minimal description for digital records. I'm a firm believer in the Mark Greene MPLP school of processing for access, while working to increase discovery and meet researcher needs.

Candidate Name
Whitney Lorenze Willis, New York University 

Please provide a brief biographical statement:*

MA/MLIS candidate at New York University (in consortium with the Palmer School at LIU) with professional experience in cataloging, archival processing, digitization, and metadata and records management, and research interests in critical cataloging and ethical practices in collecting, describing, and exhibiting art. Currently serving as a Graduate Assistant in the NYU Department of Art History and formerly working as a Metadata and Archival Processing Intern at the Lesbian Herstory Archives, College Ambassador for the Morgan Library & Museum, and Gardiner Foundation Fellow. Recipient of the 2025 ARLIS/NA Gerd Muehsam Award and the Palmer School Award for Outstanding Scholarship and Service.

Please provide a candidate statement that details your interest in serving on the MDOS Steering Committee:*

My interest in MDOS is grounded in a commitment to ethical and critical metadata practice and a belief in the importance of accessible, sustainable digital archives. I am particularly motivated by opportunities to engage with peers working at the intersection of archival theory and implementation, and to contribute to initiatives that strengthen community knowledge-sharing and professional development within SAA. Serving on the Steering Committee would allow me to both learn from and actively support colleagues advancing digital archival work across institutions. I would be happy to serve in either a one- or three-year term.

Steering Committee Member Candidates (one-year term)

Candidate Name
Jaime Margalotti, University of Delaware Library, Museums and Press 

Please provide a brief biographical statement:*

Jaime Margalotti is the Archival Metadata Librarian in the Special Collections department of the University of Delaware Library, Museums and Press, where she has worked for over 20 years.  Previously, she was part of the 2004-2006 cohort of North Carolina State University Library Fellows. She earned an MLIS from University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, an MA in History from North Carolina State University, and a BA in English and History from Williams College.  Jaime has participated in SAA in a variety of capacities, most recently serving as Co-Chair of the Metadata and Digital Objects section and serving as an SAA Career Counselor.

Please provide a candidate statement that details your interest in serving on the MDOS Steering Committee:*

In 2023, I participated in a focus group for the "Re-Envisioning MDOS" project and decided that I wanted to be part of this initiative to ensure that the Metadata and Digital Objects section would provide what its many members actually wanted and needed.  As such, I was elected to a three-year term on the Steering Committee as Co-Chair.  During this time, I have participated in a refresh of our bylaws; contributed to the analysis, writing, and presentation of our final "Re-Envisioning MDOS" report; presided over annual meetings; and shepherded the roll-out of our "MetaChat" series to provide increased opportunities for our members to learn and interact.  I would like to continue on section leadership for one additional year to finish work from "Re-Envisioning MDOS" that is still in the initial implementation process.

Communications Liaison (two-year term)

Write-In Candidates,

Questions

If you have any questions please contact Warren Lambert (wlambert@ku.edu) and Laura Drake Davis (ladavis@loc.gov).