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Here is the 2020 election list of candidates for the open Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect, Steering Committee Member, and Early-Career Member positions.
We have two candidates for one position.
We have six candidates for two positions.
We have one candidate for one position.
See below for candidate bios and statements that address the following prompt: What would you like the Privacy & Confidentiality Section to pursue with your leadership?
We have two candidates for one position.
Digital Assets Librarian – The Morton Arboretum
(note: Danielle Nowak is running for both Vice-Chair/Chair Elect and Steering Committee Member positions)
Danielle Nowak is currently the Digital Assets Librarian at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois. She began her employment at the arboretum in December 2017 as the Access Services Librarian, transitioned into the Archivist role in 2018, and then settled into her permanent role as the Digital Assets Librarian in 2019. In her position, Danielle works with arboretum staff to collect, organize, and preserve digital assets that they have created and/or collected as part of their role at the arboretum. In her role, she is also responsible for cataloging both physical and digital assets in the arboretum's collection management system, CollectiveAccess, ensuring that materials and information are being made accessible to staff and the public.
Danielle is a 2017 Master of Library Science graduate from IUPUI (Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis) and a 2015 Bachelor of Arts in History graduate from Purdue University Northwest (Hammond, Indiana). In addition to her interest in privacy & confidentially in archives, Danielle's interests include impostor syndrome in librarianship, special libraries/archives, and podcasting.
Statement
As the Vice Chair or Steering Committee member of the Privacy & Confidentiality Section, I would like to initiate and engage in conversations and programming that encourage collaboration among archivists and other information professionals. In my experience as an archival and library professional, I have oftentimes found that I am not alone in my challenges and triumphs, and would like to facilitate and environment where we can come together as a community to solve and challenge one another with our own personal institution's issues and successes. Additionally, I would be enthused to develop unique programming and learning opportunities regarding not only privacy & confidentiality in archives, but also on the importance of acknowledging and embracing transparency.
Collections Management and Processing Unit Head – University of Arkansas Special Collections
I currently work as the Collections Management and Processing Unit Head of the University of Arkansas Special Collections, where I've been since 2016. Previously, I worked as a Photograph Archivist at the University of Nevada, Reno (and before that, in a project position with the Gubernatorial Papers Project in Oregon). In addition to my work with SAA, I'm involved with the Art Libraries Society of North America, and currently serve as chair of my regional chapter, Central Plains. I hold an MSIS from the University of Texas at Austin, and am a Certified Archivist. I've had the privilege of serving as a Steering Committee member for the past two years, and I'd appreciate the opportunity to build on that service by serving as your Vice Chair, and later Chair.
Statement
The tension between the access mission that's at the core of our professional ethics and the privacy and confidentiality considerations that are equally crucial to ensuring the trust and security of our donors and researchers is something that's of great interest to me, both academically and practically. Like many of you, I wrestle with these issues on an almost daily basis, across all manners of archival activity, from archival processing to systems implementation. This Section serves as a valuable source of information and community for dealing with aspects of the profession that can sometimes be difficult to discuss in public settings, and I hope to continue the work the Section already does as well as to continue to explore new ways in which we can facilitate conversation and challenge each other.
We have six candidates for two positions.
Archivist – Dominican Sisters of Hope
Carlinthia Cox an Archivist for the Dominican Sisters of Hope. Prior to that she worked as a Digital Archivist for the Chicago Tribune and the Community Outreach Coordinator for the Haitian American Museum of Chicago. Ms. Cox has always had an interest in heritage preservation both tangible and non tangible for small underrepresented communities particularly post colonial countries. She enjoys motivating and promoting information engagement habits among diverse groups of people. Currently, Ms. Cox is particularly interested in Intellectual property and information technology; seeing how ICTs can encourage technological change and innovation of developing countries. Ms. Cox is affiliated with the Caribbean Archives Association. She also serves on the advisory board and does archives consulting for the Haitian American Museum of Chicago.
Statement
Since becoming an archivist, I have had a growing interest in the privacy and confidentiality issues particularly the challenges posed by digital records. Archives have long focused on protecting privacy of donors while also enhancing accessibility and freedom of information. However, with an increase in digital records and cloud storage institutions also have to navigate privacy issues with regard to data eraser to data security. I am interested in working with and expanding on the work already being done the SAA’s Privacy and Confidentiality Section. I look forward to collaborating with colleagues on navigating privacy and confidentiality issue for while fostering healthy digital habits particular for marginalized and vulnerable groups.
Assistant University Archivist – Kansas State University
Veronica Denison is currently the Assistant University Archivist at Kansas State University, where she has worked since September 2019. Previously, she was an archivist at the University of Alaska Anchorage for six years. She received an MLIS with a Concentration in Archives Management from Simmons College in 2013. She has over six years experience of working on a special collections reference desk, corresponding with donors, digitizing materials, teaching primary source instruction sessions, and describing collections.
Statement
The issues of privacy and confidentiality rights, laws, and ethics and balancing that in the archives has always been of interest to me. I have experience describing materials that contain medical and student records, Indigenous materials, nude photographs of someone other than the creator, and unofficial census records. In some cases I scanned and redacted the information, in others I have restricted whole boxes of materials, permanently removed and destroyed items (at the donor’ and creator’s request), and in another instance I returned the materials to the Indigenous community to which they originated.
The resources that the Privacy and Confidentiality Section provides are great. I would like to see the Section further address privacy and confidentiality concerns regarding the records of Indigenous peoples by partnering with other SAA committees. I also believe there is a potential to create a best practices document or guidelines for those sticky situations archivists often find themselves in, including working with electronic records, deciding what to do with unofficial student and medical records, and figuring out those “it depends” and “should I redact this?” moments. This could be done by continuing to reach out to the SAA membership and asking them what concerns, troubles, or questions they have regarding privacy and confidentiality in their archival collections. I also think the Section could provide trainings to address some of these concerns and to provide further education.
Director – Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University
Lynn Eaton has worked in special collections for a little over twenty years, starting out as a project archivist. She received her MLS from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and then spent over 15 years at Duke University’s Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. She worked in the areas of digital collections, technical services, and research services as part of the Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising, and Marketing History. She served for three years as the Special Collections Librarian at James Madison University in Harrisonburg.
Lynn currently serves as the Director of the Special Collections Research Center at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. She works with an excellent staff building services, collections, and outreach to the students, faculty, and surrounding community. Her current research interests include undergraduate instruction, community archives, and outreach.
Statement
I am interested in serving the Privacy & Confidentiality Section of SAA, as privacy and confidentiality has been a continual issue and point of interest for me. Over the past twenty years, privacy and confidentiality concerns for archivists have grown along with the development of robust online access. Over the past couple of years, I’ve witnessed how these concerns have had significant consequences in archival, donor, and records management work. I would appreciate the opportunity to work more closely with the section in the Steering Committee, and bring my experience along with curiosity and a desire to both learn about and share information about the privacy and confidentiality issues in all aspects of archival work. I am interested in helping to incorporate the section more broadly across SAA to promote resources and identify ways for early-career to seasoned archivists to find information and understand more about how privacy and confidentiality is interwoven into every part of archival work.
Independent archivist
(note: Lisa Mix was running for both Vice-Chair/Chair Elect and Steering Committee Member positions. She is now only running for the Steering Committee Member position.)
Lisa Mix has spent most of her career working in archives at academic medical centers, and has handled privacy issues related to records of patients, students, staff, and others. In SAA, she is a former co-chair of the Science, Technology, & Health Care section, former member of the SAA Publications Board, and co-authored SAA's Issue Brief on HIPAA. She is a Digital Archives Specialist.
Statement
In my various positions as an archivist, I have often navigated the delicate balance between privacy and access. As either Vice Chair or as a member of the Steering Committee, I would like to see the section pursue Privacy and Confidentiality issues associated with digital records, as well as exploring considerations for archival materials in which the people represented in the records might not have given consent to have their information collected.
Digital Assets Librarian – The Morton Arboretum
(note: Danielle Nowak is running for both Vice-Chair/Chair Elect and Steering Committee Member positions)
Danielle Nowak is currently the Digital Assets Librarian at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois. She began her employment at the arboretum in December 2017 as the Access Services Librarian, transitioned into the Archivist role in 2018, and then settled into her permanent role as the Digital Assets Librarian in 2019. In her position, Danielle works with arboretum staff to collect, organize, and preserve digital assets that they have created and/or collected as part of their role at the arboretum. In her role, she is also responsible for cataloging both physical and digital assets in the arboretum's collection management system, CollectiveAccess, ensuring that materials and information are being made accessible to staff and the public.
Danielle is a 2017 Master of Library Science graduate from IUPUI (Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis) and a 2015 Bachelor of Arts in History graduate from Purdue University Northwest (Hammond, Indiana). In addition to her interest in privacy & confidentially in archives, Danielle's interests include impostor syndrome in librarianship, special libraries/archives, and podcasting.
Statement
As the Vice Chair or Steering Committee member of the Privacy & Confidentiality Section, I would like to initiate and engage in conversations and programming that encourage collaboration among archivists and other information professionals. In my experience as an archival and library professional, I have oftentimes found that I am not alone in my challenges and triumphs, and would like to facilitate and environment where we can come together as a community to solve and challenge one another with our own personal institution's issues and successes. Additionally, I would be enthused to develop unique programming and learning opportunities regarding not only privacy & confidentiality in archives, but also on the importance of acknowledging and embracing transparency.
Elizabeth Russell
Associate Archivist – Providence Archives
Since 2016, Elizabeth has processed collections, provided reference services, and performed outreach as Associate Archivist at Providence Archives, a repository in Seattle which documents Sisters of Providence education and health care work across six western states. Elizabeth earned her MLIS degree in 2012 from the University of Washington’s Information School; she became a Certified Archivist in 2014. Elizabeth started her career processing photograph collections at the University of Washington Special Collections. She was founding archivist of the Tacoma Community College Archives, and later held the position of consulting archivist for the Washington State Jewish Archives. Elizabeth is currently wrapping up a two year term as membership coordinator for Northwest Archivists. Prior professional association work includes two terms on the Steering Committee of Seattle Area Archivists (secretary and treasurer). She also serves on the SAA Technical Subcommittee on Reappraisal and Deaccessioning.
Statement
Privacy and confidentiality issues are of great interest since I work in a private archive that also provides reference services to members of the public. Providence Archives is a holding repository for two organizations: a healthcare non-profit and a community of women religious. In my work, I see the complexity of negotiating the needs, wants and rights of different constituencies in regard to privacy and confidentiality. I appreciate the work this section has done to provide resources like the online bibliography. As a steering committee member, I would advocate for more online resources as well as opportunities for engaging SAA members in conversations about real world approaches. For example, what innovations and practical tips are there for implementing HIPAA guidelines in regard to archival records? How are archives dealing with EU and Californian online privacy regulations in regard to digital collections? I believe that providing a virtual forum for exploring these questions and many others is of great value to the profession.
We have one candidate for one position.
From August 31: Cyma Rubin Library Fellow – North Carolina State University Libraries
This summer, Shelly Black will join the North Carolina State University Libraries as the Cyma Rubin Library Fellow in the Special Collections Research Center. She will also receive her Master of Library and Information Science and a Certificate in Archival Studies from the University of Arizona (UA) as a Knowledge River scholar. As a student, she has interned in archives at the UA Special Collections, UA Center for Creative Photography, and Azusa Pacific University Libraries.
From 2015 to 2020, Shelly was a paraprofessional at the UA Libraries where she managed social media and other digital communications, and in 2020, she was selected as an ALA Emerging Leader. Before joining SAA, she served on a committee of the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association.
Statement
I’ve long been intrigued by the balance between access and privacy and how we preserve the historical record while protecting donors and creators. I’m particularly interested in the implications of data privacy protections, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and right to be forgotten, on archives and digital collections. Having managed social media and email marketing for libraries and other organizations, I’ve stayed abreast of data privacy legislation and seen firsthand the digital footprints users leave behind. It's my hope that as we make more digital content available, we respect historically underrepresented groups by protecting or removing their private information. At the same time, archives need policies for when they are confronted by influential powers requesting takedowns akin to censorship. How do we navigate these issues when appraising physical materials which may be digitized and born-digital materials such as social media and websites? As the usage of online archival collections grows, these issues become more pronounced. Best practices and guidance are needed to manage digital collections and remove content ethically. As a member of the committee, I would encourage discourse on these issues and advocate for marginalized communities.