2015 SNAP Election Nominations

The time for 2015 elections for open SNAP positions is upon us. Take a few minutes to read over the candidate statements!

Vice-chair/Chair Elect Candidates

Kelly Kietur – Private archive

I'm Kelly and I currently work as an archivist at a private archive in the Detroit area. I'm interested in serving as Vice Chair/Chair-Elect because as a new archivist as well as a first generation professional I am all too familiar with how daunting it can be when one is just starting out. I want to help continue to make the SNAP Roundtable an awesome, inclusive place.

Secretary

Lily Troia – Simmons College

I am finishing up my first year at Simmons pursuing my MLIS in the archives concentration, where I serve as the Dean's Fellow for Digital Media Outreach. The position affords me a unique chance to research and explore current LIS and archives issues, topics, collections, and trends, as well as connect to individuals at all stages of their careers, in all realms of the related disciplines.

I manage social media strategy for Simmons SLIS, acting as liaison between the greater college, SLIS student groups, faculty, and students. I also serve as social media intern for SAA's Acquisitions and Appraisal Section, and social media consultant for the Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies. I am currently completing a short term fellowship at the Rutgers University Institute of Jazz Studies Archives, and will begin an internship at the American Archive of Public Broadcasting (WGBH/Library of Congress) in a few weeks. Previously I have worked at the Yale Divinity Library Archives and the Schlesinger Library.

I am especially interested in emerging trends and conversations within the archival community, av archives, public media, and cultural heritage curation and stewardship. I think the SNAP roundtable is an excellent forum for young professionals and burgeoning archivists to exchange resources, and offer a support system to those of us just beginning our careers in this field, regardless of age. I have been very impressed with the Roundtable's use of Twitter and other social media to connect with the archival community.

I have served as secretary to several organizations previously, outside of the archival professions, including several non-profits and student organization. I have been tasked with taking minutes at board meetings, managing calendars, organizational communications, and overall strategic planning. I am highly organized, meticulous, and committed to promoting professional development and positive networking in the archival community in a way that is relevant and useful to students and new professionals.

Thank you for your consideration.

Meghan Morris – University of Arizona

Hello everyone! I am a relatively recent graduate (May '14) of the University of Arizona's SIRLS program, and have been involved in SAA since I was an undergrad, holding a variety of positions for the campus chapter. While I was never the secretary in college, I did assist the secretary with collecting the notes and making them available online. I have been looking for an opportunity to become more involved in SNAP, and thought this would be one good way to jump right in! While I expect most of us considering this position in particular will say the same things: I am organized, interested in archives and related fields, and comfortable with most technology and ways of sharing information. Thank you!

Roxanne Dunn-Southeast Missouri State

Roxanne Dunn, Special Collections Librarian at Kent Library, joined Southeast Missouri State University in July of 2013 after graduating from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a master’s degree in library and information science. She also earned a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Illinois in 2005.

About to begin her third year as a professional archivist in an academic library setting, Dunn has also served on the SNAP Roundtable Steering Committee for the past year. She enjoys the camaraderie of the roundtable as much as she appreciates the collegial and candid postings of employment and professional development opportunities made available on the SNAP listserv.

As a member of the steering committee from 2014-2015, Dunn most enjoyed to opportunity to serve as a co-guest editor of the SNAP Provenance issue. Taking on the role of guest editor has led to a new appreciation of authors, reviewers, and editors for Dunn.

In 2015, Dunn also co-presented a world café style session at the Midwest Archives Conference entitled “Practical Ideas for Solutions to Everyday Issues Lone Arrangers Will Encounter.” Her portion of the presentation revolved around easy ways to incorporate outreach into lone arrangers’ busy schedules and she enjoyed leading the lively discussion that followed.

Rachel Walton – Rollins College

I am Rachel Walton, the newly hired Digital Archivist and Records Management Coordinator at Rollins College, a small liberal arts school in Winter Park, FL. I am also a recent graduate of UNC Chapel Hill's School of Information and Library Science and have been a member of SAA as well as SNAP for 2 years. As an aside, I am also a new puppy parent, a Game of Thrones fan, and a self-proclaimed coffee snob.

I am interested in being Secretary of SNAP because I have already benefited from SNAP membership immensely in the last few years as a student, and want to become a more active member of the community now as a budding professional. I enjoy having my finger on the pulse of what's going on in the archival world, especially hearing about what the new blood in our profession has brought to the fore. And I want to be as supportive of the next generation of archivists as other have been for me. Finally, I am interested in continuing in a leadership role within SAA in future years and therefore, this would be an perfect entry point and learning opportunity for me.

I feel I'd be prepared for the obligations associated with secretary of SNAP because I have already served as secretary of several student organizations, including UNC's very active Student Chapter of the Society of American Archivists (SCOSAA) as recently as December of last year. I have also already attended two annual meetings, and stayed up to date on new archival issues via the SNAP and other SAA listservs. In addition, I work in a very supportive office environment that allows me to devote working hours to committee responsibilities and helps me attend out of town meetings like the annual meeting in Cleveland this year, as well as other professional events. Finally, I have been called conscientious, detailed oriented, organized, and goal driven -- attributes that align well to committee work and the job of secretary.

In summary, I feel that I am motivated, vetted, capable, and well equipped to do the job! Thank you for considering me.

Steering Committee

Emily Minehart – University of Illinois

I am halfway through my MLIS program at the University of Illinois, and am a Graduate Assistant in the Rare Book & Manuscript Library on campus, processing the recently acquired Gwendolyn Brooks papers. I also have archival experience in the Chicago Public Library system, and am currently spending my summer as an intern in the Knowledge Center at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, working on archival projects. I served as UIUC's SAA chapter secretary last year, and will be president in the upcoming academic year.

I believe in the notion of archival power, and that the archivist's role is a weighty one. We determine the color that history will take on. It's critical to me that my peers begin to engage with the wider profession early, finding mentors and spaces to air questions and problems. The library school at Illinois does not have a dedicated archives program; our SAA chapter strives to create a forum for professional discussion to compensate, but it is a challenge. Encouraging students to participate with national SAA, and with SNAP specifically, will allow the new generation of archivists to engage with, question, and hopefully move forward our profession. The best way to prepare for the powerful task of selecting and appraising the historical record is to understand what has been done before, what has worked, and what has not. That can only be achieved when new professionals are exposed both to each other and to the larger archival community. I would enjoy the challenge of helping to bridge the gap between education and moving into the professional world through service as a SNAP Steering Committee Member.

Ryan Caillet – Norfolk Public Library

My name is Ryan Caillet, and I currently work as a Library Aide at Norfolk Public Library's Sargeant Memorial Collection. I have also worked at North Carolina State University's Special Collections Department, interned with the Diocese of Baton Rouge Archives and undertaken a volunteer digitization project with LSU's Digital Services Department. I graduated from Louisiana State University in December 2015. Having earned my MLIS and started a new position, I feel I am ready to become more involved with SAA and the SNAP Roundtable in particular. Having gone through the graduate school and job search experience, I am passionate about supporting and advocating for new archives professionals.

Alice Sara Prael – University of Maryland, College Park

Hello to the members of the SNAP Roundtable,

My name is Alice Sara Prael and I am currently an MLS student at University of Maryland, College Park. I am specializing in the curation and management of digital assets and I have been working as the Digital Programs and Initiatives GA at McKeldin Library for the past year. In my short time as an SAA member, the SNAP Roundtable has been an invaluable resource for keeping up to date with archive related news and finding job opportunities. I am excited at the opportunity to become more involved and contribute as a member of the steering committee.

Recently I have been working with born digital holdings at UMD and I will be presenting a poster on this work with my colleague during the Graduate Student Poster Session in Cleveland. I have also been working to update the best practices for digital collection and move it from a static document to a wiki format. This has involved wrangling policies and procedures from many departments and working with other archivists and librarians to create new policies where necessary. This summer I am interning with the Special Access and FOIA branch of NARA to process a photo collection and manage digitization of the collection. I was also recently chosen as a National Digital Stewardship Resident in Boston, and I look forward to beginning work on this project in the fall.

This work has given me the experience necessary to serve as a member of the steering committee. My interdepartmental work will be especially useful as communication is key in this position. I think the SNAP roundtable is an incredibly important forum as students and new archivists find their place in the world of archives. I hope that I will be able to provide the leadership and perspective of a current student and soon to be new professional.

Thank you for your consideration.

Christy Fic – Shippensburg University

Greetings fellow SNAP members! A few years out from graduate school, I'm interested in serving as a Steering Committee Member because I have been looking for ways to give back to the profession. I feel that I am at a point in my life where I am able and ready to make this commitment. I graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with my MLIS in 2011, and have since gone on to earn a second masters degree in Applied History. I have held a number of temporary positions, first as a contractor at the Smithsonian Institution and later as a full-time adjunct librarian at Shippensburg University. In the span of only 5 years, I have been a graduate student, an archivist, a reference and instruction librarian, and am happy to be an archivist again! As a member of the faculty at Shippensburg University these past 2.5 years, I have mentored several students who have dreamed of careers in the library and archival professions. I hope to be able to continue to encourage students and new professionals and provide them with the resources and support they need to be successful as part of the leadership of the SNAP roundtable. Previously, I have been active at the state and regional level. I was recently selected to participate in the Pennsylvania Library Association's Academy of Leadership Studies, a conference for emerging library (and archives) leaders; and I am a member of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference's fall 2015 program committee. I would love to have the opportunity to extend my service beyond my state and region, and to make an impact on the profession at the national level.

Christina Broomfield – Syracuse University

I am a graduate student at the Library Science program at Syracuse University, with an emphasis on cultural heritage preservation and archives. I also have a Bachelor's in English Literature and Art History from SUNY Geneseo. I gained experience as an intern, student assistant, and supervisor in a number of libraries and departments, including museum libraries, academic libraries, special collections, and a center for academic excellence. I currently specialize in digitizing, accessioning, and deaccessioning archival collections in my positions of a Breuer Project Processing Assistant at Syracuse University and as a Circulation Supervisor and Special Collections Assistant at Lavery Library at St. John Fisher College.

As a member of the planning committee for Rochester Early Career Information Professionals (RECIP), I co-organize professional development lectures, workshops, and social networking events. These events cover anything from resume reviews to special library and archives visits. I also write promotional event emails, manage a professional twitter account, and write event briefs in order to disseminate information to our group members and the public at large.

I believe many of the leadership skills I have developed at RECIP, through my employment experiences, and through my graduate work make me an excellent candidate for the position of Steering Committee Member.

I am interested in serving as a Steering Committee Member because I am passionate about connecting people with archives and information. If elected, I hope to transfer my leadership skills into this position in order to stimulate involvement from the SNAP community by encouraging the exchange of information and ideas. I also hope to serve as a point of contact for people, answering questions, fostering networking opportunities, and soliciting input from members. I believe that everyone has a special skill, and that SNAP can help people to grow and demonstrate these skills through a variety of events and activities.

Please feel free to contact me at tinabroomfield@gmail.com with any additional questions. Thank you for your consideration.

Emily Lapworth – University of Nevada-Las Vegas

My name is Emily Lapworth and I am Digital Special Collections Librarian at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). I received my BA from Brandeis University in 2012 and my MLIS from Simmons SLIS in Boston in May 2014. In the past two years I’ve gained valuable experience transitioning student to professional; I started out as an unpaid intern and volunteer, moved across the country for a temporary project position, and am now a tenure-track faculty member. I believe that SNAP is a valuable resource and community for students and new professionals to help each other navigate our individual careers, become better archivists, and contribute to the development of the profession as a whole. I would be excited to contribute to SNAP by sharing my experience and serving as a member of the steering committee.