20204-2025 SAA SNAP Election: Candidate Statements

Thank you to all of our excellent candidates for standing in the 2024-2025 SAA SNAP 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:

• One Vice Chair/Chair-Elect, for a two-year term; and

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

• Secretary

Vice Chair/Chair-Elect Candidates

The following candidates are running for the Vice Chair/Chair-Elect (or Co-chair) position:

Kay Slater
Specialist in Creative Technology, Oak Park Public Library

Hello! I wish to serve as Vice Chair/Chair-Elect of SNAP as a MS/LIS student focusing on digital preservation and public services, graduating from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in December 2024. I am a member of the UIUC SAA Student Chapter, and a full-time specialist in Creative Technology at the Oak Park Public Library in Oak Park, IL. I develop public programming across audiences for media preservation, digitization, genealogy, and creative production tools.

I currently serve as a member of the SAA Local Arrangements Committee for the 2024 Annual Meeting. As part of committee service I coordinated a combinatory repository tour of OPPL's Special Collections and the Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio ahead of the Annual Meeting. I regularly engage in writing projects, with contributions to Archival Outlook (March/April 2024), Public Libraries (May/June 2024), and Library Trends (2024). I have attended professional development workshops like the Digital POWRR Institute and the Community Webs Archive-It/Internet Archive Symposium. I have a Master of Arts in Communication from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in New Media/Visual & Critical Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Research interests of mine include critical archive/media studies, digital preservation, and how technology is utilized in archives & special collections. I have an interdisciplinary background entrenched in the examination of media, culture, and communication technologies, and I apply that critical framework to the practice and study of digital preservation.

As Vice Chair/Chair-Elect, I am excited to assist the Chair in leading the SNAP section in professional development, networking, and collaborative learning opportunities. I believe that we work best when we work together, especially across disciplines and lived experiences; serving communities includes how we serve each other. I love to connect others to resources that aid in the process of their flourishing, both as a professional and as a human being; it's the reason I decided to become an archivist/librarian in the first place. With my experience serving on a SAA Committee coordinating learning experiences for association members, consistent engagement with the public on developing competency in topics like digitization, and willingness to collaborate with students, recent graduates, and professionals of all levels on providing access to resources within and tangential to the Society, I believe I am a great fit for the elected position of Vice Chair/Chair-Elect of the SAA SNAP section. Thank you for your consideration!

Steering Committee Member Candidates

The following candidates are running for the section steering committee:

Emma Barton-Norris
Processing Archivist, Bowdoin College 

As a new professional in archives, I find that there currently is a generational gap among myself and my peers/coworkers. New archivists have new ideas about arrangement, description, restriction, censorship, outreach, access, and collection management. We want to see measurable progress in decolonizing and diversifying efforts at the repositories we work at. We hope to be the ones to make that progress. However, I have experienced what a lack of community can feel like in situations that limit your ability to create change in archival institutions. I would be grateful for the opportunity to help steer our SNAP section towards being a place where new archival workers can come together, share ideas, and experiment in radical new approaches to our profession. I have experience as a Program Committee member for New England Archivists (NEA), as the Social Chair for my student ALA chapter, and as a department steward for my previous graduate student union (UE Local). These experiences have all prepared me to provide leadership and service for SNAP members. I think SAA needs the SNAP section to be able to incorporate the ideas and knowledge of the next generation of archival workers into the organization. For a field that’s so rooted in the past, I believe it is our duty and privilege to be the voices of the future. I would welcome the chance to steward and serve this section, to make sure all our voices are heard at the table, and encourage other, more established archival professionals, to look forward to the next generation of archival workers. We are the future – and I think it’s about time our profession understands that we (and our ideas) are here to stay.

Amy Archambault
Instructional technologist, Digital and Lifelong Learning, UNC Chapel Hill

Hello! I'm new to SAA and new to the archivist profession in general. After a long career as an instructional designer in higher education, I'm looking to transition in an archivist role. I have library credentials and have done archival work in the past, but this would be a big career change and I'm excited about the various opportunities. Joining SNAP would be a great way to get to know the SAA community better, get to know others transitioning into the field, provide a "newbie" perspective, especially from the vantage point of a 2nd or 3rd career change, and serve the organizational body at large.  I find that one of the best ways to get to know an organization and its membership is to serve. Thank you for the opportunity to apply!

Erica Leff
MLIS Student, San Jose State University

Hello! I'm Erica Leff, an MLIS student at San Jose State University. I used to be an attorney, but my love of archives was too strong, so I had to go back to school! I'm most interested in born-digital archives, web archives, digitization, and the use of archives for art and social justice. I was the webmaster for SJSU's SAA student chapter for the 2023-2024 year. I enjoyed working with the rest of the SAASC team to promote our programming and grow our chapter. I would love to continue to help other aspiring and new archivists as a part of SNAP.

In my law career, I attended a social justice-oriented law school, where I studied criminal defense. I interned at a domestic violence law clinic and a public defender's office. In 2020, I ran a low-bono solo law practice in Connecticut. Before I started at SJSU, I spent about two years as an eviction defense attorney near Boston.

Currently, I live near Worcester, MA with my husband and our dog, Kira. I love Star Trek, music, and video games.

Secretary Candidate

Nicole Font
Processing Archivist, Center for Brooklyn History

I graduated from NYU’s Archives and Public History program in 2022 and currently hold a project archivist position at the Center for Brooklyn History, Brooklyn Public Library. I joined SNAP out of a passion for advocating for the needs of students and new professionals, drawing from firsthand experience with the challenges that emerging professionals often face. Having served in various roles within SNAP, including social media coordinator and steering committee member, I understand the concerns of our community. As secretary, in addition to taking notes during our monthly meetings, I’ll aim to provide essential resources, support, and a sense of community to all section members. Being part of SNAP has been an enriching experience, and I'm eager to continue contributing to the section.