2021 Election: Candidate Statements

Thank you to all of our excellent candidates for standing in the 2021 Students and New Professionals 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:

• One Vice Chair/Chair-Elect, for a two-year term; 
• Secretary, for a one-year term; and
• 3 Steering Committee members (one-year terms). 

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 position:

Marissa Friedman
Digital Project Archivist, University of California, Berkeley 

Biography: Marissa Friedman is an early-career archivist with particular interests in digital collections, metadata, community archives and alternative models for archival praxis, and the intersections between digital technologies and archival activism. She holds a B.A. in History with Honors from University of Puget Sound, a M.A. in History (emphasis in Public History) from University of California, Riverside, and an MLIS from San Jose State University. Her background includes a diverse range of internships and professional experiences in archives, oral history, public and special libraries, and museums. She is currrently a digital project archivist at University of California, Berkeley. While a graduate student, she served as editor of the blog for the San Jose State University SAA student chapter, and currently is a Junior Blog Editor for SNAP. She is also a member of the advocacy committee for the Society of California Archivists.  

Statement: As an early career professional who has benefitted immensely from my involvement in professional service organizations at the local and regional levels, I joined the steering committee of SNAP this past year with great anticpation. I immediately felt at home in this section and was empowered to seek out and discuss opportunities and challenges we may face as early career professionals. As Vice-Chair/Chair Elect, I would joyfully support the current and future activities of the section. My goal in this position is to ensure that SNAP remains a vital, dynamic, and evolving section that responds to the needs of students and new professionals, advocates for solutions to issues we may face, and creates opportunitites for networking and building space for collaboration both within and beyond SNAP.

Secretary Candidates

The following candidates are running for Secretary position:

River Freemont (they/them)
Student, Emporia State University 

River hails from the Pacific Northwest, where they have learned to love a good cloud-ceiling. They love punk, science fiction, photography, hiking, and foraging.  

Since March 2021, River has served as a member of the ACRL/RBMS Climate Readiness Task Force, where they perform research around the threats that climate change poses to cultural heritage collections. This summer, they will be working as an intern with the Smithsonian Institute Library and Archives, where they will do research in preparation for proposals to improve LCSH for use with LGBTQ and Disability related collections. Also starting this summer, they will serve on the ACRL/RBMS Controlled Vocabularies Editorial Group. River is interested in trauma-informed services, repatriation, digitization, outreach, and critical race frameworks in archival practice.  

River is excited about the opportunity to serve as Secretary to the SNAP section in order to connect with other emerging professionals, and to support our voices in the field.

Steering Committee Member Candidates

The following candidates are running for the section steering committee:

Jennifer Dantchev
MSLIS Graduate Student at Long Island University - Post Campus

I will be beginning my graduate studies for a MSLIS degree at Long Island University this upcoming Fall 2021. My concentration will be in Rare Books and Special Collections and I will be concurrently completing the Certificate of Advanced Study in Archives and Records Management. My career goal is to eventually become an Archivist or Records Manager. I was excited to become a member of SAA, and the SNAP section really caught my interest. It is important for both students and new members to the field to have a resource to help them navigate their chosen career path, and I look forward to the possibility of being able to help others in their journey by serving as a Steering Committee Member.

In my last job position, I was the Team Leader of a small scanning team which digitized and indexed documents for a university-affiliated organization. This position is what got me interested in looking further into archives and records management. I also have experience in being a student board member for a university non-profit while an undergraduate and I have previous experience in event planning for training seminars at a university center. 

Being able to serve in a leadership position in the SNAP section sounds both exciting and rewarding. It would be an honor to serve in this position and provide assistance to its members. 

John Esh
Processing Archivist, Towson University  

Hello everyone. My name is John Esh and I am the Processing Archivist at Towson University where I have been working, post graduation, for a bit over a year now. I hold an MLS from Emporia State University as well as a BA in Anthropology from Portland State University, and during my studies I interned and worked student positions at a variety of institutions including Oregon Health & Science University, Lewis & Clark College, and Adidas North American HQ. While COVID has thrown a wrench into and delayed my plans for national service, I have participated in the SAA Mentoring Program as both a mentee and mentor, the latter a role I plan on continuing to fulfill throughout my career. I believe my varied archival background as well my experience navigating passage through the field as a new professional during these tumultuous times makes me an ideal candidate to help steer the SNAP section in a productive direction and I look forward to the opportunity to help serve the archival community.

Lourdes Johnson

My name is Lourdes Johnson, I am an early-career librarian-archivist, and I want to nominate myself for the position of Member-At-Large at the SAA-SNAP Section. I graduated with an MLIS degree and a Digital Asset Management certificate and have recently completed an internship at the Library of Congress.  Currently, I am looking for full-time employment as Digital Archivist.  For the last two years, I have served SNAP as one of three student chapter coordinators (ex-officio member).  It has been a joy to collaborate with the leadership team with programming and networking activities to attract new members into our Section.   

The time is ripe for me to serve as a steering committee member and give a chance to an MLIS student to serve as student chapter coordinator. 

I am confident that my experience reaching out to student chapters at SNAP and my previous background as a business manager cultivating community relationships will be valuable for the SAA SNAP section to continue building a vibrant community.  There is more work to do! I want to continue supporting SNAP goals for the coming year by organizing and planning engaging outreach activities. 

Alison Quirion
Library Assistant I, Orange County Public Libraries 

My name is Alison Quirion, and I graduated with my MLIS degree in May 2021. Back in 2019, I decided to leave a career in marketing to pursue my interests in archives and information science. I discovered my love for metadata, digital curation, and making archives and information accessible and inclusive. Most recently, I was the chair of the student chapter of SAA at San Jose State University. As an emerging professional entering a job market that is more challenging than ever, I am eager to maintain and build connections within the archival community and assist others in similar positions with navigating the field and finding their dream job!

Astrid Ramos
Assistant Archivist, The Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada

Astrid Ramos is the Assistant Archivist for the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada Archives. She graduated in 2019 with her MLIS degree from Western University in London, Ontario, and since then she completed an archives practicum with the Sisters of St. Joseph and has worked in the Archives and Special Collections at Western University in London,  and at the Hinton Municipal Library and Archives in Hinton, Alberta. Astrid has shown a passion for archival work, and for encouraging diversity and new professionals in the field. She is dedicated, committed, and has demonstrated the ability to think creatively and imaginatively. She has expertise in outreach as well as pedagogical skills. I believe Astrid will be a strong asset to the SNAP Section of the Society of American Archivists.

Tia Stenson
Archivist at Deadwood History, Inc. 

My name is Tia Stenson, I graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in August 2020 and just started my first archives professional job in April 2021 at Deadwood History, Inc. I want to be part of SNAP Steering Committee, because I believe it would be a good stepping stone to be more involved in the archives profession. I was president of the Society of American Archivists Student Chapter at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee for two years, and have had other leadership experience.