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Thank you to all of our excellent candidates for standing in the 2024 User Experience Section Special 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:
We are also voting to approve our Section standing rules, as detailed below. The proposed rules are an important step to formalizing governance of the User Experience Section and were open for comment earlier this fall.
Ballots will be managed by SAA staff through Survey Monkey; keep an eye on your inbox for when the ballot opens!
The following candidates are running for the section steering committee:
Laura Bell
Archivist, History Associates, Inc.
Currently I am an Archivist at History Associates, Inc. where my main responsibilities involve collections management and collections processing, as well as digital assessments, and the creation of finding aids for clients. In the past I've also coordinated online reference services and digital exhibits, managed social media outreach, and collaborated on digital preservation initiatives. I earned my Master of Library Science (MLS) degree with a Specialization in Archives and Records Management from Indiana University, Bloomington and my B.A. degree in English from St. Mary’s College of Maryland. I am a Certified Archivist through the ACA and have earned a Digital Archives Specialist (DAS) certificate through SAA. I've also completed a Graduate Certificate in User Experience (UX) Design. I've been a member of SAA since 2016. Most recently, I served as Chair of the Manuscripts Repository Section. Previously, I served as a steering committee member of the Manuscripts Repository Section, and before that I was a Students and New Archives Professionals (SNAP) Section (SNAP) Section, Ex-Officio, New Professionals Blog Editor.
I have enjoyed participating in SAA and have appreciated the opportunities it creates for archivists to connect to each other and to new resources as our work evolves. I'm very excited for the future of this section and would like to help out however I can. I think that the frameworks and tools used in UX research and design can help archives and libraries continue to improve our services, our own tools, and the experiences of both archivists and researchers. As the section grows I look forward to participating and learning with and from its members!
Theresa Berger
Head of Digital Library Services, University of Minnesota Libraries
Theresa Berger holds nearly a decade of experience in Archives and Special Collections across academic, non-profit, and government settings. She specializes in digital collections development and digitization project management, with an emphasis on community-generated metadata and collaborative digital design. Previously, she has held positions at the Hoover Institution Library and Archives at Stanford University, California Revealed at the California State Library, and the National Security Research Center at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Currently, she is Head of Digital Library Services at the University of Minnesota Libraries, where she leads the Libraries’ Strategic Digitization program, serves on the Reparative Description Leadership Team in Archives and Special Collections, and manages the Library’s digital collections platform, UMedia, among other responsibilities. She holds a BA in American Studies (summa cum laude) from the University of California, Berkeley as well as an MLIS (emphasis in Archival Studies and Records Management) from San Jose State University. Theresa is a Certified Archivist with the Academy of Certified Archivists as well as Digital Archives Specialist with the Society of American Archivists.
I was thrilled when I learned about the creation of the SAA UX Section. Over the course of my career, I have found the most satisfaction in engaging directly with users - whether it be in the reading room, an email exchange online, or running into one another at a local coffee shop (yes, that has really happened!). If one of our core values as archivists is to “expand access and usage opportunities for users, and potential users, of archival records,” what better way to do this than incorporating principles, tenants, and strategies of User Experience? I am specifically interested in UX and its role in digital collections platforms /digital collections web design. Currently, I am pursuing a certificate with Library Juice Academy in User Experience for Libraries (expected completion Summer 2024) in addition to co-leading a UX study on strategies and recommendations for content notices on digital collections websites (expected publication Fall 2024). As professionals committed to making resources accessible to others, I believe we are all committed to “User Experience” in one way or another. If elected to the UX Steering Committee, I would work with others to create a safe space and platform for members to explore the role of UX in their work and to learn from each other. This includes launching a subcommittee on UX in Digital Collections (and any other topics that might be of interest); hosting webinars and info sessions on relevant topics; working with publications such as Archival Outlook and the American Archivist to create publication opportunities to share our work; and building connections with others exploring UX in Archives, especially our international colleagues. In addition to general access, I believe UX also has a role in shaping how we describe, preserve, and promote access to materials representing histories of marginalized communities. As such, this section is an important step in the direction of upholding commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion in our work. Here’s to an exciting time for UX and for us as a profession.
Caitlin Goodman
Archivist, Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College
Caitlin Goodman has been an archivist at the Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College since spring 2022, where she focuses on Quaker meetings and their records, and spends the rest of the time teaching undergrads and managing the reading room calendar. She came to Swarthmore from the Free Library of Philadelphia where she was the curator of the Rare Book Department. She is active with the Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries (PACSCL), where she is currently serving an invited role on the Strategic Planning Working Group and continues as a member of the standing Programming and Member Engagement Committee. She has also contributed to the Rare Book and Manuscripts Section (RBMS) of ALA, including several years on the Exhibition Awards Committee and the Task Force to revise the Guidelines for Loan of Special Collections Materials. At Swarthmore, she served on the Library's Assessment and User Experience Committee.
She's excited to get involved with the UX Section to collaboratively develop best practices around user experience research in archives. At Swarthmore, she is in relationship with a broad base of records creators, many of whom are new to archives and records management, so she has the opportunity to think with them about appraisal, description, digital preservation, and discoverability. Many times UX research in special collections focuses on genealogist or academic personas, but she wants to bring a broader perspective to developing evaluative tools for user needs to the UX Section. Her background in public library special collections and now with record creator-users will hopefully be productive as the UX Section builds its bibliography and its interest groups.
David J. “Dave” Williams
Digital Initiatives and Special Collections Librarian, David and Lorraine Cheng Library, William Paterson University of New Jersey
After completing a degree in Information Systems at Drexel University, Dave Williams worked as a technical writer, a document conversion editor, and a web developer. In 2007 he joined Queens College, CUNY, as the Libraries Web Services Technician while completing his Library Science degree in their Graduate School of Library and Information Studies’ Archives, Records Management, and Preservation program. Serving as the Queens College Libraries Web and Digital Services Librarian, Dave subsequently earned a master’s degree in Science and Technology Liberal Studies from the Graduate Center of The City University of New York, concentrating in digital humanities and data visualization. Upon graduation Dave became the Digital Initiatives and Special Collections Librarian at William Paterson University of New Jersey’s David and Lorraine Cheng Library, where he manages digitization initiatives, digital projects, and special collections activities.
My name is Dave Williams, and I manage Digital Initiatives and Special Collections activities as an academic librarian at William Paterson University. My motive for serving as a member of the Steering Committee for the Society of American Archivists User Experience Section stems from two sources: my professional interest in preserving primary source historical materials, and my personal interest in technology as a means for facilitating the exchange of knowledge. Before becoming an archivist I developed taxonomies aimed at enhancing information exchange and discovery, and in the process acquired a profound respect for design. My exposure to data visualization and the holistic practices of User Experience revealed how careful attention to every component of a research interaction, down to the smallest details of color, typography, and language, can have the greatest impact on information discovery. I believe that, as archivists engaged in User Experience activities, we can serve as a bridge between the creative and information professions, and that the practical application of User Experience to archives, libraries, museums, and other knowledge institutions is only just beginning. We have an excellent opportunity to move the discourse forward and take a seat at the User Experience table, representing our shared profession and passions, and I will lend my skills as a technologist and researcher to this process.
As a new Section, one of the final steps to formalize the User Experience Section is voting to approve its Standing Rules. The Rules were shared with all section members earlier this fall and approved by SAA Council at their November 2023 meeting. The Rules articulate the Section’s mission, goals and objectives, and its governance structure for the Steering Committee and member participation, including the formation of working groups and collaborations with other SAA Sections or groups.