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2020 Election Candidate Statements

Vice President/ President Elect

Name: Leilani Marshall

Institution: Sourisseau Academy for State and Local History, San Jose State University

What do you see as the most urgent issues for California archivists, and how do you think SCA can help address these issues?

One of the most urgent issues facing California’s archivists today is the underemployment of archival professionals in institutions and organizations that have become increasingly reliant upon temporary labor through grant-funded projects and short-term positions. This worrying trend indicates an undervaluing and underappreciation of archivists and their expertise by the repositories that are the caretakers of California’s historical record. A related issue to underemployment is the need to increase the visibility of the archives profession to California’s historical institutions and cultural heritage repositories as well as to local communities and the general public. Greater community outreach will not only raise the awareness of the profession itself but will also encourage the use of archival collections throughout the state. As the professional organization representing California’s archivists, SCA is in the perfect position to address both of these issues. One of SCA’s core missions is to support the work of those who collect, care for, and provide access to the documentary heritage of California, and advocating for better working conditions as well as being an assertive voice for archival professionals are in perfect accordance with this mission. To these ends SCA has established the current Task Force on Labor Issues in Archives, the purpose of which is to devote two years to assessing and addressing the labor issues of California’s archivists. By developing best practices and adopting policies that can help set standards for fair and professional labor practices, SCA can greatly impact California’s archivists’ working environment. Creating opportunities for dialog between archival professionals and the institutions and organizations they work for is another way that SCA can support its members and further its mission to encourage interest in, and support for, archival facilities in both public and private institutions. 

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Treasurer

Name: Lara Michels

Institution: University of California, Berkeley

Bearing in mind that the treasurer is responsible for all financial transactions for the Society and reporting those transactions to the Board of Directors and the general membership, what skills or previous experience do you possess that are particularly applicable to the position?

I have managed budgets at different points in my professional career. Most recently, at PG&E, my work required that I present financial reports monthly to my departmental leadership for particular projects. In addition, for four years I managed (as a volunteer) the financial transactions for the development wing of my children’s school. In particular, I was responsible for receiving and tracking the receipt and processing of all financial donations, the receipt and processing of all monies relating to ticket purchases for the annual school gala, and the receipt and processing of all monies relating to purchases made at the gala. I worked closely with the Head of Development at the school and reported results regularly to her. I also helped customize the software tool the school used to track donations and purchases and helped troubleshoot issues as they arose.

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Director-at-Large

Name: Kira Dres

Institution: California State Archives

This position represents the membership at large on the SCA Board.  What kinds of strategies or approaches will you take to represent and communicate membership needs to the Board and Committee chairs, and also facilitate communications between the Board and Committees?

During the course of my work with the Western Archives Institute, I have witnessed firsthand how beneficial it is for archival professionals to be a part of an active and supportive community of colleagues with a variety of backgrounds and experiences. After two weeks at the Institute, WAI participants discover that although some challenges may be unique to their repository, their new network of peers are grappling with many of the same professional quandaries. The Society of California Archivists affords its membership this same opportunity to learn from both shared experiences and diverse challenges, and I would welcome the opportunity to represent this community as a Director-at-Large. In this position, I would work collaboratively with the members of the SCA Board and Committees, actively engaging as a liaison between the two and using my participation in both to communicate the needs of the SCA membership in a clear, respectful, and transparent manner. I would also contribute to the smooth operation of the organization by communicating all SCA Board and Committee needs in a timely fashion and promptly responding to member inquiries. I would strive to identify and recognize the commonalities and differences in professional goals and perspectives amongst the SCA membership, and would serve as an objective representative that advocates for the membership’s needs in order to develop and strengthen the organization as a whole. SCA’s activities must reflect and stay relevant to its community’s needs, and as Director-at-Large I would ensure that those needs are clearly communicated between SCA’s leadership, its committees, and its membership.

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Name: Sue Luftschein

Institution: University of Southern California

This position represents the membership at large on the SCA Board.  What kinds of strategies or approaches will you take to represent and communicate membership needs to the Board and Committee chairs, and also facilitate communications between the Board and Committees?

SCA’s Directors-at-Large are conduits—they ensure communication out to the membership and up to the President. They need to keep their ears to the ground to make certain that issues of concern to the membership are communicated to the Board, and they need to make sure that the actions of the Board are communicated in a timely manner to the membership. Because I live and work in Los Angeles, I regularly interact with a significant subsection of SCA’s membership. If I am elected to the Board, I will use my contacts and interactions to keep these important lines of communication open. My interactions with fellow members occur in many different settings—from the informal (like catching up with colleagues at the LA as Subject Archives Bazaar) to the more formal. They provide me with opportunities to discuss issues that are important to us as archivists, and I will continue to seek out occasions in which to have these kinds of conversations. My work with the archival community on the national level also provides me with opportunities to communicate broadly within SCA. I’ve already used that work to arrange two well-received workshops for the Education Committee that were offered at the last AGM, both of which introduced the membership to new areas of archival theory and practice, and I hope to continue to leverage my national work to support SCA and its members.

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Nominating Committee

Name: Elena Colón-Marrero

Institution: Computer History Museum

Taking into account differing levels of monetary and institutional support, how can the Nominating Committee ensure that candidates are 1) chosen from all facets of the archival profession--lone arrangers, large institutions, government archives, academic archives, corporate archives, library, museum, and other settings; 2) holding various types of positions (contract, temporary/project, permanent, etc.); and 3) representative of various levels of experience in the field?

Members of the Nominating Committee have an obligation to look high and low for individuals that reflect what our profession looks like, but most importantly what we want the profession to become. The Nominating Committee should critically look at candidate submissions to determine who is not at the table. The committee should ask themselves who is missing and why are they missing. They should then work to find and encourage individuals that traditionally are not represented, whether that be lone-arrangers, project archivists, and/or new professionals. Nominating committee members need to see the potential in individuals and advocate on their behalf. This committee has the opportunity to lift up members within our community and say, “we see you and we believe in you.”

We must also acknowledge our own shortcomings and limitations as professionals. Personally, I see myself as a new professional that still discovering the wide landscape of archival professionals in California. But that also means that I am not wedded to the traditional idea of what an SCA leader looks like. Members of the Nominating Committee must recognize and challenge their inherent biases when determining what slate of candidates that they should put forward. They need to be willing to challenge their idea of what a leader looks like. To do so the membership must elect Nominating Committee members that also reflect the community it wants to foster. The work of the Nominating Committee can only be done with the trust of the membership. Without mutual trust the Nominating Committee cannot ensure that our organization’s leadership reflects the community. Members of the Nominating Committee should continually strive to make the organization better than what it was before.

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Name: Genevieve Preston

Institution: San Bernardino County Historical Archives

Taking into account differing levels of monetary and institutional support, how can the Nominating Committee ensure that candidates are 1) chosen from all facets of the archival profession--lone arrangers, large institutions, government archives, academic archives, corporate archives, library, museum, and other settings; 2) holding various types of positions (contract, temporary/project, permanent, etc.); and 3) representative of various levels of experience in the field?

I know firsthand the challenges of working for a non-profit and for a government entity, having worked at places as varied as the Huntington Library to San Bernardino County. I understand the challenges of working as a lone arranger and as part of a much larger institution. It can be difficult to not only serve on committees due to time restraints, both professionally and privately, but to also question where your specific skills and qualifications will best be put to use.

The Nominating Committee has the responsibility to solicit candidates from every background to ensure the board and committees are diverse and representative of the SCA membership as a whole. A diverse and inclusive board helps shape not only SCA, but the profession by bringing together archivists from different backgrounds and perspectives.  Currently, the Nominating Committee does not have specific steps on soliciting candidates beyond the open call and reaching out directly to solicit nominations.

If elected, I would work with my colleagues on developing strategies to improve recruitment for candidates to ensure the ballot of candidates come from all walks of the profession and represent the various levels of experience.

With my colleagues I would work on creating specific steps to improve recruitment for candidates utilizing various social media sites and other platforms to find candidates with a vision and skills to help guide SCA.

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