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Reference, Access, and Outreach Section Meeting
From Saa2007
Friday, 31 August 2007, 12:00 – 2:00 p.m.
Room Crystal (Level 3) - Room assignments may change - Check the onsite program
Program
Archives and the Media - Speakers will include Michael Flug, senior archivist of the Vivian Harsh Collection at the Chicago Public Library; Lauren R. Dolan, public relations and sponsorship manager for the Chicago History Museum; and Dawn Turner Trice, a reporter for the Chicago Tribune.
Business Meeting
A. Welcome and Introduction of RAO Officers
B. SAA Announcements (Council Liaison, Program Committee, etc.)
C. Election of Officers (See below for Candidates' Biographies)
D. Old Business
- Joint Statement on Access to Original Research Materials (1994 statement)
- Other
E. Session Proposals (for 2008 Annual Meeting)
F. RAO Involvement in or Support for History Day
- Encouragement to state and local archival groups
- Sharing History Day posters and flyers
- 2009 National History Day Curriculum Book
- Other ideas
G. Reference and "More Product, Less Process"
- Short review of this year's sessions
- Guidelines/recommendations on working with patrons.
- Working with other sections/roundtables
- Tapping members’ expertise
Candidates for Office - 2007
Candidates were asked to provide a one-paragraph biographical statement.
Vice Chair
- Arlene Schmuland is head of Archives and Special Collections at the University of Alaska Anchorage. She has been an archivist for over 13 years, a reference archivist for over 9 of those years. She has had experience in both government and academic repositories, and she earned her graduate degree in archives from Western Washington University. She has been a member of the RAO steering committee since 2003. She is also a member of the Alaska state SHRAB, and she is serving on the 2007 SAA Program Committee. She is pleased to have the opportunity to come before the RAO membership to run for this election as she strongly believes in the work we all do and believes it is integral to and indivisible from every other facet of archival work.
Steering Committee (two positions are open)
- Frederick J. Augustyn, Jr. Among the professional positions he has held related to the goals of RAO are a current split assignment as Cataloger/Cataloging Specialist, providing bibliographic access, and Reference Librarian in the Manuscript Division at the Library of Congress. He has previously served as an Archivist at the National Education Association and as a Research Assistant on the Samuel Gompers Historical Editing project. His experience also includes details as a Volunteer Services Specialist and Docent at the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution. Community service and outreach roles have included volunteering as a judge for National History Day and as an interviewer for the Veterans' History Project. He has had previous committee experience on the American Library Association's Membership Committee and on its Cognotes writing staff. He holds a Ph D and MA in American history from the University of Maryland, as well as an MLS, and a BA in European history from Boston University.
- Shannon Bowen is an assistant archivist at the University of Wyoming American Heritage Center (AHC). She has been with the Center for five years. She is a member of the Rocky Mountain Online Archive advisory board and an active member of the board for her local historical society. Her current research interests include the impact of minimal processing techniques on reference service and tenure and promotion standards and practices for archivists. She believes that the AHC's broad patron base and diverse outreach program places her in a good position to advise the section.
- Jackie Esposito has over twenty years of archival and records management experience. She has been serving as both faculty and administrator for the Penn State University Archives since 2001. She joined the faculty of the University Libraries in July 1991 as Assistant University Archivist for Records Management/Senior Assistant Librarian. She was tenured and promoted to Associate Librarian in 1998. Among her publications is the acclaimed, The Nittany Lion: An Illustrated Tale (Penn State Press) Prior to coming to Penn State, she served as project archivist for The Fiorello LaGuardia Papers Project and as an Adjunct History Faculty member at St. John's University, New York.
- Kathryn Otto is the Head of Reference for the Minnesota Historical Society library and archives, a position she has held for nearly six years. Before that she was the State Archivist for Montana for ten years. Prior to that she worked on numerous grant projects, including the first state U.S. newspaper project. She began her career in the Archives Reading Room at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. She has a B.A. in History from the University of Wisconsin--La Crosse; a M.A. in Library Science, specializing in archives, from the University of Wisconsin--Madison; and a M.A. in U.S. History from the University of Kansas, where her master's thesis was about T.R. Schellenberg and the beginning of the National Archives.
- Alison Stankrauff has served as the Campus Archivist at the Indiana University South Bend campus since 2004. She is a lone arranger there, and inherited an archives that had not had an archivist for ten years. She has created all of the archives' policies and has seen outreach as one of her primary goals. Reference requests have grown exponentially since she got to IU South Bend, much to her gratification. Previous to her current position, Alison served as a reference archivist at the American Jewish Archives, and previous to that, as a technician at the Reuther Labor Archives at Wayne State University. She interned at the Rabbi Franklin Archives at Temple Beth El in metropolitan Detroit. Alison graduated with her Masters in Library Science with Archival Administration concentration in 2002, and has a Bachelors degree in history from Antioch College.
- Florence M. Turcotte has been the Research Services Archivist in the Dept. of Special and Area Studies Collections at the University of Florida since March of 2005. She also serves as the curator of literary manuscripts in Special Collections. With her colleague John Nemmers, she authored ARL SPEC Kit 296: Public Services in Special Collections, published in November 2006. She recently presented a paper entitled: "Archives, Outreach and Advocacy: Promoting and Developing your Collections", at the 2007 Annual Meeting of the Society of Florida Archivists.
- Kelly Wooten is the Research Services and Collection Development Librarian for the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture at Duke University's Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library. In addition to reference and instruction responsibilities, she helps plan and promote thematic exhibits and innovative programming such as dramatic readings, film festivals, and academic symposia. Other outreach responsibilities include maintaining the Center website, publishing a newsletter, and promoting the Center's travel grant program. Before joining the staff at Duke, she was the Public Relations and Annual Giving Coordinator for UNC's Health Science Library where she planned major events, edited and distributed print and online publications and communications, and managed the Friends of the Library program. Wooten has extensive experience promoting small non-profit organizations such as Internationalist Books and Community Center where she currently manages the membership program as a volunteer and formerly served as board chair. She received both her BA in Women's Studies and English literature and her MSLS from UNC-Chapel Hill, and holds a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Duke Continuing Studies.
For further information about the Reference, Access, and Outreach Section, see: http://www.archivists.org/saagroups/rao/index.asp


