Candidates for Council

Katie Blank

Elise Fariello

Benn Joseph

Daria Labinsky

Katie Blank

Employment:

Marquette University, Department of Special Collections & University Archives: University/Digital Records Archivist, 2017-Present; Electronic Records Manager, 2013 – 2017; Special Librarian and Archival Studies Program Assistant, School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2009-2013. 

Education:

M.L.I.S. with Archival Studies Concentration and M.A, History, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2011.  B.A., History, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2004. 

Professional Activities:

MAC: Member since 2008; Vendor Coordinator, 2017-2019; MAC Nominating Committee, 2016-2017; Vendor Coordinator Intern, 2016-2017; 2016 Annual Meeting Local Arrangements Committee, 2014-2016; Education Taskforce, 2009-2010. 

SAA:  Member since 2005; Donald Peterson Student Travel Award Subcommittee of the Awards Committee, (Chair 2018-2019), 2016-2019; SAA Regional Archival Associations Consortium (RAAC), Education Subcommittee, 2015-2017; Reference, Access and Outreach Section’s Access to Electronic Records Working Group, 2014-2015; Student Program Subcommittee & Chair of the Student Paper Session for the Annual Conference, 2009.

Marquette University: 2019-2020FELOS (Faculty Exploring Leadership Opportunities) Cohort; University Academic Senate, Senator representing the Academic Librarian’s Assembly, 2018-2021;

Academic Librarian’s Assembly: Chair, 2016-2017; Vice Chair/Chair Elect, 2015-2016, Compensation and Benefits Committee, 2014-2017; Library User Experience Committee, 2017-2019; Library Public Interface Committee, 2014-2017.   

Other: SWAG (Southeastern Wisconsin Archives Group): Member since 2009, Co-Chair, 2014-2016.   Special Libraries Association – Wisconsin Chapter: Treasurer, 2012-2013. 

Question for Candidate: One of Council’s duties is to work on new initiatives; as a member of Council, how would you identify and advocate for member needs?

Response from Council Candidate Katie Blank: It is critical for MAC Council to serve members by regularly communicating with and listening to them. If elected, I would encourage Council to do this in several ways. The MAC website could be updated to include a “comment box” where members can give feedback and calls for member feedback could be broadcast on MAC’s social media accounts. A follow-up survey to the 2017-member survey, with questions focusing on how to overcome the main barriers identified - money, time, and relevancy – could be sent to members. There could be “meet your MAC leaders” events at the Annual Meeting and the Fall Symposiums. I would also encourage members to contact me individually. Council could also work with the MAC state representatives to gather input from members. Member feedback would be assembled and used by Council and other MAC leaders to identify any quick wins and guide priorities for the next Strategic Plan.      

As a member of the Marquette University Academic Senate (UAS), I serve as an advocate for my fellow archivists and librarians at the institutional level. As a Council member I would take the same approach of advocating for members by working with fellow MAC leaders. As a volunteer-run organization with a limited budget I would encourage that Council take an evidenced-based and pragmatic approach to serving MAC members. Council could look at what other professional organizations, both within and outside the field, are doing to address their member needs, and perhaps MAC could partner with other local, state, or regional organizations or the Society of American Archivists to offer opportunities to MAC members. If elected to MAC Council I would gladly use my skills and experience as a communicator to advocate for members.  

Elise Fariello

Employment

• Archives Technician, The National Archives At Chicago, 2016-present
• Supervisory Archives Specialist, Research Room Operations, 2016
• Archives Technician, Electronic Records Division, 2014-2016
• Archives Technician, Research Room Operations, 2013-2014

Education

• Master of Arts in History, Public History Concentration, American University, Washington, DC, August 2015

• Bachelor of Arts in American Studies, Bachelor of Arts in English, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY, May 2011

Professional Service

• MAC 2018 Local Arrangements Committee
• CAA 2018 Day of Service
• Yellowstone Heritage and Research Center 2015 Archives Blitz
• Historical Society of Washington, DC 2014-2016, volunteer

 Presentations and Publications

• “Tax Assessment Lists of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries,” National Archives The Text Message Blog, July 24, 2018
• “Nineteenth Century Ancestors in Tax Assessment Records,” Public Presentation, National Archives Virtual Genealogy Fair 2017, October 2017
• “The Last American Indian Uprising: Minnesota’s Federal Courts and The Battle of Sugar Point,” National Archives at Chicago Newsletter, November 2016
• “National Parks in the National Archives,” National Archives at Chicago Newsletter, February 2017.
• Fariello, Elise. 2015. “Association for the Study of African American Life and History Turns 100”. Washington History. 27 (1): 70
• McDonough, Anne and Elise Fariello. 2015. “Historical Society Collections: Oriental Building Association No. 6 Records, 1861-2011 (MS 0805)”. Washington History. 27 (1): 65
• Fariello, Elise. 2015. “Best of the Web - Vanished Washington: The Architectural Eulogy of What Was Washington, D.C.” Washington History. 27 (2): 53

Question for Candidate: One of Council’s duties is to work on new initiatives; as a member of Council, how would you identify and advocate for member needs?

Response from Council Candidate Elise Fariello: As a member of MAC council, I will work to ensure that the ideas and concerns brought forth by all members - whether through the annual meeting, symposium, a committee, social media, or a direct message to the council - are considered and addressed. While serving on the Public Outreach subcommittee for MAC 2018, I connected with people across our organization to highlight their work through our social media and blog. I look forward to further connecting with  MAC members, advancing their innovative suggestions and addressing issues they raise. I believe I have the experience and enthusiasm to further MAC’s goal of connecting professionals in the archival field.

The Annual Meeting, with its open forums and outgoing surveys, is a great opportunity to identify member needs. However, I would also work to reach out to those who do not, or cannot, attend the meetings. During the Member’s Meeting of MAC 2018, I observed that members value incorporating new and underrepresented voices into our organization. MAC leadership also strives to broaden accessibility and inclusivity, as demonstrated by the 2016-2020 Strategic Plan. As a member of council I would work toward this goal by supporting efforts to expand membership and outreach. In particular, I would work to expand MAC’s use of social media, which is a powerful and cost-effective tool for communicating with members and conveying the benefits of joining MAC to potential members.

As a relatively new MAC member myself, I know that it can be intimidating to put oneself and one’s ideas out there to a long-established organization. I also learned by immediately launching into the Local Arrangements Committee that MAC is full of inviting people who are ready to listen and learn. I hope to be a welcoming presence for new MAC members and veterans alike.

Benn Joseph 

Employment

Head of Archival Processing, Northwestern University Libraries, 2016-present; Head of University Archives & Special Collections, Illinois Institute of Technology, 2015-2016; Manuscript Librarian, Northwestern University Libraries, 2009-2015; Project Archivist, Chicago History Museum, 2008-2009; Special Collections Librarian, Benedictine University, 2006-2008.

Education

M.S.L.S., University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill, 2006; B.A., English, Illinois State University, 2000.

Professional Activities

MAC: Local Arrangements Committee, 2010 Annual Meeting.

SAA: College & University Archives Section: Vice Chair/Chair-Elect, 2018-2019, Chair, 2019-2020, Steering Committee, 2014-2017; Web Archiving Roundtable: Steering Committee and Web Liaison, 2013-2015; Committee for Ethics and Professional Conduct, Intern, 2010-2011.

Chicago-Area Archivists: Professional Development Subcommittee, 2010-2013.

Other: Chicago Collections, Content Committee, 2015-current. Adjunct Instructor, “Introduction to Archival Principles, Practices, and Services,” Dominican University Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Fall 2014 and Fall 2015. Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI), Created Content Committee, 2013-2015, Digital Collections Users Group, 2012-2013. Archives Leadership Institute, 2013. National Historical Publications & Records Commission—Digitizing Historical Records Grant, Peer Reviewer, 2012 and 2013. Journal of the Society of North Carolina Archivists, Editorial Board, 2010-2014.

Question for Candidate: One of Council’s duties is to work on new initiatives; as a member of Council, how would you identify and advocate for member needs?

Response from Council Candidate Benn Joseph: When I attended my first MAC meeting in Columbus, Ohio in 2007, it was an intimidating situation--here was a group of what seemed like hundreds of people, who had all known each other for probably forever, and who were all excited to catch up and share recent archival experiences with one another. As a new professional, my only contacts were people I’d gone to school with (not in the MAC region, for me), those who were also members of Chicago-Area Archivists (which was not as active then as it is now), and people I worked with (as a lone arranger!).

The MAC Strategic Plan for 2016-2020 focuses on connecting and educating professionals, particularly new professionals, and over the past ten years this is something that MAC has done very well (MAC Pals and the Speakers’ Bureau are two great examples). But members look to MAC leadership to advocate for their needs, and one way to do that is to interpret the data collected in the Who are we? Census from 2017, which is a great jumping off point.

As a member of Council, I would also rely on this survey data to inform a marketing plan and membership campaign for MAC. Looking further ahead, the 2019 goal of creating a task force to investigate educational opportunities and support for students and new professionals, along with a potential student outreach program, could be next. These are already called for in the current strategic plan, but I believe that supporting the needs of students and new professionals should be a primary goal of the organization. This could even lead to focus groups with students and new professionals.

If elected, I would be honored to serve MAC as a member of Council, and to help foster these programs and initiatives.

Daria Labinsky

Employment:

• October 2017-present: Archivist, Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, Atlanta, Ga.
• March 2013-October 2017: Archivist, National Archives at St. Louis, St. Louis, Mo.
• August 2010-March 2013: Preservation Technician, Paper Lab, National Personnel Records Center, St. Louis, Mo.
• September 2009-August 2010:  Library Specialist/Multimedia Library Supervisor, Albuquerque Public Schools, Albuquerque, N.M.
• August 2001-May 2008:  Local History/Adult Services Librarian, Rio Rancho Public Library, Rio Rancho, N.M.
• January 1992-2012:  Freelance writer, editor, indexer, author

Education:

• M.L.S., Emporia State University; M.S. Journalism, B.S. Speech, Northwestern University

Professional Activities: 

Midwest Archives Conference, 2010-present

• Program Committee co-chair, 2018 Annual Meeting
• Public Information Officer, 2014-2016
• Coordinator, MAC at SAA Task Force, 2014-2015
• Member, Newsletter Task Force, 2012-2013
• Program Committee, 2012-2013
• Newsletter contributor, 2012-2016

Society of American Archivists, 2014-present

• Current candidate for SAA Nominating Committee
• Committee on Public Policy, August 2018-present
• Issues & Advocacy Section, Steering Committee/Chair of General News Team, 2016-2017 
• Member, Military Archives Section, Government Records Section, Women’s Archivists Section, Privacy and Confidentiality Section, Mentoring Program, Issues & Advocacy Section 

Academy of Certified Archivists, 2010-present

• Regent for Exam Administration, 2017-present

Archives Leadership Institute: 2016 cohort

Regional Archival Associations Consortium, 2014-2016

• Steering Committee Member; Chair, Disaster Planning and Recovery Subcommittee, 2015-2016 

Society of Georgia Archivists, 2018-present 

Association of St. Louis Area Archivists, 2011-2017 

• Member, Website Redesign Committee, 2011
• Newsletter contributor, 2012 

Society of Southwest Archivists: 2001-present

Selected Publications:

• “Jimmy Carter and Harvey Milk: On the Campaign Trail and Beyond,” The Text Message, June 2018
• “Phone Calls, Yes, Faxes, No--A Congressional Intern Gives It to Us Straight,” SAA Issues & Advocacy blog post, May 2017
• “Breaking the Silence,” SAA Issues & Advocacy Section research post, February 2017
• “Digital Cameras: Godsend or Cash Cow?” SAA Issues & Advocacy Section research post, August 2016
• “The Sick and the Dead: Deceased Veterans Claim Files and Burial Case Files at the National Archives,” National Genealogical Society Annual Conference Syllabus, 2015
• Review, Book Repair: A How-to-Do-It Manual, Archival Issues (2012)
• “Barriers to Diffusion in South Africa and Their Effect on the AIDS Epidemic,” Current Studies in Librarianship 24 (2000)
• Co-author, Frank Applegate of Santa Fe, Artist and Preservationist (LPD Press, 2001), The Beer Lover’s Guide to the United States (St. Martin’s Press, 2000), The Brewpub Cookbook (Time-Life Books, 1997)

Question for Candidate: One of Council’s duties is to work on new initiatives; as a member of Council, how would you identify and advocate for member needs?

Response from Council Candidate Daria Labinsky: The best way to find out what MAC members need is by talking to them individually to gauge what they want to get out of MAC, and what they think is missing. But while this might be relatively easy to do at the Annual Meeting or other events, we also need to reach members who cannot or don’t want to attend meetings. There are several ways we could identify what MAC is missing for all members, including: 

• Posting a link to a form on the front page of the website that says something such as, “Got an idea of something MAC should be doing? Let us know!”

• Promoting the fact that Council members have an “open-door policy” and can be contacted via email at any time. Members may feel like they’re bothering us, but it is part of a Council member’s job to try to make them understand that we exist to serve them.

• Establishing an ex-officio position similar to the Regent for Member Services that the Academy of Certified Archivists is creating, someone whose duties will be to serve as the MAC liaison to members, who could address simple needs and bring complex ones before Council. 

• Conducting short online surveys to take the pulse of MAC members on a regular basis. They could include a few quantitative questions to gauge member satisfaction and would have a comment box. 

• Evaluating comments from the Annual Meeting program to see if there are avenues we aren’t addressing. Looking at the number of people who attend specific sessions would help gauge where there is an interest or need that MAC can satisfy.

I would be honored to serve on MAC Council and if elected will make every effort to improve the organization so it becomes more valuable to all of us. 

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