2020 Candidates for Treasurer

 Jerice Barrios

 Amy Moorman

Jerice Barrios

Employment: Archivist, North American Province of the Cenacle (Cenacle Sisters), 2011–present; Rights and Reproductions Coordinator, The Field Museum, 2002–2010

Education: MLIS, Dominican University, 2002; Bachelor’s in English Literature, Vassar College, 1996

Professional Activities: 
Chicago Area Archivists (CAA): Steering Committee Member, 2018–present; Programming Subcommittee Liaison, 2018–present; Treasurer, 2019–present; Archives and Archivists of Color Interest Group Travel Fund Award Selection Committee, 2019–present; Illinois State Archives Advisory Board/Illinois State Historical Records Advisory Board (ISHRAB) Member, 2019–present
Society of American Archivists (SAA): Local Arrangements Committee, 2019–present; Chicago Area Religious Archivists (CARA): Steering Committee President, 2013–2019; Archivists for Congregations of Women Religious: Member, 2015–present
MAC: Member, 2014–present

Candidate Statement:
Financial barriers pose an obstacle to increased participation in membership organizations like MAC. How can MAC balance affordability with sustaining the organization and providing value to its membership?

MAC is already doing a number of things to maintain the balance between affordability and sustainability. MAC keeps the costs of the meetings as low as possible, solicits donations to help defray operational costs, and provides scholarships for students and retired professionals to attend meetings. Electronic-only delivery of MAC publications is another way that MAC is able to save money and maintain value, along with electronic discussion forums and posting panel and talk slides online. Those who are not able to physically attend meetings can still share ideas and learn from their colleagues. To push that notion even further, MAC may want to think about recording or streaming video content from meetings and posting it to a members-only section of the website.

Creating a sliding scale of membership dues based on annual salary is an idea that could also be explored. That way, those who can afford to contribute more to the organization will have the chance to do so. Finally, MAC should continue to advocate for the value of the archives profession so that more archivists will be hired at salaries that allow them to take full advantage of the networking and educational opportunities MAC provides.

Amy Moorman

Employment: Archivist, Avila University, 2020–present; Archivist, Wartburg College and Archives of Iowa Broadcasting, 2016–2019.

Education: MA in History, University of New Hampshire, 2006; BA in American Studies, Franklin Pierce University, 2003.

Professional Activities:
SAA: Lone Arranger Section, Representative for Iowa, 2017–present
AMIA: Regional Audiovisual Archives Committee, 2018–present; News, Documentary, and Television Committee, 2018–present.

Candidate Statement:
Financial barriers pose an obstacle to increased participation in membership organizations like MAC. How can MAC balance affordability with sustaining the organization and providing value to its membership?

Overall, I believe MAC has done well to maintain a balance between affordability and member value. Membership rates are reasonable, and the annual meeting is (from my experience) a wonderful learning experience each year.

There is, naturally, room to improve, and organizations must constantly evaluate new ideas lest they become staid and out-of-touch with membership needs. In order to address the specific issue of member financial barriers, the basics of economics makes it clear: MAC must either innovate new ways to generate revenue, or cut costs.

As someone new to the election slate, I do not know whether any or all of these ideas have already been discussed by MAC leadership, but a few suggestions I would raise to reduce financial barriers for members and potential members include:

Tiered membership or conference rate fees (some organizations base membership or conference rates on income bracket, which is especially helpful for members not being subsidized by their institution. I appreciated MAC adding a student membership category recently, but perhaps we could look at further options – out of recognition of low salary averages in the profession)

Reduce conference expenses, ideally to be passed along as lower conference attendance fees; and/or provide more ways for attendees to share/cut costs (this is a tough sell, given conference requirements for rooms and capacity, but are there creative ways to cut overhead on the annual meeting? Could sessions be live-streamed or recorded for purchase as a lower cost package, etc.? Additionally, while the room-share spreadsheet is always helpful, are there other ways MAC can facilitate cost sharing for meeting attendees (ride-sharing, discounts at local restaurants, etc.)?

I look forward to the opportunity to discuss these options and more in order to help MAC members and future members get the most out of their connection to the organization.