Emily is a Special Collections Associate within the Fashion Institute of Technology Library’s Department of Special Collections and College Archives. Within her department she serves as the curator of rare books and periodicals and assists researchers visiting the collection. Emily has a BA in the History of Art and Architecture from DePaul University and a MSLIS with an Advanced Certificate in Archives from Pratt Institute. Prior to joining FIT, Emily worked in archives and collections management at galleries, museums, and arts foundations.
A native of Jonesboro, Georgia, Tiffany Atwater Lee attended both South Carolina State University where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in History, and Clayton State University where she received a Master’s in Archival Studies. Currently, she serves as the Public Services Archivist at the Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library’s Archives Research Center; there she is responsible for the administration of the department’s public services through the promotion of archival collections via course instruction, programming and curation of exhibits. Tiffany is a member the Academy of Certified Archivists, Atlanta Black Archives Alliance and the Society of Georgia Archivists, where she serves as Outreach Manager 2018-2019.
Maria Burke is the newly-named Rare Books Librarian of the Milwaukee Public Library. Before joining MPL, she worked in a variety of cultural institutions including the Archives of the Harley-Davidson Museum and has held internships at the Smithsonian, the National Archives, The Newberry, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Milwaukee Public Museum. Before library school, she earned an MFA in Book & Paper Arts where she learned fine binding and book restoration. She has years of experience in adult reference with a focus in fine arts. This new role binds all of these interests together into one position.
Nadia Clifton is pursuing a MSLS at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, concentrating on archives and records management. She earned her BA in English, minor in cognitive science, and her MA in English, concentration in literature, from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Nadia is a 2017-2019 ARL/SAA Mosaic Fellow and currently interns in the Rare Book Collection Department of UNC-CH’s Wilson Special Collections Library. She is interested in the intersection between digital and physical materials, and how the interpretation of texts contributes to constructions of self-identity. She aspires to work with rare books or archives.
Phillip Cunningham has worked in the library & reference department of the Amistad Research Center since 2015. He received a BA in History from Kansas State University and later his MLIS from Pratt Institute. Prior to joining the Amistad Research Center, Phillip has interned with the Schomburg Center’s Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division, the Gilder-Lehrman Institute for American History, and the Riley County (KS) Genealogical Society.
Adriana Flores is the Archivist & Special Collections Librarian at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. Prior to working at Puget Sound, Adriana was the Assistant Archivist for Acquisitions at Boston University’s Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center. In 2016, she graduated with her MLIS from Simmons College, with a concentration in Archives Management. In 2014, Adriana was awarded a Mosaic Fellowship from the Association of Research Libraries and the Society of American Archivists. Recently, Adriana was a contributor for SAA’s “Year in the Life” blog series and “Archivist on the Issues,” blog series.
Ana María Guzmán is a History of Art and Information Science graduate student at Pratt Institute. She currently interns at The Met Cloisters and is a Web-Archiving Fellow at The Frick Collection. Her true aspirations lie in working with Medieval Art, particularly medieval manuscripts. Ana María is the recipient of the 2017 Director’s Scholarship at the Rare Books School and of the 2017 Ford-EEOC Scholarship, which allowed her to study in London last summer. Later this year, she will be working with medieval manuscripts as an intern at the Universitat de Barcelona and at the Parker Library in Cambridge.
Marisa Hernandez is a 2016-2018 National Diversity Scholar for the Association of Research Libraries, a 2018 Smithsonian Institute Libraries Minority Awards Program intern at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Library, and the 2017 recipient of the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library Professional Research Services and Teaching with Special Collections Fellowship. Her experience includes work with the County of Los Angeles Public Library, serving the East Los Angeles community as a Jill-of-all-library-trades and master storyteller. Additionally, Ms. Hernandez is passionate about providing a sensory learning experience with primary sources from underrepresented voices, as a means of confronting information biases and gaps. Ms. Hernandez holds a Master of Management in Library and Information Science from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Arts in American Studies from the University of California at Santa Cruz, where she completed her thesis under the advisement of the History of Consciousness graduate program.
Emily Higgs is an early-career library professional with interest and experience in special collections, archives, and digital humanities. She is currently the Special Collections Intern at Southwestern University, serving faculty and undergraduate research through special collections materials and digital tools. She received her BA in Religious Studies from Rice University and will complete her MSIS at the University of Texas School of Information in May 2018 with a specialization in special collections librarianship.
Elizabeth Johnson is currently working towards a MLIS at San Jose State University. Her background is in literature and museums. She has earned a M.Phil in Popular Literature at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland. Prior to that, she has earned a BA in English Literature at Montana State University, with a minor in Museum Studies. She currently works at the Bozeman Public Library in Bozeman, Montana. In her free time, she likes to hike with her dog, read books, and drink tea.
Heeva Kadivar is a Tehran-bred Middle East Studies librarian in the making. She has a B.A. in Sociology and worked with librarians and educators in Tehran on K12 critical thinking curriculum development. She is a paraprofessional staff member in the Middle East Studies Resources of UNC Davis Library working closely with the UNC Wilson Special Collections Library on enhancing the University’s Persian Studies collections. She is currently a graduate student in the UNC School of Library and Information Science. Heeva is also a visual artist with works in exhibitions at the Carrack Modern Art in Durham.
Ashley Larson is the Special Collections Public Services Librarian at The Claremont Colleges Library, where she heads up instruction, reference services, and outreach. Originally from Nebraska, Ashley moved to California to pursue her bachelor’s degree at California State University, Fullerton before going on to earn her master’s degree in Latin American studies from Vanderbilt University. After graduation, Ashley decided to follow the path to librarianship, in the hope of combining her language and subject knowledge to aid students and researchers in an academic setting. While pursuing her MLIS degree at UCLA, Ashley held two positions, splitting her time between the California Rare Book School, where she was project manager, and the Hispanic American Periodicals Index (HAPI), where she indexed articles from English, Spanish, and Portuguese language journals. She continues to index for HAPI on a volunteer basis. Ashley is excited to attend this year’s RBMS conference to become more involved professionally and connect with the rare books and manuscripts community.
Rafael Linares is Registrar at La Casa del Libro Book Museum in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He is a recent graduate from the University of Puerto Rico’s Graduate School of Information Science and Technologies, finishing his MLIS shortly before 2017’s notable hurricane season. His work revolves around collection care, library services, and museum and workshop facilitation. Rafael has a background in philosophy and a fondness for birds. The question of what constitutes adequate preparation for professionals in charge of a collection’s welfare has been frequently on his mind after the passing of hurricane Irma and Maria. He is interested in book conservation and issues related to scholarly access and collection management.
I am a graduate student at Emporia State University, where I also work. I am passionate about making rare materials accessible to the general public through replication, dissemination, and digitization, as well as the maintenance and storage of our most valuable resources. As a library school, my interest in this area has been stimulated largely from the advocacy and education provided from organizations such as RBMS. I believe in bringing novel, transdisciplinary solutions to problems in our field, and believe the opportunity to converse with individuals from a diversity of backgrounds is crucial to the pursuit of perfection in practice.
Liza Mardoyan is a first-year MLIS candidate with an emphasis on Rare Books, manuscripts and special collections at the school of Information studies at UCLA. She is primarily interested in book trades, literacy and transfer of knowledge within the east and west Mediterranean cultures in the 16th and 17th centuries. In addition, she is interested in rare book librarianship and special collections. She is actively involved in the student chapters of ALA (American Library Association) and SLA (Special Libraries Association). She received her Bachelor’s degree from American University of Beirut. She is multilingual and has immersed herself in the practices of different cultures.
Benjamin Mendez is pursuing his MSLIS at the Palmer School of Library and Information Science in Manhattan. With his liberal arts background in art history, he is interested in the intersection of libraries and museums, and how archives make their way into exhibition spaces. Promoting broad access to hidden treasures, Benjamin hopes to facilitate contact zones between the public and rare archival materials as a way to enrich the worldview of others.
Carolina Meneses is a Metadata Technician at the University of Miami where she creates descriptive metadata for a variety of collections covering a wide range of history and media, primarily photographs from the university’s Cuban Heritage Collection and other special collections material. A second-generation Cuban-American from Miami, she studied comparative literature at Smith College where she focused on the intersection of memory, dance, language, and narrative leading to an internship with the Trisha Brown Dance Company archive in New York City. She is a prospective MLIS graduate student particularly interested in the archiving of performance.
Philippe Mongeau is a Master’s student in the Faculty of Information and the Book History and Print Culture Collaborative Program at the University of Toronto. He currently works as a Toronto Academic Library Intern at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library. He also serves as Editor of ‘The Bulletin’ for the Bibliographical Society of Canada. His research interests include rare book cataloging, audiovisual archives, and early Canadian literary publishing. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts from McGill University.
Amanda Moreno is a graduate of the dual-degree masters program in Latin American and Caribbean Studies and Library and Information Science from New York University and Long Island University. During her graduate study, she was awarded an ALA Spectrum scholarship and a fellowship from ARL’s Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce; she also participated in the Smithsonian Latino Museum Studies Program. As the Archivist for the Cuban Heritage Collection (CHC) at the University of Miami Libraries, Amanda manages and processes historical collections related to Cuba and its diaspora, while also providing reference and instruction services. Previously, she was Archives Assistant at CHC and Collection Development Assistant for Latin American materials at NYU’s Bobst Library.
Derek T. Mosley is the Archivist/ Division Manager at the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History. He previously worked as the Assistant Head of the Archives Research Center at the Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library and the Director of the Ernest J. Gaines Center at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Derek earned his Master of Science (Archives Management) from Simmons College in Boston, MA and a Bachelor of Arts in History from Morehouse College. Derek has served in various leadership roles within the Society of American Archivist and the American Library Association. He was also selected as a 2012 Emerging Leader for the American Library Association.
Chido Muchemwa is a Masters Candidate in Information Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. She is a graduate intern at the Harry Ransom Center where she works in Reference and Instructional Services. She has also worked at the American Heritage Center in Laramie, Wyoming. Her research interests include the history of archiving in Southern Africa, digital archives and human rights, and the role of archives in the construction of social memory.
Gina Nortonsmith is a former trial lawyer who has taught students at the graduate, undergraduate, and primary school level. She taught at D.C. School of Law, was Assistant Dean for Law Student Affairs at WNEC, and Ombudsperson at Smith College. Her love of archives and research has informed many of her projects, and she is thrilled to pursue a career devoted to preserving and encouraging exploration of how we live. Gina attends the M.L.I.S. program at University at Buffalo, expecting to graduate in December, 2019. She has a J.D., and a B.S. in History and Political Science.
I work as a Cataloging Project Librarian at the Newberry Library in Chicago, Illinois. I completed my MLIS through the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. I grew up in Waukegan, Illinois and I live in Chicago with Sean, my husband, and Calli, our dog. I enjoy science fiction, crafts, plants, bookbinding, cooking, and things that make me laugh.
Liladhar Pendse is the librarian for the East European, Central Asian and Armenian Studies collections at the University of California-Berkeley’s Library. Besides, curating this huge and socio-culturally diverse areas, he also curates the Silk Road and Mongolian Studies Collections at the Library. In the Fall of 2017, he has been appointed as the curator for the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Collections of the UC Berkeley’s Main Library. His research focuses on the history of printing and periodicals in both the Slavic and Latin worlds.
I am a special collections librarian at the University of Missouri. My background is in Classics and French and I have a particular interest in the reception of Classical antiquity in late medieval manuscripts and early printed books. While completing my MI at the University of Toronto I worked at the Massey College Press, which led to interests in typography and the fine press movement. I also have a PhD from the University of Toronto, and a BA(Hons) and MA from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand.
Carissa developed an interest in the confluence of art, books, history, and technology during her undergraduate studies at the University of Georgia, where she earned a BFA in Printmaking and Book Arts and a BA in English, emphasizing Humanities Computing. Currently, she is pursuing her MS in Library and Information Science and an Advanced Certificate in Archives at Pratt Institute’s School of Information in New York City. She serves as an Archives Aide at the New York Transit Museum and Web Archiving Fellow for the New York Art Resources Consortium at the Frick Collection.
I’m currently a graduate student at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, pursuing a dual master’s degree in Library Studies and Archival Studies. Before starting this program, I attended the University of California at Santa Cruz and received a dual bachelor’s degree in American History and English Literature. I’ve been working in libraries since I was 16 and I worked as a student assistant in Special Collections and Archives at my undergraduate institution, which instilled in me a passion for rare books and archives. I’m honoured to be a 2017-2019 ARL/SAA Mosaic Fellow.
Emma Sarconi recently completed her Masters of Library Science from Long Island University specializing in rare books and special collections and her Masters of English Literature from New York University concentrating in book history and readership studies. She is a 2017 Rare Book School Director’s Scholarship recipient and served as the inaugural Hemingway in Idaho fellow in Ketchum Idaho during the summer of 2017. Sarconi has worked in archives and libraries across the East Coast including the Brooklyn Historical Society, the library at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, the Providence Public Library and Bobst Library at NYU.
Amanda M. Shepp is delighted to serve the Lily Dale Assembly as the first professional Librarian of the Marion H. Skidmore Library, a special collections and rare books facility which houses the largest private library collection of Spiritualist and Occult books in the world. In 2016, she became the Library Director, and in 2017 was presented with the WNYLRC Excellence in Library Service Award for her role in completely revitalizing the library. She presents and writes on topics related to the digitization of institutional collections and historical subjects within the realms of Freethought, Spiritualism, and the Occult.
Originally from the LA area, Annie Tang is Processing Archivist at Johns Hopkins University, as well as a member of its library Diversity Committee, advocating for anti-racism, anti-oppression, and working for the empowerment of underrepresented populations. Prior to Hopkins, Annie was an archivist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, processing papers relating to the 1960s and 1970s Black, Native, and Asian American Power Movements. An MLIS graduate of UCLA, she was a 2013-2015 ARL/SAA Mosaic Program Fellow. Annie loves a good bowl of Vietnamese pho (pronounced ‘fuh’), discussing intersectionality, and waxing nostalgic about California weather.
Micaela Terronez is a graduate of Augustana College (Rock Island, IL) where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Anthropology. She is continuing her education by pursuing a graduate degree in library and information science from The University of Iowa. Previously, Micaela has enjoyed positions within non-profit organizations, public and academic libraries. She is currently the Olson Research Graduate Assistant at The University of Iowa Special Collections and University Archives. Micaela hopes to continue her experience within an academic library or archive.
Kellee E. Warren is Instructor and Special Collections Librarian at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her article “We Need These Bodies, but Not Their Knowledge: Black Women in the Archival Science Profession, and Their Connection to the Archives of Enslaved Black Women in the French Antilles” was published in the Spring 2016 edition of Library Trends. Her research interests include critical information literacy and culturally sustaining pedagogy in the Special Collections classroom, online learning, Twitter social media platform, and connecting underrepresented groups to their cultural heritage through traditional and non-traditional archival source materials.
Angela Washington lives in the Bronx, New York and expects to complete her MLIS from San Jose State University in December 2018. She is currently Associate Library Manager at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her interests include book history and print culture, 19th century photography, and early modern French art. She received her BA in Anthropology from Binghamton University.