March 2017-Present
Conservator
Promoted to the leadership-focused role of Conservator in recognition of the further development of skills, knowledge, and contributions related to the preservation and conservation of the collections at ASU Library.

April 2015-March 2017
Preservation Specialist Lead
Promoted to Preservation Specialist Lead for producing a consistently high quality and output of work, and for managing the lab and Preservation program after the January 2015 retirement of the Conservator.

August 2013 – April 2015
Preservation Specialist

• Managed the associated daily operational activities related to the preservation and conservation of library materials within a “hybrid” conservation lab, including the supervision and training of team of interns, student workers, and staff.
• Completed conservation treatments on a variety of paper-based formats, including books, architectural plans, maps, archival materials, artifacts, and photographs.
• Managed and refined the collections care  and preservation policies, procedures, and workflows for a collection with a wide variety of material formats, including costumes, works of art, audiovisual materials, born-digital materials, as well as 5 million print volumes.
• Streamlined and refined the majority of the lab’s general collections repair workflows and procedures, which increased the turn-around time for items sent to the lab for treatment, as well as completing a large backlog of items waiting for treatment. As a result, the average number of items waiting for treatment in the conservation lab was reduced from 400 to 120.
• Performed preservation-related training sessions and hosted tours for several groups, including a troop of local Girl Scouts, the ASU “Golden Grads”, members of the ASU student book arts club, ASU Library staff, attendees at the Hayden Library’s 50th Anniversary Celebration, and students enrolled in ASU book arts classes.
• Designed and implemented a week-long workshop of Preservation and book repair training for the Myanmar Librarian Training Consortium grant project funded by the Luce Foundation. The training took place in Yangon during October 2017, and included a day-long lecture about Preservation, individual consultation with attendees, and four consecutive days of hands-on and video-based training workshops about box-making, book repair, and the conservation profession.
• Planned, implemented, and supervised the move of over 30,000 linear feet of special collections and archives materials to the library’s high-density off-site storage facility. The move began in August 2017 and concluded March 2018, and was necessary due to an upcoming complete renovation of Hayden library, where the materials were previously housed. Hired, trained, and supervised a team of 13 student workers who contributed by to the project by physically moving collections, making custom artifact housings, relabeling boxes, and reorganizing collections on the shelf.

November 2012-July 2013
Conservation Lab Volunteer

• Performed conservation treatments on paper-based items, which included mending and resewing a collection of 18th century French pamphlets.
• Assisted in the installation of exhibit materials in the Newberry Library exhibition galleries.

July 2011 – September 2011
Gaylord Brothers Preservation Intern (Full-time, paid position)

• Performed a variety of conservation treatments on special collections items, including resewing, paper washing, repairing bindings, making new bindings, and mending paper.
• Studied and completed models of several historical bookbinding styles.
• Submitted a custom-made book to the annual themed bookbinding contest of the Bonefolder journal.
• Designed and constructed mounts for many of the plastic objects in the exhibition “Just One Word: Plastics”.
• Created an online book binding dictionary, which developed into the Multilingual Bookbinding Dictionary, a wiki with thousands of bookbinding, and conservation terms in more than seven languages.

January 2011 – Present

• Completed a preservation assessment survey for a small academic archives, which included surveying several different rooms containing thousands of items. Took environmental monitoring data, observational notes, interviewed staff, and wrote a report summarizing the findings and suggestions for improvement so as to best preserve their collection.
• Completed conservation treatments on books, and digitized photographs for private clients. These included a small edition binding (5 volumes) of poetry chapbooks, as well as other repairs such as paper mending, rebacking, resewing, and rebinding.
• Answered emailed questions from members of the community about how best to preserve their personal books and other archival items.
• Maintained several blogs that discussed various topics about the preservation and conservation of library materials.

October 2009-December 2010
Conservator and Archivist

Hired as a contract conservation consultant by a private collector of archival and historical materials. The collection consisted of over 3,000 items that included paper documents, books, scrapbooks, photographs, textiles, and military artifacts such as uniforms and weaponry.

• Established and supervised a temporary conservation lab in the client’s multi-room office, which was shared by other staff members.
• Evaluated and ordered conservation and preservation supplies, such as materials for constructing custom enclosures, tools, solvents, and adhesives.
• Performed conservation treatments, such as flattening, removing adhesives and tape, mending tears, and designing and constructing custom enclosures for materials.
• Supervised other staff members in the digitization of several hundred vintage photographs, ensuring that they were digitized according to established preservation standards.
• Utilized the software programs Extensis Portfolio and Microsoft Excel to create and maintain a catalog of the collection, including the digitized photographic materials.
• Planned and personally oversaw the relocation of materials from the conservation lab to an out-of-state storage facility.

September 2008-August 2009
Preservation Department Intern (Full-time, paid position)

• Performed conservation treatments on both circulating and special collection items, including constructing new bindings, cleaning paper with the application of mechanical and aqueous methods, treating mold, removing adhesives and tape, deacidifying paper, mending tears, and creating custom enclosures for materials.
• Created an emergency response poster to be used as part of the Library’s Disaster Preparedness plan. The poster was distributed and posted in multiple public and private areas of the library.
• Curated, designed and installed an exhibit about the proper care and handling of library materials. This involved the creation of custom posters and signage, and was displayed in the window of the circulation desk at the main library.
• Assisted with the design and installation of another exhibit, titled “It’s No Longer News to Us: HIV/AIDS Educational Materials from Nigeria”, which was displayed in the main library entrance hallway. This exhibit required the creation of custom mounts for a variety of different materials, including posters, plastic objects, and textiles.
• Managed the Preservation Department’s environmental monitoring program, and collected and analyzed data from environmental data loggers.
• Managed a special project to determine the amount of pre-emptive conservation treatment needed for a collection to be digitized by an outside vendor. This project involved training and supervising two library staff members, who used the survey instrument to collect data about the physical condition of library materials. Wrote a report detailing the results of the survey, which was delivered to the head of the Preservation Department.

July 2007-August 2007
Conservation Intern

• Worked as part of a team to complete a condition survey of over 800 circus advertising posters printed by the Strobridge Lithograph Company.
• Performed minor treatments on about twenty posters, to stabilize them for easier handling by the curatorial staff. These posters are included in an exhibit at the Cincinnati Art Museum (and traveling to the Ringling Museum), opening February 26, 2011, entitled“The Amazing American Circus Poster”.

June 2006 to July 2006
Volunteer Archival Assistant

• Accessioned artifacts using Past Perfect software, organizing and locating objects within the archives.
• Prepared wall plaques and signage for an exhibit that showcased famous Oklahoma women.

Knox College Special Collections and Archives [Galesburg, IL] {View Website}

March 2005 to May 2006
Volunteer Assistant

• Helped with routine archival tasks such as photocopying, filing and shelving.
• Used OCLC’s WorldCat database to catalog and identify several boxes of 18th-20th century children’s literature so that it may be added to the main archival database.
• Modified and refined a FilemakerPro computer database to organize and catalogue those books.

April 10, 2012 – July 2013
Web Manager

• Maintained and managed the Newberry Library’s website and associated websites, which included the moderation of staff-created content.
• Initiated, designed and implemented several new features on the site such as blogs and exhibit websites, both independently and in response to input from other staff members. As a result, traffic to the Newberry’s main site and affiliated sites improved.
• Managed and posted to the Newberry Library’s branded Twitter account, and advised on the management of a branded Tumblr account.