I am a librarian and archivist with nearly two decades of experience in art libraries, archives, and special collections. My areas of focus include managing library ILS and archives metadata systems; managing large archival processing projects; and supervising MARC cataloging and technical service workflows. My interest is to contribute at a senior level to the operations and success of institutions preserving and providing access to our material culture. I also enjoy thinking about linked open data and other systems and tools for making library and archival metadata and digital materials more discoverable, accessible, reportable, and interactive with other online resources in museum communities.
Skills
I am a certified administrator of Alma and Primo VE and am experienced in using and managing ArchivesSpace, The Museum System, Preservica, NetX, OpenRefine, MARC, EAD, XSLT, EAC-CPF, and other library, archives and museum systems and standards. I am accomplished in the use of SQL and various database and analytics products including Oracle Analytics and Microsoft Access. I possess excellent oral and written communication skills and I have a basic reading ability in French and Italian.
Education
Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Boston. Masters of Library Science, Archives Concentration, 2003.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Bachelor of Fine Arts, 1993
Current Position: Head of Metadata and Systems, The Museum of Modern Art Library, Archives, and Research Collections (ALRC), January 2020-present
As part of the leadership team of the newly unified departments of the library and archives, I am responsible for administering the major systems used by both offices including the library’s integrated library system, Ex Libris Alma and Primo VE (cooperatively operated by the three-museum library consortium NYARC), and the archival metadata system ArchivesSpace. I supervise 3 FTE library cataloging staff and 2 FTE archival processing staff, supervise cataloguing, and coordinate all metadata produced in the department. I serve as primary liaison between the ALRC and MoMA’s department of Digital Media (responsible for all web content and design), information technology department, and the Collection and Exhibition Technology Department (responsible for The Museum System and all collection information).
In 2021, I co-led all aspects of NYARC’s migration of the library catalog from Sierra to Alma and Primo VE, including bearing sole responsibility for the extraction and migration of metadata between the systems as well as designing new fulfillment, acquisition, and processing workflows tailored to the new environment, organizing and leaingd department-wide training sessions, and leading the redesign of the new Primo VE public interface.
Previous Positions at The Museum of Modern Art Archives, 2006-2019
From 2006 through 2019 I served as project manager, supervising archivist, and processor for several large multi-year processing projects that account for nearly half of the publicly available records in the MoMA Archives, as follows:
The Museum of Modern Art Exhibition Records, January 2014-2021. I hired and led a team of two full time project assistants to process more than 1000 linear feet of exhibition records spanning the years 1929-2000, which opened to the public in October 2016. The project required arranging and describing the merger of multiple sets of records, scanning collection materials, and devising the integrated display of new and old scanned materials with an extensive finding aid.
The MoMA Exhibition and Artist index, January 2014-present. Concurrent with processing the exhibition records, I created an exhibition/artist index of MoMA’s complete exhibition history that, with materials we scanned and indexed, provided the major portion of content and data structure for MoMA’s historical exhibition web pages, launched in September 2016.
The International Council and International Program of The Museum of Modern Art Records, January-December 2013. I hired and led a team of two full time project assistants to process more than 300 linear feet of records spanning fifty years of a key department of the Museum.
The MoMA PS1 Archives, September 2008-December 2012. I surveyed in situ, relocated, and processed over 500 linear feet of archival records of the landmark 50-year-old non-profit exhibition space. The project included constructing a complete exhibition history list and index of artists, bibliography, and a cross index of primary exhibition documentation. In early 2018 the index data was repurposed to integrate PS1 exhibition pages with the MoMA historical exhibition pages.
Project Archivist, April 2006-September 2008. Processed the personal papers of writer Calvin Tomkins, gallery owner Richard Bellamy, artist Scott Burton, and critic David Bourdon.
Prior to my current position I performed several functions at MoMA outside my official responsibilities, as follows:
Finding Aids and Department Website: I served as the departmental supervisor on all finding aid, web, and technical issues. In 2006 I planned and supervised the conversion of more than 100 finding aids into EAD and their publication on the web for the first time. I developed an online patron inquiry form and refined and expanded the departmental website. In 2014 I supervised the implementation of ArchivesSpace and continue to supervise use of that system.
Image Cataloging: I co-supervised all digital image cataloging. In 2017, I was responsible for the enhancement and migration of 44,000+ records for digitized and born-digital archival materials from an antiquated home-grown database into MoMA’s instance of The Museum System.
Standards and Guidelines: I have been responsible for creating and maintaining cataloging and processing standards in the department and contributed to the Archives’ processing manual. I train staff in the use of ArchivesSpace and previous EAD tools.
Grants and Development: Working closely with MoMA’s development office I have written numerous interim and final grant reports reporting on my work and contributed to several grant applications. My work has been responsible for attracting the three largest project grants the MoMA Archives has received to date. I’ve given presentations and spoken to outside funding agents as well as reporting regularly to MoMA trustee committees and other internal support bodies.
Reference and Outreach: I have performed periodic reference room duties and served as the point person for patron inquiries regarding the MoMA PS1 Archives. I heavily revised and expanded the departmental patron and reference database in Microsoft Access to more accurately track reference statistics and collection usage. I have given numerous presentations and tours to museum staff, trustees, students, and outside groups and contributed to the MoMA.org blog
Previous Professional Archives and Library Positions
New York University, The Institute of Fine Arts Library, New York City, September 2005-February 2006. Library Services Coordinator.
New York University, The Fales Library and Special Collections, New York City, June-August 2005. Project Archivist.
Yale University, Arts Library, New Haven, CT, October 2004-May 2005. Kress Fellow for Art Librarianship.
Columbia University, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, New York, August 2003-September 2004. Mellon Foundation Grant Project Archivist/Surveyor.
Database Consultancy 2004-2011
Between 2004 and 2011 as a freelance consultant I built various databases in Microsoft Access and Filemaker Pro to conduct library and archives surveys and cataloguing for the following organizations: New York University Libraries, Barbara Goldsmith Preservation and Conservation Department; Columbia University Libraries, Preservation Division; Booklyn Artists Alliance, Brooklyn, NY.
Pre-professional Archives and Library Experience 2002-2003
Simmons College GLIS, Boston, research assistant to Dean Michèle Cloonan; Harvard Law Library, Special Collections, student processor and cataloger; New England School of Law Library, Boston, serials and archives assistant; New England Historical Genealogical Society, Boston, intern; Harvard Planning and Real Estate Property Information Resource Center, intern.
Professional Activities and Achievements
Linked Open Data
For three years I’ve supervised a Linked Open Data Fellow from Pratt Institute’s School of Information to explore and improve how MoMA can present it’s data in easy to use formats.
I am an active member in the Linked.Art multi-institutional project to refine a linked open data ontology tailored to the needs of describing artworks and their life cycles.
I was a member of the recently concluded Art and Rare materials (ARM) subcommittee of the second phase of multi-institutional Linked Data for Production (LD4P) initiative.
Awards
2012 Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference Fredric M. Miller Finding Aid Award, third place, for the finding aid to the MoMA PS1 Archives.
2007 Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference Fredric M. Miller Finding Aid Award, second place, for the finding aid to the Calvin Tomkins Papers.
Professional Memberships
The Art Libraries Society of north America
The Society of American Archivists
The Archivists Roundtable of Metropolitan New York
Other Activities and Achievements
Artists’ books that I have made are in the collections of The Arts of the Book Collection, Yale University; Wellesley College; Smith College; and Long Island University, Brooklyn.