• Experience

    Team Leader, Preservation Services

    Case Western Reserve University - Cleveland, OH

    June 2022 - Present

    • Establish and lead a team of library/information professionals to provide services for physical preservation and conservation, reprographic imaging and reformatting, digital collections management, and digital preservation

    Preservation Officer

    Case Western Reserve University - Cleveland, OH

    June 2017 - June 2022

    • Administered complex library-wide comprehensive preservation program including:

    • Physical preservation and conservation of both circulating and special collections materials
    • Disaster planning and salvage response
    • Preventive conservation (environmental monitoring/management, integrated pest management, other strategic physical measures)
    • Cross-team collaboration/instruction regarding handling guidelines, Preservation workflows, etc.

    Hand Papermaking Apprenticeship

    Tom Balbo Galleries

    January 2018 - January 2021

    • Learn from a master papermaker the finer points of the handmade processes with regard to creating production-grade paper in Eastern, Western, and experimental styles utilizing a wide array of fibers.

    Morgan Art of Papermaking Conservatory - Cleveland, OH

    Board of Directors Secretary: 2019-2022

    Volunteer: 2017 - Present

    • Help with any "oddball stuff" that needs to be done with regard to production papermaking, workshops/events, and general facility upkeep

    • Active participant and demonstrator at the annual Kozo harvest

    • Organization of Board documentation, taking meeting minutes, participation in Governance Committee, strategic planning committee, and committee on the Next Chapter project of founder transition

    Photography Archive Supervisor

    Houston Public Library | Houston Metropolitan Research Center

    February 2017 - June 2017

    • Lead and directed the efforts in researching, cataloging, digitizing, preserving, and disseminating HMRC's extensive (4M+) photographic collections

    • Assisted with HMRC's programming efforts by curating exhibits, conducting departmental tours, assisting with programs and outreach efforts, and representing the library and HMRC at public events

    • Coordinated and perform specialized, photography-based reference and reproduction (digital and print) services to the general public in-person and electronically

    • Supervised two FTE's and manage their duties within the imaging lab and photography archive

    2016 Mary and Samuel Somit Preservation Intern

    University of Chicago - Chicago, IL

    May 2016 - July 2016

    Somit Preservation Internship

    • Worked with the Conservation Unit to design, perform, and analyze results of a large-scale, random sample condition survey of the Rare Book Collection of approximately 200,000 printed volumes held in the Special Collections Research Center

    • The information gathered in this survey will aid in determining the overall health of this collection, planning future conservation projects, and fundraising for the Library’s conservation program

    Digitization Specialist/Project Archivist/Imaging Technician

    The Digital Archive Group - Chicago, IL

    March 2015 - January 2016

    • Provided consultant work regarding archives/preservation, data preservation/curation, and digitization
    • Digitized photographic and flat art materials using Digital Transitions reprographic equipment and CaptureOne software
    • Made all necessary adjustments (crop, color correct, exposure etc.) to ensure accurate digital representation of images

    Volunteer Collections Management Consultant

    Chicago Museum of Holography Rescue Project - Chicago, IL

    July - August 2015

    • Provided input regarding the reclamation of an array of artifacts from a disaster-level environment

    • Trained volunteers on proper handling and cleaning of the different objects found inside

    Learn more about the project

    Read a humbling recognition of my efforts

    Document Imaging Specialist

    Hyatt Corporation - Chicago, IL

    September 2014 - February 2015

    • Digitized vital records from legal library for SharePoint document management system
    • Quality assurance of scanning and optical character recognition
    • Applied appropriate descriptive metadata

    Library & Archive Volunteer

    John G. Shedd Aquarium - Chicago, IL

    April 2013 - February 2015

    • Led the creation process of a digital finding aid using CollectiveAccess
    • Serials circulation: check-in and route serials to Shedd employees using Horizon ILS
    • Copy and original cataloging of rare/archival materials as well as the circulating collection in OCLC
    • Archival processing: rehousing, arrangement, and description

    Collections & Archive Volunteer

    Museum of Science & Industry - Chicago, IL

    March - November 2014

    • Transferred accession ledger (1929-present) from handwritten copy to Access database
    • Cross referenced original Kardex catalog records to ensure the accuracy of record entry

    Metadata Assistant

    McDonald's Corporation - Oak Brook, IL

    November 2013 - April 2014

    • Acted as liaison between users and IT support staff; participated in DAM system maintenance and testing
    • Assisted in taxonomy creation and documentation of global market items
    • Created links to indicate relationships between assets
    • Ensured long-term usability of assets through quality metadata creation and application
    • Maintained usage rights metadata throughout asset lifecycle

    Stacks Management Assistant

    Center for Research Libraries - Chicago, IL

    2013-2015 (intermittent)

    • Processed interlibrary loan requests for the CRL consortium
    • Performed article-level retrieval from a collection of over five million items
    • Light preservation work on decaying and at-risk materials
    • Applied descriptive metadata to resources with a firm grasp of bibliographic information/enumeration

    • Performed catalog record corrections and physical processing of new materials for serials collections using Millennium

  • Education

    Case Western Reserve University

    Cleveland, OH

    • Master of Business Administration | January 2023
    • Coding Bootcamp: Certificate in Full-stack Web Development | July 2018
      • MERN stack (MongoDB, Express, React, NodeJS), SQL, JS, HTML, CSS, etc.

    University of Virginia - Rare Book School

    Charlottesville, VA

    • American Publishers Bindings 1800-1900 | June, 2018

    PhaseOne

    Los Angeles, CA

    Cultural Heritage Specialist Certification | May, 2017

    • An intensive training program tailored to cultural heritage workflows. Focused on both Capture One software and professional imaging hardware. Curriculum included: configuration, setup, workflow and troubleshooting techniques for Phase One backs, computers, and DTDCH Capture Solutions. Capture One teaching focused on workflow efficiency and advanced tools.

    Texas A&M University

    College Station, TX

    Book History Workshop | May, 2016

    • One of the most complete and intensive hands-on explorations of handpress book production available
    • Explored the idea of "empirical bibliography" through activities such as paper making, type casting and setting, printing on a period-accurate common press, and more

    University of Chicago

    Chicago, IL

    Certificate in Artifact Collection Care - Completed September 2015

    Coursework Includes:

    • Protecting the Collection: Environmental Factors (Preventative Conservation)
    • Display, Storage, and Use I 
    • Display, Storage, and Use II 
    • Exhibition Development and Design 
    • Basics of Materials: Book and Paper 
    • Basics of Materials: Photography 
    • Collections Policy and Procedure

    Campbell Center for Historic Preservation Studies

    Mount Carroll, IL

    • Care of Paper Artifacts - March 2015

    • Book Repair Techniques for Special Collections - August 2015

    • Introduction to Organic and Inorganic Materials - November 2015   

    Dominican University

    River Forest, IL

    • Master of Library & Information Science with a focus on metadata, archives, and digitization - Graduated May 2014

    St. Bonaventure University

    Saint Bonaventure, NY

    • Bachelor of Arts in English - Graduated May 2009
  • notable

    Part of an NEH grant awarded to Rochester Institute of Technology, tested and delivered feedback of the device (MISHA) at institutions across Ohio.

    Artist in Residence, Summer 2019

    Morgan Art of Papermaking Conservatory - Cleveland, OH

     

    Granted an eight-week residency to complete a project involving papermaking, cyanotypes, and preservation. Read about the project in Maryland Institute College of Art's journal Full Bleed.

    Some statistical data visualizations from my condition assessment survey of the rare book collection at the University of Chicago.

    Professional Associations

    Current member of:

    Midwest Regional Conservation Guild

    Ohio Preservation Council

    Guild of Book Workers

     

    Past member of: Chicago Area Archivists, Special Libraries Association, Freedom to Read Foundation, ALA, ALCTS, ACRL

    DRY MEMES

    Full stack web application to make your own Art History memes. Completed as part of a coding bootcamp collaborative project, 2018.

     

    Heroku recently eliminated MongoDB from projects so, currently under construction. Check the github for codebase.

  • Contact

    Available for contract/consultant services in preservation, web development, and imaging.

    Send any inquiries below.