Dara Baker, Candidate for Vice President/President Elect

How is ACA vital in a post COVID world amid rising professional burnout?

I do not think we can emphasize enough the importance of the archival profession in the post-COVID world. With so much change in a short period of time–communication moving online, jobs shifting to remote, hybrid, or those who remained on site during the height of the crisis, and the stressors of budget, staffing, and the socio-economic climate–our work, as a profession that identifies, collects, preserves, and provides access to public records and historical material is critical.

I started my career as a lone arranger: ACA gave me a community of like-minded professionals who had taken the time to get their certification and then gave me time to learn from them to advance my career. ACA is the organization that I go to when I feel that my education might be out of date: rather than spending money I don’t have on classes that may or may not be relevant, I look to the reading list for what’s new and important. With so many early and mid-career professionals active in the organization, I feel that I have a community who I can talk to about the pressure of my job and importance of basic principles and new technologies–and I hope that ACA is, and can continue to be, that organization for our members.

The Academy’s shift to an online exam, to a renewed emphasis on our membership through the establishment of the Regent for Member Services, and, most recently, the addition of the long overdue Cultural Competency Domain demonstrate the Academy’s focus on the future. The organization has positioned itself to continue to provide support, direction, and community for our members and I would be honored to lead that effort.

 

Professional Experience:

• National Archives and Records Administration, 2017-present: Senior Digital Preservation Analyst, Digital Preservation Division, 2022-present, Digital Format Specialist, Office of Innovation, 2019-2022, Archivist, Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, 2017-2019
• Head Archivist, U.S. Naval War College, 2014-2017
• Senior Archivist, Historian, and Legislative Researcher, Export-Import Bank of the U.S. 2011-2014 
• Independent Researcher, 2008-2011
• Historian, Federal Judicial Center, 2007-2008
• Lecturer, Princeton University, 2004-2006

Education:

• PhD Candidate, Humanities and Technology, Salve Regina University (expected 2024)
• MLIS, University of Maryland, College Park: 2011
• MA, History, Harvard University: 1999
• BA, History, Cornell University: 1997

 

Professional Activities:

 

• Academy of Certified Archivists: Member, 2012-present (provisional 2012-2013). Chair, Task Force on Member Services (appointed), 2019-2020. Regent for Outreach (elected), 2018-2020. Exam proctor, 2020-2022; Outreach Happy Hour host, 2020-2022. Prolydian acquisition Task Force and tester, 2020.
• Visioning Access Systems Subgroup, Born Digital Access Working Group, Digital Library Federation: Member, 2020-present.
• Society of American Archivists: Member, 2011-present. Chair, Technical Subcommittee on the Guidelines for Reappraisal and Deaccessioning, 2018-present; Chair, Task Force on Communications, 2012-2013. Conference presenter 2012-2022.
• Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference, Member 2011-present, Program Committee, 2014-2015, 2021-2022.
• iPRES Reviewer, 2023. NHPRC Grants Reviewer, 2019-present. Columbia University-NEH Archives as Data Program, 2023. Cambridge Data School 2022. Archives Leadership Institute, 2014.
• International Journal of Naval History, Editor, Inside the Archives, 2018-present.
• Treasurer (elected), American Federation of Government Employees, Council 260, 2020-present.