Very Large Level Representative
Matthew Neely
Senior Archivist, Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
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What I would bring to the Governance Board are my experiences in other communities, and new perspectives on our community’s efforts to achieve the mission of ArchivesSpace. I have worked in an environment of mutual support for open source software through a brief time in the Islandora Collaboration Group, and in a role of community support through several years in OCLC’s WorldShare Management Services Community Leadership Team. I have experience reviewing departmental budgets and expenditures and am interested in gaining building on this experience in reviewing the financial statements of a program on a scale like that of ArchivesSpace. Above all, I have an interest in meeting, listening to and learning from community members from small institutions.
Small institutions are often dedicated to the service of underrepresented peoples, perspectives and materials, but they are also more likely to be lacking in resources. It is voices from these members that often go missing more broadly in software development initiatives where greater human, technical and financial resources correspond are correlated with greater influence. I find it worth celebrating that the governance structure of ArchivesSpace ensures voices from institutions across all sizes and levels of resource, though resourcing. I just as much appreciate that this structure does not in and of itself guarantee a community that is diverse, equitable and inclusive in all the ways that it needs to be. Knowing that there is always work to be done in this regard, I would be honored to be tasked with listening and participating in conversations around the ArchivesSpace community’s next steps forward by serving as one of its representatives.