Russell “Ryan” McDonald Resume

ad36st@r.postjobfree.com 7253 Lupton Circle

214-***-**** Dallas, Texas 75225

Career Objectives: Capitalizing on my educational experiences as a Historian and Librarian, I would like work as a Historian/Archivist or Librarian, particularly in special collections. Willing to relocate. Am also highly capable of working with files or records for businesses.

Personal Strengths: Unique strong memory, skilled writer, with great persistence, focus, and initiative; am a very fast worker; when double checking am quite good at spotting errors; detail oriented; follows procedure, but can make innovations and independent judgments; can work long hours without pause; flexible work habits, and works well alone and with others; can pick up and juggle surprises and new challenges, and handle multiple tasks/projects simultaneously; skilled at archival appraisal, processing, handling, storing, preserving, describing, arranging, digitizing, and disposing of documents/archive items; skilled at transcribing, understanding transcribed writing, and manuscript preservation and processing; knows much about writing finding aids, skilled at scanning, copying, processing requests online, uploading items onto computers, web page creation, item transfers, information management and organization, research, information retrieval, digitization, digital preservation, metadata, and computer programs such as Adobe, Preview, Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, Excel, Sharepoint, and have knowledge of visual and audio editing; also skill with project management/leadership, note taking, and online databases; Can also skillfully label and organize collections

Education:

University of North Texas, Graduate Academic Certificate – Archival Management - 2019

University of North Texas, Master’s, Library and Information Sciences - 2018

Texas Tech University, Master’s, History - 2016

University of Arizona, Bachelor’s in History, Minor, Government & Public Policy – 2013

Dallas College Richland Campus, Mathematics – Summer 2011

Dallas College Brookhaven Campus, History/Art History – Summer 2010

Experience:

2023 – Texas Monthly/DFW International Airport, Archivist/Researcher-Contracted to Help Texas Monthly assist DFW International Airport prepare for its 50th anniversary. Entailed visiting archives, and examining their contents to look for information, stories, or photographs. It also includes examining the internet using tools like Google Books, Google Scholar, Ancestry.com, Newspapers.com, journals, blogs, web pages, information found online, sections of books online, and Kindle or resources from the airport on Sharepoint. Includes locating family information of notable individuals, finding out which family members still live and their contact information, so they can be contacted (by Texas Monthly or DFW Airport), finding quotes from them or others about the important individuals, on a personal level, or their role in the project. Also includes contacting institutions that might help. Should something useful be found, it is written down, and cited in reports. Later, there is a weekly phone call with a colleague, during which the weekly report I have written and the material and findings are discussed, I answer questions, we plan about what to do next, what might be missing, or what could be elaborated on. The following day, there is a weekly ZOOM meeting with others, we go over the report, hear people’s thoughts, learn what is wanted, and decide what subjects to focus on next. In the reports, aspects covered included important dates, possible story angles, and how certain points such as the region surrounding the airport or the aviation industry overall, are affected by one of the subjects of a source. Organizing the folders on Sharepoint with all sources placed in them in folders labeled by subject matter or subtopic (or at least citations or scans of subjects), making sources available to everyone involved in the project. Folders are named based on chosen topics. To make sources more accessible, sources are copied many times and placed in each folder the source maybe have a tie to. Each source is also renamed based on a template. Each source is also re-named based on a template provided by superiors. A presentation is given at the end of the project of the work done and the filing system designed.

2022 – 2023 - Resource Staffing/AXS Ticketing, Temp. Employee/Fulfillment Coordinator-Contracted to AXS Ticketing to fill the position of Fulfillment Coordinator. Putting mail to be sent to customers carrying tickets, parking passes and other items for events together. Verifying all customer information to be correct, placing the items in the envelope, and sealing and stamping the envelope. Also adjusting the pay rate for each envelope, based on destination, type of mail, or other criteria. Also counting envelopes to ensure correct envelope count number, checking for those that have not been sealed or stamped by machine, and fixing this error. I was doing hundreds every day. Also clearing out jamming in the machine, creating more room for envelopes to pass through in the machine, and refilling the machine with sealing liquid when it is empty. At times, there were blank envelopes, and I had to digitally imprint the AXS logo, address, and zip code onto the envelopes. In October of 2022, I was transitioned over to AXS permanently becoming their employee, as opposed to being an employee of the agency.

2021 - - Front Line Source Group, Inc., Temp. Employee - working as a temporary employee assigned to Western Extrusions in Carrollton, Texas. Serving as file clerk, alphabetizing, and sorting employee I-9 documents. Filing papers into employee files and health/medical records; separating temporary employee and salaried employee papers from regular hourly employees. Moving files into correct drawers (from active to terminated) based on date of termination, searching for employee information via spreadsheet and writing it down. Helping move office materials away for disposal. Identifying any missing folders and labeling the missing folders on a list. To do so, I had to research employee numbers or information for loose documents to find the appropriate employee by utilizing the database or list of employees on a spreadsheet my employees provided to me, granting good experience pulling information for usage. Also gave office new filing system for folders, employment records, and medical records of current and terminated employees by completely restructuring and reorganizing the company's entire collection of current and terminated employee files, by creating a new alphabetical order, while taking care to make sure the drawers did not overflow or get stuck by carefully spacing out the folders and determining the number of files in each drawer, slimming the collection down. Effectively led the process, deciding how to complete the task, decided a lot of the division of the tasks between us, and guided a co-worker (though this supervision and taking the lead on the task was certainly not official), determined how to arrange records in the new order that supervisors instructed us to give them, coming up with adjustments and corrections as needed, resolving dilemmas, and determining when drawers needed to be further spaced out or filled in more to avoid over and under filling, granting experience with project management and collaboration. Though I took suggestions from said co-worker. Checking to ensure there was consistency in information put in spreadsheets and information on labels of folders (in terms of numbers, names written, order written), spelling, etc.

2020 – 2021 - Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma, Intern – Reading and transcribing diary entries onto Word documents to make them more readable, and presentable for online viewing. This also meant frequently utilizing the computer program Preview, as that is where the document scans were shown. Also reading correspondence letters of one individual and typing them onto word documents to make them legible to all. Going over transcriptions again to double check and edit them. This experience allows for strong work in transcription tasks in this post. Gaining context and background for the work meant conducting research by reading information given to me on a spreadsheet and read old community newsletters of the church from that era, granting additional experience with research.

2019 – 2020 – History of Aviation Archive, University of Texas Dallas, Volunteer – Processing a large amount of the Chance Vought collection singlehandedly. Creating new folders, labeling and numbering (which meant stamping and marking) collection pieces in relation to what collection or folder they were in, and their place in the order of a folder, and placing items between preservation paper sheets after removing them from plastic sleeves. Also creating and labeling new folders for items. This experience shall aid with information retrieval, allow for work with preservation techniques, and will also allow for training others on research techniques, finding needed items in archives, and using library and archive technology in presentations. Also helping move items around on the shelves, and moving them to the worktables and back, and moving items in storage around to create new storage space.

2019 – Dallas Municipal Archives, Volunteer – Inventorying collection items, writing descriptions and textual summaries of collections and items and their content for the website, along with creating webpages for each item for the website. Researching each item by examining them (and reading them if they were written materials). Adding pages to the archive website helped expand the online collection/database (by copying or writing about items from its non-digital collection). This also grants experience with web design, as it required setting up the image to be visible on the webpage, how it appeared, where and how big it would be, where and how the text would appear, and how the page itself would appear. Placing items in protective coverings/folders, and proper order, but also sometimes removing items from casings or coverings for preservation, such as a large poster in one instance. Labeling sleeves and folders for photos and photo slides with folder, item, and collection numbers and titles/information. Organizing photo slides. Carrying in and arranging new acquirements into chronological order for later processing. The knowledge gained from doing these filing and preservation tasks, allow for their usage in later tasks and to train others on preservation, research techniques and how to utilize archive and library record systems and technology for the location of crucial items or information.

2018 - George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum, Internship - A.V. - Singlehandedly preparing the Gubernatorial Collection for processing, and typing descriptions, notes and box, item, and collection numbers, along with what media platform the item was on and what the item was part of into a computer spreadsheet, while also labeling items with stickers with item and collection numbers on them in chronological order, sometimes placing the item in protective covering, and arranging each item again in chronological order (and completing this task). Notes were sometimes written on sticky notes, and at times writing that was not legible was written on a sticky note as well, and both were placed on the item. This also included going up on ladders, retrieving boxes, and signing them in and out of the archives and off and on the shelves, as well as which box was taken, how long it was off the shelf, and when I put it back. Processing a newly donated photo collection and moving each photograph into labeled folders created and labeled by me within archival storage boxes and arranging the photos in a certain order. Checking completed collections for loose photo negatives (and completing this endeavor too). Placing mail donations into storage boxes with self-made dividing folders for each item. Learning to Process FOIA requests online, completing requested transactions on the internet, and storing said FOIA requests. This information shall help with the task of completing public information requests. Dealing with other donations, whether they be photos, tapes, or memorabilia by arranging, storing in self-made folders within archival boxes, and recording in the same computer spreadsheets. Wrapping items for delivery. Learning about editing/enhancing audio and visual digital footage with software and hardware (which shall be helpful with required presentations and in any work involving videos), and how to deal with potential donors to acquire items. Learning about environmental control, including archival storage in freezing temperatures. All this knowledge provides more than enough knowledge and experience with preservation techniques to complete work on preservation projects.

2015 & 2016 - Texas Tech Vietnam Center and Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive, Volunteer-Digitizing many photos, leading to lots of experience with digitization, and allowing for successful work in this area. Processing a donated collection of letters of a minister, which included opening them from envelopes, and placing each item into materials better for preservation in a proper order (and completing this task), granting experience with preservation and information organization. Writing web page descriptions for collection materials for the website. Setting up the visibility of the item and its description on the website, as well as the appearance of the new web page itself. If there was written or typed text of any kind on the front or back of a photo, all of it was typed into the description and the back was scanned as well. This granted experience with web design, as it required setting up the image to be visible on the webpage, how it appeared, where and how big it would be, where and how the text would appear, and how the page itself would appear. By adding pages to the archive website, I helped expand the online collection/database (by copying items from its non-digital collection). Placing items in folders that I labeled and in protective storage materials after they had been scanned. Briefly using an online database/program in 2015. While here, I frequently used and became adept with the collection management software system known as ArchivesSpace. I also used tools such as an Epson V700 photo scanner and MS Photoshop using the native professional interface. After scanning, I accessed existing item records in ArchivesSpace to add the new file link, and type text from the back of the photo into a general note for public display.

2008, 2009, 2010, 2014, 2019 – 2020 - Pediatrics After Hours and Plano Pediatrics, Front Office/Clerk/Records – digitizing/disposing records exceeding state mandated limits and correcting conflicting information. For disposed items, it was required to type onto Word documents necessary information, that needed to be retained. Retrieving and organizing incoming patients’ records by day and time, printing schedules, creating labels for new patient folders, supplying older files with new fee slips, progress charts, faxes, flu shot forms, and new information. Creating labels for new patient folders, and packets for parents. Scanning in receipts and patient insurance and billing information and entering this information onto spreadsheets. Scanning, copying, and printing. Selecting and digitizing sections of patient records (more than 14,000 charts scanned in total, and many more disposed). Digitizing papers meant removing taped pieces of paper, staples, and paper clips from paper so all would go through the scanner. Also moving records around to create more storage space. Also placing patient records back in their proper places on the shelves/drawers where patient records were kept. Entering the name, birthdates, and record number of each patient into the online site records/database of the contracted storage company. Also editing, updating, checking, and/or inputting patient information into the office's computer database. All of these tasks when put together mean immense levels of experience with retrieving information for usage, information organization, digitization, digital preservation, and information disposal. It also grants ample experience pulling information out for usage. Thus, I can successfully complete work in any of these areas and teach others to do the same.

Membership, Society of Southwest Archives-2019-; American Historical Association-2019-; Metroplex Archivists-2019-; Texas State Historical Association-2021-

References:

Carrie Hudspeth, Office Manager, Cook Children’s Pediatrics Plano, ad36st@r.postjobfree.com. ; 972-***-****.

John H. Slate, FSAA, CA, Dallas Municipal Archives, City Archivist, ad36st@r.postjobfree.com; 214-***-****.

Pam Bell, MA CA, Diocesan Archivist, Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma,

ad36st@r.postjobfree.com; 405-***-****.

Patrizia Nava, History of Aviation Archives, Curator of Aviation Archives, CA, University of Texas at Dallas, ad36st@r.postjobfree.com; 972-***-****.

Erin Kubatzky, Director of Operations, Texas Monthly Studio, ad36st@r.postjobfree.com; 512-***-****-office; 512-***-****-cell.

Alberto Castilleja, Lead Records & Information Management Administrator, Information Technology Services, Records Management, DFW International Airport Board Information Center; ad36st@r.postjobfree.com; 214-***-**** Cell.

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