This website is a collection of stories, experiences, and projects by me, Kris Adam Santos. My work is rooted in my experiences as a Filipino military brat, which includes an interdisciplinary approach in nonfiction writing, audio-visual remixing, and zine making.

I am an archivist by trade, writer by choice, and educator with a calling based in New York City.

To learn more about me, please visit the links below:

Portfolio

Here is a list of my professional experiences.

The one question I get is how did I get into this work with libraries and archives? Well, when I was a child, I was the bookworm that went to the library. A man by the name of Mr. Monaco was a librarian that used to help me look for books. He was also one of the kindest men I’ve met. I got into this work, because I wanted to be him.

Education

Hunter College (2015)
Bachelor of Arts in English Literature

Palmer School of Library and Information Sciences (2017)
Master in Library and Information Sciences

Certificate of Advanced Studies in Archives and Record Management

Library Juice Academy (2020)
Continuing Education courses for Digital Preservation studies

Work

Volunteered for Seoul American Elementary School on Yongsan Garrison Air Force Base in Seoul, South Korea (2013)

Cataloged Hand Press era books, spearheaded the 19th century fiction project, and processed the archives at The Center for Fiction (formerly Mercantile Library Association) (2015-2017)

Conducted rare book bibliography for the Mercantile Library Association (Now the Center for Fiction) (2015-2017)

Managed three month survey and collection development at The Leash Club in the Upper East Side including database implementation, cataloging workflow, and disaster planning for rare books (2018)

Led classes in library orientation and class-based research at Vaughn College. Managed student staff during night shift. Published LibGuide research resources during COVID-19 pandemic, creating online tutorial project and contributing aviation program resources (2019-2020)

Assisted faculty for library department at The Brearley School to support reference-based activities. Managed The Brearley School Archives (2019-2021)

Conducted preservation survey, assessed space needs, and re-housed materials to ensure proper storage for paper records at The Leash Club. Implemented Archivists’ ToolKit to export XML/EAD record for collection, detailing container lists, scope and content, historical notes, and other descriptive information (2018)

Consulted for Richard Lewis at the Touchstone Center for Children in collection and records management. Negotiated digitization of audio-visual materials with outside client and managed digital preservation workflow to preserve materials. Recorded items in inventory and created local descriptive terms. Initiated monthly newsletters utilizing archival materials and collaborated for use of living archive in organization events (2015-Present)

Provided consultation to Anita Feldman, renown tap dancer and faculty member of Hofstra University, for transfer of audio-visual materials to the New York Public Library. Negotiated intangible copyrights to creator and reviewed gift of deed prior to transfer. Created inventory lists while packing materials to ensure their conservation during physical transportation to NYPL (2018)

Supported re-housing of artist application materials and institutional records for New York Foundation for the Arts. Managed communication with transportation services to bring entire collection from the institution to New York University. Collaborated with communications team to utilize archives for PR campaigns, such as implementing materials created by Spike Lee (2017-2018)

Created archives program for The Leash to preserve institutional records dating back to its days at the American Kennel Club. Surveyed building for space needs, which resulted in housing archives onsite. Published how-to guides to support ongoing library cataloging and archive preservation techniques. Refoldered and rehoused documents for preservation, as well as drafting inventories for research purposes (2018)

Manage school archive at The Brearley School. Conducted reference research interviews, supported the publications team through research, and organized work from prior archivist. Ongoing research to ensure collection is compliant with digital preservation standards (2019-2021)

Archivist at The Dalton School. Accession, process, and assess strategies to build institutional history. Supervise library space. Museum program coordinator while optimizing communications, public relations, and coordination skills (2021-Present)