PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATIONS: Certified professional librarian in the Commonwealths of Virginia (Certificate No. 5865, 19 June 2012) and Massachusetts (Certificate No. P5752, 7 January 2021). Certified by the Ohio Library Council as a public librarian (lifetime membership, September 2023). As of 28 October 2020, professional public librarianship credentials are registered with the State of Maryland's Department of Education, Division of Educator Certification as per the Code of Maryland Regulations (COMAR), Title 14 (Independent Agencies), Subtitle 38 (State Library), Section 14.38.01.01. Beta Phi Mu Academic Honor Society for International Library & Information Studies (2012). Regular member of the American Library Association (ALA), the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), and the Reference User & Services Association (RUSA) for sixteen consecutive years. Member of the American Historical Association (AHA). Certificated paralegal (ABA-approved program, May 2023); allied professional member of the American Bar Association (ABA) and the Ohio State Bar Association (OSBA).
CURRENT EMPLOYMENT (Federal Government):
Department of Treasury, Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
Supervisory Paralegal Specialist (Career Series: 0950)
Job/Duty Description:
Responsible for managing a centralized business unit (statutory tax law [U.S. Code, Title 26], including individual, nonprofit organizations, private foundations, trusts, and excise taxes; Executive branch, federal agency administrative law [IR Code & Manual]) that processes IRS case files involving multi-million dollar estates and taxable gifts. Individual Specialty Areas: Historical treasures, fine art, rare books & manuscripts, cultural artifacts, and proprietary digital objects of enduring societal value claimed as financial assets.
Ongoing STATE- and COUNTY-Level VOLUNTEER SERVICE as a PUBLIC LIBRARIAN (2023 - present):
Ohio Library Council (oversight of 251 public library systems comprising approximately 7.7 million cardholders) with professional involvement in divisions for Management & Administration, Reference & Information Services, Customer Service & Support Staff, and Special Collections [with an emphasis on supporting Ohio library systems with (1) Community Veterans projects necessitating access to official military records and historical research conducted by federal agencies; (2) Cultural Heritage Preservation; and (3) Legal Informatics for Digital Education]
PREVIOUS EMPLOYMENT (2022 - 2023) JOB DUTY DESCRIPTION & RESPONSIBILITIES: U.S. Navy Civilian, GS-13, Supervisory Archivist (Reference Services), OPM General Schedule Classification Series 1420
Job/Duty Description:
Vibrantly administer and ensure the multi-faceted functional operability of the Navy’s Archives Reference Services for unclassified and classified Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) operational records, pre-archival naval fleet and aircraft informational materials, and naval nuclear propulsion information (NNPI) documentation held in classified-information vaults located on the Washington Navy Yard, District of Columbia (D.C.). Conduct, execute, and closely monitor the critical, high-priority Top Secret inventory requiring the screening/reviewing of NNPI-related documentation, official correspondence, and organizational records deemed to have evidential, historical, or enduring cultural-heritage value to the U.S. Navy, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), the Department of Defense (DoD), and the Department of Energy (DoE), to include recurring coordination with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and other records-producing federal agencies with mission equities and functional imperatives in accordance with all requisite federal statutory and administrative law, as per applicable Titles 5, 10, 17, 38, 42, and 44 of the U.S. Code, applicable chapters of the Federal Code of Regulations (FCR), the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 [as amended], Presidential Executive Orders 12958 and 1356 [National Security Information (NSI)], OPNAV Instruction N9210.3, and Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) Manual 5210.1 (Navy Records Management Program). Supervises an archival & records information management (RIM) staff of 8 career-track information professionals and 2 archives technicians/reference assistants. Provides oversight of all requests for Navy operational records and archival materials within the Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC)'s holdings, refers requests requiring a FOIA/Privacy Act review to the designated Navy staff offices and respective legal counsels with the authorities to approve the release of such records & archival materials, responsible for the functional workflow of the archivist tasked to perform deeds of gift and donations of collections to the Navy archives; additionally responsible for the accessioning of reference materials for the Navy Library. Ensures consistent, reliable archival reference services staff support to all DoD Armed Services, the Department of Energy (DoE), the Veterans Administration (VA), and other agencies and bureaus of the Executive Branch of the federal government.
Military Experience: Retired U.S. Army (Active-Duty) Field Grade Officer [senior O-5 with service in the Pentagon, resident Senior Service College (SSC) with Joint Professional Military Education (JPME) Phase II, and two years of Battalion Command; equivalent to GS-14 supervisory level].
PREVIOUS EMPLOYMENT (2018 - 2021) JOB DUTY DESCRIPTION & RESPONSIBILITIES: Force Development/Change Management (50A) Officer and Military Government & Civil Affairs branch officer (38A) with documented functional specialties (6V, Cultural Heritage Assets/Property) and (6W, Archivist) .
Military Pay Grade: Pay Grade/Field Grade Qualification: O-5 with Senior Service College (equivalent to GS-13/14).
Job/Duty Description:
Serves as the principal military senior special staff Force Development (FD)/Change Management officer (Functional Area 50) for a Two-Star General operational headquarters (doctrinally deployable, worldwide, up to Four-Star Theater Army headquarters level) of 118 Army Reserve military units located in 33 states and territories with over 14 thousand funded operational, administrative-oversight, and installation management requirements that impact global military operations. Directly advises the Commanding General (CG) on all matters involving unit stationing actions, adjustments to military and civilian personnel structure documentation, the research and creation of strategic-level analytical metrics and informational products, to include cartographic maps, statistical-data and thematic charts, and various analytical executive summary correspondence. Supervises a four-member specialized technical analysis, database management, and documentation repository staff. Responsible for executing a functional workflow budget of 126K annually. Specific functions include: coordinating all Army Reserve troop force structural designs, civilian requirements & authorizations, and doctrinal modernization organizational updates with the respective U.S. Army Centers of Excellence (CoEs), the Combined Arms Center (CAC), and the Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC).
Additional Duty Requirements:
Responsible for the management of the headquarters’ Force Development (FD)/Change Management electronic archival records repository and the digital library of policy directives, regulations, and doctrinal publications related to the seven domains of FD in support of the U.S. Forces Command (FORSCOM) headquarters library, the U.S. Army Reserve Command (USARC), and several functional academic libraries of U.S. Army Centers of Excellence (CoEs) field and military academic collections, and the knowledge management (KM) of all assigned military units' historical, heritage, and doctrinal design documentation in digital format consistent with all applicable Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) publications and Army service policies and organizational doctrine, to include annual staff reviews and input to:
I. Army Regulation 25-97, The Army Library Program (5 June 2019)
- Mission & Purpose: The mission of the ALP is to serve as a strategic knowledge management resource that enables the Army to gain and maintain full-spectrum knowledge superiority, while concurrently facilitating research, education, training, self-development, well-being, outreach, and lifelong learning-the right information at the right time and place to support the Army mission.
- The purpose of the ALP through its various components is to provide professionally managed library services to commanders and their communities to meet a broad spectrum of mission support and unique requirements essential to the Army.
II. Army Regulation 25-400-2, The Army Records Information Management System (ARIMS).
III. Military Knowledge Management (KM) is the art of creating, organizing, applying, and transferring knowledge to facilitate situational understanding and decision making. Primary doctrinal references:
Joint Force Doctrine:
CJCS-J7 Staff, Suffolk, VA
Focus Paper, Knowledge Information Management (KIM), May 2018
Army Policy (Information Management):
Army Regulation 25-1, Army Information Technology, June 2013
Army Doctrine:
Field Manual 6-01.1
Knowledge Management Operations (July 2012)
EDUCATION:
B.A. (1992) and M.A. (1995), History (East Asian Studies, U.S. Diplomacy, History of Science), University of Akron, Buchtel College of Arts & Sciences
Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS), 2012, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Graduate School, School of Information Studies (SOIS)
M.A., National Security and Strategic Studies with Joint Professional Military Education (JPME Phase II), 2015, U.S. Naval War College (resident), Newport, Rhode Island
Post-Master's Certificate, Digital Stewardship (Cultural Heritage Informatics), 2016, Simmons College, Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS)
Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) in Archives and Records Administration, 2022, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Graduate School, School of Information Studies (SOIS)
Certificate with High Honors in Paralegal Studies (ABA-approved program) and a Leadership Award, 2023, American National University
Ed.D. (Educational Leadership), anticipated conferral in Fall 2026, Liberty University, School of Education
AREAS OF PROFESSIONAL STUDY, PRAXIS, EXPERTISE & LEADERSHIP:
(A) Organizational design and functional staff integration, strategic capabilities determination, military geostrategic contingency planning for cultural-heritage preservation and cultural property & resources management, ethnography, social ecology, knowledge management (KM), taxonomy, and digital curation & stewardship; theories of communication, digital library collection development, and heuristics & ontological methodologies for digital library design; history of science and technology; U.S. Code, Title 5, Sections 552 (FOIA)/Sec. 552a (Privacy Act of 1974); USC, Title 17 (Copyright Law); USC, Title 26 & IR Code 501(c)(3)]; USC, Title 20 (Education Law); Replevin; U.S. Public Law of Cultural Property, Patrimony, National Historic Preservation; National American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) Public Law 101-601; USC, Title 44, Presidential Records Act of 1978. U.S.A. Senate's ratification [November 25, 2008, Committee of Foreign Relations' Executive Report 110-26; subject: Treaty Document 106-1(A)] of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict; legal anthropology & informatics.
(B) Institute Conference Panels, Academic Seminars, Workshops, Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Seminars, and Interviews, and Mentions in News
(1) Speaker/presenter and panelist, the U.S. Committee of the Blue Shield and the Lawyers’ Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation conference, “Culture and Conflict: The U.S. and the 1954 Hague Convention,” 23 October 2009. http://www.culturalheritagelaw.org/2009fallconference
(2) Contributing member, Cultural Heritage by Archaeological Institute of America (AIA)-Military Panel (CHAMP). http://aiamilitarypanel.org/references/modern-sources/
- Army Reserve Civil Affairs functional specialties (cultural property and archives)
- Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) Briefing (September 2008): Army Reserve Civil Affairs functional specialty deployment with the Joint Forces Command’s forward deployed “Task Force Ramadi” attached to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF), Anbar Province, Iraq, with duty in the U.S. Department of State’s Embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team (ePRT) 2 (Unit 73904), Camp Ramadi, Anbar Province, Iraq)
(3) Interviewed by Army Times (Lance M. Bacon, Staff writer) news journalist for article, “U.S. troops saved art as the ‘Monuments Men’ of Iraq”: U.S. experts work to save a culture,” February 17, 2014. https://uscbs.org/news/us-troops-saved-art-as-the-monuments-men-of-iraq-us-experts-work-to-save-a-culture/
(4) Assyrian International News Agency (online). “U.S. troops saved art as the ‘Monuments Men’ of Iraq,” 2014.http://aina.org/ata/20140217204211.htm
(5) Conference participant, the Lawyer’s Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation, “From Plunder to Preservation: The Untold Story of Cultural Heritage, World War II, and the Pacific,” 8 -9 November 2012, National Trust for Historic Preservation building, Washington, D.C. http://www.culturalheritagelaw.org/warinthepacific
(6) Selected professional participant, Harvard University, Graduate School of Education, Harvard Institutes for Higher Education, Leadership Institute for Academic Librarians (28 July – 2 August 2013).
(7) Selected professional participant, Harvard University, Graduate School of Education, Harvard Institutes for Higher Education, Library Leadership in the Digital Age (20-22 March 2014).
(8) Continuing Legal Education (CLE): Web-based Seminar, Certificate of Completion, Interface of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the Privacy Act, American Society of Access Professionals (ASAP), November 2021.
(9) Continuing Legal Education (CLE): Web-based Seminars, Certificates of Completion, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Procedures & Exemptions [U.S.C. Title 5, Section 552, as amended] and the Privacy Act & Exemptions [U.S.C. Title 5, Section 552a, as amended], American Society of Access Professionals (ASAP), June 2022.
(10) Legal Informatics: Certificates of Completion for Thomson Reuters Westlaw Edge & Classic, May 2022.
(11) Selected professional participant, Harvard University, Graduate School of Design, Executive Education, Future of Library Design & Academic Libraries (8-10 August 2023) and Academic Libraries: Space Planning & Design Charette (11 August 2023).
(12) LIS professional development: ALA-eLearning, five-week eCourse: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Empowerment for Library Staff (Ethical, Equitable, and Engaging Solutions), 6 November - 10 December 2023.
(13) Continuing Legal Education (CLE) through Liberty University, School of Law: (a) Foundations of Law, 8-week course (3 graduate-school credit hours), January - March 2024; (b) Ethics & Professional Responsibility, 8-week course (3 graduate-school credit hours), March - May 2024.
(14) Law Librarian professional development: ALA eLearning webinar: Law Librarianship, 2 May 24.
(15) U.S. Naval War College (USNWC) Symposium: Women, Peace, and Security (WPS), 2-3 May 24.
(16) Continuing Legal Education (CLE) and LIS professional development: Ohio Library Council (OLC), New Library Directors Workshop (5 credit hours): Legal & Human Resources (HR) Matters , Ohio Ethics Law, and OLC Legal Issues [U.S.C., Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Public Law 88-352); U.S.C., Titles 42 & 47, American with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 (Public Law 110-325), as amended in 2008] Update, 4-5 June 2024.
(17) Continuing Legal Education (CLE) and LIS professional development: ALA-eLearning, six-week eCourse: Copyright Essentials [statutory law: U.S. Code, Title 17] for Libraries, Archives, & Cultural Institutions , 5 Aug - 15 Sep 24 (registered).
FOREIGN LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY:
Japanese 日本語 (12 undergraduate credit hours) and a summer foreign-language immersion program (夏の外国語イマージョンプログラム) at the Japanese Language Institute of Sapporo (札幌国際日本語学院), 2003
PUBLICATIONS:
- Cultural Property Observer website. “Culture and Conflict: The United States and the 1954 Hague Convention,” October 2, 2009.
- Cultural Heritage Aspect of Stability Operations: The U.S. Army Reserve Civil Affairs’ Role.” The Officer, Reserve Officers Association Journal (April-May 2010): 58-61. https://uscbs.org/bibliography.html#articles
- “The Cultural Heritage Aspect of Stability Operations: The Role of the US Army Reserve Civil Affairs,” Department of Defense Legacy Resource Management Program, Cultural Resources Update, Volume 6, No. 11. [Available on the University of Florida, George A. Smathers Libraries, Digital Military Collection website, under Cultural Resources] https://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00068849/00040
UNPUBLISHED THESES, RESEARCH PAPERS, and MONOGRAPHS:
The Geostrategic Significance of Okinotorishima (沖ノ鳥島) in the chūbu Taiheiyō 中部太平洋 (Central Pacific): The Nexus between Sacred Symbols of Sovereign Territory, National Identity, and Public Diplomacy in the Senkaku 尖閣諸島 (Diaoyu 釣魚臺列嶼) Islands Dilemma.” U.S. Naval War College (submitted to the Director of the China Maritime Studies Institute for Asia-Pacific concentration credit), November 2014.
- Civil-Military Operations Research Paper:
“US. Joint Force Cultural Heritage Functional Activities in the Asia-Pacific Region: An Interagency Approach to Enable a Theater-Security Cooperation Partnership with the Union of Myanmar (Burma).” U.S. Naval War College, October 2014.
- Research Paper, Simmons College, Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS), Post-Master’s Certificate Program in Digital Stewardship, Digitization Project (U.S. Naval History Cultural Heritage Informatics), May 2015
“Manuscript Collection of U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Edwin Swain Miller (1910-91), Collection Number 142 (4 boxes; 6 series, 1 records group)”
- MA (history) Thesis, May 1995:
The University of Akron, Graduate School, Buchtel College of Arts and Sciences, “Japan’s Central-Kingdom World View: A Case Study of Yap Island and Its Geostrategic Significance in the Nan’yo南海”
BIBLIOGRAPHIC ENTRIES:
Beitler, Ruth Margulies and Dexter W. Dugan. “Practicing the Art of War While Protecting Cultural Heritage: A Military Perspective.” In Cultural Heritage and Mass Atrocities, edited by James Cuno and Thomas G. Weiss, 508, 515. Los Angeles, CA: Getty Publications, 2022. https://www.getty.edu/publications/cultural-heritage-mass-atrocities/part-5/29-beitler- dugan/
Siebrandt, Diane C., Ph.D. Dissertation. Deakin University, Victoria, Australia, Centre for Citizenship and Globalization, December 8, 2016, “Military Occupation of Heritage Sites: Orientalism, Archaeology and the Iraq War,” 161. https://dro.deakin.edu.au/eserv/DU:30103240/siebrandt-militaryoccupation-2017.pdf
Smithsonian Institution website, “Preserving Cultural Heritage in Crisis: A Selected Bibliography.” Bibliographic entry: “Ahern, James R., “Cultural-Heritage Aspect of Stability Operations: The U.S. Army Reserve Civil Affairs’ Role” The Officer. April-May 2010.” https://public-media.secure.si.edu/filer/d6/81/d6812605-0d4f-494f-8126-3271720075da/scri_bibliography.pdf
U.S. Committee of the Blue Shield website. Ahern, James R. “Cultural-Heritage Aspect of Stability Operations: The U.S. Army Reserve Civil Affairs’ Role.” The Officer, April-May 2010. https://uscbs.org/bibliography.html
Military Cultural Heritage Advisory Group (MilCHAG), Cultural Heritage by Archaeology & Military Panel (CHAMP) website. Ahern, James R.
- “Cultural-Heritage Aspect of Stability Operations: The U.S. Army Reserve Civil Affairs’ Role.” The Officer. Apr-May 2010.
- Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), U.S. Army Reserve, Civil Affairs (Archives & Cultural Affairs) Officer, Deployment Brief (unclassified for public release though the Smithsonian Institution), September 2008. https://www.aiamilitarypanel.org/references/modern-sources/