Commissioner Alicia Barnes congratulates Susan Laura Lugo, coordinator for Archives at the Division of Libraries, on being nominated by The Council of State Archivists (CoSA) for election to serve a three-year term on its national governing board. Upon Lugo’s election at CoSA’s annual meeting in July 2011, the Virgin Islands will be the first U.S. territory to be represented on the nine-member board of directors since CoSA was incorporated in 2002.
CoSA is the nation-wide organization of the heads of state archival and records management programs. Its organizational mission is to strengthen state and territorial archives in their work to preserve America’s historical records.
Some of CoSA’s current work includes managing a $2.6 million Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) grant to develop records-related emergency preparedness training for state and local government officials; supporting the work of the State Historical Records Advisory Boards in each state and territory; and advocating the passage of the Preserving the American Historical Record (PAHR) legislation, currently introduced in both houses of Congress, to provide state and territorial funding for preservation and access to historical records.
Lugois a certified archivist and has served in her present capacity in the Department of Planning and Natural Resources’ Division of Libraries, Archives and Museums since January 2008. She earned a B.A. magna cum laude from the University of the Virgin Islands, and a M.S. (Beta Phi Mu) in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She presently serves on the Executive Council of the Caribbean Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives, the Standing Committee of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions’ Genealogy and Local History Section, and the Steering Committee for the American Library Association Reference and User Services Association History Section.
Relying on her background of service in professional archives and library organizations in the region, Lugo will advocate for increased awareness of archives in the V.I. and the wider Caribbean. She is a past president of both the St. Thomas-St. John Library Association and the St. Thomas Historical Trust, a founder and past president of the Caribbean Genealogy Library in St. Thomas, past chair of the Latin American and Caribbean Cultural Heritage Archives Roundtable of the Society of American Archivists, and has served as Caribbean representative to the Florida/Caribbean chapter of the Special Libraries Association.