Meet Emilie Starr, the new records officer for the Division of Arts & Museums in the Department of Heritage & Arts. Emilie started full time last year, just in time for the division to make a scheduled move from their building (the beautiful Glendinning House) for renovations. Facing filing cabinets and closets full of records kept by her predecessor, Emilie tackled the challenge like a pro and not only managed to make it through the filing cabinets and closets, but also helped her co-workers go through their records and prepare for the move.

After moving into their temporary space at the Rio Grande Depot, Emilie was happy to share her thoughts about the process, the challenges, and what has been most rewarding as a records officer. Of the move itself, Emilie said, “The move went really well. I work with people that have amazing organizational skills that I strive to have. We had a color coordination system for records going into permanent storage, reference materials that were going home with people while they telework, and records that were going to our temporary workspace at the Rio Grande Depot. Our new space at the Rio is definitely giving me some feng-shui vibes since it’s so clean!”

The most challenging part of the move (and of her job in general) is communicating with and wrangling a 20 person staff. “Everybody is doing 4-5 jobs, not just me, so trying to do records management is really difficult at times because we aren’t sure what everyone else is doing outside of their job descriptions.” However, Emilie has found enjoyment in the records management portion of her job because, as she puts it, “I’m a glorious paper pusher who finds doing records very therapeutic because I get to shred things!”

Working for Arts & Museums has also allowed Emilie to marry her love of arts and theater with real world work she can be proud of. Getting to work at the Glendinning House has been amazing and she is excited to get back there after the renovations because “it is a space that was meant for arts and art culture and how awesome is that!”

The Glendinning House is scheduled to complete renovations mid-March.