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Janet Alcalá received a 2007 Spectrum Doctoral Fellowship and is pursuing her degree at the University of Pittsburgh. Janet holds an M.A., Film and Media Preservation from the University of Rochester; a B.A., Film Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB); and a

Certificate in Film Preservation fromThe L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation,

George Eastman House.



As an undergraduate student Janet majored in Film Studies and was immediately fascinated with the study of film history. While interning and working at two archives on campus her understanding of history was deeply affected. Archival based learning triggered a great urgency and sense of responsibility, and from that moment she sought to be involved in the conservation of artifacts that chronicled the participation of people of color in the United States. Her interest in a Library and Information Science Ph.D. comes from a desire to be an agent of productive change at both the administrative and educational level in the archival field.

As a Ph.D. student Janet intends to focus on information institutions, specifically the collection development and policy of archives and how these affect the history and memory of people of color in the U.S. She also intends to concentrate on methods that will attract a new (and potential) digital culture of information seekers to the archive while continuing to effectively assist traditional patrons. Additionally, Janet is interested in contributing to the study of moving image archive studies by introducing scholarship regarding moving image archives in developing countries (particularly Latin America) that are presently pioneering transnational archival movements.