Lupai

Staff Bios 

Ulia Gosart, Founder, Librarians for Ukrainian Peace & Independence, is an Assistant Professor at the School of Information, San Jose State University. A native of Ukraine she grew up in Cherkasy and received her first library degree from the Kyiv State University of Culture and Art. Since 2022 she advocates for peace in Ukraine through fundraising, thematic symposia, traveling exhibit and publishing. Her PhD is from UCLA; she lives in Los Angeles. 

Rhonda Clark, Lead Archivist, is a Professor of Library and Information Science at PennWest Clarion. Dr. Clark studied history and political science as an undergrad and holds a Master’s in Russian and East European Studies, and MLIS, and a Ph.D. in Imperial Russian History. Dr. Clark volunteered extensively translating for Russian and Ukrainian Pentecostals leaving Russia during the 1990s as refugees in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, MN. She studied the Russian protestant church in the Soviet era, as well as women’s intellectual history of the last nineteenth century in Moscow and St. Petersburg. She was married for a few years to a Russian in St. Petersburg and lived with her Russian family while conducting doctoral research. Dr. Clark is an advocate of basic human rights and the need for academics to use their training and opportunity to document and protect vulnerable populations worldwide during periods of political crackdown, warfare, and migration.

Emily Brennan, Metadata Specialist, is a librarian at Rocky Vista University, where she supports healthcare education through outreach initiatives and metadata-driven documentation projects. She earned her M.S.L.S in 2024, following a BA in English Literature from San Diego State University in 2020. Emily works with the Ukrainian Libraries in Wartime initiative to create high-quality metadata for digital projects. Her most recent work includes developing a survey for Ukrainian libraries to collect enhanced metadata and witness statements documenting damage to library infrastructure. She is currently collaborating with project members to research the history of war crimes and global war crimes prosecution to better understand the documentation efforts and support the identification of long-term solutions. Emily’s long-term goal is to contribute to scholarship that bridges theory and practice by examining how information professionals can strengthen public trust and resilience. She hopes to pursue an academic career that allows her to teach, research, and advocate for information ethics and equity on both local and global scales.

Kelly Famuliner, Archives & Research Fellow, is currently pursuing a Master in Library and Information Science at San Jose State University’s School of Information (MLIS candidate, May 2027). She holds a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Missouri (2007) and is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker in the State of Washington. From 2016-2022, Kelly held various roles on Ragtag Film Society’s Community Partnership & Education Team, providing guidance and support on the implementation of their organization-wide community engagement plan, developing and leading media literacy trainings for students and teachers, creating cutting edge film programming for high school students, and co-creating a free monthly film series in partnership with local community organizations. From the partnerships developed during her time at Ragtag Film Society came the opportunity to teach media literacy classes at the Asian Affairs Center at the University of Missouri.

Since April 2025, Kelly has partnered with archives and library professionals across the U.S. to assist in processing images and descriptions of destruction to libraries in Ukraine provided to the Team by the Ukrainian Library Association. In October 2025, she delivered a presentation based on the Team’s work titled Defending Cultural Identity: Documenting the Destruction of Ukrainian Libraries During Wartime, at the International Archives Congress in Barcelona, Spain. Kelly is currently serving as a Graduate Research Assistant to Dr. Ulia Gosart, conducting research and along with Emily Brennan (Rocky Vista University), co-developing an instrument that can provide additional documentation and metadata on damaged library sites that were known to house historically and culturally significant holdings in Ukraine.

Rebecca Short, Metadata Fellow,  is an MLIS candidate at San José State University’s School of Information with a background in media production and storytelling. As a television editor for over 15 years for networks such as TLC, BRAVO, and ABC, she has focused on stories that reflect the diversity of the human experience. As such, she is deeply interested in archives and the stories we tell as we reckon with history and identity. Rebecca currently works as a Page at the Burbank Public Library, and contributes to digital and archival projects including the Theodore Roosevelt Center and the Ukrainian Libraries in Wartime Initiative, where she focuses on metadata creation, image preservation, and workflow design. As part of this work she has designed promotional materials for Ukraine fundraisers and compiled a zine of children’s artwork and poetry reflecting their experiences of war. She holds a BA in Film from Vassar College with a minor in Art History.

Sarah Schwartz, Data Specialist, is a second year graduate student at San Jose State University pursuing a Master of Library and Information Science. She previously received a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Arizona. She volunteers at the Los Angeles Public Library as a STAR reader, promoting literacy and the joy of reading with children ages 0-9. Sarah is also an active volunteer with Ukrainian Libraries in Wartime archives. She has helped fundraise by organizing a charity show at a comedy venue, as well as collecting children’s books at the 2025 ALA conference that were shipped directly to Ukraine. Her other work involves organizing and uploading metadata documenting the damage and destruction to Ukrainian libraries to an Omeka website, to further educate others on the impact the war has had on civilians and libraries.

Laurel Schwaebe, Data Specialist, is a Technology Specialist at the Auraria Library in Denver, CO, where she supports students in creative and digital technology. She holds a B.A. in Digital Media from the American University, an M.S. in Marketing from the University of Colorado - Denver, and an M.L.I.S from the University of Denver. Her focus in library science is digitization and digital libraries, and as such, she also works with the Auraria Library Special and Digital Collections team to digitize analog materials.