LPS archivist preserves history for public with helpful knowledge

January 9, 2026

Sara Scott is preserving the historical legacy of Lincoln Public Schools one memory at a time.
 
Scott, the LPS cataloger and archivist, is using her wide-ranging expertise to maintain school-based moments from the past 150 years. She keeps track of thousands of LPS documents, digitizes older media such as VHS tapes and conserves one-of-a-kind items from performances, events and celebrations.
 
Scott recently earned a graduate certificate in archival studies, which gave her even more tools to help the LPS community. She is beginning to work on a long-term cataloging project that will involve documenting every historical item in LPS buildings.
 
“It’s fun to come to work when you like what you do,” Scott said. “I don’t think I’ve had a day that’s the same, because there’s always a new archival item to find. It’s great.”

 
Chris Haeffner and Alexis Scargill both said Scott is playing a key role in supporting the school district’s business, social and community interest goals. Haeffner, the LPS director of library services, and Scargill, who represents Nebraska on the Midwest Archives Conference, said Scott is making a noticeable impact on the lives of many people.
 
“I don’t think people often think about librarianism as a creative or innovative profession, but that’s what Sara’s doing,” Haeffner said. “She is creating and designing and building new and exciting things. It’s a lot of fun to see what she’s coming up with.”
 
“An archivist understands how to create a system that dictates retention and allows for access, even if that access is decades from now,” Scargill said. “We’re not only talking about student transcripts, but also documented policy decisions, enrollment records and curriculum changes. All of this tells the story of the district and community’s history. It’s institutional memory and it’s our cultural heritage.”
 
Scott’s work at LPS has caught the attention of larger organizations like the International Council on Archives (ICA). Claude Roberto, the archivist emerita for the government of Alberta, Canada, is a member of the ICA Extended Secretariat and takes minutes at ICA governance meetings. She said Scott is providing many ways for LPS staff, students, parents, alumni and educational researchers to access important information.
 
“Your historical items, passed from one generation to the other, will be of high interest to your community,” Roberto said. “It takes a professional archivist, just like Sara, to arrange and digitize the LPS written information, yearbooks, photos, audiovisual materials and artifacts in order to preserve these treasures and make them available to your community.”

 
Scott grew up in Hays, Kan., and earned her undergraduate degree in English from Wichita State University in 2017. She then earned a master’s degree in library and information science (MLIS) from Emporia State University in 2019. She was a member of ESU’s student chapter of the American Library Association during her graduate program.
 
Scott said it is exciting to be in a profession that ties the past, present and future together in educational ways.
 
“I really love that there’s this great opportunity for our archives to be used in the schools,” Scott said. “It builds that sense of connection with everyone in the community.”
 
One of Scott’s primary tasks is cataloging LPS paperwork that stretches back for decades. Her efforts ensure that those informational sources will always be available to use.
 
“Think of how many records a school district generates,” Scargill said. “Without archival training or a formal archival program in place, those records run the risk of being lost, poorly documented and thus difficult to access, or lost in staffing turnovers or building renovations. You can’t use what you can’t find.”
 
Scott is also responsible for creating a new inventory of LPS archives from scratch. The knowledge she gained from a graduate program at Louisiana State University is helping her accomplish that task. The archival studies curriculum included courses on preserving physical materials, establishing digital records and describing and categorizing items.
 
“They were classes that spoke directly to what we’re trying to do here,” Scott said. “I think I got so much out of those classes.”

 
Scott is applying some of her training to materials housed in a special archives room. Shelves of LPS historical gems line both walls of the space, and her desk is filled with binders, booklets and brochures. During one visit to the room, she pulled out a Lincoln High commencement program from 1883 before pointing to vintage school pictures arranged on a file cabinet.
 
Scott is also completing many 21st century archival projects. An East High School coach recently asked her if she could digitize football DVDs, so they could be viewed on newer technology. Scott embraced the request with a wide smile.
 
“I was like, ‘Absolutely, we can do that!’” Scott said. “I told him that we have the means and that’s what we’re here for, and now they have these digitized versions. We keep running into these things where we can help people make things accessible again, which is really exciting.”
 
Scott is researching how best to digitize even older media like film slides and reel-to-reel film strips. Those answers will help her expand her archival catalog throughout the coming years. She is planning to travel to school buildings to uncover, document and preserve additional items that will strengthen the LPS historical legacy.
 
“No one else has the skills that Sara has,” Haeffner said. “I love it when she comes to me and says, ‘What do you think about doing this?’ She is setting the standard for the school district and is creating her own bar of excellence.”
 
Visit the LPS Library Services website to access library resources and digital yearbooks.
 
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