Our Story
"Everything was changing. It was the 90s and everyone was talking about the World Wide Web, deregulation, and 'just in time' ideas. All of this had a big impact in the special library world in Washington, D.C. There were about 150 specialized libraries in associations throughout the DC area in the early 1990s. But during that decade, those libraries were closing one by one. Associations no longer felt they needed fully staffed librarians on board anymore. This was when I took the “just in time” idea and began helping associations manage the information they needed.
Rothbart Information Solutions (RIS) was founded in 1997. For over twenty years, RIS has managed information for more than thirty associations, organizations, and companies across the DC area. From education to medical associations, chocolate manufacturers to environmental groups, RIS has preserved unique knowledge and provided easy access to vital documents for this wide range of organizations.
With data increasing exponentially, managing information is as important now as ever. In 2018 my daughter, Justine, joined the RIS team. Together we managed the transition to cloud-based systems for all of our clients and continue to migrate information to current standards. While the way information creation is always changing, the known constant is the continual need to preserve, manage, and provide access to information."
- Linda Rothbart
Read more about our story in the Spring 2022 Issue of the Mid-Atlantic Archivist.
Linda Rothbart
Linda earned her Masters from Syracuse University - the first “library school” to change its name to Information Studies. With managing information always on her mind since graduate school, she became the Director of Information Resources at the American Trucking Association in Alexandria, VA. In order to bring special librarians together in the DC area, Linda founded DC Information Specialists: a monthly meeting with industry updates and library tours. She founded RIS in 1997 and has been preserving information ever since. In her free time she enjoys updating her top-ten favorite movie list, listening to The Great Courses in her “learning cottage” during her commute, and discovering new recipes.
Justine Rothbart
Justine earned her Masters from Catholic University - a school that combined her background in historic preservation and archives. Through the lens of preserving history, she learned best practices and tools for preserving unique knowledge and vital information. After graduate school she went on to work at the National Archives, Smithsonian, National Park Service, and White House Historical Association. She then became lead archivist at the Export-Import Bank of the United States from 2014 until she joined the RIS team in 2018. In her free time she enjoys writing short stories and playing the guitar.
