I just realized I have two weeks vacation to take before the end of June. This means I likely will not get quite as much work as I had planned in the next month or so. I will take a week off for moving and random days in May. Plus I will gone the second week of August and a little more going to SAA and visiting Rafia (AGAIN--she better feel privileged.)I am also dogsitting and housesitting through the first week of July, giving me a great deal of time to get the house in order before really moving. I've been camping out the last couple of nights to get away from the loud and smoky environment I've been living in for the last few months. Freedom is HERE!
I need to get working on my poster for SAA--better start that this week so it is not last minute.
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Three Things
I am currently obsessing over:
1. Buying a house
2. Work Projects including a large digitization project, Archon v. Archivist's Toolkit, and a presentation I'm giving at MAC
3. Battlestar Galactica and what it means to be human. Also finally read Children of Men which I believe to be about the same topic.
1. Buying a house
2. Work Projects including a large digitization project, Archon v. Archivist's Toolkit, and a presentation I'm giving at MAC
3. Battlestar Galactica and what it means to be human. Also finally read Children of Men which I believe to be about the same topic.
Friday, March 6, 2009
What You Can Do With a History Major
Today I am sitting on a lunch panel to discuss "What you can do with a History degree." I believe I am the only person from the "information" professions on the panel. Other panelists include three history professors. I thus suspect it will be weighted to college teaching and going to grad school in History.
What will I talk about? Well, I have a master's degree in History, and a masters degree in Information, specializing in Archives and Records Management. Like many people, I became interested in archives primarily because of an interest in history and working with primary documents. But as I learned more about the field, I discovered a true passion for other aspects of the job as well--managing large projects, developing better ways to inform people of materials in collections, using technology in innovative ways, outreach, and of course electronic records management which deals with institutional records rather than those old 19th century manuscripts that first caught my attention.
In my current position, I get to engage myself in all aspects of the above. I am working on increasing our online presence through finding aids/making information searchable/search engine optimization, managing student workers to help with processing and digitization projects, working with all kinds of patrons, convening a committee on electronic records management, and hopefully as I settle in at Earlham working closely with faculty particularly in the history and English departments to bring more students down to the archives. And sometimes I get to work with the old documents as well. It's a great job. A mentor once told me that if you are 80% satisfied with your job, you are in excellent shape. I can say that like with all jobs there are moments of frustration, but I feel like I'm probably pretty close to that 80% threshold for happiness.
How did I get this job? I started working in Emory University's archives while pursuing a Ph.D in history. I loved it. When I started doing research for my dissertation, and found myself focusing more on how the archives I visited could improve finding aids, online presences, and the reference experience. My dissertation became a distant memory as I took on greater responsibility at Emory and received grant funding for some projects. I eventually left Emory, and took a position working as a researcher at a non-profit. Why? I needed to work for a while and NOT be in school.
To work as an archivist, or librarian, and often as a museum professional, you likely will need to go back to graduate school. You can get a degree in Information, a degree in Public History, or a library science degree from a more traditional program. I recommend working for a few years before heading back to school; I found that students coming right from school were sometimes--not always--less prepared for a professional program that emphasized group work, developing leadership skills, and did NOT hold your hand--you are expected to be mature enough to handle graduate level work. I went to a liberal arts college and you will find the experience very different in a professional school as compared to your experience at Earlham.
While school is important, finding good mentors and internship experiences is just as important. Take advantage of as many opportunities as you can. I have been very fortunate in this case but I also jumped at any opportunity that looked interesting.
A word about tech skills: They are important. You can not avoid technology in the archives, museums, or certainly a library. You do NOT need to be an expert, but you need to be able to talk with information technology professionals, know the basics of web design and frankly user centered design, be willing to learn about technical issues, and understand how Web 2.0/3.0 and beyond will impact your work.
That's about it, though there is so much more...
What will I talk about? Well, I have a master's degree in History, and a masters degree in Information, specializing in Archives and Records Management. Like many people, I became interested in archives primarily because of an interest in history and working with primary documents. But as I learned more about the field, I discovered a true passion for other aspects of the job as well--managing large projects, developing better ways to inform people of materials in collections, using technology in innovative ways, outreach, and of course electronic records management which deals with institutional records rather than those old 19th century manuscripts that first caught my attention.
In my current position, I get to engage myself in all aspects of the above. I am working on increasing our online presence through finding aids/making information searchable/search engine optimization, managing student workers to help with processing and digitization projects, working with all kinds of patrons, convening a committee on electronic records management, and hopefully as I settle in at Earlham working closely with faculty particularly in the history and English departments to bring more students down to the archives. And sometimes I get to work with the old documents as well. It's a great job. A mentor once told me that if you are 80% satisfied with your job, you are in excellent shape. I can say that like with all jobs there are moments of frustration, but I feel like I'm probably pretty close to that 80% threshold for happiness.
How did I get this job? I started working in Emory University's archives while pursuing a Ph.D in history. I loved it. When I started doing research for my dissertation, and found myself focusing more on how the archives I visited could improve finding aids, online presences, and the reference experience. My dissertation became a distant memory as I took on greater responsibility at Emory and received grant funding for some projects. I eventually left Emory, and took a position working as a researcher at a non-profit. Why? I needed to work for a while and NOT be in school.
To work as an archivist, or librarian, and often as a museum professional, you likely will need to go back to graduate school. You can get a degree in Information, a degree in Public History, or a library science degree from a more traditional program. I recommend working for a few years before heading back to school; I found that students coming right from school were sometimes--not always--less prepared for a professional program that emphasized group work, developing leadership skills, and did NOT hold your hand--you are expected to be mature enough to handle graduate level work. I went to a liberal arts college and you will find the experience very different in a professional school as compared to your experience at Earlham.
While school is important, finding good mentors and internship experiences is just as important. Take advantage of as many opportunities as you can. I have been very fortunate in this case but I also jumped at any opportunity that looked interesting.
A word about tech skills: They are important. You can not avoid technology in the archives, museums, or certainly a library. You do NOT need to be an expert, but you need to be able to talk with information technology professionals, know the basics of web design and frankly user centered design, be willing to learn about technical issues, and understand how Web 2.0/3.0 and beyond will impact your work.
That's about it, though there is so much more...
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Archives and institutional memory (for lack of a better title)
I had an interesting conversation with a student who was researching public spaces on campus. Specifically, she was researching The Heart, a central place on campus that students use to respect and not walk on, taking detours if needed to get where they were going. Now everyone walks on it and it is not a sacred space. The student lamented this, and told me that through her research, and the research of other students in the class, she believed Earlham to be a better place in the past than it currently is. She believes that students were more into academic pursuits outside the classroom, more engaged, and more active in the organizations they founded. I found her perspective very interesting and confirmed that one of the best parts about working at Earlham is being able to interact closely with students.
But from an archives standpoint, I posed this question to her: if you are finding evidence that students were more interested in academic pursuits in the past, are all voices heard? Are the records accurate? In what sense are you taking your own wishes and needs and projecting them into the past? Because we might not have records that discuss students lack of engagement, is it easier to assume that they were engaged? On the other hand, we do have controversial issues files and some student organizational records that may suggest a troubled past in many areas, whether it be race relations or alcohol problems. How do we acknowledge that our archives are not close to complete, or tell the entire story of the school? How can we better capture the entire reality of campus life? Or do we focus on institutional memory through official records and assume people will capture the many other sides of life through their own photos, diaries, memories, and so on.
Just some ramblings during my evening reference shift.
But from an archives standpoint, I posed this question to her: if you are finding evidence that students were more interested in academic pursuits in the past, are all voices heard? Are the records accurate? In what sense are you taking your own wishes and needs and projecting them into the past? Because we might not have records that discuss students lack of engagement, is it easier to assume that they were engaged? On the other hand, we do have controversial issues files and some student organizational records that may suggest a troubled past in many areas, whether it be race relations or alcohol problems. How do we acknowledge that our archives are not close to complete, or tell the entire story of the school? How can we better capture the entire reality of campus life? Or do we focus on institutional memory through official records and assume people will capture the many other sides of life through their own photos, diaries, memories, and so on.
Just some ramblings during my evening reference shift.
Current Projects
Within the next few weeks, I hope to complete or make significant progress on the following projects:
--Digitization of selected items from the Pennington Research Association Archives, housed in the Friends Collection at Earlham College. The association has paid us to digitize, create metadata, provide full text of the documents, ensure quality control, post images and host the collection through PALNI.
--Completion of processing of the Louis and Mary Ruth Jones collection, a significant collection of genealogical material. Thanks to an industrious student worker, I am almost done with this collection.
--Moving collections around in our climate controlled space in order to provide more room for our expanding collection. This process included moving supplies out of the climate controlled area, which gave us another free range of shelves. The downside? This free range of shelves is closest to overhead pipes. Do I wish there were no overhead pipes? Yes, I do, but we are not going to be making any changes in the HVAC anytime soon, and thus we must make do with the original system built long before my arrival here (although of course I might have built it in same way considering constraints on cost and the building itself). So, the question is what goes under the pipes? We did have a leak once, though not over the shelves. I have decided, in consultation with Tom Hamm (head curator), to place the Friends Serial Group (FSG) in this space. FST is a burgeoning collection of Friends pamphlets from around the world. These are available elsewhere and thus are in this sense replacable if they were to sustain water damage. The collection also needs expansion room and currently has no room to expand where it is shelved. Thus, FSG will be in better shape with room for expansion, and we will have room to expand our manuscript collections and growing collections of Earlham donor records in better space. And I'm going to be looking for other ways to maximize our space.
--Continuing work on processing the Friends United Meeting collection. This is one of our largest collections.
--Beginning work on electronic records management at Earlham. I'm convening a committee to look specifically into managing our institutional records. This will be a long process, but I'm looking forward to getting started.
Of course, there are a number of smaller projects going on, and many researchers to help! Reference questions take up part of every day. Some smaller projects include smaller collections I work on as I have time, with help from the students of course; adding images to the new Earlham Digital Archives; and various surprises that come up every day. The surprises often are related to reference questions, of course.
I will talk about my long range goals in another post. As I think about these short term projects, and projects nearing completion, I see an emphasis on genealogy and prioritizing based on donors. The Penningtons paid us for the project, we have many genealogical researchers, and the Friends United Meeting is an organization with which we have close ties. Improving relations with donors is very important for future gifts of collections, and for financial donations as well. There is nothing startling in this observation, but I do believe it suggests we are focusing on helping the current users of our collections and those who know about our collections, especially Quaker organizations. Many of my long range projects concern bringing more people into the archives, by providing more information about our manuscript collections through online searching, meeting the standards of the archives profession, and outreach. Our core group of researchers is likely to remain genealogists, Quaker organizations, and students; but I hope with other projects to encourage other types of researchers to use our collections when appropriate. (more on our hidden collections later...)
--Digitization of selected items from the Pennington Research Association Archives, housed in the Friends Collection at Earlham College. The association has paid us to digitize, create metadata, provide full text of the documents, ensure quality control, post images and host the collection through PALNI.
--Completion of processing of the Louis and Mary Ruth Jones collection, a significant collection of genealogical material. Thanks to an industrious student worker, I am almost done with this collection.
--Moving collections around in our climate controlled space in order to provide more room for our expanding collection. This process included moving supplies out of the climate controlled area, which gave us another free range of shelves. The downside? This free range of shelves is closest to overhead pipes. Do I wish there were no overhead pipes? Yes, I do, but we are not going to be making any changes in the HVAC anytime soon, and thus we must make do with the original system built long before my arrival here (although of course I might have built it in same way considering constraints on cost and the building itself). So, the question is what goes under the pipes? We did have a leak once, though not over the shelves. I have decided, in consultation with Tom Hamm (head curator), to place the Friends Serial Group (FSG) in this space. FST is a burgeoning collection of Friends pamphlets from around the world. These are available elsewhere and thus are in this sense replacable if they were to sustain water damage. The collection also needs expansion room and currently has no room to expand where it is shelved. Thus, FSG will be in better shape with room for expansion, and we will have room to expand our manuscript collections and growing collections of Earlham donor records in better space. And I'm going to be looking for other ways to maximize our space.
--Continuing work on processing the Friends United Meeting collection. This is one of our largest collections.
--Beginning work on electronic records management at Earlham. I'm convening a committee to look specifically into managing our institutional records. This will be a long process, but I'm looking forward to getting started.
Of course, there are a number of smaller projects going on, and many researchers to help! Reference questions take up part of every day. Some smaller projects include smaller collections I work on as I have time, with help from the students of course; adding images to the new Earlham Digital Archives; and various surprises that come up every day. The surprises often are related to reference questions, of course.
I will talk about my long range goals in another post. As I think about these short term projects, and projects nearing completion, I see an emphasis on genealogy and prioritizing based on donors. The Penningtons paid us for the project, we have many genealogical researchers, and the Friends United Meeting is an organization with which we have close ties. Improving relations with donors is very important for future gifts of collections, and for financial donations as well. There is nothing startling in this observation, but I do believe it suggests we are focusing on helping the current users of our collections and those who know about our collections, especially Quaker organizations. Many of my long range projects concern bringing more people into the archives, by providing more information about our manuscript collections through online searching, meeting the standards of the archives profession, and outreach. Our core group of researchers is likely to remain genealogists, Quaker organizations, and students; but I hope with other projects to encourage other types of researchers to use our collections when appropriate. (more on our hidden collections later...)
Monday, February 16, 2009
Google Scholar: Boon or Bust
I'm giving a presentation on Google Scholar today for a faculty technology workshop. Besides demonstrating how to use it, I'm discussing the pros and cons and the murky areas in between. I'm a big fan of all things Google, but am not entirely sold on Google Scholar. Yet. I love this idea however: University of Michigan Book Printing Machine
In the session I will cover how to set scholar preferences to show SFX links from Earlham. It should be noted that exactly how this works is not understood, and I discussed this with our resident techy librarians.
Why might you want to use Google Scholar?
--For quick access to open access articles.
--One stop shopping; Google Scholar, or something like it, may very well represent the future of searching. Instead of having to search multiple databases, researchers could go to one place.
--In theory, Google Scholar provides a way for people without access to scholarly databases--public library patrons, for instance--to be able to find citations, if not full text, of scholarly resources they could then acquire via interlibrary loan. It is free to search, and some items are available for free. Note, however, that of right now an interlibrary loan link is not available from the Google scholar link
--Once you recognize its current limitations, Google scholar can be a useful tool and a place to start research.
Why Might You Hesitate to Use Google Scholar?
--As of today, a significant amount of scholarly material does not seem to be available. Not all publishers have reached an agreement with Google.
--Confusing display: articles and books may come up several times in the search and it may not be obvious which one to choose. How the items are ranked is not entirely clear. Without going deep into the search, researchers may miss an important item.
--Unlike databases such as PsychInfo, there is not a clear editorial policy or explanation of what it is included. The items generally are scholarly, but books for children sometimes come up in the search as well.
In the session I will cover how to set scholar preferences to show SFX links from Earlham. It should be noted that exactly how this works is not understood, and I discussed this with our resident techy librarians.
Why might you want to use Google Scholar?
--For quick access to open access articles.
--One stop shopping; Google Scholar, or something like it, may very well represent the future of searching. Instead of having to search multiple databases, researchers could go to one place.
--In theory, Google Scholar provides a way for people without access to scholarly databases--public library patrons, for instance--to be able to find citations, if not full text, of scholarly resources they could then acquire via interlibrary loan. It is free to search, and some items are available for free. Note, however, that of right now an interlibrary loan link is not available from the Google scholar link
--Once you recognize its current limitations, Google scholar can be a useful tool and a place to start research.
Why Might You Hesitate to Use Google Scholar?
--As of today, a significant amount of scholarly material does not seem to be available. Not all publishers have reached an agreement with Google.
--Confusing display: articles and books may come up several times in the search and it may not be obvious which one to choose. How the items are ranked is not entirely clear. Without going deep into the search, researchers may miss an important item.
--Unlike databases such as PsychInfo, there is not a clear editorial policy or explanation of what it is included. The items generally are scholarly, but books for children sometimes come up in the search as well.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
I just want to see you smile
Emusic has Bruce Springsteen performing "Dream Baby Dream"! I am so excited. I heard this during the Devils and Dust tour, in Cincinnati back in 2005 I think. Amazing performance. Um, emusic also has a Twisted Sister Christmas album, and you can download "Deck the Halls" for free.
I'm heading to Oklahoma for my grandma's funeral. Not that I update this often, but when I get back, look for some posts on MPLP and digitization projects, other thoughts about digitization, possible other ramblings about issues in archives, and possibly some crazy ideas how to revitalize Richmond Indiana.
One of the best memories of my grandma I have is spending a couple of weeks with her and my grandpa when I was kid, no parents around. It was a really fun week and I especially remember taking walks around the neighborhood in Shawnee OK looking for new things, whether a tree, leaves, flowers, whatever. I guess I don't remember the details, but I remember how wonderful it was. She taught 8th grade English for years--I have no idea how she did that. I believe she was the first in her family to go to college. I always admired her greatly and cherished those yearly visits to Oklahoma. Now as an adult I'm driving my parents to Oklahoma in my car instead of the other way around. I always loved the drive out there as kid so it will interesting to see how it has changed.
I'm heading to Oklahoma for my grandma's funeral. Not that I update this often, but when I get back, look for some posts on MPLP and digitization projects, other thoughts about digitization, possible other ramblings about issues in archives, and possibly some crazy ideas how to revitalize Richmond Indiana.
One of the best memories of my grandma I have is spending a couple of weeks with her and my grandpa when I was kid, no parents around. It was a really fun week and I especially remember taking walks around the neighborhood in Shawnee OK looking for new things, whether a tree, leaves, flowers, whatever. I guess I don't remember the details, but I remember how wonderful it was. She taught 8th grade English for years--I have no idea how she did that. I believe she was the first in her family to go to college. I always admired her greatly and cherished those yearly visits to Oklahoma. Now as an adult I'm driving my parents to Oklahoma in my car instead of the other way around. I always loved the drive out there as kid so it will interesting to see how it has changed.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
CONTENTdm Customization
Yesterday I attended training in Indianapolis on how to customize the CONTENTdm interface. It was very useful. Customization requires editing HTML files, and on occasion, editing some PHP. I wish my Design of Complex Web Sites had taught me PHP instead of Ruby, since I'm not in a position to program Ruby anyway, and even if I could, would not be using it here. Then again, learning Ruby actually did help me understand the PHP code.
We currently use CONTENTdm for digital images at Earlham. Prior to my arrival, the Plowshares Project was finished, and right now students are working on getting Earlham College and Friends United Meeting materials online. I will link to the site when they are done.
CONTENTdm has many uses, yet I worry about what we will use down the road. It is not a long term preservation solution; it is good for displaying images and increasing access and description of our collections, particularly photographs. While there are a large number of text documents in Plowshares, I'm not sure how I feel about uploading more manuscript collections in the software. I just hope if we get something new, or CONTENTdm dies, we can easily migrate to a new system.
We currently use CONTENTdm for digital images at Earlham. Prior to my arrival, the Plowshares Project was finished, and right now students are working on getting Earlham College and Friends United Meeting materials online. I will link to the site when they are done.
CONTENTdm has many uses, yet I worry about what we will use down the road. It is not a long term preservation solution; it is good for displaying images and increasing access and description of our collections, particularly photographs. While there are a large number of text documents in Plowshares, I'm not sure how I feel about uploading more manuscript collections in the software. I just hope if we get something new, or CONTENTdm dies, we can easily migrate to a new system.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Archivists
I had an interesting online dialogue with Mark Pearson, who works as an Instructional Technologist at Earlham and also administers the course management system Moodle and Earlham Learning Spaces. We were talking about Institutional Repositories, and he read a paper I wrote a while back. One question he had was why an archivist does not consider herself to be a librarian. It's really good question, because in some ways (and officially here at Earlham, I think) I'm considered a librarian. But the work I do is very different from being a reference/instruction librarian or subject specialist, or other library positions. I don't mean different in being better or worse, just different. I wrote this in response and would be curious if any other archivists or librarians think I'm way off or got something right:
It's interesting that you are asking the question of why an archivist does not see herself as a librarian. That's a great question. There are many similarities between the professions as both attempt to provide access, arrange, and preserve information resources of many different types. However, archivists have always processed and arranged their materials very differently from librarians. Reference and access also have traditionally been done in a different manner as well. Currently, there is a great deal of convergence in the profession, but there are still some very important professional differences including:
--Archivists are trained differently. While I took a couple of library related courses, I took coursework directly related to archives and had internships working in archives (I also worked in a library, but generally it is unusual for librarians to work in archives for internships--no stats to back this up, so I could be wrong).
-- Archivists often participate in the professional organizations of librarians including ACRL and ALA, but archivists also have their own national organization, the Society of American Archivists, that serves as an advocacy group and helps set archival standards. There are also many regional and topical organizations; for example, I'm active in the Midwest Archives Conference.
--As archival material often is unique, archivists have a different take on issues of security and access. Providing access to patrons and researcher is of the utmost importance, but the nature of the material requires different policies than in a library, such as not allowing primary documents outside the reading room and vigilance about security.
--Archival arrangement currently follows a standard called Describing Archives: a Content Standard (DACS). Archivists also have traditionally created finding aids for their collections, in comparison to traditional library cataloging. Of course, all of these descriptive means are in an upheaval right now as information professionals navigate new technology and increasingly digitize items.
--Archivists also appraise original materials, make decisions about what to keep and what to weed, must take care to preserve the materials long term, and now are dealing with digital born material and how providing access and preserving these items presents new challenges (As are librarians).
--Many traditional archives practices are under review right now, especially the degree of processing a collection may receive. Archivists also are engaging usability studies, metrics, and focusing on how to better serve their researchers and patrons. Traditionally, archivists have viewed themselves as guardians, but while preserving history is still very important, being more open about access has fortunately become just as important.
Those were just thoughts I had this morning, in part sparked by a discussion at a staff meeting about the hours of Earlham's archives. I think we have very accessible hours compared to many archives: M-F 9-12, 1-4, 7-9, and Sat/Sun 1-4. And we rely on student workers to cover some of those hours. I've done my best to remind my students when they work, sending emails reminding them of their scheduled weekend hours and asking them to let me know about conflicts in advance--I have found this simple effort at communication makes a big difference. So far, they have been great--I'm very fortunate in my student workers. In the past, there have been students who have missed their shifts, and reference librarians have let people into the archives. Now, I certainly would be upset a student missed their shift, but I also am very conflicted about a reference librarian letting a student or researcher into our collections, even if the door is locked behind them. I think we reached the agreement this morning in the meeting that if someone wants in and we are closed per our scheduled hours, the researcher will not be let in.
The dilemma is that we have circulating books in our Special Collections, as we have all books related to Quakerism in the archives open shelves, a decision that makes a lot of sense in that it creates a unified collection and helps maintain Earlham's Quaker history and identity (manuscripts, original Quaker records, rare books, and the college archives are locked and researchers not allowed in). But it does cause problems with students who expect to have access to a circulating book. I think our hours are posted prominently, though I'm going to work on making them even more transparent. Many special libraries within a larger library have fewer open hours and students adjust. Then again, perhaps the circulating books should someday be moved to a different part of the library so students can access them at all times the library is open. I have my doubts about whether that would work. But what is more important, providing instant access or keeping items important to the heritage of the school together? These are all issues we likely should consider for the future.
It's interesting that you are asking the question of why an archivist does not see herself as a librarian. That's a great question. There are many similarities between the professions as both attempt to provide access, arrange, and preserve information resources of many different types. However, archivists have always processed and arranged their materials very differently from librarians. Reference and access also have traditionally been done in a different manner as well. Currently, there is a great deal of convergence in the profession, but there are still some very important professional differences including:
--Archivists are trained differently. While I took a couple of library related courses, I took coursework directly related to archives and had internships working in archives (I also worked in a library, but generally it is unusual for librarians to work in archives for internships--no stats to back this up, so I could be wrong).
-- Archivists often participate in the professional organizations of librarians including ACRL and ALA, but archivists also have their own national organization, the Society of American Archivists, that serves as an advocacy group and helps set archival standards. There are also many regional and topical organizations; for example, I'm active in the Midwest Archives Conference.
--As archival material often is unique, archivists have a different take on issues of security and access. Providing access to patrons and researcher is of the utmost importance, but the nature of the material requires different policies than in a library, such as not allowing primary documents outside the reading room and vigilance about security.
--Archival arrangement currently follows a standard called Describing Archives: a Content Standard (DACS). Archivists also have traditionally created finding aids for their collections, in comparison to traditional library cataloging. Of course, all of these descriptive means are in an upheaval right now as information professionals navigate new technology and increasingly digitize items.
--Archivists also appraise original materials, make decisions about what to keep and what to weed, must take care to preserve the materials long term, and now are dealing with digital born material and how providing access and preserving these items presents new challenges (As are librarians).
--Many traditional archives practices are under review right now, especially the degree of processing a collection may receive. Archivists also are engaging usability studies, metrics, and focusing on how to better serve their researchers and patrons. Traditionally, archivists have viewed themselves as guardians, but while preserving history is still very important, being more open about access has fortunately become just as important.
Those were just thoughts I had this morning, in part sparked by a discussion at a staff meeting about the hours of Earlham's archives. I think we have very accessible hours compared to many archives: M-F 9-12, 1-4, 7-9, and Sat/Sun 1-4. And we rely on student workers to cover some of those hours. I've done my best to remind my students when they work, sending emails reminding them of their scheduled weekend hours and asking them to let me know about conflicts in advance--I have found this simple effort at communication makes a big difference. So far, they have been great--I'm very fortunate in my student workers. In the past, there have been students who have missed their shifts, and reference librarians have let people into the archives. Now, I certainly would be upset a student missed their shift, but I also am very conflicted about a reference librarian letting a student or researcher into our collections, even if the door is locked behind them. I think we reached the agreement this morning in the meeting that if someone wants in and we are closed per our scheduled hours, the researcher will not be let in.
The dilemma is that we have circulating books in our Special Collections, as we have all books related to Quakerism in the archives open shelves, a decision that makes a lot of sense in that it creates a unified collection and helps maintain Earlham's Quaker history and identity (manuscripts, original Quaker records, rare books, and the college archives are locked and researchers not allowed in). But it does cause problems with students who expect to have access to a circulating book. I think our hours are posted prominently, though I'm going to work on making them even more transparent. Many special libraries within a larger library have fewer open hours and students adjust. Then again, perhaps the circulating books should someday be moved to a different part of the library so students can access them at all times the library is open. I have my doubts about whether that would work. But what is more important, providing instant access or keeping items important to the heritage of the school together? These are all issues we likely should consider for the future.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
An update to rival Rafia's
I realize that my blog will never, ever, compare to Rafia's blog both in her dazzling visual array and culturally relevant content.
Yet, I will try to update my blog. An ongoing project at work is to go through our manuscript collections and discover which ones need a finding aid, which ones have a finding aid but only in a printout from an ancient word processing system, and which ones have a finding aid but lack essential information as required by DACS. After my spreadsheet is complete, I will develop a plan for processing collections and completing finding aids for collections that have been minimally processed (Hey, Earlham has always believed in MPLP), develop the easiest methods for getting the legacy finding aids up to current technology, and update the finding aids that just need a few more pieces of information. At the same time, we are going to implement an EAD project in the next year.
Most of the students and researchers I have talked to like the idea of having more information available regarding the content of our collections, but what they really want is everything digitized so they can search it and view it without having to come in. I'll get that done in the next couple of months, probably.
On a personal note, my mom is visiting this weekend and I'm looking forward to it! I'm also looking forward to Thanksgiving, when I will take my first days off since I started work in July. I love my job, but I know I'm going to be ready for a day off or two by then.
Yet, I will try to update my blog. An ongoing project at work is to go through our manuscript collections and discover which ones need a finding aid, which ones have a finding aid but only in a printout from an ancient word processing system, and which ones have a finding aid but lack essential information as required by DACS. After my spreadsheet is complete, I will develop a plan for processing collections and completing finding aids for collections that have been minimally processed (Hey, Earlham has always believed in MPLP), develop the easiest methods for getting the legacy finding aids up to current technology, and update the finding aids that just need a few more pieces of information. At the same time, we are going to implement an EAD project in the next year.
Most of the students and researchers I have talked to like the idea of having more information available regarding the content of our collections, but what they really want is everything digitized so they can search it and view it without having to come in. I'll get that done in the next couple of months, probably.
On a personal note, my mom is visiting this weekend and I'm looking forward to it! I'm also looking forward to Thanksgiving, when I will take my first days off since I started work in July. I love my job, but I know I'm going to be ready for a day off or two by then.
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