Happy Wednesday, dear readers! I hope your day is going well. I’m enjoying the day so far, especially as we have tomorrow off in celebration of Cesar Chavez Day. Also, today is Anna’s birthday (happy birthday, Anna!) and you should really check out her blog because it is fabulous. So today I just want to talk about a few odds and ends before cleaning up my office and getting ready for a mini-break. So let’s get into the library/archives goodness.

So, those who know me well know I’m not big into giving myself pats on the back or bragging about my accomplishments. But I have to share one awesome piece of news because it is just, well, awesome so I’m making an exception. Our archives received an American Heritage Preservation Grant from the IMLS (Institute of Museum and Library Services) for the preservation of one of our collections: The Jensen Family Collection! If you can’t tell, I’m very excited about this grant (and it makes all the time we’ve spent this year writing grant proposals worthwhile).

We’ll be de-encapsulating hundreds and hundreds of letters that are currently in non-archival enclosures and rehousing the entire collection in order to stabilize and preserve the collection. I’m so psyched because the grant also allows us to provide much better access to the collection and hopefully we’ll be able to get more people interested in this collection and the archives in general. So expect some updates as we work on the grant in the coming months. Photo below is just a sample of the amazing materials from the collection.

Now on to other news. As you know, I often refer to articles from Lifehacker, Gizmodo, WebWorkerDaily, etc. on productivity and other tips for getting more done. One of the best tips, and most frequently posted, is the need to take breaks and vacation in order to actually accomplish more (which can sometimes seem counterintuitive, but it works). We all need time off to recharge and actually get away from work, even if we adore what we do. So this is just a head’s up to The Waki Librarian readers that I’m actually taking a mini-holiday and will be off the Internet from tomorrow (Thursday) until next Monday. For the first time in years I’m taking a break and not bringing my laptop with me. I intend to enjoy some relaxing time along the coast of California and therefore there will be no Friday post and if you contact me during my break, don’t expect a response until next week. I hope you also have planned breaks and downtime into your days and weeks in order to recharge. Personally I can’t wait.

And, a bit of fun before leaving you to get back to work. If you didn’t check it out last week, you should take a look at Lifehacker Night School’s latest offering, The Basics of Video Editing. Watch the videos, read the lessons, and then apply what you’ve learned making awesome PR videos for your library and archives.

Finally, check out this great video (even if you’ve seen it before): 25 Years of Pixar Animation

Have a wonderful rest of your day and I’ll be back next week with more library, archives, and tech goodness. Allons-y!