Happy Blog Action Day 2010! (If you don’t know what Blog Action Day is, check out their website). This year’s issue is water. At first I thought this would be a very difficult topic to connect to libraries and archives. I mean I could go the standard green technology route and talk about informing our patrons about water conservation, etc., but that has been done a lot. (Not that it isn’t important.) Then I thought I could talk about the danger of water damage to archival materials, but I thought that would be quite a downer for a Blog Action Day post. So I decided to instead focus on two archives that deal with water.
The Colorado State University Water Resources Archive is a “joint effort of the University Libraries and the Colorado Water Institute. I thought the layout of the results page from searching the digital objects was very well done. I just wish that non-CSU affiliated users could use the my favorites feature, although there was an amazing list of bookmarking sites linked into the records. Plus, the records had links for EndNote and EndNote Web which is just awesome. I had issues searching the finding aids, but that could just be a fluke. The list of collections is completely usable as are the lovely EAD-encoded finding aids. Definitely one of the more sensibly designed archives’ websites and results lists that I’ve seen on the web.
The Water Resource Center Archives has been at UC Berkeley, but as of today it is suspending services during its move to UC Riverside and CSU San Bernardino. You can check out the blog post detailing the move and timeline here. Also, the On Water blog is just a great resource for “news, research, and current events on all aspects of water resources.” Luckily for us, while the physical archives are moving down to SoCal, the digital resources are still accessible via the UCB site and the Online Archive of California.
And, because, I mean really how else was I going to end this post? Here is an amazing mash-up trailer by Seduff using clips from The Waters of Mars and The End of Time.
Have a fantastic weekend, full of relaxing, reading, helping others, and making sure your water filters are working. The Waki Librarian will be back next week.
Happy Archives Month! I know, I can tell you are as excited as I am about Archives Month. So for those of you living in the United States, October is Archives Month, and for everyone else, please join in the celebration–just make sure to leave your party hats, glasses of champagne, and slices of celebratory cake outside of the archives.
To get you into the celebrating mood, check out this news release that the Smithsonian is celebrating Archives Month and then go sign up for the blog’s RSS feed to get awesome posts about archives every day for the rest of the month. Also, the California Digital Library recently rolled out local history mapped on Calisphere. These are awesome, pass on the news. And for more links, resources, and other stuff than you could possible imagine, check out the Society of American Archivists’ Archives Month page.
Now that you’ve had your fill of links to archives resources to share during the month of October, what will I add to the mix? I was going to talk about archives in general as being places of history, linking people with the past and important events in their collective histories, but then I happened upon this great TED Talk (thanks for highlighting it Lifehacker): How great leaders inspire action by Simon Sinek. Seriously, take the eighteen minutes and watch it. Really. I’ll wait for you; see, I’m not going anywhere.
Sinek’s talk inspired me and I hope it inspires you to think about not just what archivists do, but why we do what we do. Perhaps it will even inspire you to reach out and spread the word about archives to others who still think all archivists do is put papers in boxes.
Sinek said:
“Leaders hold a position of power or authority. But those who lead inspire us. Whether they’re individuals or organizations, we follow those who lead, not because we have to, but because we want to. We follow those who lead, not for them, but for ourselves.”
Let’s use Archives Month to demonstrate to others that archivists can lead by inspiration. Let’s bring the value and meaning of archives out into the light of the public’s consciousness (even though we, of course, keep the archives in light-free environments).
I believe in the power of archives to inspire us, to help us remember the past, to help us right past wrongs, and to help us change the world. As an archivist, as a librarian, as an information professional, what do you believe in?
Okay, so yeah, it was a stretch to get all three things into one post–it made a lot more sense in my head. But for a quick, mid-week technology and information world hit, I am going to share some cool links about all three topics: flying, cloud computing, and archives. So as the Doctor would say, “Allons-y!”
Did you see the announcement that NARA released guidelines for records management in cloud computing environments? (NARA stands for National Archives and Records Administration.) You can read the NARA bulletin in full, here. Just when you thought records management couldn’t get any more complicated in the digital environment, along comes the cloud. Have I ever mentioned before how happy I am not being a records manager? Unfortunately, cloud computing impacts archivists’ work too–anyone have any experience with cloud computing in the archives?
Now that we are all worrying about cloud computing and archives, let’s move on to something a bit easier to wrap one’s head around: flying and airlines, or rather how to make travel a little less onerous. (And I will say, once more for the record, that I am so glad Internet Librarian is close enough to my home that I don’t have to fly.)
Oh, and if you have to be in an airport this week, pick up a “banned book” to read and celebrate Banned Books Week! Check out the list of the most frequently challenged books in 2009 on ALA’s website.
Have a wonderful rest of your day and week. The Waki Librarian will be back on Friday with a post about balance (and no, you don’t have to read it while standing in Tree pose.)
I wasn’t going to write this post. I had talked myself out of writing this post after venting to a friend about the annoyance of librarians who disregard the work of archivists as others disregard the work of librarians. Plus, I try to keep a positive outlook on life and not get thrown out of whack by uninformed comments. And then I saw this, Post-SAA Howl (and the associated comments), which is making its way around the various archives blogs and listservs. So today, I’m going to write a post so those who haven’t studied or trained as archivists will be able to understand (at a very basic level) what archivists do and why archives are important. [Hint: if librarians don’t just put books on shelves, it would be safe to assume that archivists don’t just put things in boxes.] Then I promise to wrap up with some useful technology tools and tips to help you and your patrons.
Portelli wrote, “You teach nothing unless you are also learning, and you learn nothing if you don’t listen,” (p. 52 of The Battle of Valle Giulia). I’ve been listening to my fellow librarians for a while and learning from them and I think though, it is my turn to teach just a bit (I promise I won’t get too preachy on my soapbox). So first, some background: I, like a lot of archivists, was trained as both a librarian and an archivist (and, in my case, a historian as well). Lots of archives studies/archives science programs are part of library and information science programs, therefore a lot of archivists have MLS/MLIS/MSLS, etc. Archivists know what librarians do because we had to take all the required classes for library science too. We get it that librarians don’t just put books on shelves and a lot of us love working in libraries and archives. In addition to the library science classes we had to take archives classes too. A lot of us have also done internships or practicums in archives to get experience. So trust me, your local archivist can understand where you are coming from and can intelligently speak with you about library matters. (Just don’t ask us to catalog anything.)
Where the difference comes in is that librarians aren’t often required to take archives classes and therefore don’t know what archivists really do. And this is a problem because then archivists have to deal with stereotypes in the eyes’ of their fellow information professionals in addition to the rest of the world. So before you go telling your archivist that all s/he does is put stuff in boxes and that anyone could do it and that it doesn’t take someone with training and education in archival principles and theories, please read the rest of this post so you know what archivists do in the basement archives all day.
Archivists have been popularized as “keepers of memory” which is, like most popularizations, a huge simplification but we’ll start there because at least it isn’t a negative stereotype. There are professional debates about the role of the archivist and archives (which we’re not going into here), but here is the basics: archivists collect, appraise, preserve, arrange, describe, and make accessible records (these could be textual documents, photographic materials, ephemera, or objects) with lasting (legal, historical, social) value. Archivists don’t arrange archival collections by subject as is done in a library. Archivists maintain provenance (the Golden Rule in archives) which mean that records from a single creator stay together and aren’t mixed with other collections. There is also the principle of Original Order which says that archivists should keep materials in the order in which they arrived at the archives; archivists may or may not preserve Original Order depending on their training and philosophy.
Description means the writing of finding aids which I liken to MARC records on steroids. In finding aids, archivists can contextual the collection by providing biographical or historical information about the creator or organization responsible for the collection. Finding aids also can contain index terms that can be used in MARC records to facilitate access to the finding aids and therefore collections. Box lists are often created so researchers can get an overview of what is in the collection and which parts of the collection they will need to consult for their research. Because archives contain unique materials, collections are not described at item-level meaning it is up to the archivist to provide good enough access points so that the researchers can tell what is in the collection.
Which brings us to another important point, the archivist(s) at an institution are the only ones (usually) who actually know what is all in the archives because of the impossibility of item-level cataloging. This means the archivist is very important if you are doing research and a store of institutional memory in his/her own right. (It also means that you should really be nice to the archivist as a researcher because they can seriously help or hinder your research. For examples, check out Archives Stories ed. Burton.) The archivist, to be good at his/her job, also needs to have working knowledge of institutional and local history, at the very least, to help researchers and contextualize the collections. Because archives are often one-person shops, or very under-staffed, the archivist is probably also the grant writer, outreach coordinator, records manager, and exhibit coordinator for the archives.
Archives, in my opinion, shouldn’t be considered a luxury, but a necessity for every organization. Not only are they repositories for institutional memory (and great sources of material for publicity and exhibits when institutional anniversaries come around), but also important for retaining legally important documents for their organization/institution. Archives can also help build community identity and memory. They can be important historical resources for civil rights movements, for social justice. (See any of the work by Verne Harris or Randall C. Jimerson for examples.) Archives are not just something you throw in the corner in a dusty and rusting filing cabinet, they are centers of historical documents, places of power (see work of Michel Foucault, Terry Cook or Joan Schwartz), and a resource that keeps us from forgetting and holds people and institutions accountable for past actions. If more people understood the importance of archives, perhaps there would be more jobs for archivists and more funding for archives. (Wishful thinking, probably, based on the problems libraries are currently facing. But without understanding, I don’t think archivists have a fighting chance in these lean budget years.)
So all I’m really saying is don’t disregard the work of the archivist in the same way as many stereotypically disregard the work of the librarian. I know a lot of librarians that are appreciative and understanding of archivists and vice versa, but I also get far too many comments about how work in the archives shouldn’t be a priority and that professionally trained and educated archivists aren’t needed that I felt I needed to set the record straight. As always, I’m happy to provide heaps more information about archivists’ work and debates in the field if anyone wants it.
So go forth now armed with more knowledge and give the archivists a break. We’re working just as hard as the librarians and are professionals too. Saying hi, bringing cookies (as long as they stay outside of the archives), and hugs are almost always welcome too.
Now on to the technology good stuff:
You know how popular “working on the cloud” is now, right? Well, did you ever think to ask How Secure is Your Cloud Data? Check out the post and get informed, then share the information with your friends and library users.
For something fun and helpful, check out the Idiom Dictionary. This would be great to share with people learning English because some English idioms are just kind of crazy.
Oh, and not because it is in any way archival, but because it looks cool, check out turning paperbacks into hardbacks. If you want to make the project more archival, check out the comments–they are fantastic!
And, because it is Friday, have fun watching Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory explain how to play Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock:
Have a wonderful Friday and a lovely weekend full of relaxation, reading, and fun.
Happy Friday (I don’t care that it’s the 13th–it’s still a Friday and that is a very good thing)! I hope you had a lovely week and are looking forward to an even better weekend. This week’s post is a bit of a departure from the normal (though there are some links to fun stuff, of course). I want to take some time to talk about experiences and some intersections among various aspects of my research and work interests.
So, I was re-reading the introduction to Alessandro Portelli’s The Battle of Valle Giulia: Oral History and the Art of Dialogue when I came across a sentence that completely stopped me in my reading tracks and I knew I had to write about it. Portelli wrote, “Each interview is an experience before it becomes a text” (p. xiii). I just thought that the sentence is wonderful and so applicable to so much of our work in libraries and archives. (Portelli, for those who are unfamiliar with his work, is an amazing oral historian and considered one of the leading voices in the field. And yes, I am one of those people who reads and re-reads introductions–moving on.)
We too often forget about the experiences in life. Because we can now digitally track and count and monitor statistics so easily, we sometimes lose touch with the fact that each statistic is a person or group of people. We forget that humans are social creatures and (most) like at least some social interaction. We forget that there is wonder and can be joy in our work. We run from one meeting to another, from one project to the next with barely any time to look out the window yet alone stop for a break to actually just chat with someone. And I’m not saying that I’m the best person at stopping to smell the roses, but I think it is important to remember to experience things before we get into the analyses.
Which is pretty much what Portelli is getting at in the above quote. Interviews, or any interactions, are experiences before they become text–either literally with the transcription of oral history interviews or text in the more general term for a unit to be analyzed. We put off tomorrow the interactions we could have today because somehow we have separated the experience from the interaction and it is just another thing to get through, to survive. And that is just sad.
Now before anyone jumps on my case about this being completely divergent from my usual posts about evidence-based practice and evaluating new programs, please don’t get me wrong–evaluation and analysis are extremely important in our work BUT they should not come at the expense of losing the wonder of experiences. If we lose touch with experiences and just race through our work and our analyses, we miss opportunities to wonder and to actually connect with others. So just experience something, laugh, enjoy, and connect before getting into the nitty-gritty of analysis. Trust me, the connected experiences are what will propel you through the long hours of assessment and slogging through data while not losing sight of the goals of evidence-based practice and assessments.
Okay, so that is my soapbox speech for the day. I’m stepping down now and just want to share a couple of potential helpful links that have come through my feeds recently before leaving you to enjoy the rest of your Friday and the weekend.
And for the final bit of fun because it is Friday and also because a couple of my friends had really bad weeks and could use a laugh: “Big Bang Theory Moves Furniture”:
Have a wonderful weekend filled with reading, laughter, fun and enough time to enjoy the experience. The Waki Librarian will be back next week.
Happy Friday! So this will be short because I’m brain dead from this week, but wanted to share some interesting links about the Library of Congress and other digital stuff that’s been floating around online. So let’s get to the fun stuff and then we can get on to the weekend.
Check out the cool news about Library of Congress’ National Digital Stewardship Alliance. Yay, for more digital preservation standards and educational efforts.
Oh, and if you have an iPhone, check out Library of Congress’ iPhone app for a virtual tour of the library. Let me know if you like it. If you find one for Android, let me know too.
And, if you want to jailbreak your iPhone, check out the Jailbreak Matrix. Now that Library of Congress’ Copyright Office has deemed it legal to jailbreak your phone, you might want to know the best way. Oh, and if you have an Android phone and want to get more out of it (and use Twitter), check out completeandroid for lots of cool tips. (Thanks to litbrarian for pointing this out to me)
For something different and fun, check out How to Pick the Perfect Typeface. It is both a funny and useful flowchart. Even if you don’t do graphic design, check out the flowchart since it is fun, kind of like xkcd’s Tech Support Cheat Sheet.
Finally, check out xkcd’s “Still No Sleep” comic and then get some sleep this weekend (have fun and read too):
Happy Friday! Isn’t it just so lovely that it is almost the weekend? I think it is and so I have the usual random assortment of articles and thinking points. Today’s topics are digital archives (because, really, who doesn’t like talking about archives?), productivity (because I can’t seem to get away from the topic), and having a good day (because it is better than having a bad day). This will be a short post, perfect for a quick break from working on your important Friday work. So let’s talk archives!
I have admitted it before and I’ll admit it again, I love research and I love researching in archives. I really think you do get “archives fever” when researching in an archives, or maybe that’s just because the last archives I was at didn’t have air conditioning and I was there in the middle of a heat wave. Either way, you don’t have to worry about that if you follow the Library of Congress’ Guide to Finding and Using Online Primary Sources from the Manuscript Division. Online archives: they are wonderful and should be shared. Even if you disliked your history classes when you were in grade school, high school, or even college, trust me, looking through primary source documents will make you enjoy learning. (You may never want to become a historian, but you’ll probably find something that strikes your fancy in LoC’s vast online collections. If not, head over to NARA–they have an amazing photography collection online too.)
Oh, and check out Library of Congress’ Podcast: Conversations about Digital Preservation. A podcast series on digital preservation–really could life get any better for the library and archives geeks among us?
Why, yes, yes it can. NARA recently debuted its first wiki which will hopefully continue to be populated with wonderful archival information and discussions. Granted it isn’t the prettiest site on the web, but hopefully it will become one of the most useful and get more people interested in archives and archival research.
This article from WebWorkerDaily is fantastic: Passion as “the Ultimate Productivity Tool”. (Reminds me a lot of the advice that Seth Godin writes in his books and blog about work, productivity and shipping.) Read the article and be inspired to do great work–work you love–because then work isn’t something you have to slog through, it’s something you (usually) enjoy. And, unless you have a TARDIS, you’ll never get this day back so why not be passionately productive?
Finally, I want you to have a good day–a great day even. But if you are feeling the makings of a bad day, take a break (grab a cup of tea) and read through Lifehacker’s The Science Behind Having a Bad Day and How to Solve It. I hope it helps.
Of course, I can’t leave you without something fun on a Friday. So go over and check out ThinkGeek. If you’ve never checked out their site before, you are in for a treat. If you already have, you know why it is awesome, geeky shopping fun. Did I mention they have the Friendship Algorithm on a t-shirt?
Have a great Friday, a fantastic weekend, read a lot, and The Waki Librarian will be back next week with more library and technology fun.
I want to take a bit of time today and talk about digital preservation for two reasons: 1. it is a subject close to my archivist/librarian heart and 2. I don’t think it is taken seriously. What I mean by not “taken seriously” is that while I think a lot of people are concerned about digital preservation and believe that something needs to be done, many fewer people actually take any concrete steps toward actually preserving digital data. For instance, when was the last time you backed up all your computer files? Do you have a back-up server in case the main one in the archives or special collections fails? Is the back-up server in another physical space than your main server in case of physical disaster? Do you understand and apply all those metadata schema, checksums, and other preservation measures with your collections?
I think one of the problems that advocates of digital preservation face is the fact that it is almost overwhelming to think about preserving digital materials. The sheer volume in terms of information and the complete intangibility of the records makes it very difficult to wrap one’s mind around preserving the materials. Not to mention the fact that so much of the actual data and records reside on obsolete media. Who hasn’t opened a box in the archives and sighed when a pile of floppy disks is in the box?
Luckily, there are resources out there to help with digital preservation. If you have any favorite resources, please leave them in comments. I’m not going to go into the nitty-gritty of preservation metadata or the controversy surrounding the argument of whether digitization is a preservation or access strategy. Instead, I’m just going to highlight some helpful resources to help you get started.
The Library of Congress has created a nice, short video titled, Why Digital Preservation is Important for Everyone (And they have a transcript! Yay, for accessibility!). It’s great to use to market the importance of digital preservation to those outside of the information professions. Maybe you could use it as part of your National Preservation Week events next year. Or use it in your information literacy courses when teaching about digital content and the importance of backing up your files (i.e. homework). Also, the Library of Congress is a fantastic resource for digital preservation information.
You can now access the iPres 2009 Conference Materials. This is a fantastic resource–full papers, videos, presentation materials, and more from the conference. If you want to delve deeper into the digital preservation quagmire, this is a definite must-read/view resource.
If you want to get an international perspective on digitization, check out the National Library of New Zealand: National Library Digitisation Strategy 2010-2015. It is always a good idea to see what other nations are doing with regard to digital assets, especially our fellow librarians and archivists from New Zealand (and Australia) who are quite advanced when it comes to theorizing and implementing digital preservation programs.
And something, just because it is fun: NARA launches new logo. Let me know what you think about it. It reminds me of some cartoon eagle, but I can’t remember from which cartoon. I think it is nice (and goodness knows it is difficult to design a good logo), though I would have liked the logo to incorporate some sense of the future and digital aspect of NARA’s work.
I also thought I should highlight Lifehacker’s How to Downgrade Your iPhone 3G[S] from iOS 4 to iOS 3.1.3 after talking with a few people who were unhappy with the “glacial performance.” So if you would like to downgrade, check out the article–make sure to read it all the way through before starting so you don’t lose any data (and good luck).
Before leaving you, dear reader, I just wanted to thank everyone who has checked out the new blog theme and told me they liked it. That makes me happy. And, if you are curious, the new header is a mashup of two photos I took of collections in the University Archives at my university.
The Waki Librarian will be back on Friday with more fun for your reading pleasure. Until then, enjoy your day, read a lot, and I’ll see you back here soon.
Hi, all. I know, once again I missed posting on Friday. I’m sorry, but with the flight to DC and the heat I really wasn’t in any shape to be blogging. So this post will serve as a wrap-up to my experience at ALA 2010. It was my first time going to ALA Annual and it was a very good conference experience.
After a rocky start of having my first flight delayed over an hour (and then miraculously landing only about 5-10 minutes late at the destination–don’t ask me, I don’t know–I think it involved use of a wormhole, a TARDIS or a time-turner), the rest of the trip was uneventful. I think about half of the flight from Detroit to DC consisted of librarians going to ALA! The rest of the day was spent being a tourist and having dinner with Nancy and Mary (Nerdfighter extrodinaires as well as librarian mother and future librarian daughter super duo).
Friday was the first day of conferencing (after a necessary trip to the National Archives, of course). I went to the PAIG (Preservation Administration Interest Group) meeting which was really informative. The talk on creating and maintaining sustainable preservation environments by James M. Reilley was fascinating and I look forward to reading the final reports on the results of turning off and on the climate control systems have on the environment and the collections. If the results are positive, it will be a boon for archives and libraries trying to preserve their collections while also being more environmentally friendly in terms of using energy. The presentation of some of the findings from the Ithaka Report was also interesting–although it was terrifying that some of the faculty agreed that it would be okay to discard primary source documents once they had been digitized. (yikes!)
Saturday was Library of Congress Day (a.k.a. let’s go and geek out over awesome digital forensic stuff). I listened in on the Library of Congress Twitter Archive talk in “The Stacks” (aka exhibit floor). Didn’t really hear anything new, but it was good to get confirmation on some information. Plus the two LoC speakers were engaging and drew a fairly large crowd for the tiny space they had set aside in their booth area for the talks.
In the afternoon, there was the amazing, awesome, fabulous (really I could go on and on geeking out over it, but I won’t) Digital Forensics talks and tour at LoC. Three research scientists in the preservation directorate (don’t you just love that name?) explained how they use non-invasive techniques to discover lost and obscured information in the documents in the LoC collection as well as creating baseline information and creating a research database of papers and pigment samples for conservation work. I’m so envious of the amazing tools they have at their disposal: electron scanning microscope, XRF (x-ray fluorescence), XRD (x-ray diffraction), and hyperspectral imaging, among others. While it was definitely cool to see all the amazing information they could uncover using these imaging techniques (like changes in speeches that can’t be seen with the naked eye and watermarks hidden by text), I think one of the best parts was the affirmation of the importance of the original document. As all the scientists said, the originals are so important because they can find out more information as the technology improves. So to them, like so many in the archives and preservation fields, digitization is an access tool, not a preservation tool.
Librarians touring LoC Preservation lab
Another awesome part of their research is trying to create methods and techniques, not to mention tools, that librarians, conservators, and archivists at institutions with less resources than the LoC can afford. I am looking forward to their results because I can only imagine what great information there is to be found in the documents in other archives’ collections.
Sunday morning’s session on National Preservation Week was inspiring and it was great to hear about all the successful events held this year. I’m going to work with my library and some local community organizations to host at least one event for National Preservation Week 2011 (fingers crossed it all works out). And for those of you who like to plan ahead, National Preservation Week will be held April 24-30, 2011: “Pass it on”!
In the afternoon, Megan Oakleaf and I gave a presentation for the Instruction Section titled: “Question, Find, Evaluate, Apply: Translating Evidence Based Practice to Information Literacy Instruction” to an almost full room of around 450. (As an aside, I have to give props to The Litbrarian who was gracious enough to take me to brunch and put up with me stressing out before the talk–I get incredibly nervous before every talk I give, although I am fine once I start talking.) I think the talk went well; people participated, they laughed at our jokes, a lot of people knew about (and liked) xkcd and a good chunk of the audience watches Bones so they got my analogy using Dr. Brennan to explain evidence-based practice, and a number of people asked awesome questions during the Q & A. We even got tweeted about which I found pretty cool and a little strange as Clara Fowler, Chair of IS, told me that the tweets happening during the presentation were really positive. So yay! (Of course I had to go and look at the tweets and one of my favorites has to be from linkedlibrary: “Rules of EBL: Evidence=good; anecdote=bad; when in doubt, ask! Oakleaf and wakimoto are great.”) A huge thank you to the IS conference planning committee for inviting me to come speak–it was a blast and I’m so excited that so many librarians are interested in evidence-based practice! Our bibliography and links to the slides and resources can be found here: link to bibliography of suggested EBP resources. A review of our session was in Tuesday’s Cognotes (pdf). How cool is that?
The final session I went to was “Emerging Research in Collection Management and Development.” Both Aline Soules, who is my colleague at Cal State East Bay, and Jeffrey Kushkowski, from Iowa State University, talked about their current research. Aline is comparing biographical databases to information found on the open web to determine which products, or combination of products, are best for use when researching authors. Kushkowski has, with the help of a team of graduate students, completed journal article citation analyses to determine journal rankings in the field of corporate governance. It was good to hear about research that is outside of my own research interests and specialties. But I can definitely say that the only way I would ever do a citation analysis study on the scale of Kushkowski’s study (analyses of over 15,000 citations) was if I had a team of graduate students too!
Overall, my first ALA Annual Conference experience was positive, although if the exhibits opened earlier on Friday I wouldn’t complain. It definitely helped to have a focus in order to sort out what tracks to attend (although there were about 3 other talks I really wanted to go to that were happening at the same time I was speaking). DC is an amazing city, but I’m with the other NorCal, Bay Area people who came to the conference: the heat and humidity were a little overwhelming. I do hope to come back to DC to see more of it because this was a bit of a whirlwind tour and hopefully I’ll also be able to attend more ALA Annual Conferences as well.
More technology and library fun to follow shortly, but in the meantime get back to your summer reading and relaxing.
Everyone, I have something exciting to share: it’s Preservation Week! The first ever Preservation Week by ALA (with lots of fabulous partners). And Preservation Week started on Mother’s Day–how appropriate because probably most people are interested in preserving memories of their families–and runs through this Saturday. Now, I’m probably geeking out a little bit about this because I’m an archivist in addition to being a librarian and think about preservation issues almost every day. But I think this is an awesome opportunity to raise awareness about preservation in your community and maybe even find some new information that will help your with preservation in your library, archives, and/or life. So let’s check out some of the highlights.
First, you must check out the Preservation Week: Pass it on: Saving heritage and memories website if you don’t do anything else. Tons of information, links to events and to organizations that have more information about preservation. I have to say that I’m especially fond of the Conserve O Grams by the National Park Service and the Preservation Leaflets by the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC). Both of these resources have helped me numerous times when I’ve been faced with preservation issues in the archives. As an aside, if you ever have the opportunity to take a tour of NEDCC (like say through a preservation seminar at Simmons College or whatnot), don’t pass it up. The conservators that work there are incredibly knowledgeable and the facilities are amazing (yes, sorry, geeking out again).
On the Events page of the Preservation Week website you can find links to webinars (both for fee and for free sessions are available) as well information about in person events happening around the country. Add your event if you are hosting one this week too.
So get out there and spread the word about Preservation Week. Help create a disaster plan for your collection, rehouse a fragile collection, help your family store its letters, photographs, and heirlooms in proper containers, and for goodness’ sake get your files off those obsolete floppy disks.
Have a fantastic day, a productive Preservation Week, and the Waki Librarian will be back soon with more library and technology fun.
