Adventures in Library School

An End and a Beginning

2008-12-02T18:35:00.000-08:00

I am in midst of final preparations to graduate from Emporia State University with an Master's Degree in Library Science and Information Management with an Archives Studies Certificate. The draft for my capstone portfolio is complete. I am going to Portland this Saturday to do my presentation and to see my friends and classmates, some perhaps for the last time. It is a bittersweet moment. The following Sunday, December 14th, will be a joyous time as our cohort graduates, and we see friends from other cohorts, people we've met at conferences in the past few years, our mentors and advisers before we scatter to new places and new adventures.

My life as an MLS student ends and my life a librarian/archivist begins. The story continues.

A Universal History of the Destruction of Books

2008-11-02T09:01:00.000-08:00

I'm working on a review of this book for a journal, Community and Junior College Libraries. The book begins with this quotation:

Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings. Heinrich Heine, Almansor, 1821

I find it ironic reading this book right after writing about a woman who thought it a perfectly fine idea to burn a book to prevent others from reading it and only retracted her comment after a furor was raised.

In My Own Home Town, No Less

2008-10-20T12:42:00.000-07:00

I really should pay more attention to what happens in my tiny (population: 750) hometown, but sometimes I miss things.

It seems that a local mother, Taffey Anderson, is upset because the high school library has a cartoon book entitled The Book of Bunny Suicides by Andy Riley. Her 13-year old son checked it out of the library and now she vows she will never return it, claiming that "it is not appropriate for children".

Now I might be upset the school district is spending its very limited funds on cartoon books instead of on the academic materials our rural students need, but that is another topic. This book was bought, cataloged, put on the shelves, and was made available to be checked out and read by students. Ms. Anderson certainly has the right to tell her son he cannot read or check out the book, but she has absolutely no business telling other families in the district that they cannot access it. That's called censorship, Ms. Anderson. The news article states that she contacted the high school principal who told her about the districts' book-challenge policy. Ms. Anderson plans to fill out the forms, according to the article,

...but she's not taking any chances. Once the review is over, regardless of the outcome, she plans to burn it (the book). "They're not getting this book back," she said, adding that if the library replaces it: "I'll have somebody else check it out and I'll keep that one. I'm just disgusted by the whole ordeal."

Here is a great opportunity for the school district to stress why we consider it important to make controversial books available in the library. It's called intellectual freedom. Americans have the freedom to borrow, and read library books, even controversial ones, even those some don't personally like or approve of. Ms. Anderson may be well intentioned and sincerely concerned about the welfare of the students in the district, but good intentions do not give her the right to determine what others may borrow or read or to decide for other parents what their children may read.

And the irony is that the inevitable result of trying to ban something is that far more people want to get hold of it than would ever have done if it were left alone.

A personal example: At Mass one Sunday, when I was twelve, the priest ranted against seeing a particular movie. It was "Splendor in the Grass". I had never heard of this movie, but you can bet I remembered the name of it and as soon as I possibly could, I went to see it. I have to wonder how many local high school students are now scouring the public libraries nearby to find a copy of this book, a book only a few students would have read if it hadn't been for the publicity Ms. Anderson brought to it.

Maps

2008-09-30T09:48:00.000-07:00

Strange Maps is a wonderful blog for those of us who love maps. The reason I love maps is because I often get lost or at least, I worry a lot about getting lost.

I especially enjoyed reading about and seeing the road navigation device called the "Routefinder" used in England during the 1920s. Worn on the wrist, it contained little map scrolls showing travelers the roads they were traveling, gave them the mileage covered, and even told them to stop when they came to the end of their journey.

Other fascinating posts are: the genetic map of Europe, the world as seen from Paris, and a cheese map of Canada.

Twitter, Explained

2008-09-07T08:39:00.000-07:00

When I've told people who aren't familiar with it how much I love Twitter, they usually look at me funny even after I explain to them what it is and how it works. Wikipedia defines it as "a "free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send updates (otherwise known as "tweets") which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length." They just look at me and shake their heads and say "What's the point? I don't get it".

I didn't get it either. I was on Twitter for months and only followed a few people until everything exploded and I began to follow others and others began to follow me.

There was an article in Friday's New York Times entitled "Brave New World of Digital Intimacy" which helps explain the appeal. The author begins with discussion of the development of Facebook and how the addition of a News Feed, allowing someone to access all the new information their friends had posted on one page, changed everything. At first people were upset and angry--they didn't want constant updates on all their friends and yet, when it was offered, they found it both intriguing and addictive. Why? It's called "ambient awareness".

It is, they (social scientists)say, very much like being physically near someone and picking up on his mood through the little things he does — body language, sighs, stray comments — out of the corner of your eye.

Oh, and how did I find out about this NY Times article. Why from a tweet, of course! It read

incessant online contact=“ambient awareness,” says NY Times Magazine article. like the phrase. http://tinyurl.com/5pzslt

I responded

Thnx! Now when others are looking at me funny when I tell them I love Twitter, wondering "what is THAT!?", I can explain. :-)

I like the phrase too. And the idea. Now, please excuse me. I'm going to go send a few tweets.

SAA Stream of Consciousness

2008-08-30T12:04:00.001-07:00

I will be writing about my experiences at SAA and I'll begin with a list of scribbled notes I kept while attending sessions and meetings for the past three days.

Issues of ownership, consultation, mutual understanding and respect
Different ways of knowing, understanding, doing, and remembering.
Resilience and flexibility.
Archives are sites of power where archivists make decisions shaped by political and social factors
Different conceptual terms with different meanings/context, authentic, authority
Archives are inert; nothing happens until someone weaves it into a story; the telling is different from what happened.
Absences in the archives have an effect
Meanings can be impeded or concealed
Archives are arranged to frame different questions; to ask, reveal, conceal and obscure.
Archival records are produced from culturally embedded assumptions.
Purposes of archives/document and protect cultural heritage, protect legal rights, essential evidence
Archives are alien and mysterious to most
Relationship between documents and social memory
Archives are sites of power relationships in society
We rely on the integrity of archives
Privileged groups can control societal memory by manipulating archives
Archives are not about the past; they are about the future.
How do we pluralize and make definition of records inclusive?
Words like custody and holdings imply possession; try guardianship and stewardship
Describe yourself in a way that is useful to me so that I can understand it.
Job postings focus on digital skills and cultural understanding; latter is not valued
“I am the caretaker of the old words”
Access—retrieve information passed on orally
Archives organized by season of the year
Archival programs related to political change/example: end of colonization
Consultation= collaboration.
Culture= carrying a message from the creator
Construct, act, and listen
Look at it from a moral, not just legal, perspective
Protocols are not demands; they are an invitation
How can we resolve spiritual concerns in Protocols with separation of state and religion?
How can we resolve concerns about how material objects are viewed? Artifacts should be allowed to die a natural death/preservation.
If it’s afternoon you can’t listen to a morning song or then it would be an afternoon song; come back tomorrow morning.
Gaps and silences are just as important as records
Respectful subject headings
Information about creation of documents necessary to provide context
Demystify special collections/consider multiple perspectives
Who has the authority to speak for the community?
In Western law intellectual rights are for individual, not community

Near Union Square

2008-08-26T08:06:00.000-07:00

There isn't much going on with the conference today (although I did run into Mary Jo Pugh in the hotel lobby and spoke to her for a few moments),so I was out and about exploring today. One place I visited was Britex Fabrics. It is four stories (!) of fabrics of all kinds--cottons, wools, silks, brocades, lace-- trims, ribbons, accessories as well as a collection of over 30,000 different buttons.

There were a number of art galleries. My favorite was the Weinstein Gallery which features the work of Marc Chagall. How thrilling to think that someone, if they had enough money, could actually buy one of these works and have it in their home!

I was very disappointed to learn that the downtown location of Kozo Arts is closed. They offer handmade papers from Japan as well as handmade journals and albums made by San Francisco bookbinders.

I did, however, walk by an antique store which had a window full of intricately carved ivory Japanese figures. I also enjoyed street musicians and singers, listening to people speaking (and some arguing) in languages I didn't recognize, and the chaos of the crowded streets with tourists (like me!) stopping to take photographs, locals walking quickly as they smoked their cigarettes, police walking, in cars, and on bikes, panhandlers asking for change, a few people who seemed as though they might be both homeless and mentally ill, women beautifully and elegantly dressed in high heels and construction workers who took the time to look at them appreciatively.

See more of my photos on flikr.

San Francisco

2008-08-26T06:16:00.001-07:00

I arrived in San Francisco for the Society of American Archivists Conference yesterday afternoon. The one thing I didn't like was flying over the Bay before we landed. There's water and then there's the runway. I wish I hadn't looked and kept mentally reviewing what to do in case of a water landing, but, of course, there were no problems and we landed safely.

I am staying at the conference hotel, the San Francisco Hilton, only a few blocks from Union Square. I spent a little time time sitting in the lobby yesterday afternoon, people watching. The concierge provided me with a nice list of restaurants within walking distance and I had a wonderful dinner of red snapper and rice at Cafe Mason only a block and-a-half away.

Comic Books--A Small Rant

2008-08-16T17:22:00.000-07:00

My brother cut his reading teeth on comic books Until he was ten, his entire allowance was spent on comic books. Among them were The Flash, Archie, Batman, Superman, Scrooge McDuck, the Disney family, and the Loony Tune gang. As soon as he got his allowance he would buy that week's quota of comic books, run home and plop down in the middle of the living room floor and read them all afternoon, entering a
hypnotic trance that closed off the real world. He'd hardly move a muscle except to turn the pages and reach for the next comic book. There were times my mother would be tempted to put a mirror to his mouth to make sure he was still alive.

He would spend the rest of the week rereading his new comics as well as those from previous weeks that still survived, longing for the next Thursday and his next allowance. He was mesmerized by the pictures; they led his captured eyes and mind to the words in the white verbal clouds that drifted around the characters' mouths.

He read his comic books on the living room rug, stomach down, chin resting on his cupped palms, balanced on his elbows. He read them on his bed, at times on his back
holding them high above him and at other times draped draped over a pillow. He read about his champions while eating his breakfast of champions. He hid them away and
read them secretively at school and lost a few that were discovered. He rolled them in his back pocket and took them with him wherever he went. He read them by the beam of a flashlight hidden under the covers way past his bedtime.

The covers fell off and, despite liberal applications of scotch tape, pages loosened themselves from their stapled anchors and soon disappeared. Remaining pages got torn. He read and reread them until they fell apart in his hands or were nothing but torn tatters.

Adults would sometimes scold him for reading comics. They called them trash. They ought to have encouraged him. Comics opened my brother's world and mind to other worlds and created an appetite to read. Soon he graduated to the Hardy Boys, and then Arthur Conan Doyle, H.G. Wells and Jack London.

I believe that children do need to read great works. Eventually. But first, get them to read! Get them to love reading. Read anything. I don't care what they read. It
can be non-fiction or westerns or ghost stories. It can be Shakespeare, Dr. Seuss or the sports section. I don't care. I just want them to read.

The only problem is how to get them started. A lot of people will argue that to do that isn't that simple. It IS that simple! Blitz them! Blitz them early and get
reading materials, any reading materials into their hands. They'll want to read about the things that matter the most to them and then they'll be readers for life. THAT is the way to make readers!

Summer Term

2008-07-31T12:01:00.000-07:00

Summer term will end next week. Fall term begins August 20th, but I'll be taking only the one credit class I still need to graduate or that and a three credit class on Legal Research. That decision will be made on the basis of whether or not the grant will require me to take a minimum of four credits. I'd rather take just one.

I'll have two weeks between the end of the term and going to the SAA Conference in San Francisco. I don't know about wearing flowers in my hair, but I remember the summer of 1967. I had just graduated high school and was getting ready to head off to university to study Political Science.

American Library Association Conference

2008-06-24T17:23:00.001-07:00

Safe travels to all of you heading for Anaheim in the next few days! Have fun!

All Things Are For Human Beings

2008-06-07T13:49:00.000-07:00

I've just finished reading this article
Araghi, G.F. (2005) Users satisfaction through better indexing. Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, 20(2), 5-17 for my cataloging class. I was impressed with this sentence:

One must not forget that although highly-automated technology dominate, all things are for human beings. (p. 14)

My primary professional interest is in providing reference service. Finding accurate information quickly is my passion. I agree that the classifier is the co-partner of the reference librarian. It doesn’t matter how good a reference interview I do if I can’t then find the answer to the user’s question because the information needed has been badly cataloged and remains hidden and cannot be retrieved.

I work as a part-time reference librarian at the Oregon State University library. I provide reference services face-to-face, by telephone, and through email. I also provide chat-based virtual reference services through L-Net and Meebo and I find that the most challenging of all. The questions from university faculty and students may be very detailed and complex, requiring a half-hour or more to answer. Many users are K-12 students asking basic homework related questions and there are always a few questions from members of the general public. Because it is a virtual environment and there are no visual cues, a good reference interview is essential. Some of the questions I receive are like this (real) example: “How much does a fully loaded tank weigh?” Where do I start?!

Araghi’s comment about “the ambiguity of index terms across cultures, languages, and time” has much truth in it. Language just isn’t always precise; there are countless opportunities for misinterpretation making access to accurate information complex. In the above example, what did the user mean by “tank”—gas, air, fuel, military, fish, something else?

Providing the information the user wants in a virtual environment also requires providing ongoing reassurances that I’m still there and looking for the information requested. Many expect an instant answer. I may ask the user to give me a minute, come back in less than that with the information they’ve requested only to discover the user has already logged off. I’ve found that recognizing there is another human being on the “other side” of the computer screen by using emoticons and addressing the user by his or her log-in name is very helpful in keeping the user engaged.

Alaska!

2008-06-02T12:23:00.000-07:00

I had the great good fortune to be able to attend the Northwest Archivists and ARMA Spring Conference, New Frontiers in Archives and Records Management, which was held this year at the University of Alaska, Anchorage from May 28-31.

I was honored to be one of panel members for a session entitled Breaking the Ice: Protocols for Native American Archival Materials and Archivists in the Northwest. I learned a great deal, reconnected with people I'd met before, met more new, wonderful people and had a great time. I didn't have the opportunity to take many photographs. I did see a moose, but didn't have my camera at the ready.

However, as I always do when I go to a conference, I made certain to take photographs of the library where it was held.

Twittering

2008-06-02T10:23:00.000-07:00

I've used many of the web2.0 social networking tools, but twitter is the one that has my heart. I like it because it's so simple, you can follow others and they can follow you, and you can respond to one another. It also doesn't take much time and I've learned how to express more with fewer words because there's a 140 character limit to each tweet. I made a twitter cloud. (Click on it to make it larger.)

The New Blank Society and Web 3.0

2008-05-19T07:28:00.000-07:00

Web 3.0 is the content and services produced by people using Web 2.0 as the platform. It is the reinventing of the online world. And like anything new,it's exciting and scary.

The implications for the future mentioned in this blog post are intriguing.

Never Judge A Book By Its Cover

2008-05-18T12:28:00.001-07:00

I was very tempted to title this blog post ARGGGGG!!! I came across this article, Read a Book, Harass a Co-Worker at IUPUI a few months late, but it is timeless. This kind of nonsense just never ends. The article begins

In a stunning series of events at Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), Keith Sampson, a university employee and student, has been charged with racial harassment for reading a book during his work breaks.

Sampson is in his early fifties, does janitorial work for the campus facility services at IUPUI, and is ten credits shy of a degree in communication studies. He is also an avid reader who usually brings books with him to work so that he can read in the break room when he is not on the clock. Last year, he began reading a book entitled Notre Dame vs. the Klan: How the Fighting Irish Defeated the Ku Klux Klan. The book, which has garnered great reviews in such places as The Indiana Magazine of History and Notre Dame Magazine, discusses the events surrounding two days in May 1924, when a group of Notre Dame students got into a street fight in South Bend with members of the Ku Klux Klan. As an historical account of the students' response in the face of anti-Catholic prejudice, the book would seem to be a relevant and worthwhile read, both for residents of the state of Indiana and for anyone interested in this chapter of American history.

A shop steward told him this was like bringing pornography to work and a co-worker told him she was offended. A racial harassment complaint was filed against Sampson. No one had any interest in hearing what the book was really about. He was ordered to not read the book in the presence of his co-workers and to sit apart from them whenever reading it.

Why did I write at the beginning of my post that this nonsense never ends? Because,when I was a high school student, I was reading a book by Somerset Maugham during my lunch break when a teacher came up to me and grabbed it from my hands, scolding me saying "What would your mother say if she caught you reading that book?" I took my book back and, to her shocked face, replied that it was my mother who had suggested I read it. The name of the book? Of Human Bondage. Clearly this teacher had neither read nor heard of this classic book and had based her attempt to censure me solely on her assumptions about the content from the title.

P.S. I did find a follow up article Victory at IUPUI: Student-Employee Found Guilty of Racial Harassment for Reading a Book Now Cleared of All Charges

Administrators at Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) have revoked their finding that a student-employee was guilty of racial harassment merely for publicly reading the book Notre Dame vs. the Klan: How the Fighting Irish Defeated the Ku Klux Klan. Following pressure from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), IUPUI has declared that Keith John Sampson's record is clear and said it will reexamine its affirmative action procedures relating to internal complaints.

and this article by Keith Sampson My ‘racial harassment’ nightmare published in the New York Post earlier this month.

SAA Harold T. Pinkett Minority Student Award

2008-05-13T11:24:00.000-07:00

I have just been informed that I am one of two students nationwide to receive the 2008 Harold T. Pinkett Minority Student Award , sponsored by the Society of American Archivists Society (SAA). I am the first Emporia State University SLIM student to capture this award. Established in honor of archival pioneer Harold T. Pinkett, the first African American to be appointed an archivist at the National Archives, the award recognizes and acknowledges minority graduate students of African, Asian, Latino, or Native American descent who, through scholastic and personal achievement, manifest an interest in becoming professional archivists and active members of the society.

The award will provide me with full complimentary registration and related expenses for hotel and travel in order to attend the SAA Annual Meeting in San Fransisco in August, 2008. I am very honored to have been given this award and I am grateful to SAA for making these types of opportunities available to students. I also wish to thank Mary Jo Pugh, Tiah Edmunson-Morton, and Erika Castano for nominating me.

Always Looking for More Books/Reader's Advisory

2008-05-11T18:55:00.000-07:00

I am an avid and prolific reader. I usually have a couple of dozen fiction books checked out of the library at a time, average reading at least two a week beyond the non-fiction and textbooks that I must read, and I'm always searching for more. So where do I look? One place is Amazon. If you have an account they love to give you recommendations based on what you've bought. And even if you don't have an account, if you go look at a book that you do like you'll see their "customers who bought this item also bought" feature.

Another tool I use is The Readers Robot although there aren't very many books there yet. It is growing, however.

The Reader's Advisor Online is for

readers' advisors and bibliophiles who work with readers. You'll find essential news, tips, fun stuff, and a community for exploring RA issues.

There are a number of these kinds of websites including Reader's Advice and the Reader's Advisory Link Farm.

The keys are knowing the collection, knowing the reader, and knowing where to look to find good recommendations if they're not right there at the tip of your fingers. There are some authors I especially enjoy and once I discover them, I devour all of their books. There are some series I like and again, I'll read every book in the series. Some I've found just by browsing. Others are recommended to me personally.

I use LibraryThing to keep track of my books and I also use that as a tool to find others using tags. I have signed up to be an Early Reviewer and have requested books, but so far I have not been one of the chosen.

Read on!

Cultural Ownership

2008-05-01T21:09:00.000-07:00

I've only read the review of Who Owns Antiquity? by James Cuno
Treasures on Trial: In Defense of Museums That Resist the Call To Repatriate Ancient Artifacts, not the book, but I think the author makes some good points. I especially liked this:

He felt momentarily part of immemorial human endeavor. That kind of wonder may still be possible only in an "encyclopedic museum," where antiquities from all cultures are assembled to reveal the full range of human genius. As the French poet Paul Claudel wrote: "For the flight of a single butterfly the entire sky is needed."

Part of the power of archives is the ability to make us feel part of a whole.

The question, however, is who has ownership and who has control. Whether antiquity can be owned or not, I don't know, but certainly physical items have ownership. Whether the item is owned by the community, the legal government, an archives or museum, or an individual is the question. My tendency is to want ownership by the community whose members created the items. I think the comment "this is where they can do the most good" from Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum when refusing even to lend the Elgin Marbles to the Greeks is misguided at best, arrogant at worst. I also have reservations about partage; it smacks too much of "dividing the loot" and "finders keepers".

Traditional Buckskin Dress Found in Garbage Dump

2008-04-30T10:15:00.000-07:00

This traditional dress was found in the garbage at Capilano, Vancouver, British Columbia. It is suspected that it may come from Alberta or the States. If you have any information about the owner, please contact:

Alice Besito
Financial Aide Worker
West & Central Regions
Sto:lo Nation Social Development
Phone: 604-847-3299
Fax: 604-847-3280

Cultural Respect in Preservation and Conservation

2008-04-29T07:16:00.000-07:00

This topic will be discussed at the North Carolina Preservation Consortium Annual Conference, which will be held on November 20, 2008 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Preservation and conservation of collections in libraries, archives, museums, and historic sites are guided by professional ethics, standards, guidelines, and best practices.

This year's North Carolina Preservation Consortium (NCPC) annual conference will address the issues of cultural respect. Objects of material culture often hold intangible values for the community of origin. Do collection institution leaders honor these values with policies of respect and community collaboration? Some artifacts may not be intended for use or view by the public. Do collection institution caretakers place restrictions on access and exhibition? Some communities may wish to use artifacts in traditional ceremonies and rituals. Do collection institution stewards approve such requests? Some communities believe their cultural objects should deteriorate naturally. Do preservation and conservation professionals permit this to happen? We often profess to champion diversity in our collections. Do we respect multicultural perspectives on the preservation and conservation of heritage collections? Is there a moral imperative to preserve and conserve books, manuscripts, documents, photographs, film, sound recordings, art, and artifacts?

One of the papers presented at the Indigenous Graduate Student Research Conference discussed ancient baskets. During the discussion it was mentioned that there are some tribes in California which view baskets as sentient beings which are created for a specific use and that it was wrong to put them in glass cases where they could not be handled and touched, where they would not be allowed to do the task they were intended for, and where they would not be allowed to die a natural death.

I find this a fascinating topic. I'm hoping that I have the chance to read more and perhaps write a paper on this topic for my class on Preservation this summer.

Snow??!

2008-04-26T18:41:00.000-07:00

I'm going to the Northwest Archivists & ARMA 2008 Spring Conference being held May 28-31 at the University of Alaska in Anchorage. This afternoon I came across this AP article: Anchorage digs out from snow again.

Anchorage continues to dig out from a snowfall that set a record for the day and the month. The National Weather Service says 17.2 inches fell at its office just south of Anchorage's international airport and 22 inches fell in northeast Anchorage on Friday and Saturday.

I hope it melts quickly.

Copyright Slider: Quick Easy Access to Copyright Laws and Guidelines

2008-04-24T07:57:00.000-07:00

I'm taking a class on Copyright this semester and, while doing some research, came across this handy little tool, a creation of the ALA’s Office for Information Technology Policy (OITP). You can find more official information over on ALA’s Washington Office blog (Let the OITP Copyright Slider Answer Your Questions!) and order one of your own for only a bit more than $5.

This single, sturdy product provides instant access to copyright laws and guidelines. Simply align the arrows by date of publication and determine a work’s copyright status and term. And the “Permission Needed?” box provides a quick answer to this very important question.

The Copyright Slider lets you answer questions such as :

* Is a work in the public domain?
* Do you need permission to use it?
* When does copyright expire?

What a cool little tool!

Stories and Words

2008-04-22T19:09:00.000-07:00

I received my copy of Easy Access, the newsletter for the Northwest Archivists, about a week ago. I have been thinking long and hard about the President's Message written by Terry Baxter. In it he talked about what we archivists are--we are the keepers of the stories-- and what records are--the stories told by someone and waiting for someone else to listen.

He quotes this powerful poem, The Forgotten Dialect of the Heart, from The Great Fires: Poems 1982-1992 by Jack Gilbert:

How astonishing it is that language can almost mean,
and frightening that it does not quite. Love we say.
God, we say. Rome and Michiko, we write, and the
words
get it all wrong. We say bread and it means according
to which nation. French has no word for home,
and we have no word for strict pleasure. A people
in northern India is dying out because their ancient
tongue has no words for endearment. I dream of lost
vocabularies that might express some of what
we no longer can. maybe the Etruscan texts would
finally explain why the couples on their tombs
are smiling. And maybe not. When the thousands
of mysterious Sumerian tablets were translated,
they seemed to be business records. But what if they
are poems or psalms? My joy is the same as twelve
Ethiopian goats standing silent in the morning light.
O Lord, thou art slabs of salt and ingots of cooper,
as grand as ripe barley lithe under the window's labor.
Her breats are six white oxen loaded with bolts
of long-fibered Egyptian cotton. My love is a hundred
pitchers of honey. Shiploads of thuya are what
my body wants to say to your body. Giraffes are this
desire in the dark. Perhaps the spiral Minoan script
is not language but a map. What we feel most has
no name but amber, archers, cinnamon, horses, and
birds.

And yet and yet.... When I say ma maison you may wish to translate that into English as "my house" and not "my home", but that's not quite right either. If there are not two words--one for house and one for home-- does that mean French speaking peoples have any less feeling for home and everything that home represents? Do they not get homesick even if there is no word for it?

And the people in northern India may not have words like our words that are endearments. We may recognize little bird and twinklet and poppet as endearments, but would they? Surely they must feel love and if they do then they must express it to each other. And, well, if they don't then that's the reason their people are dying out, not because they lack the words to express love.

Archivists are indeed the keepers of the stories, but the stories are not the same for us all. They're not told in the same ways. Stories important to one people may not be important to another. Some stories are sacred and profound. Some are secret. Others have more than one meaning. And all stories are more than mere words.

P.S. See The Whale Hunt, "an experiment in human storytelling" in which photographs only are used to tell a story.

Last Week-end in Portland (Spring Semester)

2008-04-14T07:00:00.000-07:00

The Oregon EDI students (me, Chau, Terrilyn, Max, and Toan) and Dr. Agada.

Oregon Multicultural Archives Related Resources

2008-04-10T09:21:00.000-07:00

Last summer I took a class in repackaging information and wrote an annotated bibliography of digital web exhibits featuring Native American materials in the states served by the Northwest Archivists Association (Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska). I included exhibits which appeared to have potential as well.

These have now been incorporated in the Oregon Multicultural Archives Related Resources page. Thank you, Erika.

Navajo Nation Likely to Lose Internet Service

2008-04-06T21:04:00.000-07:00

I recently completed an annotated bibliography on the underserved Native Americans for one of my classes and have just returned home from Albuquerque, New Mexico, where I made many Navajo friends.

I was very saddened to read this on CNN.

Indigenous Graduate Student Research Conference

2008-04-06T20:19:00.000-07:00

What is Indigenous Self-Determination in Education? Panelists

Tiffany Lee (Dine, Lakota)
Assistant Professor, Native American Studies UNM
Glenabah Martinez Taos Pueblo/Dine’
Assistant Professor, College of Education,UNM
Carlotta Bird (Santo Domingo Pueblo)
Indian Education Consultant
Kara Bobroff(Dine’/Lakota)
Principal, Native American Community Academy (NACA)
Trisha Moquino (Santo Domingo/Cochiti Pueblos)
Founder, Iiwas Katrusini Immersion Preschool

I have just returned from Albuquerque, New Mexico where I presented a paper at the Indigenous Graduate Student Research Conference held at the University of New Mexico. Sponsored by the Institute for American Indian Research (IFAIR), it brought together twelve Masters Degree and Ph.D candidates from the United States and Canada who presented their research papers in various disciplines.

I am honored to be have been provided with an opportunity to both share my passion for archival work and learn from others who are passionate about their fields. It was so wonderful to be a part of this community and spend time connecting with others who face many of the same challenges as I.

I am very thankful to Dr. Beverly Singer, Director of IFAIR, who organized this conference and made it possible for me to attend. Dr. Beverly Singer (Tewa/Navaho), Associate Professor of Anthropology and Native American Studies, UNM and Director of IFAIR
Zimmerman Library, University of New Mexico

With Only One Eye

2008-03-31T06:52:00.000-07:00

In the class I attended last weekend, we discussed how data, information, knowledge and wisdom form an information hierarchy where each layer adds certain attributes over and above the previous one. I have a concern here as I believe wisdom encompasses far more than data, information, and knowledge. Wisdom requires being aware of when and how to apply knowledge. It also requires experience and intuitive understanding and more.

Among the Sioux there is a saying, “The white man ….sees with only one eye’. That is because the white man is taught to see only with the mind—facts—and he forgets to combine or add that imaginative and moral aspect of nature which alone makes facts meaningful and beautiful to human beings.

From: Bunge, R. (1987). Language; the psyche of a people. In Our Languages, Our Survival. University of South Dakota: Bismark, Vermillion, S.D.

Conferences

2008-03-28T08:26:00.000-07:00

I've been asked how I can afford to go to so many library/archive conferences and the answer is: I can't. I am very selective about the conferences I decide to attend, I give preference to those in which I will be presenting or at least, would consider presenting at at a future date, and then I only go if I can obtain a scholarship to pay most of, if not all, my expenses.

Next week I'll be in New Mexico presenting a paper at the Institute for American Indian Research's (IfAIR) Indigenous Graduate Students Conference, Planting the Seeds of Our Research. If I had not been awarded a very generous scholarship which pays airfare, hotel, and meals, I would not be attending.

Next month I'll be on a panel discussing the Protocols for Native American Archival Materials at the Northwest Archivists Conference in Alaska. I'm paying for this trip by using some scholarship funds I was awarded. Again, if it weren't for that scholarship, I would not be going to this conference.

If you are seriously interested in attending conferences then pick a few you think you would really enjoy and which fit in with your career goals and interests and begin looking for ways to finance them. There are many scholarship and grant opportunities if you look and are willing to apply.

The Red Leather Diary

2008-03-21T10:43:00.001-07:00

The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life Through the Pages of a Lost Journal (HarperCollins, April 8, 2008) by Lily Koppel.

Kept by Florence Wolfson Howitt in the 1930's, the diary was found in a steamer trunk in a dumpster outside the author's apartment building. The journal reveals what life was like for Florence in 1930s New York—-horseback riding in Central Park, summer excursions to the Catskills, and an obsession with a famous avant-garde actress. It has nearly two thousand entries, written in faded black ink, covering every day from 1929 to 1934.

The book's author, a New York Times reporter who has found her niche writing about the hidden characters of New York, such as Manhattan's last typewriter repairman, set out to find the owner of the diary with her only clue being the inscription on the frontispiece--"This book belongs to Florence Wolfson" and found her, now 90 years old.

A New York Times article can be found here

Wales and Dust

2008-03-21T07:16:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to an archives conference, Archive Fervour /Archive Further Literature, Archives,and Literary Archives to be held in Aberystwyth, Wales this July. A keynote speaker will be Professor Carolyn Steedman who teaches history at the University of Warwick and whose research interests include the construction of self-identity. She is the author of Dust: The Archive and Cultural History.

An SAA review essay, published in American Archivist (Vol. 66, No.2, Fall/Winter 2003) includes this:

To begin with, Dust is heavily steeped in the academic brew of postmodernist semiotics. For the gleefully uninitiated, semiotics involves seeing human experience, in all its minute expression, as signs or symbols. The word “refrigerator” does not identify an appliance, it connotes humanity’s desire/need to safeguard food stuffs.

Yes, I can relate to this. The Ojibwe word for freezer translated into English means "stingy box". I found a copy of this book at the university library and began reading it. My favorite sentence in the book is this one, which can be found on page 81:

The Archive is (the) kind of place that is to do with longing and appropriation. It has to do with wanting things that are put together, collected, collated, named in lists and indices; a place where a whole world, a social order,may be imagined by the recurrence of a name in a register, through a scrap of paper, or some other little piece of flotsam.

Oregon Historical Society Field Trip

2008-03-17T11:09:00.000-07:00

Our archives class visited the Oregon Historical Society again, this time so that students could give reports about the collections they had examined.

Our instructor, Mary Jo Pugh, talking with Robyn.

Special thanks to Senior Archivist, Geoff Wexler, for making arrangements to open the reading room for us, retrieving the collections we examined, and granting me permission to take these photographs.

Tools and Users, Part 2

2008-03-13T11:20:00.000-07:00

Here's a follow up on one of my previous posts. It's a comment recently published in Information Wants to Be Free

To do a better job of preparing LIS graduates for the 21st century we need to equip them with the ability to be self-motivated and adept at learning technology skills. I don’t think it matters whether you can set up a wiki on your own server or use a free web-hosted service. I’d like LIS graduates who understand when and why a specific technology makes sense to meet users’ needs (and when it doesn’t) - and how to go about making good implementation decisions. The technology tools will always be changing. Many of them can be self-taught (as you indicated). Where we might fail our LIS students is not in letting them graduate without an HTML course, but in not providing them with good analytic and learning skills - and a thirst for “keeping up”.

Planting the Seeds of Our Research

2008-03-06T20:58:00.000-08:00

I have been informed that I am one of six students selected to receive a scholarship from the Institute for American Indian Research (IFAIR) which will allow me to attend the Native American Graduate Students Research Conference, Planting the Seeds of Our Research, and present a paper on the power of stories and how they can be used to introduce Native students to tribal archives. This conference will include graduate students from the United States and Canada and the papers presented will cover all disciplines. The conference be held at the University of New Mexico, April 3-4.

Along with the research sessions, the conference will include keynote speaker Dr. Gerald Vizenor, student talking circles, an indigenous evening social and give away, and tours of research programs. Indigenous professors at the University of New Mexico will also comment on the papers presented in panels and sessions at the conference. I am honored to have received this opportunity and proud to be able to represent Emporia State University and SLIM.

Here the title and abstract for my paper.

The Power of Stories: Using Constructivism and Sense-Making to Introduce Native American Students to Tribal Archives

While the focus of information sharing and communication is shifting to a social bookmarking, web.2, technological, Internet, and digital viewpoint, the human-to-human, face-to-face, storytelling, oral ways of connecting families and communities remain powerful and compelling. Both constructivism (constructing our individual knowledge of the world by experiences and then considering the meaning and value of these experiences), and sense-making, (a continual process of making sense of a body of knowledge when there is a gap by gathering information and looking for patterns and connections), are influenced by cultural constructs. Both of these theories can be utilized as effective tools to make tribal archival repositories meaningful to Native American students by effectively connecting thought with emotion.

Tribal archives are like elders who protect and share our stories; they honor our ancestors, bridge generations, and share knowledge, thus preserving the history of our people. Recognizing Native American learning styles, including the use of storytelling as a teaching technique as well as language which is picture and emotion based , are techniques which can be utilized to help Native American students begin the process of recognizing that tribal archives places where we can connect with each other through time and space, providing us with a vibrant view of our history through records, letters, treaties, oral recordings, and photographs.

L-Net and Meebo

2008-03-04T18:36:00.000-08:00

Every week I answer questions on L-net at the Oregon State University Library for two hours. L-net is an online, chat reference service provided by Oregon librarians. I answer questions both for both academic and K-12 students so I usually get a nice variety of questions. Today I answered questions about medieval clothing, who were the major actors in Shakespeare's time, how hot air balloons work, how the Swiss and U.S. Constitutions are the same and different, and when the Vietnam Paris Peace talks were held.

I've been told that many of the academic librarians don't particularly like doing L-net but I do as I not only learn about many new things I'd never thought of before, I'm also learning how to conduct good, quick reference interviews. I think part of why they don't like it is because some of the younger students are sometimes rude. My method of dealing with this is to ask them to please be polite and then just continue on and answer their questions. I've found I'm often successful that way and we are able to complete our sessions.

The questions, too, aren't usually as difficult as the ones university students ask using Meebo on the library's webpage. I usually do the Meebo when I'm working a shift at the general reference desk. I enjoy those as well, and as I don't have the luxury of backup librarians on Meebo as I do on L-net, I have found myself juggling three or four complex questions at a time and that is certainly challenging!

The Archives World and the Library World

2008-03-01T19:36:00.000-08:00

I am comfortable in and relatively knowledgeable about both of these worlds, but sometimes I forget that others are not. I was in a small group of archivists the other day and, in the course of the conversation I told one who I know is also comfortable in both worlds how honored I was that Loriene Roy had added a comment to a post I'd written for the SLIM-Oregon Student Chapter of the ALA blog about a webcast of a lecture she'd given at the Library of Congress entitled Guiding Our Destiny.

One of the archivists listening to this conversation looked confused. "Who's Lori and Roy?", he asked me. "It sounds like a Las Vegas lounge act." I was taken aback at first and then realized that he, as an archivist, wouldn't know that Loriene Roy is the current President of the American Library Association. He doesn't need to know that. It's not really a part of his world.

Oregon State University Valley Library

2008-02-28T14:32:00.001-08:00

Where I work!

One Day in the Life of ......

2008-02-26T06:50:00.000-08:00

In all the years we've been married, John has never come home and asked me "So, what did you do all day?" It's a good thing too. If he'd asked me that when we owned and manged a mobile home park and I was taking care of a slew of farm animals and we had four small boys running underfoot, I probably would have clobbered him.

My life is less complicated now. We no longer own a mobile home park or farm animals and all the boys are grown. Well, at least my life should be less complicated, but it doesn't always seem that way. Perhaps it's just complicated in different ways. There are times when, at the end of the day, I wonder myself, "So, what did I do all day?". It helps if I write down what I did because then I can see I accomplished more than I thought I had and didn't just fritter the day away.

Here's my list for yesterday:

1. Finished the first of a two part article for the AILA newsletter entitled Sharing Our Stories which is about how LIS students can address the library-related needs of American Indians and Alaska Natives by incorporating this topic into their class assignments and discussions and emailed it to the editor.

2. Received an email informing me that I'd been nominated to run for the Northwest Archivist Association Oregon representative position. After reading the description of the duties, I emailed my professional mentor to ask how appropriate it was for a student (i.e., not a professional archivist) to run for this position.

3. Joined the wiki for Chapter and Loose Papers, the official SAA newsletter for students of Archival Science, and submitted a research paper abstract for their next newsletter.

4. Read the assignment for my Copyright class and began writing a post to add to the Discussion Board, but haven't posted it yet.

5. Searched for resources for the annotated bibliography for my Special Populations class.

6. Updated my blogs and EDI journal.

Add to that the usual basic housekeeping chores plus grocery shopping, laundry, and making meals and that was my day.

Today I'm working at the Oregon State University library. That will make answering the question about what I did all day much easier.

Tools and Users

2008-02-25T17:57:00.000-08:00

I recently read an article by Tefko Saracevic entitled Information Science, published in the Journal of the American Society for Information Science [50(12): 1051–1063] in 1999. In the last paragraph he states:

In all of this, I am afraid that the greatest danger facing information science is losing the sight of users, of human beings.

In 1999 libraries were still focused on their collections, on what they owned, and not on their users and how they could best help them access what they needed. That began to change until now we claim that we are user centered. But are we really? When I read descriptions of conference sessions in the library and archival worlds, there is a strong focus on social bookmarking and web2.0 tools. We look at all these wonderful playthings--Meebo ,Twitter, wikis, RSS feeds, del.icio.us, Library Thing, flickr, and yes, blogs-- and wonder how can we use them in archives and libraries instead of looking at our users and wondering how can we use these tools to better provide them with what they want and need.

We seem to be moving again towards the tools, the blocks, and away from the users and their needs and the human, face-to-face, storytelling, spiraling oral ways of connecting families and communities and sharing information, ways which are and will remain powerful and compelling.

Boxes

2008-02-24T11:06:00.000-08:00

I love boxes in all kinds of shapes and sizes. These are just a few of my favorites. Whenever I go to a thrift store I look for more. So what does this have to do with anything? I think part of my interest in archives has to do with containers which hold treasures. The archival ones are functional only but the mysteries of what they might contain fascinates me.

25 Useful Social Networking Tools for Librarians

2008-02-22T16:37:00.000-08:00

Oh, good! Another fun place to find toys to play with!
25 Useful Social Networking Tools for Librarians

"From academic libraries like that at MIT or renowned research centers like the Library of Congress, the following beta research tools feature innovative tricks to connect you with the most relevant, valid results - including books (real and digital), articles, documents, web sites, and more."

I attended a workshop on Zotero (#15) last week and plan to use it as I began working on my thesis.

Field Trip!

2008-02-11T06:56:00.000-08:00

I'm taking a class this semester taught by Mary Jo Pugh, editor of the American Archivist and author of the classic, Providing Reference Services for Archives and Manuscripts .

This past week end we visited the Oregon Historical Society and spent Saturday morning examining collections for papers and presentations. I looked through one collection in order to participate in the discussion at our next class meeting. As I don't live in Portland, my paper and presentation will be done using a collection from the Oregon State University Library Archive .

Archivist Charged with Hundreds of Thefts from New York State Library

2008-02-07T19:23:00.000-08:00

This article , which begins,

A New York state archivist has admitted stealing hundreds of historical artifacts beginning in 2002 from the New York State Library in Albany that he sold on the internet to pay for household repairs and his daughter’s $10,000 credit card bill.

and published a few days is old news now to many interested in archives. It's been discussed on the Archives and Archivists list , but the focus has been on security measures and how it will affect archivists applying for positions. I saw no outrage that this man apparently stole things, not just from the New York State Library, not just from the people of New York. He stole from the American people. He stole our history and he did it for selfish reasons, out of pure greed. That he betrayed our trust saddens me deeply.

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Internship Program/Summer, 2008

2008-01-29T07:34:00.000-08:00

Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library welcomes applications from current graduate students in library science, information studies, preservation, archives or a related program for its newly constituted internship program. The program has been designed to provide practical experience to current graduate students interested in pursuing a career in technical services in a special
collections setting.

The Beinecke Library, one of the world's largest buildings devoted entirely to rare books and manuscripts, is Yale's principal repository for literary archives, early manuscripts, and rare books as well as strong collections of historical materials. Its collections are internationally known and heavily used by scholars from around the world. For further information about the Beinecke Library, consult the
library's web site at: http://www.library.yale.edu/beinecke.

Responsibility for receiving, accessioning, processing and cataloging as well as the preservation and conservation of materials in the Beinecke, regardless of format, resides with the Technical Services Department. Printed Acquisitions, Preservation, Manuscripts, Metadata and indirectly the Rare Book Cataloging Team are all units in
Technical Services.

Interns will work in an area of their specific interest and have the opportunity to learn more about how special collection libraries and major research libraries are organized and function. Interns will undertake and complete a project based on their interests, skills and the needs of the Library.

The Beinecke Library has four internships available for the summer of 2008, and is looking to host an intern in each of the following areas(see the list at end for additional details):

- Archival and manuscript processing
- Digital library and metadata development
- Preservation
- Rare book cataloging and acquisitions

Interns will work closely with staff in each of these areas and will be integrated into the broader operations of the library through tours, meetings with staff in the Beinecke Library and the Yale University Library, and participation in special projects as available and necessary.

Eligibility and requirements

- Applicants must be current graduate students in good standing in a library science, information studies, preservation, archives or related program
- Applicants must have completed at least three courses before the start date of their internship
- Applicants must commit to 10 consecutive weeks of employment between June 1st and August 31st, 2008
- At the end of the internship, interns will be required to submit a final report describing their experiences or participate in an exit interview
- Applicants must be eligible to work in the U.S.
- Successful applicants will need to pass a security background check

Interns will receive a stipend of $7,500 to be used for housing,travel and other expenses. The stipend will be divided into three payments: one upon starting, the second halfway through and the third upon completion of the internship.

The Library strongly encourages applicants from underrepresented communities to apply.

Applicants should submit the items below by Feb. 29, 2008, with a decision made in the beginning of April. Successful candidates will be contacted in the beginning of April.
- Cover letter indicating internship area preference, as described below
- Current resume
- Three letters of reference and contact information, including one from your current institution
- List of completed classes (unofficial transcripts accepted)

Send these to:

Diane Y. Turner, Associate University Librarian for Human Resources
Staff Training & Community Development
P.O. Box 208240
New Haven, CT 06520-8240
fax: (203) 432-1806
email: hrlibrary@yale.edu,:

Please send any questions concerning the internships to hrlibrary@yale.edu

POSSIBLE PROJECTS

Archives and manuscript processing
- Arrange, describe, and preserve manuscript collections from the Yale Collection of American Literature, the Yale Collection of Western Americana, and/or the General Collection of Modern Books and Manuscripts.
- Create inventories and collection level descriptions encoded in EAD and MARC.
- Participate as needed in Manuscript Unit initiatives related to archival processing, accessioning, and manuscript cataloging.

Digital library and metadata development
- Gain a broad introduction to digital library development, metadata, and mass digitization programs with an emphasis on the digitization of rare books and archival materials in special collections
- Create metadata records across a wide range of materials that may include medieval and renaissance manuscripts, modern manuscripts and photographs, books, artwork, and maps, according to local and national cataloging standards including AACR2, LCSH, LC Authorities, and AAT/TGM II
- Develop and manage structural metadata using software such as MS Excel
- Working with library staff, design and implement web interface usability studies of digital library technologies and make recommendations on web-interface improvements
- Receive a broad introduction to various types of modern digital capture equipment (e.g., large format digital camera, flatbed scanner and film scanner), and gain an overview of scanning and editing workflows

Rare book acquisitions and cataloging
- Broad introduction to technical services functions for rare books with an emphasis on rare book cataloging for a wide range of material from the 15th century to the present
- Introduction and experience using Voyager, OCLC/Connexion and other bibliographic databases
- Introduction and experience with AACR2, DCRM(B) (Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (Books)), LCSH, genre headings, and authority control.
- Specific projects will depend on a person's language skills,cataloging background, and interests (e.g. early books, artist books,maps, serials, or music)
- Acquisitions workflow including accession records, physical processing and tracking of materials prior to cataloging.

Preservation and conservation
- Condition assessments and treatment proposals
- Collection surveys, including printed materials, manuscripts,photographs, and A/V materials
- Coordinate environmental monitoring program and analyze data
- Liaise with vendors, including RFPs, contracts, and proposal reviews, for conservation treatments, housing, reformatting, and mass deacidification
- Assist with disaster preparedness and planning
- Aid in developing documentation including policies, procedures, best practices for workflow

Yale University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer
See: http://www.library.yale.edu/lhr/jobs/intern/brbl-intern.html

The What? Family??

2008-01-19T07:26:00.000-08:00

This photograph on the LC Flickr site is titled "Coney Island, the Whole Drand Family" but someone has realized that it actually says "the whole Darnd family" and what a family! Take a close look and you'll see the children aren't children at all--they're monkeys!

Thank you, John, for bringing this photo to my attention.

It's All About Access

2008-01-17T08:54:00.000-08:00

Vachon, John,, 1914-1975, photographer. [Grand Grocery Co.], Lincoln, Neb. [1942]

Check out this post on the Library of Congress blog. LC is now using Flickr to post images.

If all goes according to plan, the project will help address at least two major challenges: how to ensure better and better access to our collections, and how to ensure that we have the best possible information about those collections for the benefit of researchers and posterity.

You can find their Flickr account here. I am enrolled in a class on copyright this semester and I was especially interested to note that LC will "include only images for which no copyright restrictions are known to exist."

And as the blog poster wrote the really exciting part will be when people begin tagging the photographs! See "The Commons" for more information.

Dear readers....

2008-01-15T06:34:00.000-08:00

An article in last Sunday's Oregonian newspaper, written by Jim Carmin, the John Wilson Special Collections librarian at Multnomah County Library, which is entitled
Dear readers, The letter must not die begins

The practice and art of writing letters is dying; for most of us it may already be dead. E-mail has taken over. Written communication in our daily lives now is made up of snippets of prose stored on our electronic desktops.

I agree that letter writing has become a lost art. It's rare to get one in the postal mail. A huge amount of communication is done using email. A great deal is also done through texting on cell phones and there's a lot of communication done through wikis and blogs as well. The problem with all of those is there's no way to really save it unless one is willing to print it out. And somehow, a pile of printed out text messages, even if they are love notes, just doesn't have the same cachet. I cannot imagine keeping them, tied with a ribbon, as one might with handwritten notes. An email just doesn't have that "magical" value.

There certainly seems to be more communication now but it seems harder to find anything which is thoughtful, reflective, and creative. I also have realized that even though I have only been using computers for the past 15 years or so I find it more difficult to compose a letter when writing by hand than when typing. I can copy and paste, easily insert additional sentences, and use a spell check feature when I write an email or write a blog or wiki post. My brain seems to be working differently. Or perhaps that's just age.

And there's no time lag with emails. I wrote a note to Mr. Carmin thanking him for his article and the irony, of course, was that I wrote him an email and not a handwritten note sent by postal mail. If I'd done that it would have taken one or two days to get there. I'd have had to find a stamp and make sure I remembered to actually mail it. With an email I only had to hit "send". That, too, is a lost part of the "magic". There's no delicious anticipation waiting for the postman to deliver the day's mail to see if there's a special personal letter.

NOTE: The online version of the article does not include the illustrations of a letter written by Charles Dickens or a postcard from Allen Ginsberg to William Burroughs. You'll need to find a print copy of the article to see those. You can find it in Section O, on page 10.

Two Roads: Ancient/Future Libraries

2008-01-07T07:51:00.000-08:00

This article, Future Reading:Digitization and Its Discontents , by book historian Anthony Grafton and published in last November's New Yorker, is a fascinating read.

I especially intrigued by his description of the two ways that we now have to access information:

For now and for the foreseeable future, any serious reader will have to know how to travel down two very different roads simultaneously. No one should avoid the broad, smooth, and open road that leads through the screen. … If you want deeper, more local knowledge, you will have to take the narrower path … The narrow path still leads, as it must, to crowded public rooms where the sunlight gleams on varnished tables, and knowledge is embodied in millions of dusty, crumbling, smelly, irreplaceable documents and books.

When we digitally reformat our historical collections or build institutional repositories for new digital material, we are merely reinventing the old. There are historical precedents for such practices—in ancient and medieval librarianship and, in the more recent past, the historical manuscripts tradition—that show us how in the past libraries and archives supported a range of textual activities that enabled the sharing of knowledge.

Archives and Ethics

2008-01-07T06:53:00.000-08:00

The Center of Information Policy Research at the University of Wisconsin held a conference on "Archives and Ethics: Reflections on Practice" last November and offer archived videos here .

I know that digitization is the hot topic now, that along with Web 2.0 tools, but perhaps we should be spending more time thinking about the basics-- how we capture records, how we make them available, and especially, what do we do when they reveal proprietary or controversial evidence. The complex technological issues are easy when compared to dealing with ethics.

The website offers other archived videos as well on topics such as the Googlization of everything and intellectual information. You may want to check out those topics too.

A current schedule listing future lectures can be found here .

Archivopedia

2008-01-04T08:00:00.000-08:00

I've just discovered an archives encyclopedia wiki, Archivopedia , which includes a free job board, a resume bank for both students and professionals, a list of blogs for and by archivists, news and trends in archives as well as a search engine for primary source documents.

Google Docs

2007-12-31T06:43:00.000-08:00

Last year I began using del.icio.us to bookmark my favorites and found it especially useful for saving and organizing bookmarks I need for my classes.

This year I've added Google Docs to my list of tools. I use it mainly to keep notes and information for my classes although I have added a packing list I can use for the seven trips I'll be making to Portland in the next four months. The main advantage of Google Docs is that I can access my work from any computer with Internet access. This would also be an excellent tool for working on group projects because the pages can be shared.

Buy Legos, Not Lasers!

2007-12-13T20:30:00.001-08:00

I remember, one Christmas long ago, when my sons were small, seeing a group of well meaning parents on a television news segment protesting that Toys R Us sold toy guns. They paraded around the store, carrying signs declaring "Buy Legos, not lasers!!" trying to convince parents not to buy play guns. I had to laugh because, as I never bought my sons play guns, it didn't stop them from making them out of their Legos! Maybe they were just ahead of their time.

This story entitled Legos — they're not just for good kids anymore begins

A book written by two former employees of the Danish plastic-brick giant is burning up the Amazon.com sales charts — and raising eyebrows on the other side of the Atlantic.

"Forbidden LEGO: Build the Models Your Parents Warned You Against" was published in August by No Starch Press , a small independent publishing house based in San Francisco.

"You'll learn to create working models that LEGO would never endorse," the book's page on the publisher's Web site promises. "Try your hand at a toy gun that shoots LEGO plates, a candy catapult, a high voltage LEGO vehicle, a continuous-fire ping-pong ball launcher, and other useless but incredibly fun inventions."

Americans have embraced the idea in stride, putting the title at No. 244 on the Web retailer's (Amazon) book-sales chart as of midday Thursday. But in Britain, the constantly hysterical press added the book onto its ever-growing pile of Things That Threaten Society.

"Lego is set to turn slightly more sinister with the launch of an unofficial book that teaches children how to make weapons out of the iconic plastic bricks," warned London's Evening Standard.

On commentator stated:

"This is a very dangerous idea," he wrote with tongue firmly in cheek. "Kids could make atomic bombs out of Lego, and just think what would happen if some Islamic terrorist get hold of a copy. The possibilities are terrifying."

Indeed! But as someone training to be a librarian all I can say is that no one had better try to ban the book!

How Did That Happen?

2007-12-07T18:24:00.000-08:00

The terms is, for all intents and purposes, over until mid-January and I should be thinking about relaxing and getting ready for Christmas but somehow that isn't happening. I have an interview scheduled for the end of the month so I can write a paper and then I need to write the paper, there are some scholarships I'm interested in applying for to attend various conferences, some proposals I need to put together for some conferences where I'd like to do presentations, and I want to at least begin doing the research for, if not actually write, at least two other papers.

And oh, I need to order my textbooks for next term, organize my desk, print out the syllabi for my classes and organize my notebooks, and I'm sure there are some things I've forgotten too.

Stop! Wait!I'm going to take this week-end off. I'll try hard not to read my email (but I probably won't be able to resist) and I'll do a bit of knitting. The carpets were cleaned today and tomorrow John and I will put all the furniture back. Maybe I'll start on the Christmas decorating too and make my lists for baking. A nap or two doesn't sound like a bad idea either.

Paper and Webpage for LI835

2007-12-04T23:34:00.000-08:00

My paper on Information Transfer: A Model for Liaison Services, which includes a link to a website I constructed for it intended as a pathfinder for university students studying Native American art, can be found here .

Last Class Weekend in Portland

2007-12-03T07:51:00.000-08:00

John accompanied me to my last class weekend in Portland. It was cold, rainy, and windy. My presentation went well and I'm glad for that. It was practicing it over and over again which made the difference, I think.

I went to the Farmer's Market, the last one I'll be able to go to until they reopen again in the spring. There were not nearly as many booths as there are in mid-summer and most of the lush produce and flowers are gone. One booth was selling mushrooms, one had a display with jars of honey, and another had a selection of homemade breads. All of the vendors were bundled up against the wind and rain in heavy coats, hats, and scarves. I did find one booth selling jams and chutneys and bought a small jar of strawberry/rhubarb jam for John. As I left the market, I noticed one booth with a basket of traditional winter vegetables-- beets and turnips--but there weren't many buyers.

As I headed back towards the classroom building, I heard roaring sounds coming for a nearby street and went to see what was going on. The street had been blocked to cars and it was now filled with motorcyclists wearing Santa hats over their helmets. Many had large stuffed animals strapped to the back of their cycles as passengers, some had sidecars filled with toys, and one was pulling a little cart piled high with gifts. They roared their engines and a few did wheelies and people watched and smiled and waved at them and they waved back with huge grins. This was the annual Portland Toys for Tots Motorcycle Parade. What a wonderful way to begin the Christmas holidays!

L-Net Training

2007-11-11T15:20:00.000-08:00

I've been waiting for more than a year to do the training for L-Net . L-Net is a virtual reference service their webpage describes as "an online reference service provided by Oregon's libraries. You may chat live with a librarian or e-mail us your question." I finally was able to do the first part of it yesterday at the Portland Community College Sylvania Library. The second session will be next week.

Emily Papagni, the Multnomah County Library outreach librarian, provided us with the training. That's her in the photo.

This photo is of the lab in the library taken before everyone arrived.

How We Communicate

2007-11-06T15:41:00.000-08:00

Early this morning, on the pathway leading to the OSU Library, I came across a message written in yellow chalk on the sidewalk. I had been thinking about all the exciting web2.0 tools I'd found yesterday and now, staring at me, was the simplest of messages, told in a simple way, to anyone who walked past.

The audience clearly was intended to be students and instructors and all those who walked down this path. The message wasn't meant to be permanent, only to last a day or so. It would wash off with the first rain or would be scuffed out of existence in a few days. It was short and to the point. There were no bells or whistles or flashing lights or bright colors.

Maybe, just maybe, sometimes simple is better.

It Really IS Like Christmas Every Day!

2007-11-05T07:49:00.000-08:00

I've been opening and playing with all kinds of toys lately and adding them to my blogs. I added a widget which allows updated posts from the Global Museum , one that allows one to sign up for email subscriptions to the blog , Meebo for IM , LibraryThing , del.icio.us , Flickr, and a search worldcat function, all to this blog.

I added twitter to another of my blogs, All the Rest of My Life .

A Vision of Students Today

2007-11-02T18:18:00.001-07:00

Thank you, April, for sharing this!

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-31T10:25:00.000-07:00

Have a wonderful and safe Halloween!

EDI Leadership Conference

2007-10-26T01:43:00.000-07:00

Last week I went to Kansas to attend the EDI Leadership Conference . I learned a great deal, met new friends, and met friends of old friends. I still feel as if there's a wonderful and exhilarating tornado inside of me full of emotions, memories, and ideas. I haven't sorted it all out yet. Photos can be found here , here , and here .

Northwest Central

2007-10-15T15:47:00.000-07:00

I have updated my profile at Northwest Central.

Motivation and Diversity: Factors that Influence the Choice of LIS as a Career

2007-10-15T15:32:00.000-07:00

This presentation is from the University of Arizona School of Information Resources and Library Podcast Archive which can be found here.

Lisa Hussey (British Columbia, Library, Archival and Information Studies) discusses her dissertation, which focused on building an understanding of the motivations of ethnic minorities to choose library and information science (LIS) as a career. Diversity in LIS and diversity initiatives in LIS programs have been important topics in the profession and in the literature. Increasing the presence of librarians of color may help to improve diversity within LIS. However, recruiting ethnic minorities into LIS has proven to be difficult. The central questions explored can be divided into two parts: (1) Why do ethnic minorities choose librarianship as a profession? (2) What would motivate members of minority groups to join a profession in which they cannot see themselves?

There is a presentation as well as a podcast .

LibraryThing

2007-10-15T07:41:00.000-07:00

I joined LibraryThing in September, but didn't really begin doing anything with it until last weekend. I've added and tagged over 200 books. I can see that this will be a very useful tool. See my profile here .

O Canada

2007-10-14T20:20:00.003-07:00

2007-10-14T20:20:00.001-07:00

A music video of Nipissing First Nation in Ontario, Canada with original music by Keith Mcleod.

2007 Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums Conference

2007-10-14T05:46:00.000-07:00

The 2007 Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums Conference is being held in Oklahoma City on October 23-25 and even though I'll be in Emporia, Kansas the week before attending the EDI Leadership Institute Conference and Oklahoma City is less than 250 miles away, and I'm on the program committee for the 2009 Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums Conference which will be held in Portland, I won't be able to go.

It's another example of "so close and yet so far."

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First Nations DVD: Making a Difference

2007-10-13T03:46:00.000-07:00

The Ontario First Nations Public Libraries has developed an eight minute DVD entitled "Making a Difference", to promote and increase awareness about libraries in First Nations’ communities. A short clip from that video can be found on their website, Ontario First Nation Public Libraries .

The Photo Detective

2007-10-12T15:19:00.000-07:00

An article in today's Wall Street Journal entitled The Photo Detective , describes the work of Maureen Taylor, formerly the Library Director at the New England Historic Genealogical Society. It begins:

Maureen Taylor has dated a photograph to 1913 by studying the size and shape of a Lion touring car's headlamps. Armed with her collection of 19th-century fashion magazines, she can pinpoint the brief period when Victorian women wore their bangs in tight curls rather than swept back. Using a technique borrowed from the CIA, she identified a photo of Jesse James by examining the shape of his right ear.

and ends

Ms. Taylor gives about 20 lectures a year, has a column in Family Tree Magazine and writes books, including "Uncovering Your Ancestry Through Family Photographs" (2005). Her latest quest may well be her most ambitious. Using census records, Ms. Taylor and a colleague, David Lambert, are tracking down photos of Revolutionary War veterans who lived to see the photography era in the late 1830s. So far, the researchers have found 100 images. They've also found photos of Revolutionary War families, including widows, by searching public and private collections for 1840s-era photographs of elderly people.
"We're looking for pictures people don't know they have," says Ms. Taylor, who's working on a book about the topic. "The majority of photographs from that period are still unidentified. They're lost."

A fascinating read!

Banned Books Read-Out

2007-10-12T12:39:00.000-07:00

This report from the Banned Books Read-Out, held September 29 in Chicago, features ALA President Loriene Roy and Judith Krug from ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom speaking on the importance of choosing your own reading material, and authors Carolyn Mackler and Chris Crutcher on how librarians "save our lives daily."

Spring Semester 2008 Classes

2007-10-07T10:27:00.000-07:00

I've registered to take ten credits next Spring. My classes are:

LI809 Introduction to Archives
LI810 Research and Inquiry in Library and Information Science
LI833 Information Transfer Among Special Populations
LI866 Introduction to Copyright
LI899 Thesis

Course descriptions can be found here .

Banned Book Week

2007-10-01T14:34:00.000-07:00

The 26th anniversary of Banned Book Week began a couple of days ago and continues through Saturday. See the ALA site for further details. And here is an extensive list of banned or challenged books .

You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.
~ Ray Bradbury

Saving Ancient Manuscripts

2007-10-01T13:51:00.001-07:00

A brief article in the October, 2007 issue of The National Geographic Magazine caught my eye this morning.

Filed under Archaeology, the article describes how, in the 1500s, a scholar and scribe around Timbuktu by the name of Mohammed El Mawlud bought and created handwritten Arabic texts on topics ranging from theology to astronomy. When a foreign army sacked the library, destroying some of the texts and taking others, families began hiding them in caves and behind walls. More than 300,000 books survived and most are still in the hands of the families that protected them. Grants are now being used to help repair, protect, and scan these books, some of which date from the 12th century.

Read more here , a story in the Guardian Unlimited entitled In Fabled City at the End of the Earth, a Treasury of Ancient Manuscripts: In Timbuktu the Race is on to Preserve Papers that Document a West African Golden Age

And here is a link to Libraries of Timbuktu for the Preservation and Promotion of African Literary Heritage

An Old Suitcase's Journey Home

2007-09-26T11:45:00.000-07:00

This story in today's Washington Post An Old Suitcase's Journey Home.The Bag Had Been Left Behind In a Building Under Renovation, With No Clear Owner. But It Fell Into Determined Hands tells the story of the tenacity of the members of a building demolition team, described by the author as "Guys whose job is to clobber, destroy and trash", to preserve, track down the owner, and return an old battered suitcase containing some photograph albums, a yearbook, and letters dating to the 1920's.

The owner, Washington D.C. attorney Brian Shaughnessy, stated the items inside "don't mean anything to anybody else, but they mean a lot to me."

Saving Vanishing Languages from Extinction

2007-09-21T08:42:00.000-07:00

The Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages recently reported that, while there are an estimated 7,000 languages spoken around the world today, one of them dies out about every two weeks.

Five hot spots where languages are most endangered were listed in a recent briefing by the Living Tongues Institute and the National Geographic Society. These hot spots are northern Australia, eastern Siberia and Oklahoma and the U.S. Southwest, South America - Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Brazil and Bolivia - as well as the area including British Columbia and the states of Washington and Oregon.

"When we lose a language, we lose centuries of human thinking about time, seasons, sea creatures, reindeer, edible flowers, mathematics, landscapes, myths, music, the unknown and the everyday," said K. David Harrison, an assistant professor of linguistics at Swarthmore College.

As many as half of the current languages have never been written down, he estimated. That means that, if the last speaker of many of these vanished tomorrow, the language would be lost because there is no dictionary, no literature, no text of any kind.

Anderson said languages become endangered when a community decides that its language is an impediment. The children may be first to do this, realizing that other more widely spoken languages are more useful.

The key to getting a language revitalized, he said, is getting a new generation of speakers. He said the institute works with local communities and tries to help by developing teaching materials and by recording the endangered language.

Harrison said the 83 most widely spoken languages account for about 80 percent of the world's population while the 3,500 smallest languages account for just 0.2 percent of the world's people.

But there is hope coming from new technology to at save some oral knowledge.

Fragile field recordings of American Indian speech and song gathered in the early 1900s may be saved for future generations through breakthrough technology supported by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

"This agreement underscores the federal commitment to making critical and irreplaceable collections held by the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology - and thousands of museums, libraries, and archives around the country - available to the widest possible audience while preserving and protecting the original objects and respecting the sensitive nature of the recordings," said Rep. Barbara Lee.

"The 2,700 wax cylinder recordings held by the Hearst museum are jewels in a treasure trove of early recordings that we hope will be rescued. Saving the delicate recordings, which literally may keep alive some of these Native American languages, fits squarely within the goals of IMLS's conservation initiative -- Connecting to Collections: A Call to Action", IMLS Director Anne-Imelda Radice said. Nationwide, there are approximately 20,000 Native American fieldwork recordings on fragile wax cylinders, the earliest method of recording and reproducing sound.

Other rare recordings that could benefit from the technology include:

** Field recordings of linguistic, cultural, and anthropological materials, such as early 20th century Mexican-American folk recordings from Southern California and Hawaiian folk music recordings.

** Field recordings of American and European folk music, including those recorded and collected by John Lomax.

** Speeches of historical figures such as Thomas Edison, Theodore Roosevelt, William Jennings Bryan, Alfred Lord Tennyson, and P.T. Barnum.

The new 3D system builds on a 2D system also developed by the Berkeley Lab called IRENE (Image, Reconstruct, Erase Noise, Etc.), which gathers digital sound from grooved discs (flat recordings such as traditional 78rpm shellac disc records) by illuminating the record surface with a narrow beam of light. The flat bottoms of the groove -- and the spaces between tracks -- appear white, while the sloped sides of the groove, scratches, and dirt appear black. The computer turns this information
into a digital sound file and corrects areas where scratches, breaks or wear have made the groove wider or narrower than normal. IRENE then "plays" the file with a virtual needle without damaging or destroying the original media. The technology was adapted from methods used to build radiation detectors for high-energy physics experiments.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation's 122,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The Institute's mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas. The Institute works at the national level and in coordination with state and local organizations to sustain heritage, culture, and knowledge; enhance learning and innovation; and support professional development.

Fun at the National Archives!

2007-09-16T13:57:00.000-07:00

I recently came across this online exhibit. Entitled When Nixon Met Elvis , it shows through letters, photographs, and memos, how and why the two met in the Oval Office on December 21, 1970. This photo is from that exhibit.

PCs and Libraries

2007-09-12T06:39:00.000-07:00

The headline for this article, Despite Demand, Libraries Won't Add PCs, is a bit misleading as the problem seems not to be that they won't add more PCs, but that they can't because they don't have room, the wiring is inadequate, or they just don't have enough money.

A new study from the American Library Association, scheduled for release Wednesday, finds the average number of public Internet terminals largely unchanged since 2002, yet only 1 in 5 libraries say they have enough computers to meet demand at all times.

I see this in both academic and in public libraries. The computers are always in use and, where it's allowed, people signed up waiting to use them. Often there are time limits for use.

Meanwhile, three-quarters of the libraries say they are the only source of free Internet access in their communities, increasing pressure on them to meet demand.

And the problem isn't only access but speed. Many web pages are interactive and not just text based. They have images, sound, and videos which requires a higher speed to access. The good news is that more libraries are going to wireless networking and that will help those who own laptops or have libraries where they can check one out for use. But again, we come back to the money issue.

Walking a Mile

2007-09-07T10:16:00.000-07:00

This report Walking a Mile: A First Step Toward Mutual Understanding ,"a qualitative study exploring how Indians and non-Indians think about each other", describes Indians and their perceptions of their place in contemporary American society and how non-Indians view American Indians. It was based on the findings from 12 focus groups, seven with Indians and five with non-Indians, held in 2006-2007

The study was funded by a grant from The Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation.

Note: While some Indians interviewed for the project prefer to use the term "Native American," the Bureau of Indian Affairs reports that the tribes it represents generally prefer the term "American Indian." Consequently, the latter is used exclusively in the report.

Keeping a Diary --A Librarian's Experience

2007-08-30T06:44:00.000-07:00

Many years ago a librarian told me that she'd gone to a farm auction and among the items she'd bought was a big box of old books. Upon getting home, she was delighted to find a diary written by the farm wife. She sat down to read it.

"Did chores." was the first day's entry. She turned the page. "Did chores." she read. She looked through out the entire diary. "Did chores." "Did chores." "Did chores." That was the extent of it.

She said she'd wished the farm wife had written more. What chores had she done? Did she hang the clothes up on the line and when she did, did she take a few minutes to watch the clouds or listen to the birds sing? Did she go out on the porch in the evening for a few minutes and look at the stars before going to bed? What did she
think about as she did her chores? Did she have any dreams? Did she make quilts or pies or a doll for a child? No one will ever know because all the farm wife wrote was the simple "Did chores."

Miniature Books

2007-08-27T07:01:00.002-07:00

I have been distracted from my class readings and assignments the past few days looking at a book I came across in the library last week, Miniature Books: 4,000 Years of Tiny Treasures . The title is a bit misleading. The oldest "books" are cuneiform tablets from ancient Mesopotamia dating from about 2,000 B.C.and then there's a huge blank area until we get to illuminated manuscripts from the the 1400's. Still, the large-sized book is lavishly illustrated with many color plates and delightful to peruse.
It was published in conjunction with a May 16–July 28 exhibition at the Grolier Club in New York. An online exhibition can be viewed here .

The Miniature Book Society will be holding a conclave in Seattle this October. If I weren't going to be in Kansas that week, I'd probably go! Their website offers links to more articles .

More links for those interested in this topic can be found here and here .

Unusual Bookmarks

2007-08-24T05:03:00.000-07:00

There's a letter in today's Dear Abby column from someone who works in a library and is concerned about people using their mail as bookmarks. The writer points out that doing this may result in the person checking the book out next having access to a stranger's name and address and perhaps quite a bit more if the piece of mail is something like a bill or a bank statement.

I've never found a piece of mail in a library book but I've found grocery lists, doctor appointment reminders, a dried flower, photographs, candy wrappers, unused postcards, playing cards, a lottery scratch off ticket (scratched off, not a winner),parking tickets, facial tissue (unused), business cards, a feather, greeting cards, a shoelace, bobby pins, a toothpick, used concert tickets, and, once, a holy card.

This reminds me of a bulletin board in a library from my childhood. There was a list of ten things not to do with library books. I only remember two. The first one was to never read a library book in the bath tub. I remember this one because I'd never thought of doing this but it sounded so tempting! The second one was stranger. It was an admonition to never, never use a piece of bacon as a bookmark. The first thought that came into my head was "cooked or raw" but I suppose it doesn't matter. This led me to two other questions: had this been included on the list because someone had actually done this and under what circumstances would a person use a piece of bacon as a bookmark?

NOTE And after doing a search I found this: The Legend of the Bacon Bookmark .

Reading

2007-08-22T08:00:00.000-07:00

Those who don't read have no advantage over those who can't.
~ Mark Twain

And apparently there are many who don't.

According to a recent Associated Press poll , 27% of Americans don't read even one book a year. Not one! Women and seniors were the groups who read the most; religious works and popular fiction were the top choices. The typical number of books read last year was four; half the respondents read more and half read fewer. After excluding the quarter of the population who hadn't read even one book, the usual number of books read a year was seven. Seven! I can't imagine. it. Thomas Jefferson couldn't live without books. I couldn't either.

One common excuse used is a lack of time and this reminded me of that Twilight Zone episode entitled "Time Enough At Last". A man who works in a bank and loves to read but can't find enough time to read as much as he'd like, is reading while eating his lunch in the bank vault. Nuclear war breaks out and he discovers that he is the last man on earth. There is plenty of food but the loneliness of being alone takes a toll on his sanity. He begins contemplating suicide until he comes across the public library and realizes that now, finally, he has all the time to read all he wants without interruption. He picks out stacks of books to read each month and, as he's leaving the library with the first stack, he stumbles and falls and shatters his reading glasses. Now...imagine if all the books in the world were available only in digital form and there was a power outage, a natural disaster, a nuclear war. Just as the character in this story is at the mercy of his glasses, we are at the mercy of our technology.

On the plus side was this New York Times article The Long Ride Home about long-distance commuters reading on the train to and from work and this blog post on the same topic from the UK Guardian Unlimited. I notice, however, that while the text is about reading books, the photographs show most commuters reading newspapers.

Photography Theory

2007-08-19T19:26:00.000-07:00

Comments made by Richard Cox in his review of James Elkins, ed., Photography Theory (New York: Routledge, 2007) tie in very well with a post I wrote recently about Stories and Pictures .

I am considering whether or not to add this book to my stack of to-read books, not because it doesn't sound interesting and useful, but because I have such a large stack of books now and so little time.

Endangered Native American Languages

2007-08-19T12:25:00.001-07:00

The Cultural Survival Quarterly of Cambridge, Massachusetts has dedicated their summer 2007 issue, Volume 31, to Endangered Native American languages. You can find it here .

Reflections

2007-08-19T00:39:00.000-07:00

Note: I began my Archives Practicum at the Oregon State University Library Archives last week and did some preliminary examination of the James A. Sewell Photographic Album . I am keeping a journal listing my activities and an annotated bibliography. I am also writing down reflections about what I've learned.
*****************************
Two of the most important things I learned this week was how easily it is to become distracted by details and to spend time unwisely searching for what may not exist. There is a tendency to want everything perfect and exact and it can be taken to an extreme. Do I measure the size of the photographs and describe them each in words in exquisite detail? How long and how far do I search to find out who the subjects are? How important is it to determine the provenance? I am curious and so I want to know everything possible there is to know about who James Sewell was, where he came from, and what happened to him, what he looked like, who the people are in the photographs, why he kept such an album (and why did he include a lone photograph of what I determined was a chrysanthemum?) Questions lead to more questions and to still more questions and time passes.

As a student I might have the time to delve into all these questions and search for the answers, but I wouldn’t have that time as a working archivist. Elizabeth showed me a box of documents which were in folders with sturdy, typed labels but there not non-acidic. Will they be re-foldered? No. There is nothing to show that they are being damaged where they are now. It would take a fair amount of labor to re-folder them all. When she said that my hands being to itch. I wanted to reach in there and start re-foldering, boring as that task might be. I wanted everything perfect.

In the introduction to Understanding Archives and Manuscripts, O’Toole and Cox state that the primary goals are preservation, organization, and access. The goals are not beauty and perfection. I will need to remember that.

As Greene and Meissner pointed out, if researchers do not know that a collection even exists because no one has yet had time to do a perfect job of processing it and making it available, then what’s the point? It may as well not exist at all.

My goal, then, is to provide enough information about the Sewell photographic album so that researchers know it exists and can access it. It may well be that they will have the answers to some of the questions I seek but have no way to discover. It may also be that there are no answers.

What is Worthy?

2007-08-18T18:38:00.000-07:00

Preserving the Outpouring of Grief: Virginia Tech Archives 60,000 Items Sent as Condolences was published in today's Washington Post. The questions it raises are how is grief archived and how will the decisions to decide what is worthy of being kept be made. Items were sent by mail and left at memorial sites. Some are digitally-born--blogs, songs, and online chats, Facebook sympathy cards, My-Space postings, even a memorial in the virtual world, Second Life. These will also need to be archived in some way.(See this website .)

The university's librarian, Eileen Hichingham, clearly sees it in terms of what will the potential researcher will someday want to see.

The importance is not only what came in, but you have to picture 10 years out. What is it? It's a research project. How do people mourn, how do they come together?

People felt an emotional response after this tragedy and it was compared to comfort food after a funeral.

You take the casserole over to the family, and I think people couldn't do that, but they looked to do something as close, as equivalent as they could.

The items included 32 cakes (one for each student killed), a kite from South Korea, thousands of tiny origami cranes, banners, cards, letters, drawings,posters, and stuffed animals.

Over 60,000 items have been received. The space to house it all is only 800 cubic feet. Tamara Kennelly, the university's archivist must decide what stays and what goes by November. The Library of Congress recommended to the university that 5 percent of the physical objects that were received be saved. It is indeed a daunting task.

Dream Archive

2007-08-15T10:11:00.001-07:00

I found this article in the Chronicle of Higher Education a few months ago and then forgot about it until I stumbled across it again recently.

The author's list for a perfect archive included long hours, grants of any size, silence, incadescent (not fluorescent) lighting, good security, photocopying (and allowing one to use a credit card to do so), plugs for prolonged laptop use (and Wi-Fi would be even better), along with complete finding aids for all holdings available online, comfortable seating, ambiance and form (including windows letting in natural light), and creative programming such as film screenings, talks, workshops, and seminars in its after-hours.

The only thing I would add is a policy allowing the use of digital cameras (taking copyright issues into consideration, of course).

All the Good Stuff

2007-08-14T17:20:00.000-07:00

I remember, when I was eight or nine, running so fast I felt I was flying. When I told my mother this, she sighed and told me to enjoy it while it lasted. Surprised, I asked her what she meant and she explained that kids could do some things adults couldn't. She, as an adult, could not run out in the street. If she did people would think there was a problem; she was being chased or was running away from someone. This was a new concept to me as up until then I'd believed it was the adults who had all the good stuff, not the kids.

My generation changed all that. Adults can and do run in the streets now; they just call it jogging. Adults can do other things that they couldn't do in public in previous generations either. They can roller skate and bike, for example. Okay, some do obnoxious things they shouldn't do in public like chew gum (one of my personal pet peeves). However, it's true that we do have much more freedom and can do things now that only children were allowed to do before.

Libraries have been slow to catch on to this. Yes, libraries! Those bastions of change and freedom! I love the reading to dogs program, for example. I don't have a dog and the idea of sitting next to and reading to one while he or she listens to me in rapt attention delights me, but the program has the serious purpose of increasing children's reading skills and confidence, you see. It isn't just for fun. And it's not available to adults.

Then there are the summer reading programs. Oh, they had some of these for children when I was growing up but they weren't nearly as well organized as they are now. Libraries should have them for adults too. But, but...maybe some libraries are finally getting the idea. I saw that the Seattle Public Library is in its fourth year of having a summer reading program for adults ! Good for them! I wish more libraries had them!

Outsider Art

2007-08-11T20:22:00.000-07:00

I've looked for and read many definitions of what "outsider art" is. Some call it naive art, others call it folk or primitive art. It can be tramp art or prison art. Others say it is simply art made by those are self-taught and outside the traditional art world.

No where have I seen what I think defines it. Outsider art is art made by those who have to create and will create out of any materials at hand. There is a need to create in each of us and for outsider artists, this need is profound and cannot be denied. The pure human impulse to create is the essence.

The art that is made is visionary and made to fulfill a need in oneself, not the needs of others. It is personal. It is honest. It is original. It can be whimsical, strange, or disturbing. And, always, in its own way, it is very powerful.

Turning the Pages

2007-08-11T17:11:00.000-07:00

Would you like to see full featured, fully navigable online versions of the First Atlas of Europe, Jane Austen's History of England, William Blake's notebook of sketches and poems including The Tyger, the original Alice in Wonderland and more?

Well you can here , on the British Library Webpage.

Saving Our Libraries

2007-08-11T16:42:00.000-07:00

Three out of every four books in Europe's libraries are printed on acidic paper that isn't expected to last another century. That's the message heard by delegates at the IUPAC World Chemistry Congress in Turin, Italy, this week, who were asked: can analytical chemistry rescue our written heritage?

These, the first sentences in this report, Can Chemistry Save Our Libraries , certainly caught my attention.

It's books made between around 1860 and 1990 that are the real concern, said Strlic [Matija Strlic, from the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia,] - and these are the books that make up the bulk of most library collections. Before 1850 or so, paper was made by hand from clothing rags. This gave a paper with high quality fibres and neutral pH, which is expected to last several millennia. But once paper making was industrialised, the sheets made by the new process were of pH 4 to 5. Left untreated, this paper will only survive a couple of hundred years before disintegrating, due to gradual depolymerisation of the cellulose fibres caused by the acid.

The article discusses a project called SurveNIR and the development of a near infrared (NIR) technique to assess whether or not a book needs to be mass-deacidified by checking to see, first of all, if it actually needs the process done, and secondly, whether it's strong enough to withstand it. Unlike the process used now, it leaves the paper completely unmarked.

Jan Wouters, of the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage in Brussels, Belgium, presented a related talk,discussing how each page of a valuable 8th century illuminated manuscript, the Codex Eyckensis, was laminated by conservators in the 1950s. The lamination not only affected the look and feel of the manuscript, it also accelerated the decay of the parchment and had to be laboriously removed.

Determining how any preservation treatment will affect an artifact, said Strlic, assessing both short and long-term effects, can be done now using model paper aging.

It's particularly important not to use new techniques on the most precious books before they are fully tested, he said.

Patron Saint of Archivists

2007-08-10T07:32:00.000-07:00

This was a post on the archives list this morning.

Deacon Laurence presided over the financial records of the early church in Rome. In 258, the Emperor Valerian confiscated all Church property and summarily executed Pope Sixtus II and seven deacon who were responsible for distributing goods and funds as needed, primarily to widows and orphans. The remaining deacon, Laurence, was charged with providing records of the funds.

As any good archivist, Laurence informed the emperor that such a massive FOIA request would take three days to process. He saw that all remaining funds were spent out and distributed to the poor. When the Emperor demanded to see the wealth of the Church, Laurence presented him with the widows, orphans and other needy Church members and informed him that they were the treasures of the Church. The Emperor was not impressed. He had Laurence roasted alive over a fire on a gridiron. Laurence is reputed to have said, at one point, "You may turn me over; I am well done on this side."

It is traditional to remember St. Laurence with sandwiches of cold cuts on August 10, the day of his demise.

Google Cheat Sheet

2007-08-10T07:21:00.000-07:00

The Google Guide is a two-page quick reference which is also available as a printable pdf.

Care and Identification of 19th-Century Photographic Prints

2007-08-09T09:35:00.000-07:00

In preparation for my Archives Practicum, which begins next week, I requested and received Care and Identification of 19th-Century Photographic Prints from The Emporia State University Library . I am being very careful with this book, published by the Kodak Company in 1986, as I've noted it is out of print and used copies are priced at $160-$300.

In a little more than 100 pages, the author, James M. Reilly, provides a history of photographic printing, describes the materials contained in prints and how they deteriorate, discusses the stability of specific print materials, informs the reader how to identify different types of print processes including providing an extensive identification guide and many examples, and spends a chapter each on preservation and collection management, storage, and handling, display, and care.

I am taking extensive notes as I believe this will also be a very useful book when I take a class in Preservation next year.

I also came across Photographs of the 19th Century: A Process Identification Guide by William A. Leyshon, which provides a useful glossary as well as an extensive biblography.

Other useful bibliographies on the topic can be found here and
here .

In Dusty Archives, A Theory of Affluence

2007-08-07T13:45:00.001-07:00

This review, In Dusty Archives, a Theory of Affluence , published in today's New York Times, discuses Gregory Clark's belief that the Industrial Revolution occurred because of a change in the nature of the human population. People began, the author contends, to develop new behaviors including non-violence, literacy, long working hours, and saving, all required to make a modern economy work. There are those who disagree and their comments are included in the review. The book, A Farewell to Alms (Princeton University Press), comes out next month.

From my reading of the review I think there are some problems with his reasoning, but I'll reserve judgment until I can get my hands on the book and read it for myself. However, if you can't wait, check out the author's page . He provides not only the table of contents, but a number of sample chapters as well.

The British National Archives Wiki

2007-08-05T18:57:00.001-07:00

I came across this while wandering around, looking at fascinating posts about archives and archivists. This may very well be the first use and endorsement by a national government of wiki technology for its community of users. It's hosted by the British National Archives and intended for any user to inform other users and the staff of the National Archves about information that may not be captured through their descriptive tools.

Information Wants to Be Free

2007-08-05T16:46:00.000-07:00

I've picked up a little phrase from each of my library school classes. An aside: One day I should make a list of them and post them. In one of my first classes the phrase was "information wants to be free".

Turning the ivory tower into an open book , from the July 21, 2007 Canada's Globe and Mail, begins

This year, the University of Toronto's library system will spend $20-million on acquisitions. But less than one-third of that money will go to books. The majority will pay for the rising subscription costs of academic journals.

"It's alarming," says Carole Moore, the university's chief librarian.

Along with colleagues across the country, she has watched the price of the latest research skyrocket, with top titles such as medical journal Brain Research now hitting $21,000 or more for annual subscriptions. This, even as an increasing number of journals are available electronically.

All of which has sparked a hot debate among academics about who should own knowledge: Echoing the music and film industries, the two camps are polarized between those who argue for open access to research - especially studies funded by the public purse - and those who insist that proper collection and editing of research come with a cost.

More and more we will be going to open access journals.
(See this .) The directory currently includes 2,789 free, full text, quality controlled scientific and scholarly journals, 836 of them searchable at article levels, with a total of 142373 articles. Their goal is to cover all subjects and languages.

If vendors want to keep their markets, they're going to have to become more inventive and creative in what they offer libraries. Oh, yes. That's another phrase on my list from library school: value added.

P.S. And oh! how ironic that the newspaper allowed me to read the article free for a short time, but now wants to charge me C$4.95 plus tax to view it again with a time limit of 30 days!

Stories and Pictures

2007-08-04T17:23:00.000-07:00

I like both stories and pictures. In that way, I've never grown up.

I've just begun reading a book by Thomas King entitled The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative. Of course, I also checked out all his novels that the public library has: Truth and Bright Water, Medicine River, and Green Grass and Running Water, and I'll write about those books in another of my blogs, All the Rest of My Life , but it is this, his non-fiction work, that I'm going to read first. He writes things I know, but were only wisps of thought, and tells me things I never thought of at all.

From the first chapter:

~The truth about stories is that that's all we are.

~ I am a listener to the language's stories, and when my words form I am retelling the same stories in different patterns.

~ Stories are wondrous things. And they are dangerous....for once a story is told, it cannot be called back. Once told, it is loose in the world. So you have to be careful with the stories you tell. And you have to watch out for the stories that you are told.

~ It was Sir Isaac Newton who said, "To every action there is always opposed an equal reaction". Had he been a writer, he might have simply said, "To every action there is a story".

And that's just in the first 29 pages.

Last month I took a SOLINET class on Preserving Oral Histories . The instructor talked mostly about storage formats and digitization. The rest of it, the understanding why oral stories are so important, was left to others, others like Thomas King, to discuss.

Next month I'm taking another SOLINET class, this one on
Preservation of Photographic Materials , another way we share what we know and think and feel, and reveal who we are.

This blogger , a photographer, wrote about photographs and prints a few weeks ago:

I don’t think there’s ever going to be a time where the photograph as a physical object becomes a rarity - a print is a lot more convenient than any current display device. As display devices become more paper like, eventually we’ll have smart paper - a sheet of stuff that’s capable of displaying images that has the look and feel of a sheet of flexible paper. At that point in our science fiction future, the distinction between a ‘displayed image’ and a ‘print’ disappears, really. So in the somewhat distant future, I guess we end up back with prints, albeit a more active sort than we usually think of, and the cost per displayable image drops close to zero.

Prints now can be digitally altered just like stories, when told orally, change in the telling.

I need to think more about this.