Oregon Library Association Scholarship

I'm in Portland, attending class, but I talked to John on the phone this afternoon and he said I'd received a letter informing me I'd won a scholarship from the Oregon Library Association .

Catalog Card Maker

Portland This Weekend

I have a class in Portland this week. I'm looking forward to seeing my classmates and going to the Farmer's Market on Saturday.

The Last Couple of Weeks

In the past few weeks, I've been working to catch up with my assignments. The conference in Idaho in May and then the one in Baltimore in June , interrupted my study schedule quite badly. I'm now caught up and I'm working on research for the few projects I have left this semester, as well getting ready for the presentation I'm doing in Wilsonville on July 20th.

I've volunteered to be on the Programming Committee for the American Indian Library Association which will tie in very well with being on the Program Committee for the National Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museum Conference , which will be held in Portland in 2009.

I've registered for several SOLINET distance classes including Introduction to Preservation (which will give me a nice jump start on my Emporia Preservation class which begins next month) and Preserving Oral Histories, both this month. SOLINET gives a very generous discount to students, so in August I'll be taking classes in Caring for Scrapbooks, Preservation of Photographic Materials, and Grants for Preservation. Then, in September, I start a distance learning eight-week class on Managing Copyright issues. The money for this comes from my Northwest Archivists scholarship.

I've begun working on an article I'm writing for their newsletter Easy Access about the Rare Books and Manuscripts Conference,From Here to Ephemerality: Fugitive Sources in Libraries, Archives, and Museums . This will be published in their September issue. I've also discussed writing an article with the editor of Archival Issues .

I've registered for a total of ten (!) credit hours for Fall Semester. My academic advisor is probably tearing her hair out at what I'm doing, but maybe she's figured out what John realized years ago: when I am determined to do something, it's best just to smile and get out of my way and let me do it. I am having so much fun!

And it's not "all work, no play". Check out my new blog, Small Comforts , and see what I do on the vacation days I give myself! I do take time to smell the flowers!

The National Archives of the United States

I took this photo as we walked by on our way to the Jefferson Memorial.

National Gallery of Art

After the conference, John, Jack, and I took the train to Washington, D.C. We spent quite a bit of time at the National Gallery of Art, one of my favorite places.

This is the Vigin Annunciate made of painted wood by Pisan, c.1325-1350.

Tremont Grand

The Tremont Grand was the hotel where most of the conference sessions were held and about three blocks from the hotel where we stayed.

The Johns Hopkins University Campus

Johns Hopkins University

John and I returned from Baltimore earlier this week where I attended the RBMS Preconference . The sessions were held on the Johns Hopkins University campus one day of the conference.

These photos show Homewood, the door to one the buildings where I attended some conference sessions, and the JHU library (which doesn't look very impressive because most of it is underground).

2007 Oregon-Idaho United Methodist Scholarship and Award

I've been notified that I've been awarded the 2007 Oregon-Idaho United Methodist Ethnic Leadership and Scholarship Award. I am very honored to have received this and grateful for the help Pastor Sharon and her husband, Julian, gave me when writing my application.

Half-Way Mark

I had another class in Portland this week-end, the last one with most of the Oregon-7 cohort, as from here on out we'll be taking different classes based on our interests and the certificates we are seeking.


Perri brought us cake and orange juice to celebrate. Thanks, Perri!

Human Skin as a Record

Like many of you, I'm always reading several different books, fiction and non-fiction. Every once in a while the books (or in this case, a review of a book) I'm reading mesh in some way.

I've just finished the May 29, 2007 post in Richard J. Cox's blog Reading Archives which has a review of a book by Valentin Groebner, entitled Who Are You? Identification, Deception, and Surveillance in Early Modern Europe. The author defines it as being about the “histories and prehistories of identification and its documentation” (p. 8).

We identify ourselves and each other now mainly with paper documents--driver's licenses, credit cards, passports--but there was a time, before paper, when we used not just seals, badges, coats of arms, and notary signatures, but our very skin. Human skin as archives, if you will. Scars, birthmarks,and burns are all examples. As Groebner wrote "Once inscribed on the skin, no marking can be removed, but can only be supplemented” (p. 97).

Now it happens that at the same time that I was reading this review, I was finishing Laura Lippman's "What the Dead Know". In that book a character, who has no papers, no relatives who can provide DNA, no one who can attest to who her identity after so many years have passed, is finally able to prove who she is by a small scar on her arm. It is having that scar, that tiny imperfection, which allows her to claim her true identity.

Repackaging Information

One of the classes I'm taking this summer is on repackaging information and I've been reading books and articles on information design, visual information, usability and accessibility, and web design. Our first assignment was to find some citations to books, articles, and websites appropriate to add to the readings selected by the instructor which dealt with how a specific user group used information. The user group I chose was Native Americans and this is what I found:

Patterson, L. (1995). Information needs and services of Native Americans. Rural Libraries 15(2), 37-44.

Native American artists use art and storytelling to bring cancer statistics to life. Retrieved May 27, 2007 from here

Simpson, L. (2000). Stories, Dreams and Ceremonies—Anishnaabe Ways of Learning. Tribal College: Journal of American Indian Higher Education, 11 (4), 26-29.

Patterson, L. (1992). Understanding and appreciating the unique needs of Native Americans. Multicultural Aspects of Library Media Programs. Libraries Unlimited, 54-60.

Model village/The University of British Columbia. Retrieved May 27, 2007 from
here

Marsden, D. (2004). Expanding knowledge through dreaming, wampum, and visual arts. Journal of Aboriginal and Indigenous
Community Health 2 (2), 55-74. Retrieved May 27, 2007 from
here

Rhodes, R.W. (1998). Holistic/teaching for Native American Students. Journal of American Indian Education, 27 (2). Retrieved May 27, 2007 from here

Native American information users tend to prefer to receive their information orally, through storytelling, as well as visually, through observation and through art, and from tribal (community) and holistic perspectives. There is also a preference for information that is presented through a spiral process, rather than through a lineal one, and in a way which allows one to have time to absorb it.

Northwest Archivists Conference

The Northwest Archivists Annual Conference was held this year in Moscow, Idaho on May 18-19 and was entitled "Dynamic Archives: Preserving the Past and Speaking to the Future". The sessions I attended were on Building a National Archival Network , Research and Analysis in Archival Theory and Practice, and Archivists in a Web 2.0 and all left with a great deal to think about.

The photo on top is the Student Commons on the University of Idaho campus where the conference was held and the second is of our friendly and very helpful conference registration clerk.

I've put photos about our trip to Utah on one of my other blogs, All the Rest of My Life.

OSU Library Archives

I'm working both Saturday and Sunday afternoons at the Archives this week-end so that I can attend Dynamic Archives: Preserving the Past and Speaking to the Future , the annual conference of the Northwest Archivists next weekend to be held this year in Moscow, Idaho where I'll accept my scholarship award. John is taking a few days off work and going with me and we're planning on an adventure as I've never been in Central Oregon before.

My Summer Plans

I've added another class to my schedule:
LI 838 - Information Transfer and Government Resources

I won't be working this summer but it's already shaping up to be an exciting and fun filled three months!

Along with taking seven credits of classes, I'll be going to the Northwest Archivists Annual Conference next week, going as my church's representative to the Oregon-Idaho United Methodist Conference in Salem in mid-June, the 48th Rare Books and Manuscripts Preconference in Baltimore the following week, making a presentation at the Oregon Library Association Staff Support Division Conference in Wilsonville on July 20th,and taking some archives classes through SOLINET using my Northwest Archivists Scholarship award. I also hope to find time to continue doing the research for a paper I'd like to write for Archival Issues .

Whew!

Digital Learners

I was in Portland last week-end, attending a class in Print and Electronic Reference. Our guest speaker was Caleb Tucker-Raymond, the Statewide Digital Reference Coordinator of L-Net , Oregon's on-line reference service. Users are provided the opportunity to chat or email their questions.

A good majority (about 60%) of the users are grade K-12 students. (You can find more statistics about L-Net here .) It would be interesting to find information about what percentage of teachers are aware of, use, and encourage their students to use this kind of reference help. See this for a discussion about students as digital learners and this for a list on YALSA about how libraries can engage their younger learners.

Rare Books and Manuscripts Preconference Scholarship

I was notified on Friday that I'd been awarded a scholarship to attend the 48th Annual Rare Books and Manuscripts (RBMS) Preconference From Here to Ephemerality: Fugitive Sources in Libraries, Archives, and Museums from June 19-22 in Baltimore, Maryland.

Here's a brief description of the conference:

This will be the first time that an RBMS Preconference will explore the theme of ephemera in libraries, archives, and museums. Ephemera collections have traditionally been neglected by institutions and have been underutilized by scholars; they provide unique challenges in cataloging, preservation, and access. The goals of the Preconference will be to explore these issues, and to uncover the value of building and using ephemera collections to their full potential.

There will be five plenary sessions, encompassing: ephemerality; the scholarly uses of ephemera; dealers' perspectives on ephemera; collecting and collectors of ephemera; and the care and management of ephemera collections in institutions. The sixth and final plenary session will be a wrap-up of the entire conference. Plenary speakers include internationally renowned scholars, collectors, and library and museum curators. In addition to the plenary sessions, there will be twelve short papers further developing aspects of the theme, and nine seminars offering a more practical or case-study approach to the topic."

It's a great scholarship but it doesn't cover all my expenses so I'm still trying to find some other sources of funding before deciding whether or not I'll accept.

UPDATE: I received a generous stipdend from Emporia State University SLIM and have accepted the scholarship.

Sebastian C. Adams' Chronological Chart on Display

This is currently being exhibited at the Oregon State Library. Sebastian C. Adams was an Oregon pioneer and resident of Salem. He created a twenty-one foot scroll entitled A Chronological Chart of Ancient, Modern, and Biblical History which was a best seller in the 1870's. It presents the history of the world from its Biblical beginnings until the mid 19th century utilizing a richly illustrated timeline.

This scroll is in the tradition of historical timelines popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. Copies can be found in 73 U.S. libraries including those at Yale, Harvard, and Princeton. It was printed in 1871 and then updated and reprinted twice more, in 1876 and 1878.

A photo replica is what is being shown at the Oregon Stat Library along with a second framed copy of a later edition. There's an extensive article in the Salem Statesman Journal .

Staff Appreciation Week

It's staff appreciation week at LBCC and on Monday Jorry and Richenda gave me a card and lovely pot of pink flowers. I've also been invited to the staff luncheon which will be held on Wednesday.

Trip to Oregon State Library

When I began working at the Oregon State University Library Archives I told them about my work at the Oregon State Library last summer. They weren't aware of the OSL special collections or of their photo collection and so Karl contacted Merrialyce and made an appointment for the Southern Willamette Archivists and Curators (SWAC) to meet with her and see it, inviting me along. Of course, I said yes. There were eight of us. Merrialyce gave us a history of the Special Collections Department at the Oregon State Library as well as descriptions of the different photograph collections.

Northwest Archivists Conference

John and I will be going to the Northwest Archivists Conference , Dynamic Archives: Preserving the Past and Speaking to the Future, which will be held in Moscow, Idaho on May 17-19th.

Archives Project

I began and finished a project in Archives last week for Erika, pulling letters dealing with budget, political, and labor problems written by university researchers working on finding ways to use latex from Russian dandelions to make rubber during World War II. See this article for more information about this process. I found it fascinating reading. There were a number of letters dealing with the problem of getting gas to travel and also with finding housing when visiting Washington, D.C. There were even a few little snippets of personal information--the birth of a daughter and a couple of lame jokes.

I'm now in the middle of a project for Larry. This one involved adding html-encoded finding aids to the Northwest Digital Archives database.

Oregon Library Association Conference in Corvallis

I went to the Oregon Library Association Annual Conference held in Corvallis and had a wonderful time learning new things, seeing old friends, and meeting new ones. I attended sessions on Googilization, Preparing for Generational Shifts in Library Volunteers, and Oregon History through Oregon State Documents, among others. The top photo is of April, one of my Emporia State University classmates, in front of her poster. The one below is of Michael, another of my classmates, who was one of the presenters along with Camilla and Bryan, on Getting Caught Up in Web 2.0. T And the third photo is of Lori and Perri, our Emporia advisors (I think Perri had just spotted someone she knew when I snapped the photo which explains the expression on her face.)

Extreme Altered Books

This is a photo of a traditionally altered book (click on it to see it in more detail). And here and here you'll find photographs of extreme altered books. Warning: This is not for lovers of books who are faint of heart. One poster described it as "finding artfullness in mangled corpses".