A lot of others explain it much better than me. Such as this video, 

Or the following infographic, from wearelibrarians.com.

Today many websites are blacked out to protest these bills. Instead of going to the site people are redirected to a SOPA strike. There they can view the infographic or this video, PIPA Video. Or they see a pop up window like this one.

Wikipedia looks like this today. And Fox News .com commented on it with this article.

Google has one too. Where there is usually a picture having to do with the day (a turkey on thanksgiving), today it looks like this.

If you click on the blacked out google logo you will be directed to this website, which looks like this.

This would mainly be discussing the reference question with the patron until you understand exactly what they are looking for and how to help them find it. In library school, I had a course on reference and one of the big things was the reference interview. This is one of those aspects of being a librarian that is not anticipated to change with the advance of digital aspects of libraries as it can be done in person, on the phone, by email, text or chat.

A main aspect of this is making sure that you know what the patron is looking for. This can sometimes be complicated as the manner of providing an answer depends on the level/type of patron asking the question. For example, in an academic library or as a children’s librarian, often part of answering the reference request is teaching the patron how to find the answer on their own.  So when a patron asks, “Do you have a copy of Harry Potter?” You would ask, “Do you know how to use our catalog? Look along while I search, so that next time you can search for it yourself if you want to.” This was used on me when I asked a sample question using my libraries ask by chat service for an assignment. One of the first questions was, “Are you a student? Where? Did you know that they have a database system? You can find it here and…”

However in an archive setting reference questions do not really follow this format. In the archive where I work, we receive reference questions via snail mail and email. Some researchers just want us to answer a question and send them the relevant information or material and others want us to collect the materials so they can visit and look through them on their own.

No researcher visits the archive prior to asking as we are a by-appointment archive. This allows us to schedule appointments for the researcher to be interviewed so that they can sign necessary form and be told about our rules and policies. They are then led to the reading room where the material that they requested when they scheduled a visit is waiting for them.

The reference questions that I have been answering are from researchers who do not want to visit the archive. They just want me to find the information/material that they are looking for and send them a copy. One such request was for a photo of a trustee, another was for verification of a purchase of a tea set.

These do not seem to be such complicated requests but sometimes appearances can be deceiving.  Especially since, like many archiving we do not have such a great tool for searching the collection. Generally the digital search tool will result in an area to look but it may not include all of the possible locations for the materials.

The requested photo of the trustee required me to look through five different possible locations. After almost giving up I finally found one mediocre picture. Soon after though, my supervisor had a brainstorm and I found a whole folder full of photos that are much better quality. This took several days of searching. But when I sent the information to the researcher, she was very happy and requested a high quality copy of the photo that she liked best.

The request for purchase information of the tea set also was slightly complicated. I looked through letters from the owner of the tea set to her frequent shopper with no luck. I looked through books cataloging the belongings of the owner, no luck. Finally I looked through letters from the shopper and found her reference to the purchase of the tea set. It was two lines in a long letter. I was very pleased to have found it and the researcher was very pleased with the information.

I find that this kind of reference is a lot of fun. It is like a treasure hunt. I don’t always know if we have the requested information or materials and that makes it more interesting. I get to look through all kinds of materials that I would never have even known existed had I not been answering this request. Best of all is when I find the requested material after a difficult search. This is only one of the reasons that I love working in the archive.

Paperclip, Staples, Clips, Etc.

As I learned in my classes, and as I now have personal experience with, metal objects like paperclips,staples, and clips damage paper.

They rust which leaves brown marks on the pages. They also hold the pages together with a very tight grip (paperclips and clips) which leave behind lines and grooves on the pages. Or hold the pages with metal pieces through the pages (staples) which can cause tears as the older fragile pages shred around the holes. Sometimes pages in the back or front slip out of the staples and tear away from the other pages completely other times they stay together with the other pages with small strips that remain gripped in the staple while a large hole tears in the page around the strip.

Newspaper

Newspaper is the most acidic form of paper. It browns as it ages, as does normal paper, but at a much quicker rate. Not only does the newspaper itself turn brown as the acidic eats away at it but the acidity causes the newspaper to crumble on the edges and tear very easily. Not only that but newspaper also spreads the increased acidity and subsequent increased deterioration of paper to other papers that it touches.

Shoelace Bindings

The final issue that I found in this collection was the shoestring bindings.Many of the books are bound with these shoestring bindings that are falling apart, shredding the materials and causes folds and severe creases on the pages.

After I realized the problem, I spoke to the preservation department and it was decided that the material would have to be removed from the shoelace binding. This is not always as simple as it sounds. The shoelaces are fragile and tend to either snap in my hands as I am trying to unwind them from the metal tabs that hold them down, or refuse to come out, requiring me to use force which means that my hands are suffering.

The shoelaces are also tied in the back with knots sometimes, which means that my fingers are again. Who knew that archive work was tough on fingers. The shoestrings also catch on the pages and get stuck part way through.

Inter-Departmental Conflicts

One of the main issues with archival processing is the conflict of interest involved in what method of processing to do. The archivist want quick access to the materials. So do the researchers, donors, etc. This means that the processers want to process the collection as quickly as possible.

This is a highly debated issue with archivists. The big question is how much is enough care to take with materials, how much needs to be done, and therefore how much time needs to be spent on preservation measures for the materials. Many archives, in an effort to keep up with large backlogs of unprocessed materials are doing minimal processing as described in the article that I read and discussed in my Archives and Manuscripts class:  Mark A. Greene and Dennis Meissner, “More Product, Less Process: Revamping Traditional Processing,” American Archivist (Fall/Winter 2005), pp. 208-263.

The article discusses the new practice of doing minimal preservation activity. This means that the previous practice of removing all staples, paperclips, and clips is quickly being abandoned in archiving practices.  So all of these items which cause accelerated damage to paper are being left in the material.

As I am reprocessing this collection, I have the time and am therefore removing all paperclips and any rusted staples. As I find newspaper in the collection I place a sheet of acid free paper in front of and in back of each piece of newsprint. This should hopefully contain the deterioration of the paper.

All of the shoelace bindings are now being taken apart and the materials are being placed in folders. However, this is causing further issues like making the project take longer. This is for two reasons 1.Removing the shoestring bindings takes time as does labeling all the new folders. 2.Moving these materials from one bound book to one or more folders means that the description of the materials has to be completely redone to reflect the new status of the materials.

For now this is where I am. But who knows what the future of this project holds. I may have more stuff to talk about. But either way, I am learning a lot and loving it.

“I was interested in binding a newspaper, Afn Shvil.  We have almost a complete run, since the 50s. However, this complete run has not been properly taken care of all these years, they’ve basically sat stuffed up in Princeton boxes for who-knows-how-long.

So I spoke to our archvist, Nadia. She had an idea: a “humidity chamber.” Basically, you take a large Rubbermaid style storage box, the kind you would use for storing out of season clothes in.  Nadia “outfitted” our storage chamber with a 3-tier cookie cooling rack (who knew?) and a bowl of distilled water at the bottom. First, we removed any staples from the paper (there were a lot of them!). Then we lay about 2-3 issues on each rack, and let it sit for a few days (3-5).  The lid of the container was left on. The humidity in the box helped relax and loosen up the fibers enough that the papers would be suitable for binding.

Now the irony is, after all that, we aren’t even sure if we’re going to bother binding this paper! But now the papers are laying flat in our periodicals  back room.”

This just goes to show that with when looking for work in an archive it really is all about connections.

I met someone and was talking about my hopes for employment. And they came back a week later with a contact, the father works with a man whose wife works in an archive. And they happened to be looking for part time archival staff. So I contacted the head of human resources and spoke with her for a short while, she told me to send in my resume. So I did, and I got my first interview since I started this difficult job search. I was very happy with the interview and apparently so were they because they offered me the job.

Today was my first day and I have high hopes for this position. I will still be looking for a full time job but I am now in an environment where I will learn all of the day to day duties of an archivist in an actual archive. I will be able to start applying all of the things that I learned in school in a real setting. And I am very excited for the opportunity to learn new things that this job will provide in abundance.

In effect, it is the difference between hearing something and understanding what it means. Anyone can recite music notes but not everyone can understand what the notes mean and play or sing the song. In this example the notes are information, the person reciting the notes has the knowledge, and the person who can play or sing the song has the wisdom.

Here again comes Stephen’s Lighthouse with a great visual presentation of this idea. It seems many of us are unsure of the distinction between these terms.

Librarians and Archivists usually have vast pools of knowledge they have access to and remember large amounts of information. But that does not mean that they have a lot of wisdom. They may understand very little of their information. That is why I believe it is so important for librarians and archivists to continually be learning and growing in their understanding of information of many different types. The librarians who do have the wisdom stand out. They can converse intelligently with patrons and others about the information and this makes them better information specialists.

This does not always apply, but sometimes it bothers me when I hear library professionals instructing or discussing information with people when it is knowledge to them and not wisdom. It can feel like it does when I am talking to my 8 year old nephew and he very gravely informs me of his knowledge and thinks he has wisdom. He tells me things like, ‘It’s not so far from New York to California,’ and here I sit, a driver who debated driving that far and nixed it due to the distance and time it would take and someone who has flown the distance and knows how far it really is. What do I say to him? Do I tell him how ridiculous it is for him to be telling me that I can drive the distance because it is not that far?…

Our society has changed. We have turned into a digital society. We now make friends, and start relationships online through social networks. Many of us don’t even know most of those we connect with through these sites. I am therefore quite interested by infographics such as these from Stephen’s Lighthouse. These are just a few of the great infographics and interesting information that I have found on Stephen’s Lighthouse. Stephen Abram writes a great blog that I am always eager to look at because of the interesting and informative information on the blog.

When I decided to specialize in Archives and Digital Libraries more stereotypes became apparent. I find history fascinating, and I especially enjoy historical fiction and imaging what it must have been like in the past and what people thought and felt in those times. I save things, memories like pictures, letters, birthday cards, ticket stubs, etc. Speaking of pictures, another reason that I love my iPhone is that I no longer need to lament the fact that I cannot carry my camera with me all the time. I now have a cell phone that takes really good pictures so I can snap away. And I do, at almost everything I want to remember.

Here is another infographic that discusses common librarian stereotypes made by thewikiman.