I have Gradumatated and now I have my MLIS.

So, in the past two and a half weeks I have moved from Pittsburgh to Minnesota, then interviewed in South Dakota, and this week I drove back out to South Dakota to look for a place.  Total time spent in the car: 34 hours at the bare minimum. Needless to say, I never want to see the interior of a car again.

However, I did realize I missed the prairie, which, considering how much time I spent complaining about it, is a good thing and a bit odd.

Email me if you want a proper stalking address rather than an entire state to search.

EDIT: Also, because I’m mildly jealous of the number of pictures Libraryrat has on her blog, here’s a video that tends to make me lipsync and dance irrationally.

I just started my internship at the Carnegie Public Library Oliver Room as the lone processing intern, under the direction of Greg Priore. It was pretty quiet last week, but next week there is a researcher coming in, while I’ll be in the midst of finishing the processing of a collection.

I’m currently working on the Department of Public Works for the City of Allegheny Files from 1890ish to 1913. Most of the files are concerned with the running of the Carnegie Free Library which was later made into a regular Pittsburgh library system library in 1956.

I’m loving every minute of it. And it’s because you can see glimpses of stories. Not the whole story, but bits and pieces. Reoccurring names of librarians and clerks, knowing where they lived and what they were paid.  It makes them tangible in a sense.

Which brings me to the other thing: Everyone should read “Into the Tunnel.” It’s one of the best books of it’s type. It’s not long, it’s not terribly dense, but it is haunting in its description of the details of Marion Samuel’s life before she died at Auschwitz-Birkenau. She has a prize named after her and was virtually anonymous until this book. Based on documentation about her parents and relatives and some school records, this is a touching and sparse account of one young girl’s life in Nazi Germany.

Stories like this are part of the reason I started being interested in Archives in the first place. Real stories are often more interesting.

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/04/04/usfunded-health-sear.html

This is absurd.  I’m really ticked off.   This story has been picked up by multiple blogs already, but we were discussing Thesaurus(es? i?) in class yesterday, I thought it was really interesting.

Limiting search terms hurts everyone.  By removing a commonly used MEDICAL TERM from the thesaurus with no warning is irresponsible and is a violation of trust.

By limiting results as a search, both sides are hurt.  Anti-Abortion rights activists cannot access information that would help him, and Pro Abortion Rights activists cannot access information that would help them.  It doesn’t matter what side of this debate you are on, the censorship of a common medical term hurts everyone.  Say you wanted to write an editorial about abortion and wanted to search this database for information to make your point… because it is a federal funded database, you wouldn’t be able to get your information.

Now, how about that for not being a good thing?

http://bottledmonsters.blogspot.com/2008/03/history-of-medicine-viagra-10-years.html

Is Viagra part of history now?  Yes, yes it is, in my opinion.  Just think of the cultural changes since 1998.  Now think of the political changes.  And the economic changes.   Yes, 1998 is history now.

 http://www.archivesnext.com/?page_id=124

Nominate movers and shakers in the archive community.  Due date is April 30th.

http://feministlawprofs.law.sc.edu/ 

Want to learn new and interesting things that may or may not have to deal with Feminism and law?  Here’s the spot for you!

http://boingboing.net/

You’d be surprised how many times records and documents come up here.  Speaking of which:

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/04/01/libraries-and-the-oc.html 

Someone’s written a dissertation on how library cataloging systems marginalize the occult and make books about it difficult to find.  How cool is this student?

I’ve been mulling this over for a while now. If one of the primary reasons archivists are unwilling or afraid to come forward with information is possible litigation and job loss, then there should be a way to encourage whistle blowing or at least protections for archives that receive and make available materials like the cigarette papers.

I propose that archivists should consider an Archivists Legal Defense Fund. Modeled after the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF), which focuses on first amendment rights for comic book authors, the CBLDF is primarily funded through donations, which provides authors with legal defense. The CBLDF is not obligated to take every case that they receive. The Archivist’s Legal Defense Fund would have a different goal of reducing secrecy in the government and corporations by providing legal defense for archives, archivists, and records mangers that disclose information to the public.

The community would need to create stronger ties to lawyers, as well as the ACLU. Additionally, institutions can create ties to university law schools. The organization would run on donations from the archival community and would be open for petitions from individuals facing litigation related to disclosure. Cases submitted to the defense fund would not necessarily be defended. This would prevent defense of archivists and records managers who disclose trade secrets and proprietary information for unethical reasons.

There could be several benefits to creating this organization.
-Increased openness and accountability in government, NGOs, and corporations.
- Creation of an archival backbone,
- Increased professionalism and accountability.
- Legal protections
- Creation of a stronger sense of community.

Any thoughts?

(Crossposted to my Access and Ethics class blog)

I was cataloging a document, and instead of writing the actual title, I replaced “Service-Learning” with “Harry Potter.”

Am special.

Cross posted to Livejournal.

OpenLibrary.org  is so effin’ COOL.  It has a lot of potential, and it’s an incredibly ambitious project, but it is made of awesome.  I hope it works out really really well, because just think of the access people can have.

I’m going off to happily nerd now.

Today I will be discussing things you don’t want to find in your files.

1.) Mold.

2.) Two year old Cinnamon Rolls

3.) A File labeled Uganda, that has nothing on Uganda, or even Africa for that matter.

4.) Old nasal excretions.

5.) Blood stains.

Anything to add?

As the archival assistant here, I tend to get old video tapes chucked at me a lot.  This is both interesting and frustrating.  Interesting, because it turns shelving into a puzzle that involves moving vast numbers of VHS tapes around and frustrating because I don’t know if the tapes are important or if we have any paper description of them anywhere.

Today, I transcribed a tape at the 2002 Student Service Awards.   It was a speech given by Late Senator Paul Wellstone.   Seeing that he was kind of a big deal here, I decided to search for the text of the speech.   Alas, Sen. Wellstone gave two speeches that day.   One was two the DFL convention, and the other was at this awards ceremony.   The speech did not appear anywhere online.

So, I called up the state archives.   I talked to a lovely Reference Librarian who informed me that while the text of his speech probably exists in their archives, it has possibly not been accessioned yet, and, 6 years on (and this is just my understanding), they have not come to an agreement with the Wellstone family on how much should be released to the public.  Being a member of the public, it’s tough luck for me.

So, this morning was spent infront of a TV that has no remote control running back in forth, pausing it, rewinding it, playing it, and trying to type it out at the same time.  But we now have a paper copy of the text.

I got my course assignments for the fall, and after the initial shock of   “OMGI’MGOINGTOGRADSCHOOLWILLDIE,” I have calmed down sufficiently to be really excited.  Panic is generally what I do first, way in advance of anything actually happening.  Then I calm down and get down to business.    It’s the “Been there, Stressed over that, what’s the fuss?” method.

These classes sound so interesting.  I can’t wait.

Understanding Information

Library & Archival Preservation

Archives & Records Management

Introduction to Information Technology