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I guess it's time I out myself and admit I'm just starting the graduate library and information science program at Pitt, archives concentration. I'm coming from a conservation background, which evidently isn't normal (or so I'm told). Anybody here a graduate of the program?
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Aug 24, 2012 23:17
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Beat. posted:library question, and I figured this might be an interesting place to ask - what are some libraries around the world that have online access available to interesting information (digital collections, electronic journals, etc.) without having an actual account, or maybe summary info with more available via ILL, etc. ? If you want images there's always the good ol' Library of Congress http://www.loc.gov/index.html
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Sep 18, 2012 03:25
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Lee Harvey Oswald posted:I'm editing a grant proposal for an archives digitization project. Does anyone have any recommendations for portable flatbed scanners? If it's not high-volume, can't go wrong with the Epson V-300 (or V-300 Photo, depending on the materials).
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Dec 20, 2012 13:15
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nesbit37 posted:To be fair, someone could use items like that. Its the whole problem with archives, what is worth saving? You can make an excuse to save anything. Hell, at my previous job we had some 170 year old wedding cake in the collection: http://digitallibrary.hsp.org/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/1992 Jesus I didn't know HSP had cake too. At my last job we found a whole fruit cake from the 1870s. Thank god we were allowed to toss that sucker. But jesus you guys aren't kidding about the hoarding complex a lot of librarians have going on. I was trying to weed our collection of things to to storage and they wouldn't let me send a set pit a set of encyclopediae from the 1880s that had not been used for almost as long because they "looked nice", even though they were taking up three whole shelving units in the reading room. It's insanity and it's really beginning to sour me on working in academic libraries.
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May 6, 2013 05:20
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I don't know what to tell you, I currently work in an academic subject library and everyone --- grad students, undergrads, and especially the student workers --- are treated in utter contempt by some of the staff (including our director). Now I know the student pages aren't perfect---everyone makes mistakes, but if you take the time and effort to train them and tell them of the importance of following certain procedures, then everyone benefits. Well that's not the case apparently. Heck, even I'm treated with contempt by my one supervisor when I dare put effort into things such as suggesting exhibits (who's going to look at them), taking an inventory (students have enough to find already), cleaning the reading room (that's not my concern), or moving extra shelving out of our grad student study room (we need that space more than they do), or even barcoding books or sending them off to preservation or storage (because the more we catalog and send to preservation and storage the more it makes our stats look bad, you see). Personally, I think it looks even worse when you have a reading room with books that have their spines hanging off, and you have people telling you how dirty the place looks, but hey that's just me. Of course that pales in comparison to the other problems I come up against---such as a lack of any policy coming down from on high, our informal internal policy making half of our rare holdings undiscoverable (and unbarcoded and tattled) because they're afraid that students might realize how valuable they are / use them (  ), not permitting me to implement even the most basic of preservation measures...As far as I can tell the contempt for students (from which I believe most of these problems stem) comes from am attitude fundamentally antithetical to the idea of librarianship, and I am continually flabbergasted at how this is both permitted--nay, seemingly encouraged, in academic libraries. I feel like slapping people upside the head and saying "how can you think this way? You're misanthroping your way into irrelevance. You should be ashamed!" Needless to say I'm fairly soured on academic libraries. It can't be like this everywhere I'm sure but jesus how do we get these people out of here and get real librarians in their place? Pepperoneedy fucked around with this message at 20:54 on Jun 27, 2013 |
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Jun 27, 2013 20:51
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Right now I'm at a public school with an undergrad population over 18,000 and a nearly 11,000 postgrads and docs. Of course being a subject library our user base is much smaller but not insignificant. It could just be the culture of our library system, which from what I have seen takes a condescending attitude towards most of its users. Quite frankly it's disgraceful and I'm almost ashamed that I cannot change it.
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Jun 27, 2013 21:03
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Soooo I have a rather stupid question --- or rather, a question about how to overcome my own stupidity. I went and managed to get myself fired for cause for the amateurish and rookie mistake of violating intellectual copyright. I posted some highlights from a collection I had processed on my personal portfolio on Wordpress (not without full due credit, copyright statements saying this isn't mine, linking back to the source, etc.) and figuring that identical (in fact, higher-resolution) images were posted on the institution's own Wordpress blog, I would be all right. Well, I was not in the clear, my failure to obtain permission (which I lost sight of in my eagerness) got me kicked out on the streets without discussion (as I must admit I deserved fully, I cannot deny). I was thrilled that I had some very interesting things to share from my first part-time processing gig after graduation, with the hope that I could use this as leverage to land a full-time position. Well that backfired totally and completely on me, and now I'm at a loss. How screwed am I from a hiring perspective, do you think? I will certainly NEVER make that mistake again to put it mildly, and I have been reevaluating my life as a result of all this. Will something like this be a black mark on my career (which, until now, has been spotless?), or make an institution hesitate to offer me a position? Is this something one's professional reputation can recover from?
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Feb 27, 2014 17:09
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That is very good advice Totoro. I should be clear though it's not really a blog per se, but a portfolio that highlights the work I have done (art, archiving, research, published articles, etc.). I'm not using it to really say anything other than "I have done this, and I could do this for you too, potential employer. I am certainly learning the perils of breaking into new realms without fully considering the consequences. Now that I think about how much it has been stressed in school, at conferences, and so many other places to engage audiences on new technologies and social media, I can certainly understand the hesitation of many institutions to do so far better than I did before. And believe me keep my work as far separate from my personal life as possible. That is one thing I have learned all too well. Jesus I STILL can't believe I was that dumb.
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Feb 27, 2014 17:38
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That's what I currently do for the things that are online (my articles and LibGuides, for example). My portfolio really is a web portal to the body of my work. The problem is that the most significant projects I have worked on are not online; they either impossible to do so (for copyright reasons, for example), haven't been publicized by the institution or are behind-the-scenes work, or are digital collections that are only available on-site. I feel caught in a way; I feel a lot of what I have done has to be "show, don't tell" --- how can I show examples of metadata work without a link to a final product? In my experience words are cheap, I have had more than one interview go sour since I have had nothing to show for all of my work. Am I trying to do too much? Pepperoneedy fucked around with this message at 18:13 on Feb 27, 2014 |
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Feb 27, 2014 18:09
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nesbit37 posted:You are not alone in that issue. Really, I think you might be trying to do too much. Also, the interview isn't really about what you have done. What you have done is what got you into the interview. The interview is more to make sure you know what you are talking about since it can be easy to make your knowledge look inflated on a resume and cover letter and to vet you for fit. If you made it to an interview it means they are confident you could do the job based on what you look like on paper, but do they want to work with your personality and will you set their BS detectors off. That is how I view interviews really, not just as a vetting but whether I would make a good fit. And really my goal with the whole portfolio is to show give those looking over the candidates a bit more about myself before an interview in their selection process so I don't waste their (or my time), and a bit of insight into what it is I bring to the table, not so much as a shrine to myself. For example, I had one all-day interview where the group brought up how much they enjoyed some of the artwork and personal projects I had talked about on there. But in the end I am trying too hard. Which worries me because I didn't really get many interviews before I put it up.
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Feb 27, 2014 18:36
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Those are very, very, excellent points. I really need to go back and consider how it is I'm framing everything and not just in my portfolio. I really do come across as a self-serving rear end in a top hat which is pretty much as far from the truth as one could get when it comes to how I view my place in an organization. Thank you guys. I have a lot to think about. Pepperoneedy fucked around with this message at 18:45 on Feb 27, 2014 |
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Feb 27, 2014 18:42
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Just a heads up for any librarians or archivists who may find themselves in a position similar to one I just found myself in: It turns out anything you find in a National Park belongs to the Park Service --- that includes any kind of 60 year old waybill or bill of lading from abandoned former commercial structures that are evidently within the Park boundary that you may find blowing around in the wind. If you should happen upon any while jogging, turn them in to a Park Service Employee. It is probably a bad idea to pick them up and later write an article about them, though it sure makes for an interesting discussion after an interview for an archival position at said National Park. And somewhat related, it turns out the Park Service has investigators. So if you're looking for a non-library position that draws on information sciences skills, this may be a good one!
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May 14, 2014 01:16
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^^^^ Holy crap the College from which I was let go had us label the computers with a big OPAC sign. Nobody in the student body knew what it meant, some thought it was an art piece. It's stories like that though that make me glad to have left academia. Oh no, the problem wasn't that I wrote about it --- the problem was I took it back home with me! I wasn't aware the building was in Park Service jurisdiction. Everything's fine (they were laughing about it) but yeah turn anything like that in to somebody A.S.A.P. Pepperoneedy fucked around with this message at 03:11 on May 14, 2014 |
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May 14, 2014 03:05
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I find out Thursday actually.
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May 14, 2014 03:12
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Yeah seriously that is no joke. I've learned the hard way (i.e. totally and rightfully fired) over a social media posting. Though funnily enough another came back in an amusing way and actually got me a job offer. I had to decline that one ultimately, but I did learn a valuable lesson about Federal government policies and background checks.
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Oct 15, 2014 23:33
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Holy crap Get a drink, then run as fast as you can and never look back. Even if this is what you're looking to do in the field you'll get swamped in no time as more work is dumped on you to meet vague, undefined goals. Red flag city here.
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Feb 11, 2015 20:10
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