The real hurdle left is the next ten days

For some reason it was not in my lexicon that the monograph drafts in the collection would be much longer than the other documents or items.  These nine or ten page items may work much better as a PDF rather than viewing page-by-page as a JPEG from a thumbnail link.  On Wednesday Rob had indicated the PDF (“Portable Document Format”) would be a possibility and takes some extra steps in order to put them on the web.  For now I will keep the longer documents in JPEG format and will be able to do the conversion if necessary. Once items #OP0065-OP0069 (18 pages) are scanned I will update the database for items OP0059-OP0069.  I will then be submitting a list to Rob of the first batch to be uploaded to the SCUA server.  When the files are available I can finalize the blog entries for public viewing.

The research of Obrebski’s Jamaican village data will continue over the summer.  I hope to make as much information available as I can to those beyond the physical library.  I have been accepted to the archives management program at Simmons College West for the fall semester.  Looking at the course schedule is exciting.  On Thursday nights I want to be able to take 403-Evaluation of Information Services or 404-Principles of Management and take 488-Technology for Information Professionals on Saturday afternoon.  On Saturday morning a new blended version of 407-Reference and Information Services and 415-Information Organization (formerly titled Cataloging) is being offered.  Each Saturday one of the two courses will hold a lecture and then much of the work is done online during the week.  Although this would be a full load I am looking forward to total immersion.  I believe I am well prepared for the material.  My familiarity with technology has grown over the years through my Communication studies and personal interests (ie. building my own computer); I am already receiving cataloging experience with my job in Technical Services at the Jones Library.

The most challenging obstacle in sight is the next ten days.  My last assignment of my undergraduate career is due on the 19th.  Commencement is on the 24th. Yeee Hawww!

Spring Fever and Senioritis

It feels like I could work on the Obrebski collection indefinitely. Time management has become one of the most key learning curves in the SCUA internship experience.  I am glad to have had the experience of working with a collection in a department which strives to have accurate time usage.  The head of SCUA is adamant about making sure our processing is done adequately and thoroughly, but quickly.  It is important for archives to have as many materials as possible available for public viewing and to have as little as possible in the backlog.  I think this is refreshing and a very motivating work environment to be in; I wholeheartedly agree that our to-do lists should be kept to a minimum.

Today is one month from graduation.  Especially with the weather we have been getting (beautiful New England crazy-making weather), it has been an increasing challenge to stay focused on the few assignments I have left.  I try to tell myself the more I work, the faster the time will fly by.  Yesterday I fell asleep in yoga class and decided to take a nap on the campus lawn before my evening seminar.

The correspondence is completed for the Obrebski digital collection; manuscripts are under way.  After the manuscripts are represented I will be filling in the exhibit content with family data and interviews.  The goal is to have 100 items completed over the next two weeks before finals set in.  I need to design an home page for the collection and write a description of the digital exhibit.  I continue to be excited about the project coming to fruition and be accessible by the worldwide public.

The rain on the tin roof is my lullaby.

It seems like an April fools joke that I would be finishing the correspondence for the Obrebski collection today. The last few folders that I thought I needed to process are actually UMass related letters from after Obrebski’s death, mostly dealing with the transfer of materials to archival facilities. The scans are done and the items (1-3?) are in the Oblogski database. I’ll be saving myself and RTF of the data to convert into blog entries with an extended abstract and a link to the image. Over this next weekend I will be able to write an opening page for the collection and a master index for the images. The database will provide, as noted before, a listing of all the items in the collection by subject (geographic location for our purposes), date, and author.

At the Jones so far I have learned how to process non-fiction, poetry, drama, career center, serial records, gifts, discards, juvenile books, put stickers on CDs for circulation and edit the 300 field. Some days the work is slow, moving from one small project to the other. Most days there is an unending list of tasks, shipments of books don’t seem to stop coming in and I keep trucking through the work. Having plenty to do is my favorite kind of day. The ability to make a dent in the pile makes me feel productive. At the end of the day I go to bed spent and sleep well.

Where does the time go

Today I have scanned more letters from the Obrebski Jamaican papers. I am half way done with the correspondence box and plan to be done by the end of this week. Next week I will be processing manuscripts; I hope to find a few key chapters to include in the digital collection, as well as some other excerpts. Over the weekend I will be putting the metadata into blog entries for all the correspondence and creating thumbnail images of the documents for the brief entry. Open Office, which I use at home, can not open the MS Access files for the Obrebski item database. In order to work on the project at home I exported a report from the database in RTF. I’ve been having fun learning about style sheets and have been practicing basic web page functions by posting photomicrographs for my neuroscience lab.

Happy St. Patties Day

Today is a holiday on two accounts! I have reached the 20 item mark in my digital collection; twenty items with full sized images ready for thumbnail images to be made and fully processed into the database with MODS elements. I’ve started writing blog entries to supplement the basic abstract for each item and today I restructured the tags and categories so they will be closer formatted to the materials. At first I knew the basic topics, but not a precise term for tagging purposes. Tomorrow I will keep processing the correspondence and I hope to complete it this week (if not tomorrow!).

And of course, for the second reason, Jared and I will be celebrating the Irish holiday with corned beef, cabbage and stout.

Breakfast on Friday

I’m not usually a breakfast-at-breakfast-time kind of person. I like Benedict at 1pm or 4am or cereal as an afternoon snack. But the past few Friday’s when I get on campus I’ve experienced a rumbling in my stomach. Before lecture I have scarfed down an entire bagel and cream cheese and been ready to eat again a few hours later – it is a satisfying feeling.

Today I scanned documents again. I found a letter from an acquaintance of the Obrebski’s who wrote jokes about Jamaica. Mail services created difficulties for the research team in being able to communicate effectively through the Jamaican villages, sometimes letters would lag and a newer letter would reach the location at the same time as the back-log. The spotty mail delivery also made it slower for staff or supply requests and created a strain on the time frame of the research.  These reflections make me grateful for computers and being able to digitally transmit research across the world.

The slow recovery

Dear self,
In order to get better from the cold it is necessary to rest. Please take this into consideration when you edit web pages and stay up late playing Hotel Dusk. On the other hand, watch as much of the History channel as you can, it is good for your brain.

My interview with Terry Plum at Simmons West went quite well. I did not expect such a long bus ride, however it was scenic and relaxing. We talked about full time versus part time enrollment, and it looks like I can complete the program in 1 1/2 years if I attend full time. I like this choice because it would not require me to find flexible full time work while in school still and allows me to commit to a full time position much sooner. To complete all the digitally oriented archives courses it looks like it will be necessary for me to take courses in Boston as soon as my second semester . I like the community and fresh air in Amherst, so I intend to continue living here for the time being and take public transport to Boston when needed.

Now that the interview is over it is my turn to wait. In the meantime, I have plenty to keep me busy. Work at the Jones library is medium paced and steady. There is plenty of new non-fiction to peruse while checking in; I have placed a hand full of staff reserves already. So far at SCUA I’ve been writing “Capstone Project – Senior Honors Theses” on almost 500 folders and watching the reading room help desk. In my physiological psych lab we have moved on from sheep and rat brain dissection to histology and are using microscopes; they have a tendency to make me nauseous! It is a relief to know I will be working in an archive and not using microscopes other than my free time. It is awfully hard to create an argument with the material we are reviewing in my consciousness seminar. I have been able to use a number of examples from the cognitive psych lecture material, and am working more on understanding the debates.