This week I had the opportunity to process a scrapbook. The scrapbook featured letters and notes from Samuel Brown. Mr. Brown was an African American musician from the Los Angeles region. The most interesting item I found was a rejection letter from a Baltimore university that bluntly stated “this [teaching] position will have to go to a white person.”
This week I also cataloged visual art materials. Everything from movie posters to art prints. I find the most important part of cataloging in a database is to remember to add subjects to the items. The subjects are pulled from the LOC authorities and the Getty Art and Architecture Thesaurus. The AAT comes into use often when dealing with obscure art materials that the LOC has not encountered.
Week Fouteen at The Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum
This week, the processing staff at MCLM had a meeting with Murtha Baca, the Head of Digital Art History Access at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles, California. During this meeting we discussed what five broad categories to choose to catalog MCLM’s photograph collection. We settled on sports, entertainment, events, California and politics. The Getty AAT was used to decipher which headings would be most relevant.
This week I also attended a webinar, Digital Preservation: Fundamentals. I believe that keeping current with the newest standards and technology in the archiving field is paramount to functioning as an effective archivist. Attending webinars and seminars is an convenient way to stay abreast of current standards in the archival profession.
This week I also attended a webinar, Digital Preservation: Fundamentals. I believe that keeping current with the newest standards and technology in the archiving field is paramount to functioning as an effective archivist. Attending webinars and seminars is an convenient way to stay abreast of current standards in the archival profession.
Week Thirteen at The Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum
This week I enjoyed a site visit to California State University Northridge Oviatt Library. The facility is impressive housing the archives, special collections and stacks in one building. Our tour of the facility was lead by Mr. Steve Kutay the digital specialist librarian at the Oviatt Library. The most interesting aspect of the tour was the storage unit at the center of the library. The storage unit spans two stories, is completely automated and houses infrequently used records and books. After the tour we went to the CSUN art gallery to view Identity and Affirmation, Post War African American Photography. Being that MCLM is a museum it is important to stay abreast of current exhibits in the region.
The Ins and Outs of Grant Writing
While working at a non-profit I am currently getting schooled in writing grants. In the process I have developed some grant writing tips.
1. Be sure to read the entire grant...and then read it again!
This may seem obvious, but when you have other responsibilities reading the ENTIRE grant can become a daunting task. What I suggest is to take the documentation home (gasp!) and read it.
2. Attend any and every webinar provided about the grant, even if you don't have questions.
You'll find that some of the questions posed by other institutions can help you make your grant narrative more dynamic.
3. Have someone proofread the grant before submission.
Once you start searching for grants and browsing through the guidelines you will notice that many granting agencies stress the importance of a well written grant. To me this suggests that some grants are submitted wth spellnig and grammerr errorrs. Make your institutions grant stand out from the bunch by submitting a grant that is error free!
1. Be sure to read the entire grant...and then read it again!
This may seem obvious, but when you have other responsibilities reading the ENTIRE grant can become a daunting task. What I suggest is to take the documentation home (gasp!) and read it.
2. Attend any and every webinar provided about the grant, even if you don't have questions.
You'll find that some of the questions posed by other institutions can help you make your grant narrative more dynamic.
3. Have someone proofread the grant before submission.
Once you start searching for grants and browsing through the guidelines you will notice that many granting agencies stress the importance of a well written grant. To me this suggests that some grants are submitted wth spellnig and grammerr errorrs. Make your institutions grant stand out from the bunch by submitting a grant that is error free!
Week 12 at The Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum
The inventory of all identified photos is complete! MCLM’s collection of processed photos consists of 13,485 photographs that range in date from the mid 1800’s to the early 2000’s. These photographs account for 2,579 folders of different people and places. Successfully completing this task allowed me to utilize my organizational and people management skills.
Every fourth Saturday of the month MCLM hosts a movie event called Black Talkies on Parade featuring a vintage African American film. This month the movie was The World, The Flesh and The Devil featuring Harry Belafonte. In preparation for this event I helped put together a one case exhibit. The items that were pulled for the exhibit pertained to Harry Belafonte and Black Hollywood.
Every fourth Saturday of the month MCLM hosts a movie event called Black Talkies on Parade featuring a vintage African American film. This month the movie was The World, The Flesh and The Devil featuring Harry Belafonte. In preparation for this event I helped put together a one case exhibit. The items that were pulled for the exhibit pertained to Harry Belafonte and Black Hollywood.
Week Eleven at The Mayme A. Clayton & Museum
Lately I’ve been working on inventorying MCLM’s extensive collection of sheet music. Inventorying is a step that occurs at MCLM before processing begins. This is a necessary step because the museum needs to establish control over each item in the collection. The Society of American Archivists calls this step a preliminary inventory, defined as “A listing of the contents and condition of a collection made before processing.” The items that are being inventoried are the aforementioned sheet music, photographs, art work, and movie posters.
This week I also gave a presentation to The California African American Genealogical Society. My presentation went over personal preservation practices for paper and photographs. CAAGS was very receptive and I was excited to field their interesting questions.
Lastly, be sure to look out for MCLM in Carter Magazine, we are going to be a featured institution!
This week I also gave a presentation to The California African American Genealogical Society. My presentation went over personal preservation practices for paper and photographs. CAAGS was very receptive and I was excited to field their interesting questions.
Lastly, be sure to look out for MCLM in Carter Magazine, we are going to be a featured institution!
Week 10 at The Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum
This week The California Library Association Black Caucus honored the Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum. The certificate was presented to Cara representing MCLM by a former volunteer, who is now working for Los Angeles Public Libraries. MCLM was presented with two books; the first was a signed copy of the children’s book Jemmie’s Big Day and a reference book entitled African American Librarians in the Far West. The children’s book is a wonderful addition to our collection and will hopefully become apart of the children’s summer reading program MCLM is hoping to implement. Also, this week at MCLM I began the digitizing images that will be included on our website. I saved the images as TIFF files at 600 dpi, the archival standard for digital images.
Poor Neglected Blog
I'm so sorry bloggy, I really have neglected you. For here on out I will be posting a weekly update, with possible sporadic daily updates.
Week 9 at the Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum
This week MCLM hosted two events, the closing reception for The Get on Board exhibit and Nothing but the Chicago Style Blues. The turn out for the closing reception for the Get on Board exhibit was phenomenal! This event featured a panel discussion with Freedom Riders Robert Farell, Robert Singleton, Rita Matinson and Woodrow Coleman. The second event at MCLM this week was Nothing But the Chicago Style Blues. This event featured The Legendary Melvin Eddy Blues Band. Mr. Eddy sporadically comes out of retirement to perform, he was amazing! Along with this blues event MCLM sold food tickets as a fundraiser for the institution. A busy week, but I definitely learned a lot about how to manage multiple events in small amount of time.
Week 9 at the Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum
This week MCLM hosted two events, the closing reception for The Get on Board exhibit and Nothing but the Chicago Style Blues. The turn out for the closing reception for the Get on Board exhibit was phenomenal! This event featured a panel discussion with Freedom Riders Robert Farell, Robert Singleton, Rita Matinson and Woodrow Coleman. The second event at MCLM this week was Nothing But the Chicago Style Blues. This event featured The Legendary Melvin Eddy Blues Band. Mr. Eddy sporadically comes out of retirement to perform, he was amazing! Along with this blues event MCLM sold food tickets as a fundraiser for the institution. A busy week, but I definitely learned a lot about how to manage multiple events in small amount of time.
September 22, 2011
Today I completed to outline for my grant. I will begin typing the grant tomorrow. There was a staff meeting today where we hammered out the final details of the Back-to-School with The HistoryMakers event. This event should be amazing!
September 21, 2011
Event #2 was today! Teacher Appreciation with the Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum. There were about 20 teachers in attendance. The executive director took the teachers on a tour of the facility that was similar to the tour we take children on. The goal of the event was to convey to the teachers how the MCLM is a wonderful institution to bring their classes for field trips.
This event was basically outreach, a very important function in any library, museum or archive. Especially those that are new, like the MCLM.
This event was basically outreach, a very important function in any library, museum or archive. Especially those that are new, like the MCLM.
September 20, 2011
Today I pulled primary and secondary sources for and exhibit the MCLM is putting together for local teachers. The primary sources at the MCLM are amazing! I pulled slave registers,Tuskegee airmen coin, and a letter dating from the 1700's.
Today I also typed didactics for pieces of ephemera displayed in the museum.
Today I also typed didactics for pieces of ephemera displayed in the museum.
September 16,2011
Continued working on the NEH grant today. I also gave my first tour of the facility and the exhibit! One tour was family that heard about the MCLM through a recommendation and the other tour was a woman who was an avid collector of African American ephemera. The woman is interested in becoming a volunteer. Volunteers are very important to the MCLM, especially volunteers with knowledge of African American items.
This week I began to understand the amount of preparation that is required to attain donations. The institution has to constantly be in contact with the donor to guarantee that the items will be given to them.
This week I began to understand the amount of preparation that is required to attain donations. The institution has to constantly be in contact with the donor to guarantee that the items will be given to them.
September 15, 2011
Today I was apart of my first event at the Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum, Happy Hour at the Museum . The Director of Collections, Leah, invited some of her closest friends to the museum for cocktails and a tour. It was a success! About 20 people attended and the museum received donations.
September 14, 2011
Today I continued to work on the NEH grant. The topic has changed a bit, the grant will now focus on funding a symposium to discuss cloud computing and its' application to archival management. Currently, I am talking to the archivist at Sony as a possible participant in this symposium.
I also attended a workshop hosted by LAasSubject discussing how to utilize social media to promote archives. It was very informative, I learned about a great site called paper.lihttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif This site produces a news paper out of a personal Twitter feed. Neat!
I also attended a workshop hosted by LAasSubject discussing how to utilize social media to promote archives. It was very informative, I learned about a great site called paper.lihttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif This site produces a news paper out of a personal Twitter feed. Neat!
Septemeber 13, 2011
Read the NEH Digital Humanities Start-Up Grant outline. My proposal is due September 27th. This grant opportunity is amazing, they provide funding just to begin planning. This is the perfect opportunity for the MCLM that has many plans in the works!
Here's a sample of the abstract "The Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum’s will use the Digital Humanities Start-Up Grant to migrate digital administrative documents at the end of their life-cycle into a cloud computing system." It's a new idea, it's edgy, it's going to be great!
Here's a sample of the abstract "The Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum’s will use the Digital Humanities Start-Up Grant to migrate digital administrative documents at the end of their life-cycle into a cloud computing system." It's a new idea, it's edgy, it's going to be great!
September 10, 2011
Continued cataloging today and then shelved books. The MCLM book collection is a closed collection like most (if not all) rare book collections. I also had the chance to meet more of the volunteers that allow the library to run so smoothly.
I began to research cloud computing and how it works. It's a simple concept, basically there is a "cloud" of servers that hosts the information that users access remotely through the internet. The cloud that I will be implementing will only be accessible through the computers available at the MCLM.
I began to research cloud computing and how it works. It's a simple concept, basically there is a "cloud" of servers that hosts the information that users access remotely through the internet. The cloud that I will be implementing will only be accessible through the computers available at the MCLM.
September 9, 2011
Today I was able to complete the cataloging process for a number of rare books. After a LOC number is pulled the subject and name authorities are added into the Star Quadra database. The subjects are taken from the LOC online catalog. Each subject is added to maintain the controlled vocabulary at the MCLM. After the subject and name authorities have been updated the book is ready to be entered as an item into the the Star Quadra Client. The database is easy to navigate and I haven't had too many issues quickly learning it's ins and outs.
I also continued working on the MOAD condition reports; updating the digital files to reflect the paper files. I also updated the written agreement to the MOAD about how the items are to be displayed once in their position.
I also continued working on the MOAD condition reports; updating the digital files to reflect the paper files. I also updated the written agreement to the MOAD about how the items are to be displayed once in their position.
September 8, 2011
Today primarily consisted of putting together condition reports for the 24 items that the MCLM is loaning to The Museum of African Diaspora.
Condition reports act as a statement for the lending institution detailing what condition the item was in prior to transportation to the recipient institution. In addition to the condition of the item the current selling price of the item must be determined. To determine the selling price of the item I consulted Ebay, Heritage Auctions and other applicable websites.
Condition reports act as a statement for the lending institution detailing what condition the item was in prior to transportation to the recipient institution. In addition to the condition of the item the current selling price of the item must be determined. To determine the selling price of the item I consulted Ebay, Heritage Auctions and other applicable websites.
September 7, 2011
Today there was a staff meeting where we discussed the use of cloud computing in archival management. This is a innovative use of current technology in application to archival management. The NEH and IMLS have an ample amount of funding available for institutions that are willing to implement creative and new uses of technology in the humanities. My role in all of this is to write the grant and figure out how to organize archival items in a cloud. I am not aware of many archives putting there digital items into a cloud of servers and I look forward to the MCLM being one of the first to do so.
I have so many ideas about how to organize the files in the server in a manner that would reflect the current organizational schema being used at the MCLM. More information to come!
Question of the day: Are you privy to any institutions that use a cloud, instead of a database, to organize there digital objects?
I have so many ideas about how to organize the files in the server in a manner that would reflect the current organizational schema being used at the MCLM. More information to come!
Question of the day: Are you privy to any institutions that use a cloud, instead of a database, to organize there digital objects?
September 6, 2011(First Day!)
Today I met the staff at the Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum [MCLM] and went on a brief tour of the facilities. After the tour concluded I began cataloging rare books.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif The first step of the cataloging prochttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifess is to pull a Library of Congress call number from the Library on Congress Online Catalog. The process can take much longer than realized for rare books, some of which are so obscure the LOC has to record of them.
If the book has no record in the LOC the next step is to search World Cat for a possible call number. To verify a call number applies to the book the number of pages and the size of the book is compared to the record.
If the book has no record in the LOC the next step is to search World Cat for a possible call number. To verify a call number applies to the book the number of pages and the size of the book is compared to the record.
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