SCAIG Spring 2015 Workshop: Special but not Specialized: Special Collections and Archives Do it All at Kent State University

This 12 story building houses the library, archives and special collections along with a number of departments. The billboard announces "You Belong Here". Perfect!

On June 3, I drove 3.5 hours (each way) Northeast to Kent State University to attend the SCAIG Spring 2015 Workshop: Special but not Specialized: Special Collections and Archives Do it All. The overall theme/purpose was getting to know our special collections and archives colleagues from around the state and hold conversations about the most pressing issues affecting our work. The informal presentations "Reference and Instruction", "Let Them Build It: Working with Students to Curate Digital Exhibits" and "Problems? What Problems? Attitude is Everything for Lone Arrangers" were extremely encouraging and insightful. I learned great strategies for getting faculty "buy-in" for including digital objects and archives in their courses, how to match assessment to learning outcomes, ideas for designing the library page at Payne, how to use social media effectively to share our collections, and development events that benefit the entire institution (Business Card Exchanges and Alumni Library Sponsorship).

One new cool feature of the workshop were the World Cafe Style Conversations. I brainstormed with colleagues about Instruction/Assessment, Outreach, and Preservation/Digitization/Born Digital/Technology.

I also had the opportunity to spend lunch with a 2 colleagues who presented at SOA about their archival move a few weeks ago and ended up sitting with two other NC Library School alums at lunch (North Carolina State and UNC-Chapel Hill). Small World!

One word: BABAR. Imagine walking to room bursting with color and whimsy and BABAR. It's available and within reach.

Kent State is home to the one-of-a-kind collection, bequeathed to Kent State University in 1992 by John L. Boonshaft of Las Vegas, Nevada, containing books and artifacts relating to Babar, the fictional elephant created by Jean de Brunhoff in 1931 and perpetuated by his son, Laurent, after Jean died in 1937.

 But honestly, the very best part of the conference was connecting with La'el Hughes-Watkins, University Archivist, Assistant Professor, Kent State University Libraries. After touring The Kent State Shootings and Their Aftermath" Through The Media's Lens exhibit curated by La'el we chatted about our paths to archives and what it meant to be women of color in administrative positions in the library world. We were encouraged by one another's journey's and made fast friends (even attending RibFest in a few weeks!). I was fascinated to learn how La'el pulled from her background in journalism to curate the Through The Media's Lens chronological exhibit which highlights some of the major newspaper headlines, magazines, photographs, newsletters, posters, flyers and comic strips produced in light of the Kent State Shootings. The exhibit and meeting her alone were worth the 7 hour road trip. Check out the pics from this wonderful day:

Me and Rockwell "Rocky" K. Squirrel, University Libraries Official Spokes-squirrel (who has his own business cards)

Through the Lens

I love how the exhibit "bleed" into the hallway outside the reading room where the exhibit is house. These display cases are exceptional!

Life sized BABAR!

They even made Babar labels!

Huge in house scanner for library signage and other paper production. I wish!

In the archives stacks 

Two Dynamic Overachieving Archivists making our mark in the field

Society of Ohio Archivists Annual Meeting and The New Professionals Award

On April 2, 2015, The Society of Ohio Archivists (SOA) announced the names of scholarship recipients for the “2015 SOA Merit Awards, New Professional Scholarships, and Student Scholarships to the SOA Annual Meeting Competition”. I was awarded the new archival professionals award. As a new transplant to the Miami Valley Area from Durham, I had limited knowledge of the Ohio landscape. Attending a variety of conferences as a student intern and employee in North Carolina gave me a great lay of the land and connected me with organizations with whom to collaborate. I applied for the scholarship on account of the opportunity for networking with Ohio repositories and build strong relationships with OhioLink, OPAL Consortium, local public libraries, museums and historical institutions, and the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Receiving my award from SOA President Judith Wiener

The scholarship for archival professionals with three years or less experience in the workplace will provide funding to attend the associations’ annual spring meeting on Friday, May 15, 2015 at the OCLC Conference Center in Dublin, Ohio. The scholarship consists of conference registration (including lunch), a one year membership to SOA, and a $100 travel stipend. Awardees are required to write about their experience for publication in the Ohio Archivist newsletter.

Here goes:

I carpooled with the Greene County Archive crew to Dublin for the Archives Amplified themed meeting. In addition to hearing about the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum at The Ohio State University from Jenny Robb, Curator and Associate Professor, I attended the following sessions, "Delivering the Ohio Department of Health and Death Certificates Digitally", "The Value-Added Archivist: Becoming an Integrated Part of the Academy", "Creating Digital Stories and History Harvests for Outreach and Instruction", and "Out of Site: Coordinating a Large-Scale Move of Archival Materials".

All of the sessions were great but I was most intrigued by the Value-Added Archivist presentation in which the flipped classroom model was highlighted. We were challenged to think about creating a strategy for archives integration into the curriculum, determining research and teaching needs (not digitizing for digitizing sake, and defining the first steps in creating assignments for sustainable projects.

As the adolescent who spent way too much time on Ancestry.com when the site first launched I was fascinated by the Health and Death Certificates presentation. The Ohio History Connection provides access to 2,000,000 digitized 1954-1963 Ohio Department of Health and Death certificates for patrons to research. The presenters shared Orville Wright's death certificate with us and explained how they created an online index and email system for sending PNG copies of certificates to patrons for a $7 a pop.

The first thing I noticed about the SOA membership much like ATLA is that it is small and everyone knows one another, therefore it is fairly easy to get involved in committees and approach colleagues about tangible collaborations. I volunteered to serve on the Advocacy Committee.

Dreamy

General Session Room

View of the OCLC Building from the 2nd floor where look was served

Take 2

The Merit Award and Scholarship Recipients 

The Payne Theological Seminary and A.M.E. Church Digital Archive is LIVE!

The history of Payne Theological Seminary, one of the nation’s oldest African American seminaries is now at your fingertips, thanks to a collaboration between Payne and Princeton Theological Seminary.

With funding from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundation, Payne Theological Seminary is actively digitizing materials from its historical archives and contributing the digitized versions to the Theological Commons. The collection will contain curated, contextualized subcollections of images and textual materials for the study of the history of the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E) denomination and Black Church tradition while chronicling the leadership and legacy of Payne Theological Seminary.

The records available for research include blueprints, handwritten manuscripts, rare books, bulletins and photos that date back to the 1800s which document the establishment of the Black Church in America to the physical changes and developments of a number of African Methodist Episcopal Educational Institutions.

This unique digital archive is publicly accessible at http://commons.ptsem.edu/payne