Feb 13

Have had a whirlwind of activity at the Local History room. Monday I put in 8 ½ hours and really made a dent in the project. Up to now I’ve been doing sort of preparatory work which has been interesting but not challenging – that is, I’ve been setting up display binders, creating title pages, creating labels for file drawers, labels for folders, creating a flyer for the Local History room etc. Lots of the work has been using my new skills on the computer and paralleling my current job (and my other class) which I really like. I wonder how manual these same tasks might have been if I didn’t have these new skills? Oh well, it doesn’t matter now. But I see there are benefits and drawbacks to working and interning in the same place – certainly I have free rein with the copy machine, the computer, the color printer but would a visiting intern have to pay for access?

I completed the photograph binder which reflects the changes over the past few years to the Local History Room. Similar work effort as postcards – title page, printed copies of the photos in slip sheets rather than the original photos – however, instead of documenting Long Branch history through the old glimpses and a scrawled note, these recent photos reflect the growth of the room through the construction and through the donations of file cabinets, furniture, new rug (obtained from money received from the sale of old books no longer required – note, comment on Deed of Gift) etc. So now I think we want to display these binders or classify them somehow so visitors can see them.

About the notes to self:

As I was reviewing the Authority File (something new to me – new term, concept) for an existing collection with my supervisor, we discovered an entire page of the file was missing. This page was a list of all the folders containing material on Long Branch – everything between Long Branch and Middlesex County was missing. If all the folders themselves were missing, we would have no way to cross reference. Luckily this was just an oversight and the page existed on the computer and the situation corrected. But it was interesting to see the immediate response.

Asbury Park/Local History Display

IMG_0004_1
Originally uploaded by emscils598s07

Collection of items displaying the history of Asbury Park. Picture downloaded from Flickr
This display coincides with a major program at the library on Feb 20, 2008 featuring an author from Asbury Park, NJ. Sponsored by the Long Branch Historical Association, the program is in honor of Black History month. I did all the publicity - flyers announcing the program, newspaper publicity and the display case. I have been in touch with the author as well, requesting some of her photos from the book for display.
The materials for the display came from a combination of sources but all the books are from the Local History room, where I am currently interning.

Friday Night Discussing my online Journal

2 hours!
This is a stream of consciousness - what I know or don't know at a particular point in time. By the end of the internship I will know or not know even more things!

Asbury Park/Local History Display

Second Photo - full view

Asbury Park/Madonna C. Jackson
Originally uploaded by emscils598s07

First photo - good to test it out. I see the glare etc so will try to fix and take another photo

Posting today, talking about yesterday

I had the time Thursday to pull together the Asbury Park Exhibit with Elsalyn's help. We had already put the books from the local history collection aside, I had been holding the Asbury Park postcards on loan from a generous donor for two weeks and Elsalyn brought in her own collection of Asbury Park ephemera. So we had a colorful collection to work with.

Outside the local history room is a glass enclosed shelf used for displays that need to be locked up. This display case is perfect for a local history exhibit. Valuable materials are safe but visible - this encourages people to ask about the room and what is inside.....or at least that is the idea. We don't usually get questions about the displays....but now that we are focusing on the local history aspect, perhaps we will.

Going Back in Time, starting with today

So much to talk about - I'll start with today's project (s) and work backwards.

Today I was on my own. I had been left several small size projects which I could work on whenever I dropped into the Local History Room between major visits. Today I managed to free my afternoon up so I could get some of these projects behind me.

One project seemed oh so simple but I came up with question after question. I was putting a binder together of old postcards depicting Long Branch - these postcards had been purchased at local fairs/antique markets specifically for the local history room by Elsalyn Palmisano. There were two batches of cards, purchased at different times at different locations. And there were photocopies of all of the postcards - black and white, two to a page, a record keeping device.

I had asked a few days ago if I should put the postcards in the binder in the same order as the photocopies. This seemed like a good way to know if one of the cards were to disappear we would know which one was missing. Well, when I started to arrange the postcards in the binder, I discovered I preferred a different grouping. Neither sequence was related to provenance or original order so probably wasn't important. But now I'm wondering 1) do I take new photocopies of the postcards in their protective sleeves and 2) what do I do with the old photocopies and/or new photocopies - do I create another binder for the copies? Also, the original postcards are in plastic sleeves with the price tag on them. I did not remove these sleeves because I thought the price was pertinent. Is this correct?

One of my other projects today was creating external labels for the filing cabinets scattered around the library which have no identification on them to distinguish them as local history information. Why is a Word Table so difficult? Trying to get the font size and label size reasonably clear took forever.

Note to self: when I showed the librarians in reference the labels I would be adhering to the file cabinets they asked for a few more for the microfilm cabinet. I need to speak with the person who created the existing microfilm labels about how she got them to fit precisely in the slot.

Email is another task. Since I work in the library I am on the central library network. I request technical support and ask questions related to the local history room via email - I use this means of communication for the same reasons anyone would. Multiple people can be copied, you have a copy yourself if the request goes astray, etc. But this also takes a bit of time each day.

Suffice to say 4 hours just flies by