Final Thoughts about the internship

I am looking forward to the end of this internship. I have worked harder than on any other class so far. But I am taking with me more than I can even begin to identify. The Long Branch PL Local History Room is a work in process but it has the strong foundations already in place. This means that I had the amazing opportunity to explore solutions within an defined structure which provided grounding but allowed me to push the boundaries because there was not yet a rigid standardization of process. There is a very complete list of policies and procedures for using the room - but an evolving set of standards for processing the collections. I feel that I was part of the development of the standards by virtue of being one of the first people to document a collection and create a Finding Aid.

I will be creating a pathfinder to the collection files on the computer so they can be accessed and updated after I am gone. The Elsalyn Palmisano Collection is an active collection and will be continually changing. The files will need to be updated periodically to reflect this.

We are also going to combine all the files that make up the Elsalyn Palmisano collection and create one file for Tonya Badillo who will create a .pdf file. This file will then be linked to the web page so that the finding aids will be available online.

Future volunteers will need a copy of the pathfinder and the steps to follow to update existing files or to process a new collection and document it according to the Local History Room new standards. I will create some kind of instruction manual.

*****

This is my last post - I would like to thank the Long Branch Public Library for being the host for my SCILS internship. Ingrid Bruck supported all my educational efforts throughout the past year. Francine Marks supported the entire internship by providing an environment that is technically top notch. Supplies, cataloging, computer support, whatever - we asked for it, we got it. And finally I would like to thank my mentor and supervisor, Elsalyn Palmisano, for not only agreeing to give up her time to be with me in the Local History Room, but also providing guidance, advice, training, wisdom and experience above and beyond what was expected. I not only will finish this internship with a wealth of new experience but I will have a large portfolio of material that I have created and that Elsalyn has encouraged me to collect. In even the tiniest things, Elsalyn finds a lesson and provides her intern with a toolkit that travels far beyond the walls of the Local History Room.

Always changing, never ending

At NJLA (4/30/08) I attended a workshop "Trash or Treasure" presented by Chad Leinaweaver (Newark PL) and Tim Corlis (Rutgers Special Collections). Tim spoke mostly about mold and the ruinous affect it can have on your collections. Don't accept moldy items which can infect the rest of your collection. Tim provided the terminology for a mold policy that Elsalyn P wrote down and presented to the LBPL director who will then go to the Board of Trustees. If the Board adopts the policy, the library has a position to take with all future donors. If a gift is even suspected of containing mold, will the donor provide funding so that measures can be taken immediately to remove the mold? If not, the library can refuse a gift unless they deem the gift valuable enough to use library funds to restore item.

New books being processed - cataloged, stamped and displayed.....older books being moved to shelves from display areas and duplicates removed from shelves (remember from an earlier post, not necessarily removed from the library).

In March I posted that the library director and volunteer consultant went to investigate the old photographs from Long Branch that were to be auctioned. The Board agreed to fund $175 - unfortunately we later found out that the winning bid was $185. Too bad! But worse the scuttle butt about the pictures is that the purchaser only wanted the frames. So upon taking the newly purchased antiquities home, the new owner removed the photographs from the frames and threw them away. Lessons learned? Make your interests known when purchasing a collection - you never know when the competition is competing for something completely different. Also, if possible, have some flexibility with price. Would $25 more dollars have made any difference?

Local History Room Transformation

Pre- Internship

Filing cabinets were unmarked, several collections were housed in boxes on the floor. There was no order to the collection of material, just years of accumulation.




Post - Internship

Vertical file collections are displayed neatly throughout the room. Boxes that were previously full of material are now stored in the attic ready to be reused. The Local History room has a good supply of archival material - clear sleeves, acid free folders, boxes and Hollinger style boxes. The room is well setup to process additional collections most of which are stored in the tall metal cabinets.




Filing cabinets are labeled with the name of the collection, binders hold the finding aids for the collections and title pages clearly identify each collection in the binder. The drawers originally had no identification of any kind. Now the drawers are well marked.

Parting Shots

In January, the Local History Room was full of boxes of materials.

Now the boxes are empty and the material has been processed into vertical files. It is the Elsalyn Palmisano Collection of Monmouth County and New Jersey