Introductions

I'm a law reference librarian with added duties of Archives and Special Collections.

Archives are of Walter F. George School of Law, Mercer University.

Special Collections are the Griffin B. Bell papers, papers from the 1938 Walter F. George senatorial campaign {famous because a regular visitor to Warm Springs, GA, FDR endorsed the primary opponent of the incumbent Senator George}, the prosecution files for the Anjette Lyles murder trial {see: Whisper to the black Candle {no not Black Beauty}by Jocelyn White, and oral histories from the Georgia Legal History class.

"Archives" also house books by our faculty and alumns such as Steve Berry and Nancy Grace.

Hello everyone! I'm a reference and instruction librarian at an academic institution with a tiny archives in which I have no role, but I still keep an active interest in things archival. As a student, I was heavily influenced by Terry Cook - oh no! I don't have the book he edited in my LT list - pause to add it... _ there: Imagining archives.

Archival topics that fascinate me: oral history (methodological problems in); how historians imagine archives; archives in Asia.

Looking forward to browsing ya'lls' libraries.

(edited to correct an apostrophe)

I see you have my place of employment as an icon.

Not a formal archivist, but I like playing in them, for the sheer history. :)

Hi! I'm about to start my MLS in Archives Management, but for the time being, I've been put in charge of my company's archives (despite the fact that I have no idea what I'm doing). We're a non-profit, over 125 years old, that focuses on archaeology outreach and education.

I was an archivist, before LibraryThing...

Greetings. I'm here, as of today. Glad to see archivists here. I actually work for NARA in College Park. So, I don't work at the building in the picture - but close enough.

Hi all! I have a newly minted MLIS, Archives and Records Management concentration. I also have an MA in Historical Administration (Museum Studies, essentially), and a BA in Anthropology. I'm deep into a job search, and having little luck.

Glad to meet you all!

Hi,
I'm starting a two year Master of Information Studies in September. At present, I'm finishing a summer job at a religious archive and have previously worked at an college archive during my undergrad studies. I'm worried a bit about employment at the end of all this, as I doubt that I'll have unlimited geographic mobility, even within Canada.

I'm keen to read some more about archivists and archives. This summer I read Alberto Manguel's The Library At Night (which I would certainly recommend; a very well crafted series of essays) and have been wondering if there is something similar about archives?

Hello all,

Am I the only Brit here so far? I've got an MSc Econ in Archive Administration from Aberystwyth (Wales), and for the last three years I've worked as an archivist at a Local record office in Yorkshire.

I'm very slowly starting to catalogue all my books so don't laugh at my pathetically poor showing at the moment - it will grow as soon as I manage to get a day of work!

Looking forward to chatting with you all

Hello, paper people. No, not dolls, but people who still handle paper every day. I'm a librarian with archival training from the Georgia Archives Institute years ago. I never suceeded in getting a job as an archivist, but I've used what I learned both as a librarian and as a historian. So it was worthwhile training.

Hello everyone!
I don't work in archives per se, but I do work for a State Historical Society and am a book collector. I use our archives all the time. Does that count?

blc

sure it counts! Welcome.

I am not an archivist professionally, but I do own "archives" in public transportation. At various points over the last 40 years, I've attempted to obtain a copy of every public transit (bus and streetcar) schedule printed in every city and town in the Unitd States, and a few in Canada. I have an impression that I may have the only extant copy of many schedules from smaller bus companies, that no longer exist. I was reluctant to post, because I don't really own any books about archiving, and the things I archive are more in the way of ephemera, rather than books or manuscripts.

Hey lizzyb7! I'm actually thinking of applying to the Ph.D. at Aber - not sure about the start date though, as they seem so flexible. I've got one year left in the MLIS (Archival Studies) program at McGill (Canada).

Interests: Archives meets Rare Books, digitizing archives, KM interpretations of Archival holdings.

Hello!

Firstly I should thank DromJohn for starting this. I meant to carry through, but I was insanely busy for a while there.

I am a Brit, lizzyb7! I'm three units into the MLitt distance-learning course at Dundee, and have been working at various places on temporary contracts meanwhile. I've just finished a contract at the Royal Bank of Scotland and am in the process of applying for a few other things: please cross your fingers for me!

My particular interests include pre-18th century legal documents and any form of social or oral history, but frankly I can get interested in almost anything, which is why I'm in archives. I love anything that's old and quirky.

I don't have too many books about archives - yet. On the other hand, I would like to change this, so I'll be seeing what other people might recommend.

Hello all,

Better late than never I suppose!

I am not an archivist, tho I would actually love to be involved with special collections. My passion is rare books, and my howl is at how much original material we are now losing thanks to the bookseller habit of ripping apart books and selling only those pages which have illuminations on them, be it an iconic letter, or full page graphic. They seem to dump the rest of the book, and rarely fully cite where they have gotten pages from other than "a 15th century Antiphonic". Can you hear me howling??????

Presently working on a paper of short bios of the women wood engravers of the Golden Cockerel Press. As I am a student, think I will hang on to it and publish it after I get my MLIS degree here in Canada. Anyone know of a journal which may look at material like that??

I can not only hear you howling, Wood_Engraver, I'm howling along with you.

Hi all... I'm a museum professional having a mid-life crisis and considering going back for an MLS with a mind to possibly ending up in archives... so I'll be lurking around see what you're all chatting about!

Hi - I'm a Lone Arranger working in a small University archives with a large federal collection housed here under an MOU. I went the route of the MS Applied History (oral history, archives, museum studies) but discovered by & large I'm a snoop! I love reading other people's mail - especially when it dates to the late 19th century and early 20th and I'm the first person to delve into it in 50+ years.

My collection now is almost all late 20th century, but still interesting and keeps me busy.

Hello everyone! I am just getting started on my bachelors degree in History and then going for my masters in archival studies. I want to work with rare books and restoring/preserving them. I even have some older books that I want to work on now, but have no clue how where to start. Any suggestions? Thanks!

akacey93 - Have you looked at Book Repair: A How-to-do-it Manual by Kenneth Lavender ?

He was my Rare Book professor in graduate school and an excellent teacher. From what I remember (all those years ago) he really laid things out in an easy-to-follow manner. Conservation/restoration was not the direction I followed, though the Univ of Texas-Austin has a truly wonderful conservation program.

Thank you Islandgal! I will definitely look into this book. Where did you go to graduate school? I am kind of a snoop as well when it comes to the older letters. How is everything going for you? Thanks again for the suggestion!

My MS is from Univ. North Texas in Denton. I opted for the Applied History degree, which at the time was offered with an MLS (another 2 years of work) but took the one and got out as quickly as I could. LOL.

How's everything? Trying to write a biog/hist note for a collection I started processing 5 months ago and haven't touched in 3 months. Trying to wrap my head around the information and notes I jotted down during processing. Hope to finish that tomorrow and get it on the shelf at long last. Have too many others in the backlog waiting.

I'm a special collections librarian and archivist. University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. I worked 10 years in a rare book medical library with medical texts from incunables to 20th century. Then as an archivist processing photographic collections in EAD and now doing a bit of both (although funding in the state I live is abysmal for higher ed). The library I work in now is focused on civil war and Southern history with some incredible findings in the backlog recently of manuscript collections that have been barely touch. Too much fun to be considered work!

My concern is the loss of the written word with the advent of email and electronic documents, especially for institutional history but also for social and community life. Will these messages we type here be retrievable in 15 years? Should they be? Lots of good discussion going on in the library world about this.

Hi Everyone;

Thank you DromJohn for the invitation to the group. I am not very active using librarything but will attempt to check in once every two weeks.
I have my MLIS and VRA digital certification. I work in a public library with specialization in local history. I hope to be involved in establishing digital collections in the near future. I have worked in archives and occasionally guest curate at museums.
VisLib

Hi everyone!!

Hi! I'm about to start in the MLIS program at LSU and i plan on concentrating on Archives Management.
I actually have a BA in Accounting, but recently left my CPA job to pursue something that I would enjoy. I'm extremely excited about this change!!