Little Sister

After some soul searching, anxiety, and excitement, I adopted a female kitten this past weekend.  I vacillated between an adult female and a male kitten, and was so sure at one point that I was adopting a male that I named him and envisioned him as part of our household before I even found him.  In the end, Nell joined our family.  She is a spitfire.  And she's trying to climb into my overflowing crate of fitness equipment as I type this. 

Oh, Henry is not pleased.  Yet.  I believe she'll win him over any day now.  At least he still loves me. 

And we both still love and remember Miss Chloe.  Always.

So, meet Nell:

Diva

When I adopted Chloe from the shelter 12 years ago, we only knew that she had been surrendered by her previous owner (she was almost 2 years old).  We didn't know if she'd been a stray or what, but she was so pretty, dainty, gentle, and just wanted to be loved.  She also had sass, therefore, diva.  My sister and I joked that she must have some mad street skills with the way she handled her little brother, Henry.  She was a brilliant fluffy package.  I'll miss her...

1999 (?) - 5/9/2012

Hitting My Stride

I’ve been employed as an archivist for little over a month now.  Only in the past couple of weeks have I started to feel comfortable with my decisions and finding it easier to make those decisions.  In fact, I’m starting to think that I might actually be good at this (totally my opinion only). 

            

 When I came in on the processing project, two other temporary archivists had already assessed the collection and designed an arrangement.  Both were gone, with only their notes left behind to guide me, as well as a graduate student assistant who had been elbow deep in the records since November. 

Coming into the project in media res, as it were, has both advantages and disadvantages.  I think being part of the accession, deed of gift, appraisal, and well, just opening the boxes and going through all of the stuff for the first time gives the archivist a more intimate look into the collection and therefore a better understanding of how the records were used, original order, etc.  To understand the collection is to provide the best means of access to it, and access is the ultimate goal, I dare say. 

            

However, the most confounding and thoughtful aspect of processing any collection, especially one that has no discernible organization (i.e. original order), designing an arrangement, had already been done, and I had to figure out why certain decisions were made and consider revising it.  I admit I put way more thought into the existing organization than was necessary.  I felt, since I was now sort of running point on this project, that I should make changes to show that I knew what I was doing and that I could take charge.  At times I tried to force changes that in the end just made no sense.  The deeper I got into the collection, the more I backed off editing the arrangement, and ultimately came back to the original blueprint.  I have made changes since, now that I’m more comfortable with the collection, but it was a great starting point and trying to overhaul it in the beginning before I’d even gotten familiar with the records was a waste of time and energy. 

            

 Now I’m in the midst of inventorying the collection for the finding aid, and this is where I’m finding it easier to adjust the organization a bit.  There are files in a group of files that I believe belong in another group, which just proves that one archivist’s arrangement can vary greatly from another’s.  We’re about three weeks in with this inventory and I have re-organized the files more than once.  So far, that has been one of the biggest takeaways from this experience: Processing archival collections means arranging and re-arranging again and again and again.  You would think the process would be tedious and not a little frustrating, but in fact, it teaches me to look at the collection as a whole and to look at it how a researcher would.  All that theory learned in library school really does mean something. 

            

 This is a temporary gig, and I really want to see it through to the end.  When I had been first hired, I had been asked to apply a processing technique called MPLP (More Product, Less Process) in an effort the speed up the project and open the collection to users, in conjunction with more traditional methods.  I’m not sure I’ve succeeded thus far, because one argument for MPLP is that you don’t need to look at every item in the collection (of which there are 9,000+ in this one), and yet, how is it possible to direct an item to its proper place in the arrangement if you don’t spend a moment to appraise it?  Despite that conundrum (a discussion of MPLP could warrant its own blog post, and it has on other sites), I’ve been moving through the collection at a decent speed.  In fact, sometimes I have wondered if I would finish before my time was up.  Looking back on these past weeks, and considering the remaining collection to document, I can say that will not happen.  Although that, in this uncertain economic climate, does not mean job security; it just means someone else will eventually come along to finish the project, when funding is available.  I’d like it to be me, but who knows?  Until then, I’m enjoying the hell out of the experience.

Oh, By the Way...

 Did I mention I got a job as an archivist?  I didn’t?  Oh.  Well, as of March 5, I have been employed as a temporary, part-time manuscripts processor at a local university.  Yesterday, I got my first paycheck from that gig, and it felt pretty darn sweet, maybe more so because my spirits had been flagging as of late.  

 You see, as the holidays approached in 2011, I decided to shelve my efforts to actively hunt for a job as a librarian or an archivist.  I graduated in 2009, and both the economic climate and my lack of experience left me treading water, unsuccessfully sending out resume after resume.  I wanted to face the New Year rested and my mind free of rejection. 

 Thanksgiving passed, and I had successfully eliminated the anxiety of what I was beginning to feel as wasting my time.  Instead, I stayed busy setting personal goals, spending time with my family, and indulging in too many sweets.  My mind was clear, even of plans to restart the search in 2012.  So, when an email came my way at the end of December from the university archivist where I interned two years before asking me if I was interested in an opportunity to process a collection, it was a complete surprise.  However, it took no thought to reply, “Well, yeah.”

We met a week or two later to go over the collection, the identity of which I guessed by reviewing their News and Announcements section on their website that discussed recent acquisitions.  After she showed me the extent of the collection, pointed out that processing had already begun with the previous intermittent archivist, and indicated that funding was not yet guaranteed, she asked if I still wanted the job.  No, my mind had not changed.

            

 I left the university very excited and anxious to start.  Unfortunately, it literally took weeks to get an answer on funding, which dimmed that excitement and had thoughts of funding falling through plaguing my days.  Finally, I got the confirmation that I could start filling out the employment paperwork.  I didn’t waste any time crossing my “T’s” and dotting my “I’s”, and within a few days I was on campus picking up my ID badge.  When I went into the office to do so, the young man behind the counter asked if I was student or faculty.  Of course, I said, “Faculty.”  Favorite answer ever.

             

The next few posts will discuss the work (in oblique terms since I don’t want to deal in specifics here) and what I’ve learned both about the profession and myself as an archivist.  Seriously, colleagues (I have colleagues!) have called me an archivist.  That’s pretty awesome.

Drop. Your. Sword.

March has become an anomaly this year in NW Ohio.  We are still technically in winter, but for the past week and predicted for this week are 70+ temps and sunny skies.  Not that I'm complaining.  In fact, far from complaining, I had a really nice day today and felt good and energetic, kind of like I feel at spring's renewal.  It was the kind of day that made me pause in what I was doing and acknowledge out loud how awesome it was.  Good music in the background, fresh air through the open windows, and good book in hand.  What more can one ask?

To top it off, a little rendition of, "Mawage is what bwings us togever today," spoken aloud by yours truly while I was cleaning the bathroom instantly put in me the mood for The Princess Bride, and so I popped it in.  I haven't watched it in years, but I was instantly pulled back in to the fantasy and humor and anticipating lines before they were ever spoken.  I love that I still love this movie.  I know that tastes change over the years, but there are just some things that never budge from one's heart.  I remember the mileage I put on the old VHS I borrowed from a friend when I was young.  I think I watched it ten times or more and it might have been a year before I returned it.  When I got my first DVD player, this was one of the first DVDs I bought, and for good reason.  Cary Elwes is full of charm (and still is, in case you haven't seen his turn as Pierre Despereaux in Psych), much as the movie is.  As Westley and Buttercup run through the fire swamp, I thought how in this generation of remakes, I'd hate to see The Princess Bride get an upgrade, because there is no need.  Even the practical effects that are pure 80's camp of the ROUS's (Rodents of Unusual Size for those of you who are not in the know) seem just right.  And no one can replace Andre the Giant.  No one.  It wouldn't be sportsmanlike. 

So, today was a good day, what with storming the castle and all.  Most of my days past have been good since my last post two months ago (or has it been longer?).  2012 has thus far turned out to be pretty decent.  I guess I'm doing something right. 

It's past 9 pm, the windows are still open, 80's pop is playing on the TV and my cat is snugged up against me without a care in the world.  No, I really have nothing to complain about.  Hell, with Kool & the Gang's "Ladies Night" jamming through the apartment, complaining would be, well, inconceivable.

Month-In-Review: December

Blimey, 2012 just sort of happened, didn't it?  Sure, it came after 12 months of 2011 as most new years do, but I swear those 365 or so days went by a hell of a lot faster than they should have.  I mean, did I really accomplish anything?  I honestly can't say.  2011 was a quiet, uneventful year in the old Sara B household, and I suppose that is something for which to be thankful. 

I've been busy this past week putting my resolutions into motion (you know, lose weight, get a job, get a date, yada, yada, yada) that I haven't put much thought into that old holiday flurry that was December.  Well, here is what I'll address:

• Miraculously, despite holiday parties and the associated richness of food, I finished 2011 five pounds down from where I started.  It's five pounds, not fifty, but I'll take it, considering how hard it is to manage at my advanced age.
• There has been a positive turn on the job front, but I'm superstitious enough not to expound on it until some things have been set in stone.  
• Really, that is the extent of my life since December 1.  Gripping.  Gah.

Well, as I've mentioned before, I love beginnings, so January is usually full of positive anticipation.  I'll let you know in February if that optimism has become a habit, since it takes 21 days of doing something for it to become a habit, after all. 

Cheers!