This past week, I had a refreshing break from routine at my internship. It's not that I haven't enjoyed processing Claxon mss. and Claxon mss. II, but like anyone else, sometimes my mind needs to switch tasks and priorities in order to function at an optimum level (or somewhere thereabouts). A day-long shift shadowing Dave Frasier in the Lilly's reference department on Tuesday was a great way to catapult me into another dimension of library and archive work.
I must preface in saying that Dave is quite the character. Sometimes it's hard for me to tell when he's joking or being serious, but I like to think that I got a lot better at that during our day together--and in answer, Dave is probably more often joking, but at the same time often insightful as to his job and the role of reference within the library's relationship with researchers. His professional track record includes a number of years in technical services at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction, in reference at IU's main Herman B Wells library, and... well, I feel like there was another step or two along the way, but my memory fails me. In any case, Dave has been doing reference at the Lilly for several years now; he is primarily in charge of email reference requests. I find it quite interesting that his background is not entirely in rare books and special collections. He approaches the position and the act of reference from a holistically informed perspective that I think makes him more effective in doing his present line of work. The Lilly does not exist in a vacuum, and though the interests and questions brought by researchers are largely different than those of other libraries, in the end all reference work is about connecting people to information. People approach information seeking and access as a response to their own experience and knowledge of information systems.
The only thing that Dave pointed out which really puts him at a disadvantage is pure time and experience with the Lilly's collections. Becky Cape, head of the reference department and an employee at the Lilly for over thirty years, is a walking, talking treasure trove of reference wisdom. It makes perfect sense to me that one working in reference, especially at a rare book library or archive, gets much better with age. Because of the unique quality of materials, vast quantity of minimally described archival holdings, and cataloging/descriptive practices which change over the course of time and employees, it takes time to know what materials are available and where they may be found.
Anyhow, as for my own day's experiences... we began with a brief introduction to what Dave's position entails, including the basics of email reference; I also had (another) tour of the Lilly, this time with more focus on the types of materials housed on each floor. My favorites were definitely the items in the cookbook collection, one of the most popular collections of items in the library. As an amateur cookbook collector with an interest in culinary history myself, I could have spent the whole day pouring over that aisle. Maybe someday!
Another thing I learned was that reference is an ever-changing, mobile job. While processing involves lifting a few boxes now and then, shifting folders, and getting a great wrist workout when labeling folders, working in reference is a whole new kind of active. I really liked this aspect of the job, and I hope that someday I find myself in a position which allows me to do both processing and reference. I soundly believe that variety, among other things, leads to job satisfaction. Dave and I paged a few items for patrons in the reading room, researched and answered an email reference question or two, and talked about copyright issues. The most interesting question came from a researcher interested in a specific item in the Fleming mss.--papers of the man behind the James Bond novels. Apparently there are very strict copyright issues surrounding most of Fleming mss., but the specific item of interest is even more "off limits," as the Iranian Oil Company holds the rights to it (I hope I remembered that correctly; please don't take that statement as definitive fact). Researchers are allowed to use these items in the Lilly's reading room, but they may not be used in publications. We talked about how to discuss the issue with researchers. Basically, the library is responsible for informing researchers about copyright restrictions, may pass on information about who researchers should contact for rights inquiries on specific items/collections, but the researcher is liable for any publication of protected materials.
All in all, my day in reference was great. I still surely enjoy processing, but it is incredibly helpful to consider who users and libraries will go about accessing processed collections through the arrangement and description that processors such as myself create. Switching perspective is essential in retaining a realistic understanding of how one library or archive component affects and interacts with others.
On Thursday, I spent the day back on the Manuscripts processing floor working on my new collection: Mystery Writers of America mss.! I am quite excited about this new line of duty. The Mystery Writers of America, Inc. is the leading association for professional crime writers in the United States, which has been in existence since 1945. The collection includes about 25 boxes (not all of them full) of ... to quote from the Lilly's current description: "Correspondence, files, papers, ledgers, minutes, financial reports, photographs, documentation of the Edgar® Award Dinners, membership directories, newsletters, press releases, and manuscript materials of the Mystery Writers of America, Inc." Call me crazy, but I think institutional records are quite interesting, so I look forward to learning more about the contents of the collection and the Mystery Writers of America, Inc. itself. I spent the day on Thursday checking the physical items against an inventory created for the collection previously. A portion of the collection is arranged into rough series, but another portion is a bit haphazard and will require more consideration. From my analysis thus far, I think even the semi-arranged portion needs some reassessment. It's something I look forward to! My next step will include considering series arrangement and discussing my thoughts with Craig.
Next week, including working on the Mystery Writers of America mss., I'll spend all or part of the day on Tuesday out at the ALF Preservation lab! I'm not exactly sure what this will entail, but as always, I expect it will be interesting, informative, and insightful as to the priorities and duties of an archivist.
One more note: Next weekend is the Society of American Archivists Student Chapter Graduate Conference, which I am co-organizing! I may go slightly crazy over the course of the next seven days, but I think that this too is adding a great component to my experiences in the field. Perhaps I will learn something that I can bring back to my internship as well. Oh, the possibilities.
All the best,
Amy
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