Week 4: Science Fiction Double Feature

As part of what my supervisor wants me to do during my internship, I get to curate an exhibit. Last week, I was given plenty of time to begin working on it. The broad topic Becky approved is science fiction. Now, before I go any further, I would just like to get something off my chest:

STAR TREK!!!!!!

Ahem. Okay. So, in case you did not guess, I am rather fond of Star Trek (and, yes, that is an understatement). When I discovered just how large of a collection of Star Trek scripts the Lilly holds, I knew I wanted to do an exhibit that could include at least a few of them. So, I began my exploration of the Lilly's science fiction collections by looking at the scripts for some of my favorite episodes. The sad thing was that, as a huge nerd, I could tell differences between the final scripts and the actual episodes. There is a two-part episode of Star Trek: Voyager from season 4 called "The Killing Game" that my sister and I particularly like. One of our (or at least my) favorite lines is from the doctor, "I'll reattach any severed limbs, just don't misplace them." Naturally I noticed when this line was absent from the script. For some of the scripts, particularly with Voyager, there were also early drafts and technical and research notes on the scripts. Since large parts of "The Killing Game" take place in Nazi-occupied France, many of the notes discussed the historical accuracy of the things mentioned in the dialogue.

Of course, there is more to the wide world of science fiction than just Star Trek. There are many great sci-fi authors, especially from back before I was born, like Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, you get the idea. Now, the Lilly has many of their great books (some in first editions). But, beyond that, there is correspondence. Most importantly, there is a collection known as the White mss. These are the papers of a man who is most familiar by his pseudonym Anthony Boucher. He was a mystery writer (which is why the mystery convention Bouchercon is named after him). He was also a critic of science fiction and fantasy writing. Because of this he corresponded with some of the big sci-fi authors of his day (sometimes a great deal). I have only read through a portion of the correspondence so far, but I've read enough to know that these men wrote letters as well as they wrote novels and short stories. They often discussed their families (the Bradbury's apparently had perpetual trouble find good, long term babysitters). But they also wrote a lot about their work. One of the most fascinating aspects of the correspondence is reading Boucher's letters to them when they're available. He was completely honest with them about his opinions on their works. His praise was usually effusive and exuberant. But if he did not like something, he would tell the author. He would do it kindly and apologetically, but he didn't sugarcoat things. The wonderful part is how gracious the authors were about receiving this criticism. Bradbury's letter in response to one from Boucher which rather ripped Fahrenheit 451 to shreds was very kind.

Just because I've started on my exhibit doesn't mean that I haven't done other things as well. I've continued my reference duties, as well as helping Becky get items ready for classes. Things are still going well, and my internship continues to be a fun, low-stress aspect of my life.

Week 3: The Puzzling World of Puzzle Manuscripts

Okay, so they aren't really all that puzzling. But they are fun. As I said in my last post, I got to step outside my normal realm of duties for the week and hang out in processing. I spent the whole week working with boxes from the Jerry Slocum collection. The beginning of the week was the trial box. Thick transcripts, pages of patents, copious correspondence. I also got to look at the Rubik's cube research box with folders of solutions. Folders of them, I say. In English, Russian, and what I think might be Hebrew. Fertile ground for all those Rubik's cube nerds out there (and I know that they exist because I'm related to a few). And because Mr. Slocum was all into puzzles, he kept in contact with other puzzle people. He had manuscripts and puzzle designs from a friend of his. As someone who enjoys puzzles, seeing some design sketches for puzzles that did and didn't work was really cool. Many of the puzzles involved fitting certain sets of wooden pieces in certain shapes, and he would have computer nerds run his puzzles through programs to see if he had the only solution, or if there were others. I had never thought about the use of computers and algorithms in designing puzzles.

I also got to put index cards and big nifty puzzle description cards into super special archival boxes. But what did these super special boxes go into? These:Exciting looking, aren't they? These are the kind of basic archival boxes that we use for folders of materials that don't need to be stored flat. I also recall that LVM kept legal files in some like this... For most of the week, the boxes I worked with were all prepared with materials in them. But when I got to the index cards and other small items that went into their special little boxes, I had to put together my own boxes. Space is a premium in, well, just about every institution these days, but especially in special collections. We worry about having enough space for our full boxes, we don't have enough space for empty boxes. So they get delivered flat, with some assembly required. So I got to learn how to assemble archival boxes. Another useful life skill to add to my list.

What I love about interning at the Lilly is that they don't treat us like we're stupid because we're students. They show us something the first time and then they leave us to do it ourselves. We're welcome to ask questions if we still have problems, and they never seem annoyed like we're wasting their time. I worked pretty independently all week, though I could ask Craig questions any time I needed to. He allowed me to do things as I saw fit, just like a real archival/manuscript processor would. And that's where the real experience comes from. Knowing that someone is going to check what you've done, but that what you've done is still the real work that everyone will be using. It's a nice feeling.

Well, my week in processing is done and tomorrow I go back to my normal routine of, well, I don't really have a normal routine yet. But I'm sure it will involve reference questions. So, catch you on the flip side.

There's No Such Thing As Wasted Experience

I know that this title is a potentially dangerous thing to say. This is not a justification for doing stupid things. It's a rationale for gaining a wide variety of experience. This week, my supervisor is busy with the tenure and promotion committee (she has my deepest sympathies), so I have been handed off to Craig, who works in processing. This may not seem like valuable experience for someone who wants to go into reference, but I believe it is (as does Craig, for that matter). How can you effectively find or help people find information or items if you are not familiar with how that information is organized? What's the rationale? Why is there more description for this document and less for this? Even if I never do reference in a rare books library and I get to point patrons toward more...straightforward sources, I will not regret getting to do this. And you will get to hear more about the process of processing when the week is over.

But the real reason I decided that there's not such thing as wasted experience is because of what I'm processing. Back in the '80s, there was a trial about the patents behind the Rubik's Cube. Jerry Slocum, the man with whose collection I am working, was called as an expert witness in the trial. Well, his papers contain a variety of documents from the trial, including copies of patents and patent applications. Back in the day (aka a few years ago), I spent a summer as a clerk in an intellectual property law firm where my mom works. Mostly, I scanned old case files and stored the documents in a digital database so the physical documents could be destroyed. During that summer I became quite familiar with patents and their structure, and I have also gotten to listen to my mom talk about patent litigation and everything that goes into it. I can't say that knowing all of this is necessarily going to make my processing of this collection more effective (though it might), but it is certainly making my job more fun, because I can understand the documents I'm looking at. I recognize the different parts of the puzzle patents, and I know what the correspondence is talking about when the participants are discussing one puzzle infringing on certain claims from an earlier patent. Heck, I even know what it means that Slocum was an expert witness. Like I said, it may not make any actual difference to the job, but it makes a difference to me and my enjoyment of what I'm doing.

And if none of that is reason enough for you to agree that no experience is wasted, look at it this way: the more experience you gain, the more things you know. The more things you know, the better you get at Trivial Pursuit. Think about it.

Week 2: Locks of Hair, Pop-up Books, and John Ford

It's been a busy week for me at the Lilly. I learned how to man the desk in the reading room (watch everyone like a hawk) and how to answer reference questions (which I wrote another post about). As I mentioned last week, the Lilly does presentations to classes at IU as part of its outreach. Becky talked to quite a few classes last week, and I got to sit on one. She was talking to the Children's Lit class, and since it's a SLIS class, I knew some of the students. The Lilly has an excellent collection of children's materials. She didn't pull out the first edition Harry Potters, but she did have some of the hornbooks I picked out last week, a variety of didactic works from the 1700s, even a book called Chaucer for Children. Given what I remember from the Canterbury Tales, I'm not sure how I feel about sharing much of it with children. The book had annotations and footnotes and everything. It was kind of special. But Becky had also pulled out early movable books, where kids could open things or pull things or whatever. Given that they were made by hand, they were impressive. She also pulled out a modern pop-up book of the Wizard of Oz. It was one of the most beautiful pop-up books I have ever seen. I think I enjoyed getting to see the materials as much as the students did.

The Lily is in the process of transitioning between some exhibits right now. I got to help de-install the most recent main exhibit, Cabbages and Kings: Unexpected Treasures of the Lilly. This meant first taking the books off of their supports so they could rest closed a little. We then went case by case, putting all of the materials in their various cases and folders (if they had them) and checking them off of the original installation list. We got to put away a variety of interesting items, including locks of George Washington's and Edgar Allen Poe's hair, a copy of Hamlet in Klingon (taH pagh taHbe'. DaH mu'tlheghvam vIqelnIS), and two copies of the Little Red Book. I didn't get to help put away the issues of Rolling Stone or Playboy because the cases they were in required more people to open them. The next exhibit is Gilding the Lilly, and it will be full of medieval manuscripts. Man, I love medieval manuscripts and the Lilly has a fabulous collection. I have to say that I really hope I get to help install it, but we'll see...

After learning to answer reference questions on Monday, I was tossed out by myself to see how I could do. My favorite one to work on was on Friday. We have a large John Ford manuscript collection, and I was looking to see if we had pictures of Ford and a) his wife, b) his children, and c) Katharine Hepburn. There were nine folders of photographs labeled as "friends and family" but only a small handful identified who was in them. So I first had to find out what Ford, his wife, and his children looked like. It took me most of my three hour shift to go through those nine folders. It was a lot of fun, and by then end I had a pretty good idea what his family looked like. But I didn't even get to the Katharine Hepburn ones (and I actually know what she looks like!). That's one of the things about manuscript collections. No mater how much cataloging and description you'd like to do on them, there's only so much that we have the time and resources to do. I'm sure it can get annoying to wade through folders of material to find the one item you need, but isn't that what makes research fun? At least it does to me...

A Side-note About Lilly Policy: Many people envision the everyone working with manuscripts or old books wears white gloves. There is actually a bit of debate on this in the field. The opinion at the Lilly is that gloves make it more difficult for patrons to be careful with that materials. So there are only two types of materials that receive white glove treatment: metal items and photographs. So I got to pull out the glove for the materials.

One of the perks about working with Lilly materials as a reference librarian (well, librarian-to-be) is that I get to page my own materials. The students who work at the library as pages and get materials for patrons are only allowed to page books. If patrons want manuscripts, they must be paged by one of the librarians. However, since I am working reference and retrieving my own materials, I am allowed to retrieve all of my own materials, including manuscripts. The only things I need a librarian to get are items from the Vault, and that was only an issue when I picked out the hornbooks for Becky last week.

I'm still having a blast there, and I am savoring the experience of getting to work with awesome materials in such a special library.

Behind the Scenes: Working Online Reference

So, one of the things I get to do this semester is working with Dave, one of the reference librarians. He works with answering the reference questions sent in by e-mail. Things have been pretty slow for him lately, but today I was able to help out with answering a question. To give you an idea of what it's like, I'm going to walk you through what we did.

1) Search the Lilly website
Apparently, many people discover that the Lilly might have something useful to them by doing a search on the internet. So, we search the Lilly website for what they want information about (in this case, a specific person). We found the name in question in the Latin American mss. page, though it had no useful context.

2) Browse the card catalog
Now that we knew our information was in one of the manuscript collections, we turned to the manuscript index in the reading room card catalog. I looked the person up by last name and found two cards for him: one listing correspondence he wrote and the other saying who to look up to find correspondence to him. So, we pulled the card listing what he wrote, and then we pulled the second card with the letter to him. We then photocopied the cards, so we didn't have to re-write out the information, before replacing them in the catalog.

3) Hit the stacks
We took our photocopies of the cards down to the manuscript stacks to find the physical letters. I got to find the boxes in the appropriate collection (Latin American mss. - Peru). For each item, we had to fill out a pink (a pink slip used for calling up manuscript items) to put in the box to mark its place. Keeping manuscript and archival items in order, whether it's an order imposed by the institution or kept from the original donor, is extremely important. Not only can it help you find materials, but if it is the order from the donor, it can provide some insight into the person who created the collection. The letters we pulled went into new folders, labeled with their collection and other pertinent information, before going into another box for the trip upstairs. We also checked each item off of our photocopy of the catalog cards to make sure we'd found all of the items.

4) Respond to the patron
The first thing I was told about communication with patrons is to be polite. First of all, it is common courtesy. Second, we are representing a prestigious institution, and we would like to be able to maintain the Lilly's good reputation. The second thing I learned was to lay out our process as clearly as possible, so that another reference librarian reading our response would be able to easily find what we did without having to go through it all again. We included in the e-mail the exact descriptions of the materials listed on the cards, and described our photocopying policy and prices, as well as telling the patron what the current wait for processing copying requests is. We're supposed to put as much information as possible (as unambiguously as possible) in the first e-mail to save extra correspondence.

5) Wait for a response
Not all patrons follow up on their reference questions. We like to keep things in order, however, so we are prepared if they do respond. We printed out the response e-mail, stapled it to the photocopy of the catalog cards, and placed it on a holding shelf on top of the box with the materials. We also wrote the date on the e-mail and that we were waiting for information on whether to photocopy the documents.

It was a fun experience, particularly pulling materials from the stacks. The e-mail was signed with my name, which felt all nice and professional, and I'm looking forward to getting to do more reference work over the course of the semester.

Week 1: Tours, Exhibtions, and Homemade Hornbooks

It's been a busy first week of classes here at IU. Aside from taking a few classes (because I am a still a student) and guest speaking in twelve different sections of a physiology lab for non-majors, I began an internship at the Lilly Library. The Lilly is the fantastic rare books and manuscripts library at Indiana University. I was lucky enough to take a class there on manuscript librarianship last spring, and so I'm thrilled to be interning there this fall. I am working under the Head of Reference and Public Services, Becky Cape. So far, she has been fantastic. If my first week at the Lilly is any indication, then working with her should be pretty exciting.

For those who aren't familiar with my other blog, You Know You're A History Major When..., here's a little bit about myself. I'm just starting my second year in the School of Library and Information Science at Indiana University, Bloomington. Before coming to Bloomington, I recieved my B.A. in history from Washington College, a lovely liberal arts college in rural Maryland. Both of my parents and my sister are scientists, so I'm something of the black sheep of the family. But if there's one thing that my parents instilled in both my sister and me, it's a love of books and reading. So being able to work with the collections at the Lilly is a huge treat for me.

The week began nice and low key, with a tour of the library. I got to walk through both the rare books and manuscripts stacks, and learned all the fun secrets of the stacks, like remembering to turn off lights (because lights are bad for special collections) and where to find pads to soak up water (because water is also bad for special collections). I met a lot of people, but I only remembered a few of their names (which I will work on). Becky also walked through the online and print finding aids to the collections, as well as how to use the card catalogs scattered throughout the library. Not only might I have to help patrons use these resources, but I will definitely need to be able to use them myself when answering reference questions.

On my second day, I got to sit in on a meeting with the head of the Fine Arts Library, who is curating an exhibit of artists' books in January. Since I had to make a small exhibit when I was in the Manuscripts class, I recognized the sheets Becky gave him. We walked around the main exhibit room looking at which cases he wanted to use and where, and where to put a table for books that patrons could handle. Since the Lilly believes that its exhibits are one of the best ways to give their collections exposure and publicity, being able to see that process from the beginning is pretty cool.

Another important part of Lilly outreach is exposing the undergraduates at IU to the collections by giving talks to classes. Becky told me about some classes she's going to be talking to next week about education in early America and it's relationship to morality. Aside from looking at some materials she'd already pulled, she allowed me to look through the hornbook collection and choose which of those she would show. There's a nice list of the hornbooks on the library web page, so I looked through that and choose some that seemed promising. I couldn't get them myself because they were in one of the vaults (where we keep extra valuable items). Once they'd been brought up, though, I got to hold them and look at them. And I can tell you that there's nothing quite like holding a homemade wooden hornbook that some kid once learned to read from back in the 1700s. Becky was pleased with my choices, which was excellent. I hope that the students next week enjoy them as much!

I'll be updating this every week or so (more often if I can find the time). Please keep reading and ask any questions you have!