Change is Good

As you probably noticed, I've made a few changes to this blog. What's that saying? The only constant is change. Change is inevitable. Not all change is bad, and I hope these changes will be for the better.

After I attended SSA in Little Rock, I headed to Houston for the American Association of Museum's 2011 Annual Meeting and MuseumExpo. The four days of this international conference were packed full of sessions about collection management, registration and technology.

One of the sessions I attended was Blogging Basics 201: How to Keep Your Blog Working for You. I want to do some good with this blog; I want this blog to be a conversation with the Museum's visitors. And I hoped that the session would provide me with tidbits to meet those wants.

I was not disappointed!

The first tidbit was "Focus on the Visitor." In a blog, one should focus on what is useful or enjoyable for the visitor. This blog is meant to be a conversation between Museum staff and visitor. I hope that I've provided valuable content and insight on "behind-the-scenes" of The Petroleum Museum. Please do not be afraid to ask questions or comment on something! We can only improve from that feedback.

The other tidbit I took away was "Network Your Networks." While the Facebook page and the Twitter feed are linked, this blog was left out. So, now, the Facebook page and the blog are linked; whenever I update the blog, those posts are fed into the Facebook page. And today, I added Facebook and Twitter widgits to the blog. If someone finds the blog via a web search, they can directly like The Petroleum Museum on Facebook or follow it on Twitter. Try it!

Networking also works off-line. The Museum will soon establish The Filling Station in our Cafe Area. A physical space, The Filling Station will remind visitors of our social media networks, to like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

Of course, the most noticeable change is the background of the blog. After attending the AAM session, I found the old background and layout to be too formulaic and stiff. I wanted something more open and inviting you, the visitor, to stay a while.

What do you think of these changes?

Nothing to Quack About!

Last week, I attended the Society of Southwest Archivists' 2011 Annual Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas. The theme this year was "Opportunity and Promises: Advocating Archives."

Above: The cake!

Before I even mention what I learned (lots!), I want to tell you about Little Rock and the Peabody Hotel. Downtown Little Rock is completely charming, lying adjacent to the Arkansas River, lined with gardens, restaurants and shops.

Above: Arkansas capitol in downtown Little Rock.

Above: A gazebo near the hotel, by the river.

Above: View of the Peabody Hotel from a sculpture garden.

What's unusual for the hotel is that they have real-life ducks living in the lobby. The ducks (about 5 of them) spend the majority of the day, from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. in a dedicated fountain in the hotel's lobby. At 5:00 p.m., the Duck Master leads the ducks to their own Duck Palace where they spend the night. Check out the legend here.

Above: The male Mallard duck in the hotel's lobby.

Above: The Duck Master leads the ducks to their palace.

The conference offered several sessions relevant to my duties at the Petroleum Museum. In fact, I was even a presenter during one session, "Filling Our Niche: Opportunity and Promise in Subject Repositories," with Mary McLain Saffell from the Vietnam Archive at Texas Tech University and Melissa Gottwald from the Aviation Safety and Security Archives at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. We each talked about our respected subject-based repositories, or archives, and about some of the opportunities and challenges we've faced. I found it interesting to learn about archives and what they acquire and do with their holdings.

Other sessions I attended included:
* Keynote -- Listen Up: Voices from the Archives, Elliot West
Dr. West was a very engaging speaker; he spoke about finding "lost" voices within archival holdings and gave many examples of his personal finds.

* If You Love Your Collections, Set Them Free: Using the Web to Facilitate AccessThe Lyndon B. Johnson Presidental Library & Museum, the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, the Texas Archive of Moving Images, and Frazar Memorial Library, McNeese State University in Lousiana, are all doing fabulous and intriguing work using their collections online in a variety of ways. Main nugget: can't just sit there, find ways to be relevant!

* Grant Funding for Library, Archive and Museum Projects
Experts in the field of grantwriting and funding presented this resourceful session. Federal and foundational support is out there. You just have to ask and, if that does not succeed, ask again and again.

* Doing More with DSpace
DSpace is software intended to be a preservation warehouse for digital objects. (We use it for our Train to Share project.) However, there are other software out there, like Omeka and Pacyderm, to provide an interactive interface for users like you! Preservation is one side of the coin, with access the other.

One last thing ... we had a reception at the William Clinton Presidental Library, just a mile away from the hotel. We were able to visit the exhibits and even had the opportunity for a behind-the-scenes tour! Below are some photos from that event.

The museum storage door has a knocker on it!

Do you know ...

what this is?


I received a telephone call from Sean yesterday. He was in the Colorado City, Texas, area helping with a search and came across the above item. Sean called it a snake catching stick, but I'm at a loss as to what it is and how it is used.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Diaries from the Dungeon

Above: Me? Just another cartoon character caught up in another d@mn cliche.

This afternoon I was the guest speaker at the Midland/Permian Basin Chapter of ARMA's monthly meeting. ARMA is the international organization of record managers. Check out their website here.

On Thursday, April 28th, I received a call from Lyn Miller. She was looking for the record manager at the Museum and she was very surprised to find me at the other end of the telephone. It just so happens that we know each other from volunteering at Midland Community Theater!

Lyn needed a speaker on Wednesday, May 11th, and wondered if I could talk about what I do at the Museum. I looked at my calendar: I was on vacation from April 30th until May 8th, which just left a mere 4 days to pull something together. Despite the limited time, I agreed!

So I quickly pulled together a presentation (based on a previous one), entitled "Diaries from the Dungeon," which also incorporated little cartoons of dungeons. (One needs a little humor when talking about records and record management, right?) As you may know, the Museum's Library & Archives Center is located in the basement with no natural light. The other employees downstairs are only part-time, so I often find myself the only one down in the dungeon.

Above: It's cold, damp & dark, but I can't complain -- It's perfect for my clarets.

After I returned from vacation, I revised and reviewed the presentation. While I was nervous (I am not the best public speaker), I felt confident about the material -- I knew what I was talking about.

The meeting was on the 6th floor Conference Room of ClayDesta, a rather large office building on the north side of town. I'd never been inside and was not sure where to go. Luckily, I did find it relatively easily, although I ended up walking around the entire floor! The ARMA Midland/Permian Basin meeting consisted of about dozen members, all down to earth; they quickly put me at ease. We first ate a hearty lunch and they conducted a short business meeting. Then it was my turn --- yikes!

The presentation introduced the Museum, touched on what we collect (and what sort of documentation is kept), and talked about the various projects I've implemented and completed: creating a comprehensive accession register & cataloguing all accessions, scanning & cataloguing photographs, and digitizing photos via UNT's Portal to Texas History and the Train to Share project. And it happened how I imagined it: I easily expanded on what I had written and I did not stumble (too much) over my words. It seemed to flow fairly well. The ARMA members also asked questions at the end!

Overall, I am proud of myself. I made a presentation about material near and dear to me and it went really well. And the ARMA members seemed impressed with what I had accomplished and what I was doing at the Museum. I just hope I didn't bore them too much!

Above: Before you're released, would you mind taking our exit survey?