National Volunteer Week: Nita Evans

April 15 through 21 is National Volunteer Week. The Library & Archives Center has some great and dedicated volunteers. This is the last in a series of posts about the volunteers here.
Meet Ms. Nita Evans

Nita Evans is not new to the Petroleum Museum as she helps in the Education Department and the Museum Store/Admissions Desk.  With a background as a Veternarian Tecnician, she got to know the various animals in the Education Department, like Betty the Beared Dragon and Lola & Gypsy the Chinchillas.  In September 2011, Nita decided to also spend some time in the Library & Archives Center as well!

She has taken over scanning our large photographic collection of historic images.  Nita states she is interested in preserving the history of the petroleum industry for future generations.  With her time and effort, she's already scanned hundreds, if not thousands, of images to digitally preserve those snapshots of the past.

Nita and her husband Jim are interested in motorsports and are both very involved in the Midland area Corvette Club.  She also enjoys quilting, sewing and other crafts.

National Volunteer Week: Katelyn Mulder

April 15 through 21 is National Volunteer Week. The Library & Archives Center has some great and dedicated volunteers. This is the second in a series of posts about the volunteers here.

Meet Ms. Katelyn Mulder

Katelyn Mulder started volunteering in the Library & Archives Center in October 2011.  She came to the Museum with Masters' Degree in Library and Information Science from Dominican University.  She has previously volunteered at Clinics of St. Viator archives and the Rush University Medical Center.  With such a background, she dived right into processing the N. Ford Chapman Collection ... and finished it in record time!  More recently, she has helped me with inventorying museum objects.

Katelyn lists digital preservation, photographs and artifacts as some of her interests within the archives world.  When she came on board, she wanted to learn more about the oil and gas industry and to gain more experience in the archives field.  Hopefully, she accomplished that goal here at the Petroleum Museum's Library & Archives Center! 

Katelyn and her husband will soon be returning to Indiana, where they both come from.  Good luck to you both!

National Volunteer Week: Bob Angevine

April 15 through 21 is National Volunteer Week. The Library & Archives Center has some great and dedicated volunteers. This is the first in a series of posts about the volunteers here.

Meet Mr. Bob Angevine

Bob Angevine

Bob Angevine started working in the Library & Archives Center in October 2011 to catalogue a large collection of photographs, negatives and slides from T. B. O'Brien.  He went through every image, numbered it and created a catalogue worksheet describing it.  What a lot of work!  But I never heard him complain.  He recently finished up that project and is anxious to start up a new one!

Bob is a World War II veteran who was in the Air Force.  After flight school, he soon found himself a bombadier in the Midland area.  He comes from a family of telegraph operators, first for the railroads and then for the pipelines, from the Northeast and Ohio area. 

Bob works on processing a collection.

Thank you Bob for all that you do!

The End is Near!

In my last post I talked about my goal to complete a collections inventory.  My volunteers and I have definitely made progress and the end is in sight!  We have finished writing down all the objects in storage, and the volunteers have entered location information into the database.  But we still have some objects that we're not sure what they are or where they came from. 

This is my favorite part of collections work ... trying to match up puzzles.  I haven't had a chance to really look at the inventory we've done and search the database or the files to match up questions to answers.  But I hope to do so soon. 

When I was in graduate school at Seton Hall University, I spent one semester as an intern at the Newark Museum.  Rebecca Buck, Registrar, gave me the project of matching up the "backlog" of donations from 1988 with files and database records.  I got such a thrill when I finish!  I couldn't wait for the next puzzle.

Next week, I'm headed to San Antonio for the Texas Association of Museums annual meeting & conference.  I'm actually presenting this time around about my efforts with the Train to Share grant program.  I'm looking forward to networking and seeing what the museums in San Antonio have to offer!

Resolution Update

Well, I've been hard at work on my New Year Resolutions!

1) Migrate to updated version of collection management database.

I spent several days week before last on the phone and online with technical support to migrate my data from the old collection management database to the new version.  There are still two modules to migrate, but my tech support person, Vanessa, is hard at work on those!  I'm actually working in the new system now.  And with any luck (once I get over the current hurdle -- installing another workstation), I'll have a volunteer or two working in it too!  I have one volunteer who is willing waiting in the wings.  I just need to feel comfortable teaching her how to use the new system.

2) Complete inventory of all collections in storage.

With the help of two volunteers, I've made strides on the inventory of collection storage.  There certainly seems to be more questions than answers at the moment, but we should have a comprehensive list of what is in storage soon!

3) Develop & implement plan for moving collections off-site.

This one I've waited on until I know more details about the renovation.  The Capital Campaign is making major headway, and this project looks to be taking off!

4) Gain more meaningful followers on the Museum's social media tools (Facebook & Twitter).

With the help of the Marketing and Education Departments, the social media tools are gaining followers.  I haven't analyzed the numbers but I think there will be meaningful gains.  Be sure to like the Museum on Facebook and Twitter, if you haven't already.  We do a lot of different features: Dates in History, Facebook Fridays, and now Science Saturdays and Whatzit Wednesdays!  Be in the know... 

5) Be an advocate for the Museum while at work and while not at work.

This is much harder to count or measure.  However, I was asked this morning to give a presentation about collection management in late February.  And I'll be attending the Texas Association of Museums' annual meeting & conference in March.

I can't wait to see what the next few weeks hold ...!

New Year's Resolutions

I know many of you have created resolutions this New Year in order to start fresh or improve yourself.  Your resolution may be to be healthier, by eating right or working out, or it may be to learn a new skill, like learning a foreign language or developing a hobby.

I myself have developed my own personal New Year Resolutions.  And I think I need to develop ones for my little corner of The Petroleum Museum. 

We at the Museum anticipate 2012 to be interesting, to say the least.  We hope to finish our Capital Campaign and to start our $15M renovation of the oil & gas industry exhibits.  With those events looming, there is a lot to take care of!  Before demolition, we have to move the collections, both what's on display and what's in storage, off-site.  So, there's a lot of prep work that I need to complete before the ground-breaking. 

Below are my resolutions or goals for the upcoming year.  Many of these I started last year, but for whatever reason, never finished or just dropped the ball.  Some of them are re-focusing on what my job duties entail and trying to be better in those duties.

1) Migrate to updated version of collection management database.

2) Complete inventory of all collections in storage.

3) Develop & implement plan for moving collections off-site.

4) Gain more meaningful followers on the Museum's social media tools (Facebook & Twitter).

5) Be an advocate for the Museum while at work and while not at work.

Wish me luck in keeping my New Year Resolutions!  What are your resolutions?

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!

The Petroleum Museum's Library & Archives Center will be closed for the holiday from Monday, December 26th through Monday, January 2nd.  We will re-open Tuesday, January 3rd!

I will be spending the week with family and friends, but I hope your holiday dreams come true!

Charlie dog, dreaming of a white Christmas.