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?

January Wrap-Up & February Preview

I cannot believe the first month of 2011 has come and gone already! Things have been seemingly low-key at the Museum this month.

One major accomplishment for January: I completed my major project of creating an accession register for the archvies & library donations since 1965. It's nice to know what the Museum actually has! Not only did I create an electronic register (thanks to Excel), I also added most gift/donation information to our collection management database Re:Discovery. With time, and practice, every piece in our collections should be searchable in the database! That will allow us to better serve researchers, visitors and just interested people! Next step? Conducting an inventory to match up actual items (objects, books, manuscripts, etc) with the information. Wish me luck!

Now I can also turn my attention to the Train to Share project I've discussed multiple times here. We are finally ready to start uploading the digital objects and their associated metadata! Hopefully the team will be able to upload our 1000 objects!

Lately, I've also been very busy with researchers and other visitors looking for photographs. In fact, one Friday (typically a quiet day for the Archives Center) I had three appointments and a conference call scheduled. I had to schedule another researcher for the next week because I was so busy! It's great that the Library & Archives Center has had such a demand!

February will be a busy month for the Museum. On the 17th, we'll host our third Family Science Night of the [academic] year: Inventions! Come to the Museum between 6:30 and 8:00 p.m. to learn and explore well-known and not-so-well-known inventions. Lemonade and cookies are provided! Then, a couple of days later, the Museum will host Read-A-Rama on Saturday, the 19th. Come explore the wonderful world of reading and literacy!

Accomplishments

Last Wednesday afternoon I found myself at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio in front of a group of library professionals talking about the digitization efforts at The Petroleum Museum. I was at the Texas Library Association's Digitization Expo. For more information about the annual conference, check out the TLA website. I had made the 5+ hour drive (through rain!) from Midland to San Antonio to talk about my experience with the Train to Share project, couched within the context of my other digitization activities at the Museum.

The presentation "Tales from the Trenches" began with an overview of the Museum itself and what I, and Lauren, have accomplished in such a short time. I wanted to share that information with you today.

As Director of Archives & Collections, I am responsible for the Museum's Library & Archives Center ...



Top: Entrance to the Museum's Library & Archives Center
Bottom: Processed Archives Storage

... as well as the permanent collection.


Top: Object Storage in The Vault
Bottom: Object Storage in The Pit

Soon after I started at the Museum, I realized that we needed to get intellectual control over all of the collections. I began with an inventory of the Library - with over 2000 published titles and periodicals, some of which are out of print!

Above: The Reading Room

Lauren came on board soon after I did and started working on the backlog of archival collections. Even though it may not look it, she has certainly made a dent!

Above: Archival Storage

Once the Library was inventoried, I began working on cataloguing the permanent collection into the Museum's collection management database. The database had been, until then, primarily used for the Library Holdings and Archival Collection, but was underused for the Permanent Collection. Over the course of several months, we entered over 3000 object records into the database. While doing so, I also rehoused the object files in acid-free, archival folders, labeling them consistently.

Above: Archives & Library Object Files (what the Museum Object Files looked like)

Above: Museum Object Files after Cataloguing and Rehousing

Now, Lauren and I are working on cataloguing and scanning our large photographic collection. (Estimates for this collection range from 250,000 to 400,000 images.) The photographic prints and negatives in the collection reflect the history and culture of the Permian Basin and includes images of the ranching heritage of the area as well as the petroleum industry. This collection is a wonderful asset to the Museum!


Top: Photograph Print Storage
Bottom: Negative Storage for Rubin Collection

Lauren works on scanning the images, in line with standards we have in place, while I catalogue each image into the database.


Above: Lauren scans a photograph.

Even though Lauren and I have accomplished so much in such a short amount of time, there is still a lot to do! Next week, I'll post about the Train to Share project we are working on.