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!

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?

Digitization

As promised, I bring you the second half of my TLA Digitization Expo presentation, already in progress ...

Shortly after I started at The Petroleum Museum, the Development Director Luanne Thornton forwarded an email to me with an invitation to apply to the Rescuing Texas History grant. UNT's Portal to Texas History would offer mini-grants (ranging from $25 to $2500) to organizations with at-risk local history materials. According to the email announcement:

This project promises immeasurable benefit to cultural heritage institutions by preserving at-risk historical materials. These items are in danger of being lost forever, but with the generous support of the Summerlee Foundation, UNT proposes a solution that will help prevent damage from continued handling, while making these valuable historical materials widely accessible to all Texans.

I have previously mentioned the Portal to Texas History on this blog here.

Through this grant, the Museum received enough funding to digitize 368 images (with UNT responsible for metadata). We sent several small collections of photographic prints and negatives from the Museum's Library & Archives Center, all dealing with Texas from the late 1890s through the 1950s. Peruse the Museum's collection of images at UNT's Portal to Texas History here under the Recent Additions tab.

The purpose of the Portal to Texas History is to make materials available to the public, from academic university researchers to report-writing fourth graders to the amateur history enthusiast. This, in turn, is the purpose of museums, libraries and archives. These organizations are here for the public's benefit.

Soon after receiving the Rescuing Texas History grant, the Museum was recruited to participate in the Train to Share grant program, a project administered by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. Learn more about the project here.

The Petroleum Museum has partnered with the Confederate Reunion Grounds in Mexia, Texas, and the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. As a state-wide team, we will attend a series of 5 workshops to learn how to plan, create and complete a digitization project. Then we'll digitize and make accessible 1000 digital objects. Our project title is "Earth, Wind, and Fire: Texas Energy Resources." The grant covers workshop expenses plus $3000 (over the 3-year timeframe) per team. (I actually just returned from the fourth workshop, Principles of Controlled Vocabulary and Theasurus Design, in Lubbock, Texas.)

This partnership has allowed even further collaboration. You see, the online module of The Petroleum Museum's collection managment database was cost prohibitive. So, the Museum has signed a Memo of Understanding with Texas Tech. The University will provide storage and access to their online module (DSpace) while the Museum will enter data and create the digital objects.

With the fifth workshop around the corner, things are getting in gear to get the project off the ground. As of now, I have identified three small photographic collections to include in the project. Those images have been catalogued and scanned. I will be trained on how to use DSpace in June. After training, I'll start posting those images online. Also, with the grant monies, I plan to purchase a network server for the Library & Archives Center for image storage and database access.

So that encompasses the digitization efforts at The Petroleum Museum. I am very excited about sharing images from the Museum's collections with the public online. Leave a comment to share what you think!

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.