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June 16, 2015 - Comments Off on In Process | Learning About Digital Libraries

In Process | Learning About Digital Libraries

In Process is a blog series that highlights the activities and experiences of current archival studies students in the Los Angeles area. Check in every two weeks, for grad students’ insights and fresh perspectives on new and emerging trends, issues, and events in the field.

By Alyssa Loera

A few years ago, while working on an archival collection regarding the history of the Los Angeles Unified School District, I decided to apply to an MLIS program. The collection itself was important and inspiring, as was the archivist I was working on the project with. Watching her interact and learn with this first-hand history of Los Angeles offered me a vivid look into archival work. As we reached the end of the processing portion of the project, the likelihood of digitization and online access became a realizable goal.  I soon learned that the steps from accession to online access contain an onslaught of variables requiring a flexible methodology, and a strong digital framework in order to be successful.

At the time, my understanding of the field was simplistic. There were archivists and there were librarians. It was not until later that curators, subject specialists, digital archivists, digital librarians, processors, and catalogers would come into my purview. Digital libraries and how they support archives held great intrigue for me after working through that project, and so I chose to focus my studies on that dynamic.

June 8, 2015 - Comments Off on Person | Gloria Gonzalez

Person | Gloria Gonzalez

PERSON explores local archival culture through interviews with professionals active in the field. This edition features Gloria Gonzalez in conversation with Mary Haberle.

Gonzalez2

Name: Gloria Gonzalez
Education: MLIS, 2013 (UCLA)
Current Work: Library Strategist at Zepheira since November, 2014
Previous Work: Digital Archivist, UCLA Library Special Collections

How do you describe what you do to people who aren’t familiar with archival work?

As a digital archivist, I’d often tell people “I work to save things for the sake of knowledge. I work to provide users with things like e-mail, photographs, text documents, data sets, and other computer files for research purposes.”

In my current role, I usually say “I help make libraries and archives visible on the Web to increase knowledge. Believe it or not, most products are easier to find and access online compared to resources from libraries and archives because the descriptions aren’t interoperable. My colleagues and I help libraries migrate their catalogs to a new description format. This process publicly exposes their data and allows library books and other stuff pop up in your Web search results along with resources from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other companies.”

Meeting people who aren’t familiar with archival work or Linked Data is always fun for me. It gives me a chance to see if what I’m saying makes sense to them or catches their interest. The interactions let me rethink how I explain technical concepts and methods when I talk to people who don’t use libraries and archives.

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June 8, 2015 - Comments Off on New Blog Series: PERSON/PLACE/THING

New Blog Series: PERSON/PLACE/THING

The Los Angeles Archivist Collective is pleased to announce a new blog series revolving around the theme of PERSON/PLACE/THING. These three themes are each designed to explore an aspect of local archival culture whether through an interview with a professional active in the field, exploring a local repository, or highlighting an item from an archival collection. Stay tuned for our first PERSON post featuring Gloria Gonzalez in conversation with Mary Haberle.

If you have suggestions and/or would like to contribute to PERSON/PLACE/THING, email us at laacollective@gmail.com.