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October 10, 2019 - Comments Off on Free CDL-hosted workshop at LA Archives Bazaar Oct. 12

Free CDL-hosted workshop at LA Archives Bazaar Oct. 12

LAAC is not affiliated with this event (but we think it's a great opportunity!). 

October 12th from 9:30am-12:30pm at the Los Angeles Archives Bazaar.

In this free, half-day interactive workshop, you'll learn how to increase the discoverability of your digital collections by making them available through regional and national-level aggregations like Calisphere (from the California Digital Library) and the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA). Aggregators provide additional points of access to your holdings and can drive more user traffic back to your digital collections management system by virtue of their scale and visibility to search engines.

Visit the "Better Sharing Through Metadata" workshop wiki for additional information, including scheduling and registration.

Workshop topics include:

  • Best practices for creating shareable metadata
  • Simple tools and strategies that you can use to prepare and share your digital collections
  • Leveraging Calisphere and DPLA as free aggregation services that are available to cultural heritage institutions in California

Upon completion of this workshop, participants should have a good understanding of the relationship between local metadata considerations and those necessary for optimal discovery within aggregations, and will be well-positioned to draw on strategies and free services to make their collections more discoverable.

The workshop series is offered as part of our "Harvesting California's Bounty" project (2018-2019) and is supported by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), administered in California by the State Librarian.

September 25, 2019 - Comments Off on Tour of the Western Costume Company Research Library and Archive

Tour of the Western Costume Company Research Library and Archive

Thursday, October 3rd, 2019 at 2pm

The Los Angeles Archivists Collective is pleased to announce a tour of the Western Costume Company Research Library and Archive on Thursday, October 3rd, 2019 at 2:00 PM. Only 20 spots available!

Photo: Courtesy of the Western Costume Company Research Library and Archive.

The library currently houses over 30,000 books, catalogs, and periodicals that have been collected over the past century. Holdings include clothing, uniform, and tactical catalogs; books on film, sewing, fashion, military, and photography; fashion, culture, military, and travel magazines; military and police uniform regulations; swatch books dating as far back to the turn-of-the-century; and several dozen filing cabinets with newspaper and magazine clippings, photographs, and notes on countless types of uniforms and dress. In addition to the research library, Western Costume houses a costume archive.

RSVP via Eventbrite.

July 8, 2019 - Comments Off on Tour of the California African American Museum and Research Library

Tour of the California African American Museum and Research Library

Saturday, July 27th, 2019 at 10:15 AM

The Los Angeles Archivists Collective is pleased to announce a tour of the California African American Museum and Research Library taking place on Saturday, July 27th, 2019 at 10:15 AM. Only 20 spots available.

CAAM - California African American Museum. Photo: Stacey Abarbanel and Brian Forest, on behalf of CAAM. 13 July 2017. [CC BY-SA 4.0]

Located in Exposition Park, the California African American Museum's mission is “to research, collect, preserve, and interpret for public enrichment the history, art, and culture of African Americans with an emphasis on California and the western United States.” Join LAAC for a tour of the museum’s current exhibitions and the research library. After the tour, attendees are invited to have a casual lunch with CAAM Research Librarian Denise Mc Iver at the Banc of California Stadium food court located in Exposition Park. The tour is free. Lunch will not be provided. 

Tour of CAAM exhibitions and library: 10:15 AM - 12:15 PM.

Lunch with CAAM Research Librarian Denise Mc Iver: 12:15 PM - 1:15 PM.

RSVP via Eventbrite.

June 13, 2019 - Comments Off on LAAC Book Club No. 18

LAAC Book Club No. 18

7/10/2019, 6:30-8pm

Join us for our eighteenth reading and meeting of the LAAC Book Club--where LA-area archivists and friends read and discuss publications exploring all matters archives, or in this case, libraries.

The group will meet on Wednesday, July 10, 2019, from 6:30-8 pm at Alcove Cafe (1929 Hillhurst Ave, Los Angeles 90027). Participants to the Book Club will be capped at 12. Please email hello@laacollective.org to reserve a spot.

This time we delve into local history with The Library Book by Susan Orlean.

On the morning of April 29, 1986, a fire alarm sounded in the Los Angeles Public Library. Raging through the stacks, the fire reached 2000 degrees and burned for more than seven hours. It was the largest library fire in the history of the United States: it destroyed four hundred thousand books and damaged seven hundred thousand more, and shut the library down for seven years. The mystery remains: did someone purposefully set fire to the library—and if so, who?

Orlean’s The Library Book is an encyclopedic study of the Los Angeles Public Library from its founding to the present, as well as a love letter to libraries in general. Sparked by the mystery of the great fire, the author explores pertinent questions facing the institution of the library broadly, such as how to best serve the public, and what the library can do for homeless patrons, immigrants, children, and those who want to learn to read.

Read an interview with Susan Orlean about the book here.

Let us know if you can’t get a copy of the book, we can help get you one.

Can’t make the meeting, but are still reading the book? Let us know!

May 3, 2019 - Comments Off on Tour of the Getty Research Institute

Tour of the Getty Research Institute

Thursday, May 30th, 2019, 2:00 PM

The Los Angeles Archivists Collective is pleased to announce a tour of the Getty Research Institute taking place on Thursday, May 30th, 2019 at 2:00 PM. Only 18 spots available.

The Getty Research Institute. Photo: Jasmine Larkin.

Please RSVP here: https://forms.gle/VdqmGJhGYb3RGHjs9

The Getty Research Institute is dedicated to furthering knowledge and advancing understanding of the visual arts and their various histories through its expertise, active collecting program, public programs, institutional collaborations, exhibitions, publications, digital services, and residential scholars programs. The library collections include over one million books, periodicals, study photographs, and auction catalogs as well as extensive special collections of rare and unique materials. Focusing on art history, architecture, and related fields, they