As I mentioned in my previous post, I undertook last week the lengthy task of reorganizing my books. I have quite a few books, and even lost a significant number during my move from Texas to Pennsylvania (lost on purpose, I guess sold is a better word).  Still, the mess that is my books was highly unorganized. Actually, the majority of things in my home are unorganized. Yes, I'm a soon-to-be librarian, love order, and systems, but somehow my clutter in my home is my organization. It is only because of my partner, Kirke, things seem to stay in the same spots. Even though I may put my glasses or water glass down in various spots throughout the day, I always know where it is, that is unless Kirke comes behind me and moves them (which he frequently does!)

But, I digress... And so comes the riveting end to my bookshelf organizational schema story!

Taming the Books, Pt. 1

I've decided to bring this riveting blog post to my readers in a two part series! Enjoy the cliffhanger, come back tomorrow...

This afternoon I decided to tackle the mess that is my bookshelf. For a librarian, my bookshelf was in a pretty atrocious state; with good reason though- I moved three times last year! And, my last move in December was a particularly fast and hectic one (my partner and I moved out of a bad-news apartment). I just haven't had the time the dedicate the attention my book library deserves.

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's Explore Your Library: Music Collection

Yesterday evening I participated in one of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's Explore Your Library collection tours. I received an invitation to the special event highlighting the Oakland branch of the CLP rich and diverse music collection. I invited a classmate of mine from the University of Pittsburgh who is enrolled in the WISE course, Music Librarianship from the University of Illinois, Campaign-Urbana, with me.

The two hour self-guided tours and presentations highlighted various aspects of CLP's music collection. Though the Oakland branch of the library is so close to school, I have rarely had a chance to visit the library due to my busy school and internships schedule. It was a real treat to be able to spend two hours exploring the collection and the library building.

Most definitely my favorite highlight were the musical scores and compositions. I have no, and I really do mean zilch, knowledge of music. Scores and sheet music look completely foreign to me and I am absolutely and incredibly tone deaf. The librarians had laid out numerous scores to highlight; some were to operatic pieces we would recognize, rare materials, and others were chosen for their beautiful composition.

George Crumb's Star Child folio composition was strikingly amazing. The score, written in 1977, was unique in it's performance as well as composition. Many of the orchestra assembles were composed in a circular style, visually representing the repetition of the performance.

What I was absolutely amazed with, besides the beautiful composition, was the fact that this over sized folio (over two feet in height!) was available for circulation! A patron can check this piece out, take it on the bus ride home, and then keep it for two weeks! I was baffled! Coming from an academic art library, I am so accustomed to so many of the books being non-circulating. Usually just the size of a work will automatically bump it into non-circulation.

I pressed the librarian on why they choose to circulate such unique materials and was reminded that this folio belongs to a public library collection! A public library's collection operates vastly different from an academic or museum collection; the materials are there for the public to experience and share. I think this is a great and invaluable service to the citizens of Pittsburgh.

I hope that one day (hopefully soon) I can become a steward of such a great and eclectic collection that is truly accessible to everyone.

Welcome to the World! My New LibGuide!

Hooray! I have completed my first solo LibGuide! This Spring semester, I am an intern at the University of Pittsburgh's Frick Fine Arts Library under the direction of the wonderful, Ray Anne Lockhard.

LibGuides (short for library guide) are helpful tools for students and patrons to aid in research on specific topics. Ray Anne and I have jointly worked on her LibGuides this semester, but I have also authored my own guide, Information Literacy for the Frick Fine Arts Library.

Back from the Artic: VRA + ARLIS/NA Conference Review

So, I realized the issue with my original "Back from ARLIS/NA" post. I had made myself a clever list of blog post topics I wanted to write about in the coming weeks. By doing this, when I went back and edited or completed them, the published date was the date of the original draft, thus explaining why the post did not show up where I expected it to. I have changed the publication date of my original post it is available in the proper date, in its entirety (there may be some repeating, as I thought I had lost this post all together!)

Yahoo! News on Resume Fact or Fiction

While, I don't normally trust Yahoo! as an authoritative news source (it is a great source for celebrity gossip!) their most recent article about resumes is rather interesting.

Yahoo! 10 Resume Rules

Rule #10, Resume Paper, is really timely, as I just printed copies of my resume for the conference I went to in Minneapolis. I couldn't really find much information on-line about whether to use regular paper or "fancy" paper, so I erred with tradition and got Kinko's to print my resume on heavy-duty resume paper. I choose a standard bright-white paper, not much thicker than regular copy paper.

I'm happy with my choice, the cost of professional printing was not too terribly expensive. I feel that while on-line applications and PDFs copies are increasingly becoming the norm, during this early transition time, it is important to rely on some of the standard traditions.

Back from the Twin Cities!

It has been almost a week since I have been back home, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from the cold, cold city of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The VRA + ARLIS/NA Conference was a great experience. It was my first professional conference and I am glad to have one under my belt. I learned alot, met great people, and have alot to think about. It was an exhausting and daunting experience- I went to Minneapolis alone, no other students from my institution were there.

The conference was a joint conference between the VRA (Visual Resources Association) and ARLIS/NA (Art Librarian Association of North America). Since the conference was joint, there were many, many programs, workshops, sessions, and meeting to choose to go to. Sometimes a little too much to choose from. While the organized events were great and informative, the professionals I met and the discussions that ensued were much more informative.

I now have the important task of following up on the networks and contacts that I met a week ago. I exchanged business cards and now just need to make time in my busy schedule to sit down and write to these people. I can't imagine before the prevalence of email and the internet how new professionals and students were to cement the networks that they created at conferences.

Technology has made the "Art of Networking" so much easier.

Technical Issues Arise

I'm back from Minneapolis! It was a great time, informative, and cold!

Unfortunately, it seems as if I have had some technical issues with my BlogPress iPad App. I authored numerous posts while gone and upon my return with BlogPress (I only brought my iPad to the conference). But, it seems these posts were not uploaded, nor saved.

I will be rewriting these posts over the next week. Stay Tuned!

I guess technology has some limits.

Free Airport WiFi, At Least I Have Something to Do

So, I've past the four hour mark still in the Pittsburgh airport and I am still looking at two more hours. One thing I can be thankful for, AIRPORT WiFi!

I didn't know that WiFi was so pervasive in so many settings now. I guess I am still used to the idea that the only place for free WiFi is your public library. The universities and colleges have it but it is usually password protected and it is not really free, your tuition is paying for it. Coffee Shops got it, but you have to buy something (and you don't want to be that jerk that gets a small peppermint tea and sips it for three hours).

I have wireless internet at my home, but currently it is on the fritz. My wireless router just up and broke last week leaving me with the only option to have to connect directly to my 50 ft. ethernet cable (glad I bought the extra long one from Amazon!). Comcast is sending me a new wireless modem, but who knows when that will get here.

The lack of wireless internet presented itself as a major problem the last few days when trying to prepare for my trip to Minneapolis. I needed to get some PDFs of some readings from my computer onto my iPad as I was not taking my laptop. I have gotten in the habit of using my DropBox to do all these file transfers, but the DropBox was useless without an internet connection. So, last night I drove around looking for truly free WiFi hotspots. Unfortunately, it was the Carnegie Library was close. Unfortunately, I had yet to set up my Pitt wireless on my iPad. Unfortunately, truly free WiFi is hard to come by. Finally, I ventured into a Crazy Mocha and became that person: I bought a small peppermint tea just to use the WiFi. To my credit, I was in there for less than three minutes!

Let's hope next time I am blogging it will be in the ice city of Minneapolis!


- Posted still in the Pittsburgh Airport using BlogPress from my iPad

Instant Message Chatting- This stuff really exists still?

So, there is snow and sleet in Minneapolis, Minnesota. What does this mean for me? Well, it means I have been in the Pittsburgh airport for two hours and I am still looking at another two plus hours, then my two and a half hour flight to the snowy city. Yep, today is Wednesday, March 23, 2011, and I am embarking on my snow-filled trip to the Twin Cities for my first ever professional conference, the 2011 VRA + ARLIS/NA Annual Conference.

I am hoping to be writing some blog post from the conference about my experiences there, the art library world, and of course, technology. I'll try to keep the complaints about the weather to a minimum (I mean who schedules a conference in Minnesota for March!).

Last Friday afternoon, in preparation for the upcoming VRA + ARLIS/NA Conference I participated in a chart on the Meembo platform. Before this chat I had never heard of Meembo before. Honestly, I didn't really think people still used the internet for chatting anymore. Or rather, anyone over the age of fourteen. I know I abandoned AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) around that age!

Now, I have attended numerous webinars, some presented by the VRA or ARLIS/NA. I am also taking an online class in Music Librarianship through the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, that utilizes Moodle as its synchronous delivery of the lecture. All my webinars and Moodle lectures have some sort of chat function, though it is rarely used.

I guess I was just expecting this informal chat to be similar to a webinar. Like there was going to be a presentation that went along with it or something. Well, I was wrong. It was honestly just a chat. Again, I haven't used a chat room in about ten years (I steer clear of Facebook and Gmail chat). It was definitely awkward.. It seemed as if everyone in the room had been doing this for awhile and knew all the shortcuts. The time lapse was awhile, I could never remember to use the @person's name when answer a specific question, and it was hard to follow multiple people chatting at once.

I wasn't doing anything else during the hour long chat, just staring at my screen patiently waiting for the next sentence to appear (well and knocking my cat, Rudie, away from the keyboard). And I waited, and waited, and waited some more. It seemed like it took forever!

That is when I realized, I had a lot of time to think about other things, that this chat session was probably designed for professionals who were at work. Librarians and Information Professional who were working the reference desk, doing research, or any of their other job duties. By presenting this information session in the form of a chat room, the participants were able to multitask. This suspicion was verified when I read a little more information about these "Lunch Time Chats" as they are marketed by ARLIS/NA.

With the idea of multitasking coming into play as one of the reasons to present the information session as a chat, the chat room doesn't seem so archaic and clunky. While I believe that I would probably personally prefer a webinar or something a little bit more real-time, maybe when I have a job I'll be wishing for more chat sessions!

(And no, don't expect me to be on Facebook or Gmail chat anytime soon!)


- Posted from the Pittsburgh Airport using BlogPress from my iPad

My Introduction to HTML Formatting!

So, I have just spent the past two hours working on formatting my resume for my website. My brother is kindly helping me with the majority of the site, but I wanted to try my hand at HTML formatting. I am pretty happy with the results. It took me awhile, but alas, it is done! Click through "Read More" to see my resume.

ArtFinder!

Yesterday I discovered an amazing website, ArtFinder. ArtFinder is the Pandora Radio for the art museum! Just as with Pandora, where you select a "station" (maybe some Elliot Smith?) to listen to and then Pandora finds you similar songs and artists with you giving a thumbs-up or thumbs-down as to your liking, ArtFinder employs the same general concept.

You start by identifying three sets of artworks that you prefer (there is a choice of four and you select one in each set) and ArtFinder analyzing your preferences and, bam! you're own custom "magic" slide show of art you may enjoy.

You can create an account or sign in with Facebook and share your slide show with friends.

Visit my ArtFinder tour! This set of paintings was chosen for me because I selected a Caravaggio, Honthorst, and Flemish painting. The results are fairly matched to my liking. ArtFinder even selected a favorite Carlo Saraceni painting, Judith with the Head of Holofernes (though I must admit, any painting of this subject I love, Caravaggio's is currently my iPad background!).

Carlo Saraceni, Judith with the Head of Holofernes, 1615. Oil on Canvas, Kunthistorisches. Bridgeman Art Library.

The Google Art Project

The art world was abuzz a few weeks ago about the launch of Google's Art Project. The idea, that is creating a "street view" type tour of numerous museums across the world, is a great opportunity to extend the access of museum's collections to users around the world. Just as the idea of the Google Book Project is a great way to provide access to out-of-print and orphan works. But, as a student and new professional in the library world, I know how controversial the Google Books settlement has been in my community (perhaps a blog post about this is in order?). Is this Google Art Project just as controversial? What elements of access, control, and copyright arise when Google digitizes images of artworks they that do not bare the rights to? What effects are there to the use and membership to museums? This effect probably won't be felt immediately, but will it make a difference?

First, the positives! As a result of the Google Art Project, there is a tremendous increase in access and accessibility to works of art from all over the world. Now, I can simply view Vincent van Gogh's The Bedroom from my laptop computer, smart phone, or iPad, never once having to leave my local library or familiar coffee shop. Now, I have mostly always been able to view The Bedroom whenever I wanted thanks, again to Google Image search. But instead, with the Google Art Project I am able to view The Bedroom with exceptional resolution and zoom-ability. I can view the layers of paint on the canvas with more intensity that I would probably be able to do in person in Amsterdam. This amazing ability, coupled with being able to create your own virtual "museum" of art, are great advantages to the Google Art Project.

Vincent van Gogh, The Bedroom, 1888, Oil on Canvas, 1888, 72 x 90 cm. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.

But, as a librarian, I see some potential problems that arise as a result of the Google Art Project. Libraries (universities and public) and museums already have a difficult time convincing their patrons to come into/ their building. With the advent of the internet and Smart Searches, quite a bit of information can be retrieved by the patron with no assistance from an information professional (me). Same for the museum, numerous images of brilliant art pieces can be viewed simply online, eliminating the need for a patron to travel outside their comforts.

I have argued, and will continue to do so, that while the virtual reference world has much to deliver, it will never be the absolute stand-in for the in person, real life world. I have much confidence in my search and research abilities, but I often need to help of a librarian to help me begin my research or help me when I get stuck. Same for the museum, nothing can replace the feeling and emotions one gets when viewing artwork in person. So much is gained not just from viewing the art, but also the design of the galleries, the position of the works in relation to each other, and the size of the pieces.

I feel as if it is important to note, that while I, nor you, pay any type of money to Google for their services (Art Project, search engine, free eBooks) but Google is a business, and a very successful and wealthy one. Their goal is to make a profit while at the same time providing the world access to information. Libraries and museums function on a much different business model.

Next week, I will be in Minneapolis, Minnesota attending my first professional conference, the VRA + ARLIS/NA Annual Conference. I will participating in a practicum on copyright information for the visual resource professional. I am sure that I will learn much more about the copyright/legal issues surrounding endeavors like the Google Art Project and will be sure to report back.

Confessions of a 4x Apple device owner...

On Wednesday, I finally made the plunge and purchased an iPad! Oh no, now that I have four Apple devices (iPod, iPhone 4, MacBook, and iPad) am I one of those people?!!

I made the decision to make such a large purchase rather quickly. I had been considering the idea of a netbook but after looking at prices I decided that the first generation iPad (Apple released the iPad 2 today) would be a better choice. Before the iPad, I shared a MacBook with my partner. I received the MacBook as a graduation gift from my parents but the computer has always been shared by the two of us. We have sufficed fairly well with one computer but I felt as if it would be beneficial if we had a second, cheaper and less powerful, machine. I already own the iPhone 4, so I figured the transition to the iPad would be fairly seamless.

So far, I am getting acquainted with my new machine nicely. I was never a big App person with my iPhone and I am realizing that Apps make the functionality of the iPad much better. Currently, I am typing this blog post with an app I just purchased, BlogPress. It is the most "official" Blogger App. Blogger does not make an App themselves but BlogPress is endorsed by them (I really only prefer to purchase and use "official" Apps). I've downloaded/purchased numerous other productivity Apps. I feel as if the iPad will complete my year in graduate school in a very efficient way (let us hope!).

I feel as if people often want to compare the iPad with a netbook. I do think they are comparable. I feel for me, a dedicated Mac person, the decision to go with an iPad had much to do with the fact that I did not want to run a Windows machine. I have used Windows in the past, but I am far more comfortable in a Mac environment. One key point in the iPad v. Netbook war is that, while I was able to purchase my iPad for cheaper than many netbooks, there were a bunch of "necessary" accessories to purchase. For instance, I bought a sleeve on Etsy, a wireless keyboard, a stylus, a sleeve for the keyboard, and a stand. Not to mention the Apps I purchased to get the machine fully functioning (Pages, PDF Reader, BlogPress).

I also think that iPad will be a great device for reading books and checking out ebooks from the Pitt library as well as the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. I have installed the Overdrive App and will write a post about that experience.

Until then, be mindful of my different blogging settings with BlogPress' clever automated signature below!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Cat Break

Rudie, my four year old all white kitty, loves libraries (as demonstrated by the card catalog) and technology (as demonstrated by the computer, actively downloading stuffs).

The Final Frontier? The Abolition of the Print Resume

As I get ready for my first professional conference, the 2011 VRA + ARLIS/NA Joint Conference in Minneapolis, I am trying to prepare myself for the plethora of networking opportunities. This means having business cards, a sharp and up-to-date resume, and an amazing website. With everything being online and through email today, the idea of printing a business card and resume seem wildly antiquated.

I purchased my business cards from an awesome online printer. The business cards are clean and slick with just the right amount of personality (I have coined the term a professional amount of personality when referring to many of the traditional professional endeavors). Business cards still seem to be an appropriate networking tool, especially for conferences. They are small and provide just enough information to peak the receiver's interest into possibly contacting you later.

On the other hand, the Printed Resume. This form of the resume seems terribly old fashioned and frivolous. Possibly I feel this way because I have never been in the position in which handing out copies of my resume has ever been needed. Usually, every job (and internship) I have applied for has had either an online application or a request to email a resume and cover letter. I always bring copies of my resume to interviews, but only as a backup, the interviewers always have plenty of copies.

So, when it became time for me to consider my situation- handing out copies of my (awesome!) resume would probably be a good idea- I was faced with a strange situation: How do I print out my Resume? I know, it seems like a silly question, but I've never been faced with this type of situation. I did what any good librarian would do, I researched the matter. I checked out library career websites and general career websites alike. Every site typically recommend printing on some form of resume paper and getting a copy shop to print them. Resume paper seems so boring, clunky, and old. I don't want to seem to pretentious or weird if no one else has resume paper, right?

My resume is going to be the first thing that many important people are going to see. Perhaps it will be the only thing they will remember me by. Instead of my resume being used in conjunction with an interview, my resume will now have to stand as a surrogate me. Not to mention all of the other new professional vying for the same opportunities as myself.

I feel as if I need to constantly skate this fine line between old, traditional, and stuffy professional and new, edgy, personality laced professional. I've mastered it in my business cards, I'm almost mastered it in my wardrobe (J.Crew shopping trip this weekend!), but I can't seem to float the line in my printed resume.

Sorry for my long absence...

It has been awhile since I have updated this blog. It is incredibly too easy to get caught up in daily life and get distracted by various small things (and not so small things like the stomach flu and a sick cat)! Nevertheless, I have a few blog post in the workings to be updated over Pitt's spring break.

Be on the lookout for:

• Currently Digging, Pt. 2: Tehching Hsieh
• Why go to the Museum? The Museum Now Comes to You: The Google Art Project
• The Online AAT: Lifesaver in Authority Control
• LibGuides: The New Aid for Library Instruction and Reference
• The Final Frontier? The Abolition of the Print Resume
• Prepping for my First Professional Conference: The 2011 VRA + ARLIS/NA Joint Conference

Until then, one of my favorite Italian Futurist painters, Giacomo Balla. Italian Futurists are usually known for their wild architectural drawings (none were ever built) but Giacomo Balla was also a master painter. I discovered this artist and painting, Young Girl Running on a Balcony, during one of my last Art History courses at the University of Pittsburgh on Italian Design.

Giacomo Balla, Young Girl Running on a Balcony, 1912, Oil on Canvas, 125 cm. Galleria d'Arte Moderna di Milano, Milan, Lombardy, Italy , 10711. (Image © 2008 Artists Rights Society).

Zotero and Firefox

Today I installed the Zotero plug-in for my Firefox web browser. Zotero is a neat little plug-in that allows you to easily cite and reference websites, books, and articles. It is great for capturing all the necessary information on websites as it is often hard to find the correct info you may need.

I've created a short Jing video that explains the installation process as well as some examples on how to use Zotero. I am writing a short article on the intersection of sports and feminism and used Zotero to help gather some critical sources.

You can also view my instruction video on Screencast.com by clicking here.

The Technology of Networking

The second semester of library school is in full swing! Almost February, almost a month in, almost five months away from graduating. Wait, almost five month away from graduating! I can barely believe it- it feels as if I have just started. I guess that is what Pitt meant by "Fast, Forward, and Focused."

With my graduation approaching faster and faster each day I have started to think past school and think forward to my new career as a librarian. These thoughts are excited and liberating but also have me scared. I've spent my whole entire life in school of some kind, and in five.short.months I am leaving it all behind?!

Though, leaving it behind for (presumably) greener pastures. But, in order to get to these green pastures, I must obtain my dream job (which of course will happen immediately after graduating!). In order to do this I have become skilled in what I refer to as the "technology of networking."

I've never been a big social network type of person, I just recently got a (ultra private) Facebook account and the internet has never really provided me much entertainment beyond the threshold of half an hour. But, I have realized that in some ways, an internet presence is good. That is, a professional internet presence.

I've taken a liking to my blog, treating it as a professional endeavor rather than just a school assignment. I've created a Linkedin account ("the professional Facebook"). My website is in the works. Business cards in the mail. Resume hot off the press. All necessary tools for the new professional.

All these tools are a relatively new technology. Even the term, social networking, is new (I mean, isn't all networking social? How has this term come to describe the internet variety of networking?). These technological tools have the power to harness real potential if used in a dedicated and constant way.

Currently digging . . .

Margaret Kilgallen (1967-2001).

Margaret Kilgallen. Main Drag, installation view, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, 2008. 2000, Mixed media installation, dimensions variable.

Margaret Kilgallen was an influential contemporary artist in the San Fransisco Bay's Mission School movement. Kilgallen's art, which is often largely text, was influenced heavily by her early career as a book conservator for the San Fransisco Public Library. In addition to typography Kilgallen's work reflect strong influences from the folk art tradition.

I was lucky enough to see an installation of Kilgallen's work at the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston, Texas during their 2008 exhibition of The Old, Weird America. The installation, set up in one corner of the museum was beautifully overwhelming. The hand-painted lettered signs, a theme in much of Kilgallen's work, are crisp, clean, and overpowering while at the same time approachable and inviting. The warm, neutral colors that resonate in all her works transport you to the idea of a hot and dry Summer afternoon in an almost-but-not-quite-yet downtownish street. You would be walking down this street, absorbed in your own thoughts about the awful heat or your lack of motivation to do anything this Summer but think about the awful heat and your lack of motivation. You turn the corner quickly -- Did you just stumble over that broken concrete? Did anyone see that? No? Good. -- you kneel down to tie your shoes, come back up, and in front of you, a huge mural painted on the side of an building that you never realized was there. Suddenly, you're brought back to the present. You pause. You stand. You're weight is evenly distributed between your feet. You can't move. You stand. You forget about the heat. But then, you realize you're not in the heat. You're not even outside. It is not even the awful Texas Summer. Rather, you're inside, in a museum, their air conditioner blowing on top of your hair making you shiver and jump a little. And you're staring at this large and imposing installation that seems so different from anything else around you. Once you've realized all your friends left you for the gift shop downstairs you began to back away from the corner. You trip. Your shoe is still untied.

Margaret Kilgallen's work, though I had seen it numerous times before, still had this overwhelming power to move me in a way that few artists have done since.

The book, In the Sweet Bye & Bye, published in conjunction with her 2005 posthumous retrospective show by the same name, tops out as one of my favorite books. Though not as impressive as getting the chance to see the work in real life, it is worth to have in any art book collection.

Margaret Kilgallen, Installation at Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, 1999. Mixed media installation, dimensions variable.

___________________________________________

Margaret Kilgallen's "Currently digging . . ." post is Part One in a series that doesn't yet have a Part Two.

Me v. The Technology: An Eventual Love Story

Often, as a aspiring librarian, I am asked, "What made you want to become a librarian?"

Simply stated, I don't have just one answer. I don't really have more than one answer either. The desire to become a librarian as always been a sort of organic feeling that I have never not felt. The idea to attend library school was a conscious decision. Also, my desire to become an art librarian can have a decided beginning point.

Back in Houston, Texas, where I am originally from, I started to volunteer and intern at local libraries once I decided to become serious about my future career. One of the first places I began volunteering at was the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston's Hirsch Library. I'm not sure why I decided to volunteer here but whatever the reason is, I credit my experiences there as one of the top influences in my art librarianship career.

At the Hirsch Library I participated in various projects organized by the library staff. One project I remember vividly for its decisive anti-technology nature. The project was to convert a regular word processor document into a spreadsheet document. The document was a list of roughly two thousand books, magazines, catalogs, and ephemera that was donated to the library. The story was that the person who donated the collection wanted a list of everything in a search-able spreadsheet. Our answer, whatever the donor whats, the donor gets.

This being way back in 2006, the librarians charged me with the only task they knew, convert an existing word processor document into a spreadsheet document . . . MANUALLY. So began, probably a month long task (one month, twice a week, five hours each day) of manually typing each item's information (title, author, publisher, publish date, place of publish, LOC heading, etc.) from a word processor document into a spreadsheet. Also, I think formatting a Chicago citation was thrown in there somewhere.

The process was eventually completed and a huge sigh of relief was breathed by the Hirsch staff and most especially, me! The whole time I was processing this huge amount of information I was thinking, "Can't there be another way to do this? Won't the computer do it for me?" Though I thought for sure that there must be, I could never find the way or find a program. And, I had already sort of "perfected" the art of copying and generating citations that the time it took me to look into another way I could of processed 30+ titles.

So, I gave up. I did it "the old-fashioned way."

The kicker? I was lamenting my struggles to my brother (an IT guy for Google in Seattle and all around computer genius) one day over the phone and he just started laughing. And, laughing hysterically. Now, my brother doesn't laugh much, if any. He wouldn't explain himself and said he suddenly had to go. Strange, but my brother is strange.

Not more than five minutes after we hung up the phone do I have an email from my brother with a list of at least five programs that would of done what took me a month to do in less than thirty seconds. Hah!

Technology is great. The best advice is to let it work for you. It doesn't work against us.
Live and Learn . . . I guess.

Why is new technology so intimidating?

Even the simplest technological stuffs seem so daunting and confusing.

I just began a Spring Internship at Pitt's Frick Fine Arts Library. Since I have just begun (and the students don't seem to be too into the library until they have a paper due!) things have been slow. I don't have a clear defined role in the library yet, somewhere between student library worker and librarian. I know, it's a large somewhere between to be.

I've been working the circulation desk in the mornings before any student workers arrive. Seemed simple enough I thought. Except not! I have this weird card reader thing and this gun that scans bar codes??!! I've never encountered these foreign objects in my sheltered life. Now I start wishing I had taken that job at Target years ago! I always slide the ID card the wrong way and I haven't seemed to be able to grab the gun without dropping it.

Initially, I felt as if I was never going to be able to overcome my ineptitude at these new technological things. But, after a brief seating at the circ desk and a few patient patrons (okay, maybe more than a few), I'm slinging the radar gun around like I'm Annie Oakley of the Library.

I've discovered it was more my own fear and lack of confidence in my abilities that caused me to freak out over these devices. Not the devices or the technology itself. Library school, and any studying, is about given the student the ability to confront their fears and the tools necessary to overcome and learn from them.

But, with that said, let's not even talk about the sensitizer machine!

Introduction are Due.

Welcome.

This is my first post for my blog, The Art of Libraries. In this blog I will discuss the intersection between technology and libraries, particularly an art library (or special collections, rare books, something similar!).

My focus of studies is towards a career in art librarianship. From working in art and museum libraries back in Houston, Texas (where I am from) and my time interning at the Andy Warhol Museum's Archives and Pitt's Frick Fine Arts Library, I feel that art libraries are extremely hesitant about adopting new technology. Why is this? Is the issue with the librarians? The libraries themselves? Do art libraries feel as if the technology is not equipped to meet their unique needs? I imagine that it is a combination of all of those issues as well as issues I am currently unaware of.

In this blog I hope to pursue many of these issues.

I sign off with a classic Dutch Vanitas painting. Vanitas paintings, largely still life, were a style of painting that was popularized by seventeenth century Dutch artists (though other artists used the themes and the vanitas imagery is still incorporated in art today). Vanitas art reflected the themes of death and emptiness. I choose this image to close with because on multiple occasions when telling my family and friends I am in library school, they almost always remark, "Well aren't libraries going to be dead in 5-10 years!" I've never been able to answer as well as a vanitas.

Pieter Claesz, Still Life with a Skull and Writing Quill, 1628, Oil on Wood, 9 1/2 x 14 1/8 in. (24.1 x 35.9 cm). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, Rogers Fund, 49.107
(Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art).