Practicum Log #18: Presentations and Cleaning
Southwestern’s Distinctive Collections is at the end of a long renovation. Their collection has been in storage and piled throughout the staff spaces of the rest of the library for about 18 months. The reading room is in the last stages of renovation before setting everything to rights again.
Friday, June 28, 2024 from 9:00 AM-5:00 PM
I started my day at the Upward Bound Presentation Ceremony where our students presented their cuneiform research poster and talked about their week in the Library Science class. The students did a great job, and one student recommended the class for next year to the students who chose something else. High praise! Then, the staff librarians had a meeting on campus regarding communication and transparency from the university. I worked on some of my grad work during this time.
After everyone returned from the meeting, Emily and I met with Katherine to talk about next steps on the new student instruction goals because she’s going on vacation next week. Then, I went to distinctive collections to help Megan Firestone clean and prep rooms for move in. Southwestern has a massive and impressive Distinctive Collections, and it has had an extensive renovation that has taken about 18 months. All of the collection had to be stored throughout the library on pallets, with little access to it. Megan and her staff had to move to temporary offices, and they’ve all been limping along while the renovation happened. This summer, they’ve been able to start moving back into their space. They’ve hired Library Interiors of Texas to help with much of the move in process, but the librarians are also working to set everything back to rights. Megan and I cleaned floors and talked about her job. I’ve never met an archivist like Megan. She makes Distinctive Collections fun and interesting, and she’s welcoming of the space. She’s knowledgeable about the collection, but she isn’t a gatekeeper. She wants everyone to see and experience what they have to offer at Southwestern. She laughed while we were cleaning, and she said, “I’m glad you get to see the more glamorous parts of librarianship. Mopping floors!” I didn’t mind.
Full Schedule: l will be working 10:00-2:00 from May 28th to June 7th, M-F online. (The campus is undergoing some construction and all of the librarians are working from home.) Then, from June 10 - July 19th, I will be working 1:00-5:00 on campus at Southwestern University. I will more than likely finish by July 12th, but I'm adding a week for wiggle room. This should lead to 128 hours.
