Exploring Data

The past month has been a bit different for me. Instead of juggling multiple departments, I've settled down in just one: Data Services. I did finish out most of my project in Special Collections. The finding aid for the John Barnes Performing Arts Collection is public online but it's not listed on Virginia Heritage yet. I enjoyed working on it and it will be a factor in determining which department I choose later this summer.

Data Services
So far, I'm still learning about what data services is doing. I'm mainly working on documenting workflows and updating the research solicitation form letter. It sounds boring because most people don't like working on workflows or form letters. I'll admit I don't really like documenting workflows and I'll be glad when that's done. I do enjoy working on form letters. The one I'm working on introduces our service to people who have expressed an interest. Included with it will be a one-page document describing the service. I'm currently working on creating that document. After that's done, I'll be working on creating our Intranet and Internet presences so that people can learn about us without our direct solicitation. When I have some stuff live and online, I'll share it here.

Data Services as a field is interesting. I'm working mostly with the data curation group that works on the data repository. We ingest data sets, convert them to archival formats as needed, and make sure they're accessible via our research data repository. I'm interested in the development and operation of the repository and with helping to ensure that the data deposited is usable. I'm less involved in work from other areas of Data Services such as helping to write data management plans.

Other Stuff
I've been doing a lot of work on presentations and other projects.

• I've been leading training on the basics of GMail and Google Calendar for the library faculty and staff. About twice a week for the last month and a half, I've led a session to familiarize people with these tools as part of the overall transition of everyone in the whole library to these tools.
  
• I've been working on preparations for the panel and poster presentation I'll be doing at the National Diversity in Libraries Conference in Los Angeles in August. Those are both joint projects and require coordination and planning.
  
• I'm working on creating a course on treatment of LGBTQ+ people in the media. It will be added to the SafeZone program here and I'll be the instructor. I'll be covering some basic media literacy skills while providing examples of the treatment of LGBTQ+ individuals in popular media and news coverage.
• I'm working with colleagues to put together a proposal for a presentation at the Charleston Library Conference about the database I designed last year.
• I'm working with a colleague on a proposal for a book chapter on serving the LGBTQ+ community in an academic library/archives.
• I'm also part of a proposal with a team from various departments. We're putting together a proposal for some grant money to build up and streamline our digital forensics and preservation services. This project is super exiting to me. It would enhance and define our services for recovery of data from obsolete technology as well as streamlining ingest of that data into a digital archive structure for long-term preservation and access. Exciting stuff!!!

As always, there's plenty more I could say but I have tons of other things to do. So, I'm going to say goodbye for this month. Check out the finding aid for the John Barnes Performing Arts Collection if you're at all interested. It was a lot of fun putting this together I'm proud of it. 😊