Photo credits:

Panel 1: Nationaal Archief

Panel 2: U.S. National Archives

Panel 3: Anne G

Panel 4: Taber Andrew Bain

Panel 5: State Library of New South Wales

Panel 7: U.S. National Archives

(Click through for the transcription)

I will never forget the first time
you told me, “I’m disappointed in you.”
How I cried, and protested,
“But I worked so HARD!”
How you remained unmoved.

How neatly those words fit into
a growing narrative of shame and self-doubt
playing and replaying inside my head
I preserved all your criticisms this way
letting time and the weaknesses of memory
distort them almost beyond recognition

I hid among the boxes
threw myself into my work
even as I told myself
it wouldn’t matter in the end
The harder I worked,
The worse I felt
Nothing I did
would ever
be good enough

This is what I learned in the archives:
that no individual can understand you out of context
that a single item will define you if you let it
that sometimes, we need to be someplace else
to turn a jumble of experiences
into lessons to be learned from, some never repeated
that we cannot fully appreciate how important our lives are
without stepping away from our work

I wish I could tell you
That it gets better when you leave
But sometimes, the worst bullies
are the ones inside your own head

This is why we keep records:
To remind
To document
To prove
To show
To hold accountable
For others
For ourselves

There are days
when I don’t remember
What it feels like
To be happy
To be productive
To be competent
To be okay
I have only the records
to tell me

It gets better
(but I’m still waiting)

Come find me at Session 19 (I’ll be the one ranting about internships) or the MARAC tweetup or anywhere the free food is…well, free.

(And if you’re still waiting for an SAA ribbon in the mail…I promise I didn’t forget about you!)

The Archivist's Serenity Prayer: Grant me the serenity to accept the collections I cannot decline, Courage to decline the collections I can, And the funding to process the backlog. And what a serene scene! That's "Looking south from Chapman Point, Cannon Beach, Oregon," http://www.flickr.com/photos/osucommons/3226984744

(I have a feeling many of you will want to print this out, so I gave you a very large file to work with!)

(Click through for the transcription)

<archdesc level="collection">
  <did>
   <unittitle>
           Netflix records,     
   </unittitle>
   <unitdate>
           1997-2011.
   </unitdate>
  </did>
  <separatedmaterial>
   <p>
           Qwikster records are located in 
           another repository. You will 
           need to register separately to 
           access the Qwikster records.
   </p>
  </separatedmaterial>
</archdesc>

A few weeks ago, not long after landing in Chicago for SAA, I checked my email and found a job offer…for a librarian position. The job responsibilities included a lot of things I’d wanted to work on at my archives, like digital preservation, managing digital collections, and faculty outreach. But as I spent the week in the company of thousands of archivists, I wasn’t sure if I was ready to leave the field just yet.

I let my employer know that I had a job offer, and they decided to continue with the search. I reframed my options as joining a library that really wanted me to come and staying at an archives that didn’t seem to care if I left. Suddenly, the decision became much simpler.

What sealed it was an email response I received from the library director regarding my concerns about the position. I said that even though the position was a librarian gig, I thought many of the job responsibilities were things that archivists work on, and I wanted to stay involved with SAA and other archivist groups. Oh, and by the way, I write this little webcomic; how do you feel about that?

It turned out that not only was he very aware of this blog, it was one of the things that convinced him I was the right lady for the job. He agrees with me that divisions between librarians and archivists are often unhelpful, and that this job was a wonderful librarian/archivist hybrid. In fact–and I hope he doesn’t mind me quoting here–”you might be inspired to create an entire cartoon narrative around how to name such a new creature!  A ‘Libedigitivist’ or something.  Perhaps an edgy Easter bunny crossed with a Great White  that does standup.”

Oh. Em. Gee. As soon as I got back to Philly, I sent in my acceptance letter. And I’m thrilled to announce that on October 10th, I’ll be joining La Salle University‘s Connelly Library as the Media and Digital Services Librarian. (or archivist, whatevs)

I don’t think things around here will change that much just because I won’t be working in an archives anymore. (You probably wouldn’t know it from reading this comic, but I’ve never actually processed a collection before.) I suspect I’ll be branching out beyond EAD comics to derange other metadata standards, and I may shift the focus a bit more towards digital collections and digital preservation. Of course, that’s a direction the field as a whole is taking, too.

There are a few lessons here for those of you who are thinking about your future job search or are already in the middle of it. You should probably assume that employers have done a very good job of Googling you before they invite you over to hang out for a day. Don’t be afraid to put your future employer on trial, and find out if their library/archives/shark tank is an environment you’d want to work in. And when you find a place that really wants you, just the way you are–well, it’s just about the best feeling in the world.

An edgy Easter bunny crossed with a Great White that does standup! So this archivist walks into a bar. The bartender says, "What can I get you?" And the archivist says, "Get me a beer--No, wait, a screwdriver. Or maybe a martini?" The bartender says, "Come on, decide already!" And the archivist says, "Okay, fine. I'll have the original order." I don't think the audience gets it. I can see a guy saying "Um, what the fonds?" There's no pleasing some people.

Photo credits:

Easter Bunny from the Library of Virginia

Group assembled around great white shark: Key West, Florida from the State Library and Archives of Florida

James Simpson Theatre from the Field Museum Library

An audience in the New Theatre, 1964 from LSE Library

Send mail to:

[address temporarily removed]

(And if you’re thinking, hey, wouldn’t it be easier if I just emailed you my address? Yeah, maybe. But I like getting mail. Send something good. :) )

Deranger ribbon

Unless you are the archivist who so generously indulged my desire to hear the phrase “XSLin’ like a felon” in an SAA webinar, in which case your ribbon is already in the mail to you. (If you aren’t coming to SAA but still want a ribbon, let me know after the conference and we’ll work something out.)

Likely places to find me are:

• The Social Media Forum, where you’ll get to see what happens when SAA lets me work on a presentation
• The Tweetup and Beer Roundtable
• The Drexel reception
• The SAA Career Center, from 11 AM-1 PM on Saturday. I will be offering career advice and hugs.
• Anywhere with free food (students and new archivists represent!)

Click through for the text version of this comic.

<archdesc level="collection">
  <did>
   <unittitle>
           IKEA records,
   </unittitle>
   <unitdate>
           1943-2011.
   </unitdate>
  </did>
  <processinfo>
   <p>
           This collection is unprocessed.
           Instructions for processing this collection yourself are included.
   </p>
  </processinfo>
</archdesc>

(To encourage discussion about this topic over there and not over here, I’ve turned off comments on this post.)