Week 13

This week I only worked on Wednesday. I repaired a few of the books that had pages coming out or spines no longer attached to the pages. Kyle showed me how to re-attach the pages using an inert glue. She also demonstrated how other books could be fixed, such as if they needed new spines or needed to be placed into individual boxes for further protection. It was interesting to see how to fix the different problems each of the books had. The ones I fixed for instance only took a paintbrush and some glue, so the pages reattached to the bindings. I had no reading this week.

Week 12

This week I finished the last seven books, placed the last LoC stickers on the last stack of books, and have begun the organization process. Most of the books have been organized according to their LoC numbers, or have at least been placed in a general place based on their numbers. Only those with the letters T and E have yet to be organized fully. I was beginning on the E books when I ran out of time on Wednesday. Next week I think we are working on fixing the books that require doctoring. I had no reading this week.

Week 11

This week I basically finished entering the books into the computer. There are a few left that I have questions about, since I was told not to enter magazines or some of the museum publications not pertaining to Wake Forest. The stack of books has gone from hundreds to just seven, which I am going to ask about at the beginning of next week. All of the rest of the books have been entered manually or have LoC numbers and have been labeled accordingly. There is another stack of books that are those that need to be fixed, which I was told would be happening in a week or so. I had no reading for this week.

Week 10

This week I continued to enter books into the system, and finished another LoC sticker sheet. I also took all of the books and organized them onto a single stack of shelves so that they are all in one main place. The number of books is slowly decreasing as I am entering them. Pretty soon, I should be finished with entering them into the computer, and then I can begin organizing them by their LoC numbers. I had no reading for this week.

Week 9

This week I continued to enter books into the system. There are fewer and fewer books on the shelves as I continue working through entering them. I also had a reading in Museum Studies in Material Culture by Susan M. Pearce. I had to read chapter 9, entitled "Material Culture Research and the Curation Process." It was about two different exhibition styles, the aesthetic and reconstructive. The aesthetic pertain to art, or primitive art where the reconstructive is more informative and ethnographically meaningful. So, both contribute to the overall understanding of the material culture of the past but in different ways. One is the artistic materials left behind where the other is the preserved items that show a primitive culture. The chapter continues to discuss the need to document and preserve all of the artifacts so they can be understood, referenced, and provide further research in the future. The artifacts that are restored pose a problem. They are restored to their previous glory, but yet the art of restoration detracts from the authenticity since sometimes the artifact can actually be made better than it would have actually been in the past. This chapter covers multiple issues faced with the exhibition, restoration, preservation and documentation of artifacts.

Week 8

This week I only worked on Wednesday. I finished another round of 84 books and placed the LoC stickers on their spines. I continued to work and have started a new sheet of LoC stickers which is being filled faster than before now. I think a bunch of the new books that have been added to the shelves are newer in origin and so have modern LoC numbers which I can add into the computer. I did not have a reading assignment for this week, so that is all I did. I am also finally making a larger dent into the stacks of literature that I am entering into the database.

Week 7

This week I only worked on Wednesday. Along with Kyle, I moved more books onto the shelves for me to enter into the computer. My previously empty shelves are full once again, but this should be the last wave of incoming books. I am also almost completed with a third spreadsheet of LoC numbers. as I am entering more and more books, instead of magazines, there are more with LoC numbers documented which means the spreadsheets are filling faster. My reading for this week was about the handling and storage of archival materials. According to the article, many modern museums are not adequately equipped to handle archival materials because many of them are not climate controlled. Most of the article focused on making sure the area of storage was acid free and had a controlled climate to help with preservation.

Week 6

This past week I finished a second LoC spreadsheet which I was geekily excited about. The number of books is beginning to dwindle as I enter more and more into the computer database which is really awesome. Also, I moved the books without LoC numbers and the magazines into a new area so there are no longer tall piles surrounding me at my work space. The reading for this week was about book damages and how to select ones for repair. It was very informative since I have already run into a few books that have required some sort of repair. There are a couple where the pages are falling out, or the spines are broken. These have been placed into a separate stack so they can be fixed later.

Week 5

This week I worked on entering more books into the system, and am almost done with a second sheet of LoC numbers. I also printed out my first sheet onto stickers and placed them onto the books. Now 82 books have successfully had stickers placed onto them. My reading this week was called "Use of Collections" and it discusses the need for research in museums. It says that all museums need to do research on their items, for it adds to the knowledge of the museum. It also says that museum staff need to be respectful of people coming into the museum asking for corroboration since they might acquire an unexpected and rare item for their collection. Finally, the article says that the most important point of a museum is not the number of customers/visitors but instead informing people. The museum is responsible for presenting information to the people that come into the structure.

Week 4

This week I only worked on Monday, and I completed my first set of LoC stickers on my spreadsheet. I began a new spreadsheet of titles, authors and LoC numbers. I am slowly working towards entering all of the books into the system and marking them so they can be stored successfully on shelves. This way they will have order to where they are placed instead of inhabiting an area of barley controlled chaos. My reading for this week had to do with the storage of archival materials. It discussed the various methods of storing different materials, and how to keep them safe from too much acidity. I found it interesting that wooden shelves, which are usually seen in libraries, are actually not good for the books themselves unless the shelves have been treated with polyurethane or have lining on them. It was interesting to read all the various ways materials could be stored.

Week 3

This past week, I continued to enter books into the computer database. I am beginning to move from magazines and items lacking ISBN numbers into ones that have stated ISBN and LoC numbers found in them. Many of the books I am entering have pieces of paper or even slides placed within their covers. Some are so old that they are beginning to fall apart. The reading for this week dealt with the handling of rare or deteriorating books and how to communicate to others how fragile books really are. This seems applicable to some of the books that I am entering into the computer since they are fragile as well, and so must be handled with care.

Week 2

This week I focused on entering in the various books and magazines into the Museum's database. It was interesting to find which magazines and books had set LoC numbers and which ones could not be found within the general database. Most of the magazines for instance have no ISBN numbers or LoC numbers, so they can only be entered in by year and name of the magazine. So, essentially I was working on imputing data into the computer systems this past week. I also had a reading about how to correctly handle books, which I found very interesting. The article detailed varoius ways that books were mishandled and how to properly care for books. It was an interesting read.

Week 1

For my first day, I worked on moving books from a room within the museum down to Kyle's room. It was interesting to see how the books and magazines were previously arranged. There were books covering Egyptian Hieroglyphs right next to books on evolution and Chinese tea. There appeared to be no clear reasoning to the previous order, so it is probably a good thing that I carried them down to be properly organized by their library codes.

Expectations

I plant to learn as much as possible about working in the Museum of Anthropology this semester. I am looking forward to learning how to catalog items efficiently, and am excited about my readings. I am expecting to learn a lot through this internship and am willing to learn as much as possible. Setting up the new anthropology library in the building seems like a fun and worthwhile task since the books will be encoded and at hand for any of the researching anthropologists. I am expecting to learn how to work within the system used for coding items in the museum, since I will have to code the books into a catalog.
Essentially, I am willing to do anything and learn everything I can this semester and am looking forward to the opportunity.