SLA Library Crawl: STG and Cornish College of the Arts

UW-SLA members outside The Paramount

SLA-UW’s first library crawl of spring quarter 2013 brought us to the Seattle Theatre Guild (STG)’s and Cornish College of the Arts’ libraries, where we got a look at two very different kinds of libraries on a beautiful spring day.

STG volunteer Bonnie shares her wisdom with the group

First, Bonnie, a volunteer at STG’s Paramount Theatre (who holds an MLIS from the University of Maryland) graciously showed us around the recently opened Historic Theatres Library of STG. STG is a non-profit arts organization here in Seattle that operates the Paramount, Moore, and Neptune Theatres. They present more than 400 shows annually, bringing diverse and exciting performers to the Seattle area. However, another important component of their mission is preservation, both of the historic theatres themselves, and the legacy they represent. This is where the Historic Theatres Library comes in. Housed in an old apartment in a tower connected to the theater that used to be used for artists in residence, the STG library is a small but growing collection of theater memorabilia, posters, programs, books, photographs, architectural drawings, and more with materials dating back to 1928, the year the theater opened. There are some very unique items, including original tickets to an early show and memorabilia signed by the actors and actresses themselves. They are also working on creating a complete list of what has been performed at the theaters, which is an ongoing project. The library covers materials from the history of the Paramount, Moore, and Neptune Theatres, providing a great resource for those interested in the fascinating history of theater and the performing arts in Seattle.

Recap of SLA Student Night on April 18th, Hosted by PNW SLA

Deb Hunt, President of SLA

On Thursday, April 18th, the Pacific Northwest SLA chapter held a student night with a presentation by SLA President Deb Hunt and a panel discussion on “The Expanding Roles of InfoPros in Organizations: Career Path Recommendations and Job Search Tips.”

If you weren’t able to attend the session, or want to recap what you heard in attendance, we’ve got audio recordings as well as Deb Hunt’s presentation slides for reference. Check out the links!:

Panelists Erica Leigh Nelson and Patrick Mishina

• Audio Recording, Pt. 1: Opening Remarks and Deb Hunt’s Presentation
• Deb Hunt’s Presentation Slides
• Audio Recording, Pt. 2: Panel Discussion with Erica Leigh Nelson and Patrick Mishina

Spring Library Crawl: May 8th!

Join SLA-UW for their first Library Crawl of Spring Quarter!

On Wednesday, May 8th, we will be making our way to two great libraries: The STG (Seattle Theatre Group) Library at the Paramount & the Cornish College of the Arts Library!Afterwards, join us for happy hour at Montana, a little slice of ….Montana, here in Seattle! Come for all of part of the crawl!

Schedule

3:00 STG library at the Paramount (911 Pine St)
4:00 Cornish College of the Arts (1000 Lenora St)
5:00 happy hour at Montana (1506 E Olive Way, Seattle, WA)

The Seattle Theatre Group Library is a living legacy of history for the Neptune, Paramount and and Moore theatres. The library contains binders on a variety of topics from the performers that graced the stages over the many decades, a journey through the peaks and valleys that these theatres had to endure, wall hangings depicting the many challenges along the way, the visionaries responsible for these theatres, priceless memorabilia, and countless signed posters, along with a number of other posters that will be available for sale to the public.

The Cornish College of the Arts Library’s mission is to support and enhance the college curriculum, to play an integral role in academic life at Cornish College of the Arts and to do so in a manner that promotes information literacy and encourages lifelong learning.

Check out the facebook event page for directions and to RSVP!

Hope to see you there!

Frost-Gershenfeld SLA Travel Award

A student enrolled in the Masters of Library and Information Science (MLIS) program at the University of Washington Information School will receive an award of $1,200 to help cover expenses at the 2013 Special Libraries Association (SLA) Annual Conference in San Diego June 9-11.  (If you are graduating, the University Commencement is June 15^th and the iSchool Convocation is June 16^th.)

This year’s conference keynote speaker is Mike Walsh, best-selling author of FUTURETAINMENT, CEO of innovation research lab Tomorrow and a leading authority on the digital future.

See http://sla.org/attend/sla-annual-conference/ for more information on the conference.

To Apply:

Interested students should submit a one-page statement describing interest in and anticipated value from attending the national conference of the Special Libraries Association.  (There are no specific requirements as to margins, font, spacing, or word count for the one page, but applicants are urged to state their case succinctly.)

The recipient of the award will submit a short report on the conference experience for publication on the SLA-UW web site by October 4, 2013.  You can read a report from 2012 award recipient Lauren Work for her impressions of last year’s conference in Chicago at http://uwsla.wordpress.com/2012/10/11/sla-travel-schollarship-lauren-work/ .

Students who have received other awards or funding for the 2013 SLA conference are not eligible for this award. Please be aware that reimbursement may be in the form of direct payment or in the form of reimbursement, depending upon your financial aid.

Application statements are due by Wednesday, April 24th  at 5:00 PM.

Statements should be submitted via email to Nancy Gershenfeld ( ngersh@uw.edu ).  The award will be chosen by a panel consisting of Nancy Gershenfeld, a member of the local professional SLA chapter and one or more Information School students.

The winner will be notified by email on or before Friday, May 3rd.

This award is underwritten by Nancy Gershenfeld in memory of Roxanna Frost, the late Director of the Microsoft Corporate Library and an alumna of the University of Washington MLIS program who passionately supported special libraries and the leadership potential in each member of the organization.

Guest Post: Taking on the Special Library Experience via Independent Study

Greg Bem and Anna Nash have spent the past academic quarter working within the Ann Lennartz Memorial Library at the Seward Park Audubon Center. During this independent study through the UW iSchool, they have spent significant time visiting special libraries, researching special and small library experiences through academic articles, and have been engaging with the Audubon library on a weekly basis. The following post describes some of their adventures.

Part 1: Journeying through the Local Special Library Scene by Anna Nash

Mid-Fall quarter last year Greg Bem told me about a volunteer opportunity he was perusing at the Audubon Center in Seward Park. I thought it sounded so wonderful that I invited myself to join him in cataloging the library. When we were preparing to request that our work be considered an independent study, Greg added a goal of visiting other small and special libraries around Seattle as part of the class. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this was an inspired decision on his part. I have been to countless libraries in my life. Growing up I used no less than seven libraries, when I studied abroad I went to libraries in Rome Italy, Cork Ireland, and Kathmandu Nepal. I’ve worked in public, academic, and special libraries, and every place I worked and visited I learned something from.

When I was young I thought every library was just like the libraries I had used, that all libraries operated, basically, the same. They might use different classification systems but they were, in all other ways, the same. As I grew and worked in different libraries I found out that that is absolutely not true. In our tours for this class we visited the Northwest Mystery and Folklore Museum, The Henry Reed Collection Study Center, The KEXP Library, the Frye Art Museum Library, and most recently the Mountaineers Library. We learned something about our work at the Audubon Center and the Ann Lennartz Library at each of the libraries we visited. One thing  hat enhanced our experiences is that we were able to ask questions that were relevant to our project. When we came across an issue or a potential issue we were able to discuss it with people who were working in similar situations and find out how they had succeeded. Likewise we were able to avoid certain pitfalls from discussions about issues the libraries we visited had.

SLA-PNW Chapter Board Meeting Followed by Student Night: April 18th

Please join us for the SLA-PNW Chapter Board meeting followed by Student Night at the Center for Urban Horticulture, April 18th, 2013. This is an excellent opportunity to network and gain insight into leveraging your SLA skills.

Register Here

Itinerary

SLA-PNW Chapter Board Meeting

5 – 6:00 pm

All PNW chapter members, board members, and SLA-UW students are invited; free and no registration required

Student Night

6 – 9:00 PM

This event requires registration ($20 for students or unemployed, $35 for non-students/chapter members, and $45 for non-members)

• 6 – 7:00 PM

Social Hour with substantial hot and cold appetizers

• 7 – 8:00 PM

Deb Hunt, SLA 2013 President – Topic: “Reaching your Career Potential.” Learn more about Deb at Information-edge.com and SLA.org

• 8 – 9:00 PM    

Panel discussion – Topic: “The expanding role of InfoPros in organizations – career path recommendations and job search tips.”

Panel Speakers:

Erica Leigh Nelson – Data Indexer at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation

Patrick Mishina – Taxonomist/Browse developer at Amazon

Brenna Louzin – Law Librarian at Foster Pepper PLLC

We look forward to seeing you!

Register Here

SLA / SAA NARA Tour

Co-sponsored by the UW chapter of the Society of American Archivists and SLA-UW, our tour to the National Archives Regional Archive (NARA) was a huge success with 19 participants! Archivist Ken House and student assistant Jill Anderson graciously showed us around and thoroughly answered our many questions.

NARA Facilities

The NARA building on Sand Point was originally built in 1945 as an aviation storehouse. When World War II came to an end shortly after, it was repurposed for federal record keeping. The Seattle facility is responsible for storing records from federal agencies and courts in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. It also contains a wide variety of historical records, including military, census, naturalization, and immigration records.

Rolls of building plans and maps.

The facility is one of the largest repositories of the Bureau of Indian Affairs; those records are used frequently for genealogy and land border questions. There are many documents that have information about effects of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Other records such as plat maps and building plans help researchers identify environmental pollution that may have occurred. NARA’s records on the McNeil Island Penitentiary are also well-used. Nearly all their files are paper documents; collections of photographs and other media are sent to the National Archives facilities in College Park, Maryland. With about 38,000 cubic feet of records, the Seattle facility serves over 100 different governmental agencies. They struggle frequently with insufficient space, shredding unneeded documents when they run out of room.