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| From April 2009 Recipes, Reviews, and other photos |
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| From April 2009 Recipes, Reviews, and other photos |
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| From April 2009 Recipes, Reviews, and other photos |
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
Hot, Hot, Hot
It's a bit too early to be summer, but tell that to the weather! In the meantime, my tulips have bloomed, the forget-me-nots are starting, and the primulae are having a grand old time. I'll be out taking some photos just as soon as the columbines start to bloom (any day now at this rate), but until then, feel free to feast your eyes on a few of last year's April photos:
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution
Last night, John and I watched Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. I applaud Oliver for trying so hard to wake up the citizens (especially the lunch ladies) of the unhealthiest town in America. While some have said it was heavily scripted (as many reality shows tend to be), I really don't care. It was the message that impressed me.
We were horrified by the fact that the 6 year olds could not identify the vegetables Oliver held up, but heartened by the fact that the teacher took it upon herself to teach the kids what they were. If the kids don't know what the vegetables are, it could mean one or more of the following:
1. All of their vegetables (if they eat any beyond potatoes) are processed.
2. Their parents no longer cook food, preferring instead to heat things.
3. Their parents do not have them participate in the purchasing and cooking of food.
John and I both remember being taught about food in school. What happened to this part of their education? Has it gone the way of music classes?
I hope that Oliver's work does not go unnoticed, especially by parents. The segment of the show that focused on the morbidly obese family was very interesting. I'm glad they finally got the point when the doctor explained the potential health problems facing their son. I'm also glad Oliver stayed and became part of the solution, despite the fact his family is back in the U.K. waiting for him.
The major issue I had with the program was food waste. I sincerely hope Oliver took all the meals that were not selected (in favor of pizza) to a local food bank. We have a big problem with folks going hungry right here in America, and watching all that food being wasted was painful, to say the least.
While we are not parents, we are concerned about the future of our country. In these times of phenomenally expensive health care, we really need to refocus on how to make healthy, fresh, organic foods less expensive so that it becomes cheaper to eat healthily than to eat poorly.
Remember when our mom's used to say "You are what you eat?" It's true. As the country's diet has gone downhill, so has our global competitiveness and innovation. The sooner we return to caring about our health and the health of our fellows, the better we will do.
Just my 50 cents (inflation, you know).
We were horrified by the fact that the 6 year olds could not identify the vegetables Oliver held up, but heartened by the fact that the teacher took it upon herself to teach the kids what they were. If the kids don't know what the vegetables are, it could mean one or more of the following:
1. All of their vegetables (if they eat any beyond potatoes) are processed.
2. Their parents no longer cook food, preferring instead to heat things.
3. Their parents do not have them participate in the purchasing and cooking of food.
John and I both remember being taught about food in school. What happened to this part of their education? Has it gone the way of music classes?
I hope that Oliver's work does not go unnoticed, especially by parents. The segment of the show that focused on the morbidly obese family was very interesting. I'm glad they finally got the point when the doctor explained the potential health problems facing their son. I'm also glad Oliver stayed and became part of the solution, despite the fact his family is back in the U.K. waiting for him.
The major issue I had with the program was food waste. I sincerely hope Oliver took all the meals that were not selected (in favor of pizza) to a local food bank. We have a big problem with folks going hungry right here in America, and watching all that food being wasted was painful, to say the least.
While we are not parents, we are concerned about the future of our country. In these times of phenomenally expensive health care, we really need to refocus on how to make healthy, fresh, organic foods less expensive so that it becomes cheaper to eat healthily than to eat poorly.
Remember when our mom's used to say "You are what you eat?" It's true. As the country's diet has gone downhill, so has our global competitiveness and innovation. The sooner we return to caring about our health and the health of our fellows, the better we will do.
Just my 50 cents (inflation, you know).
Monday, March 15, 2010
Book Review: The Art of Eating In
The Art of Eating In
, by Cathy Erway is an autoblogography set in print. What I mean by that is that Erway's blog about not eating out in New York landed her a book deal about her life. Erway commits to not going to restaurants for food for a year (a very tough thing to do in a city that accommodates every diet and taste imaginable), and chronicles her experiences along the way. But don't expect the book to be like the blog, because it's much more personal with far fewer recipes (sadly!). The parts I really enjoyed were about her adventures with the Freegans, learning how to forage for food in NY's parks, sustainable dining, and the "underground" supper clubs. I also liked reading about her eating experiences with her family.
It was sad to read of her relationship challenges, especially the one fellow who didn't support her not eating out habit. But, she's better for it. I think it could have been somewhat shorter and included less of the minutia of her life (I ended up skipping over those portions when they appeared because I preferred the parts listed above). However, the majority of the book is carefully written and demonstrates that anyone can make these changes.
Since 2006, John and I have been saving money by limiting the number of times we eat out per month. It's not that big of a sacrifice, especially if you love to cook (and have dietary restrictions). It just requires a little planning and time management. Since I volunteer at a local co-op, I also have access to very fresh, organic foods on a regular basis. Along with the economic savings, the results have included spending more time exploring all my cookbooks, improving our cooking techniques, having more meaningful dining experiences, and savoring the times when we do eat out.
I was disappointed by how few recipes there were in Erway's book, but I did make an altered go of her Peppercorn, Potato, and Parmesan No-Knead Bread (sans cheese). The resulting bread was way too peppery for all the folks who tried it, but I would definitely try the core recipe again, perhaps with herbs. A short video of my experience follows.
, by Cathy Erway is an autoblogography set in print. What I mean by that is that Erway's blog about not eating out in New York landed her a book deal about her life. Erway commits to not going to restaurants for food for a year (a very tough thing to do in a city that accommodates every diet and taste imaginable), and chronicles her experiences along the way. But don't expect the book to be like the blog, because it's much more personal with far fewer recipes (sadly!). The parts I really enjoyed were about her adventures with the Freegans, learning how to forage for food in NY's parks, sustainable dining, and the "underground" supper clubs. I also liked reading about her eating experiences with her family.It was sad to read of her relationship challenges, especially the one fellow who didn't support her not eating out habit. But, she's better for it. I think it could have been somewhat shorter and included less of the minutia of her life (I ended up skipping over those portions when they appeared because I preferred the parts listed above). However, the majority of the book is carefully written and demonstrates that anyone can make these changes.
Since 2006, John and I have been saving money by limiting the number of times we eat out per month. It's not that big of a sacrifice, especially if you love to cook (and have dietary restrictions). It just requires a little planning and time management. Since I volunteer at a local co-op, I also have access to very fresh, organic foods on a regular basis. Along with the economic savings, the results have included spending more time exploring all my cookbooks, improving our cooking techniques, having more meaningful dining experiences, and savoring the times when we do eat out.
I was disappointed by how few recipes there were in Erway's book, but I did make an altered go of her Peppercorn, Potato, and Parmesan No-Knead Bread (sans cheese). The resulting bread was way too peppery for all the folks who tried it, but I would definitely try the core recipe again, perhaps with herbs. A short video of my experience follows.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
More Snow
This was my view from the hall window on Feb. 10:
We're having another storm as I write this, and Rutgers has just canceled night classes (which means no Manuscripts & Archives class for me, unfortunately). I predict I will have a similar view by 7 am tomorrow morning.
I love the snow and winter. When I lived in Upper Montclair (nearly an hour north of here by car and a world away by other measurements) and it snowed, I would walk down to Brookdale Park, marveling at how the trees looked so black against the snow. These tall trees would stretch their branches over the street and some snow would just hang there among the branches while the rest filtered through onto the street and me.
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| From February 2010 photos |
We're having another storm as I write this, and Rutgers has just canceled night classes (which means no Manuscripts & Archives class for me, unfortunately). I predict I will have a similar view by 7 am tomorrow morning.
I love the snow and winter. When I lived in Upper Montclair (nearly an hour north of here by car and a world away by other measurements) and it snowed, I would walk down to Brookdale Park, marveling at how the trees looked so black against the snow. These tall trees would stretch their branches over the street and some snow would just hang there among the branches while the rest filtered through onto the street and me.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Make Your Own Low-Fat, Egg-Free Salad
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| From February 2010 photos |
Since I began volunteering at the George Street Co-op a few years ago, I have eaten my share of vegan "egg-salad" made from tofu. The Co-op sells small containers for more than $3.00 a piece, so I decided to save some cash by making my own. Today, when I read the ingredient list on the packages in the "Grab-and-Go" refrigerator, I discovered that except for the fresh parsley (which I decided to omit), I had all the ingredients.
I started by picking up some Lite Firm Tofu from Nasoya. It has the perfect texture for fake egg or chicken salads, stir frys, and much more. I'm so glad they developed a low-fat version because it makes such a big difference when I'm trying to cut fat from my diet.
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| From February 2010 photos |
My recipe is very easily and quickly made. However, it does improve over a little time, so I recommend making it an hour or two prior to eating. It yields 3-4 servings, depending on the size of your sandwich/serving.
Deb's Low-Fat, Egg-Free Salad
Ingredients:
1 14-oz package low-fat, firm tofu cut into 1/4 in. cubes
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1/4 teaspoon mustard powder
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/8 teaspoon celery seed
2 1/2 tablespoons Veganaise (I use the grapeseed oil version)
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste.
Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients and stir until well combined.
2. Chill for 1-2 hours, then enjoy!
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| From February 2010 photos |
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Egg Roll Deliciousness
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| From February 2010 photos |
Even though I'm trying to omit all animal product from my life in order to drop my cholesterol, I thought I'd try some Nasoya Asian Style Egg Roll wrappers. They did not disappoint.
Last week, I made egg rolls and scallion pancakes as part of an Asian-inspired dinner, and used the recipe on the outside of the egg roll packet to make the crispy appetizers. I made a few substitutions (which I probably will not make again), but they were very tasty nonetheless. The directions on the back of the packet showed precisely how to roll and fold the wrappers, but left out the important direction of lightly wetting the end to seal it against the roll. The wrappers fried up nicely. I did not deep fry them, but instead fried them in 1/8 in. of oil. They didn't take long to cook, and stayed closed while frying.
I also made my own dipping sauces with a low-sodium soy sauce and red pepper flakes, as well as a mock duck sauce using a no-sugar-added plum spread mixed with a little water and also some red pepper flakes. Both were fun dips for the crunchy egg rolls.
My rating: A for for Nasoya's egg roll wrappers (would have been A+ if they were vegan).
Monday, February 01, 2010
Stereotactic Breast Biopsy Info
Recently, my blog has been visited by more than a handful of women who are either approaching a stereotactic breast biopsy, or who have just experienced one and are researching the topic. As those of you who have been following this blog since 2008 (or earlier) know, I documented my experiences with the procedure in excruciating detail.
While at first I was concerned about the level of detail I shared here, it turns out that fellow patients are very glad that I did because they have not been adequately prepared for the experience. And how could they be? How many of the nurses and radiological surgeons have actually experienced the procedure? My guess is not many. I sincerely hope that fewer women need to go through this, although I'm glad of the clear results.
All that to say, I just thought I would provide all the links to the original series of posts on the topic in one post. This way, the facts and personal events I've shared are easy to locate.
As always, I encourage fellow travelers down this road to please share their experiences in the comments section. My thoughts and prayers are with you.
Here are the links:
Post 1
Post 2
Post 3
Post 4
While at first I was concerned about the level of detail I shared here, it turns out that fellow patients are very glad that I did because they have not been adequately prepared for the experience. And how could they be? How many of the nurses and radiological surgeons have actually experienced the procedure? My guess is not many. I sincerely hope that fewer women need to go through this, although I'm glad of the clear results.
All that to say, I just thought I would provide all the links to the original series of posts on the topic in one post. This way, the facts and personal events I've shared are easy to locate.
As always, I encourage fellow travelers down this road to please share their experiences in the comments section. My thoughts and prayers are with you.
Here are the links:
Post 1
Post 2
Post 3
Post 4
Monday, January 25, 2010
Restaurant Review: One World Cafe (Everybody Eats), Salt Lake City, UT
Because John and I have the great good fortune of traveling to the Salt Lake City area a few times a year, I always seek out different things to do when I'm on my own and he's fishing with his dad. A few weeks ago, during our Christmas visit, I decided to try One World Cafe, otherwise known as Everybody Eats. The cafe is unique in that the diner sets his/her price for the food. In fact, if a diner wishes to volunteer time working at the restaurant, he/she can earn full meal vouchers.
The cafe is located in the university part of town, not far (driving-wise) from many interesting parts of the city, including the arboretum. The food I tasted included a variety of items from roasted potatoes to mixed greens and penne with sun-dried tomatoes to veggie stir fry. Overall, the food was tasty and warm (good for the cold days of winter). More importantly, I was grateful to help an organization that provides very low-cost meals to those who could scarcely eat elsewhere.
Go visit One World Cafe in Salt Lake City.
The cafe is located in the university part of town, not far (driving-wise) from many interesting parts of the city, including the arboretum. The food I tasted included a variety of items from roasted potatoes to mixed greens and penne with sun-dried tomatoes to veggie stir fry. Overall, the food was tasty and warm (good for the cold days of winter). More importantly, I was grateful to help an organization that provides very low-cost meals to those who could scarcely eat elsewhere.
Go visit One World Cafe in Salt Lake City.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Yet Even More Great Art to See in New Jersey
If you can get to the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, in Summit, before March 19, you will have the great luck of seeing their 24th International Juried Show. Additionally, both upstairs and downstairs are wonderful examples of encaustic-style works.
A friend and I recently visited the center and saw both the show and the encaustic art, and were fascinated.
Also, the center offers loads of workshops and classes for both adults and children. I'm looking forward to taking the encaustic classes and learning more about this unique technique.
A friend and I recently visited the center and saw both the show and the encaustic art, and were fascinated.
Also, the center offers loads of workshops and classes for both adults and children. I'm looking forward to taking the encaustic classes and learning more about this unique technique.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Go See the Art As Action Exhibit at the Printmaking Council of New Jersey
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| From January 2010 photos |
Last week, Tanya (whose back you see in the photo above) and I experienced the very powerful Art As Action exhibit at the Printmaking Council of New Jersey. Displayed in the photo above is a portion of Karen Guancione's Found Journal work. Throughout the Library Gallery are hung pages of handmade rice paper printed with selections from a diary, as well as items of clothing captured within pages of Ms. Guancione's paper. The diary is one the artist found while walking through Branchburg Park in Newark, N.J. in 1997. She tried to find the owner of the diary to return it (along with a pile of other belongings found at the park).
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| From January 2010 photos |
The artist was unable to locate the diary's owner, but was so struck by the story contained within the notebook that she was determined to share this woman's tragic story with a larger audience through a large installation. Essentially, it is the stark telling of love and loss, colored by addiction and homelessness. The journal's writer acknowledges that she has made a series of bad choices, but will wait forever for her love.
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| From January 2010 photos |
Walking through the Library Gallery, reading the pages that surrounded us -- some excerpts of the more complete pages, some single lines of text -- both Tanya and I were silenced by the words of one woman whose descent was chronicled from jail worker in love with an addict inmate to junkie and homeless prostitute.
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| From January 2010 photos |
In addition to Ms. Guancione's moving piece, the Art As Action exhibit also included works by J. Catherine Bebout, Curlee Raven Holton, Doris Nogueira-Rogers, and Erik Ruin. I emailed all the artists to request permission to post photos of their work online here, but only Ms. Guancione and Ms. Nogueira-Rogers responded.
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| From January 2010 photos |
Above is one of the beautiful pieces displayed in Ms. Nogueira-Rogers' section. It is Lace and Layer VII, one in a series of mixed media pieces that combine block printing and other techniques to achieve the layered affect. My photo does not do it justice.
I highly recommend going to visit the Art As Action exhibit at the Printmaking Council of New Jersey. You can find directions at the council's web site. Just so you can recognize the building, here's a photo of the exterior.
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| From January 2010 photos |
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
The Soup That Conquered My Cold
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| From January 2010 photos |
If you ever catch a cold, please, please, please try this soup. It kicked my cold's tush and tasted incredible to boot! The original recipe comes from my favorite new cookbook, Moosewood Restaurant Cooking for Health.
It's called Ginger Tofu Soup, and is definitely heavy on the ginger and tofu. However, the original is very short on liquid, so I added quite a bit more liquid; skipped the celery; and added mushrooms, carrots, and baby spinach instead. It makes quite a bit of soup, so feel free to freeze a portion or two, or share it with friends.
You might be wondering why my tofu looks a little different than fresh-out-of-the-package-creamy tofu. It's because I freeze my fresh tofu from the co-op prior to using it. When tofu freezes, it takes on a great spongy quality that I prefer over the less-textured variety.
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| From January 2010 photos |
Now the recipe, greatly inspired by the Ginger Tofu Soup recipe on page 121 of The Moosewood Restaurant Cooking for Health
book.Cold Kicking Soup
Ingredients
8 cups vegetable broth (I made mine from low-sodium boullion)
2 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
1 2-in. piece of fresh ginger sliced very thinly and cut into 1/2-in. pieces
4 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 1-lb package tofu cut into 1/2-in cubes (remember I used a package that had been frozen and thawed for extra texture)
3/4 cup chopped green onions
1 cup thinly sliced mushrooms
1 cup fresh baby spinach
1 cup matchstick carrots (basically carrots cut into matchstick-sized pieces)
1 1/2 cups cooked mixed rices (I used a Lundberg mix of wild and brown rices)
Directions
1. In a large pot or Dutch oven, bring the broth to a boil.
2. Add the garlic, ginger, and soy sauce to the broth and reduce the heat to a low simmer for 5 minutes.
3. Stir in the tofu cubes, then the vegetables, and simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Stir in the rice and simmer for 5 minutes.
5. Serve hot and enjoy!
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| From January 2010 photos |
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
The Benefits of Signing Up for Email Newsletters
Like you, I receive a lot of email. Fortunately, spam filters do a great job of filtering out the junk. One category of email I receive is email newsletters from stores I frequent. In particular, I receive notifications from EMS (Eastern Mountain Sports) of sales, etc. Earlier this week, I received a great offer -- free Smartwool socks for the first 10 coupon holders at the store when it opened today. Well, I'm a big fan of Smartwool socks, wearing them almost exclusively, and I wasn't about to waste an opportunity to receive $50 worth of great socks.
So I phoned the store yesterday and asked what time they opened today. As it turned out, they opened 2 hours earlier than usual (8 am). I set my alarm for 6 am and left the house by 7 am. There were already three cars in the parking lot by the time I arrived. By 7:30, a small queue of us free Smartwool fans had formed.
What I have neglected to mention was that it was COLD this morning at 7. However, I was prepared, wearing Smartwool hikers, long underwear, and my big parka. My line friend was not, having left her gloves at home. I considered lending her mine, but I didn't have any glove liners to keep my hands warm, so instead I kept her company by striking up a lively conversation. She and I spoke about skiing to pass the time (which tends to slow when you're chilled).
Eventually, we made it inside, and I was the last person to receive a box of three pairs of socks. It was very exciting. I also bought a Techwick shirt to take along to Utah. John laughed at me and said, "They got you!" I laughed, having bought the shirt for 30% off and less than the cost of the socks, even on sale.
All that to say, you never know what you can get for free until you sign up for a newsletter.
So I phoned the store yesterday and asked what time they opened today. As it turned out, they opened 2 hours earlier than usual (8 am). I set my alarm for 6 am and left the house by 7 am. There were already three cars in the parking lot by the time I arrived. By 7:30, a small queue of us free Smartwool fans had formed.
What I have neglected to mention was that it was COLD this morning at 7. However, I was prepared, wearing Smartwool hikers, long underwear, and my big parka. My line friend was not, having left her gloves at home. I considered lending her mine, but I didn't have any glove liners to keep my hands warm, so instead I kept her company by striking up a lively conversation. She and I spoke about skiing to pass the time (which tends to slow when you're chilled).
Eventually, we made it inside, and I was the last person to receive a box of three pairs of socks. It was very exciting. I also bought a Techwick shirt to take along to Utah. John laughed at me and said, "They got you!" I laughed, having bought the shirt for 30% off and less than the cost of the socks, even on sale.
All that to say, you never know what you can get for free until you sign up for a newsletter.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Guest Post from The World's Strongest Librarian
This week, I have the pleasure of introducing you to Josh Hanagarne, host of The World's Strongest Librarian blog. He's guest posting on how it doesn't take a date like 1 Jan. to change the way we live and resolve to live better. Please welcome Josh!
A World Without Calendars
By Josh Hanagarne, World’s Strongest Librarian
If you just pretend that calendars were never invented, the notion of New Year’s Resolutions is pretty silly. We all want to be better. We all want to be happier. We all want to become something…more, right? Even if it’s just more than we were the day before.
So why would something as trivial as a particular date on the calendar mean it was finally time to set things in motion and take control of our lives?
Madness, I tell you!
And yet...if you’re anything like me, you’ve made goals that you haven’t followed through on. Lots of those goals were probably born on New Year’s and dead by February.
So what’s the matter with us? (or just me, if you’re one of the go-getters)
Why make goals anyway?
Goals often come from fears, insecurities, longing, skewed priorities, and lacks. Let’s look at a very common goal: weight loss. It can stem from:
• Fear of bad health, death, or disease
• Insecurity about our appearance
• Lack of self-confidence, self-love, self-esteem, take your pick
Nothing is more simple than weight loss. Burn more calories than you eat and go build some muscle. That’s it. But just because it is simple doesn’t mean that, for many people, it isn’t a seemingly insurmountable obstacle.
It isn’t insurmountable. Very few of the goals we set are.
The only goal that matters
The best advice I ever heard about goals was from a strength coach during a lecture about how to swing a kettlebell. Dan John looked at us all and said something I’ll never forget.
The goal is always to keep the goal the goal.
I just stood there with my mouth open. It was like being hit in the head with a hammer made of profundity and simplicity. It was simple, but not simplistic.
In other words, pick a goal and don’t get distracted. Once you pick a goal, your new task is to avoid being distracted by anything that slows the progress towards the goal.
This is just the world according to Lame-o Josh, but I really believe that we don’t achieve our goals because it’s easier not to. That’s it. We seek the path of least resistance and do what comes naturally and easily.
Remember, goals are born out of things we lack. The admission that we lack something can be uncomfortable. Self scrutiny ain’t a whole lot of fun sometimes. When you turn over rocks and take a good long look at yourself, what you find can be turbulent and troubling. What could be more natural than to replace the rock and pretend you never saw it in the first place?
A new definition of want?
“I want this.” Really?
I would gently suggest that the reason we don’t achieve so many of our goals is because we don’t really want them. We just say we want them because, well, it’s that time of year and that’s what we do.
When I want something, I get it. And if I don’t get it, I force myself to admit that I may not have wanted it as bad as I thought. I don’t beat myself up over it, I just admit that my priorities weren’t what I thought or that they changed. That maybe “want” wasn’t the right word. There is a vast difference between saying you want something out of habit and being driven to get it.
I believe that when I want something, I can prove it to you by matching my behaviors, thoughts, words, and patterns to the goal.
My intent here is not to prove to you that you don’t want the things you say you want. Or that you don’t really need the things you say you want. Rather, this is just my small attempt to think out loud in the hopes that each of us can be more honest with ourselves in the next couple of weeks while we’re thinking about what we want to accomplish next year.
Find your weaknesses, make a plan to change them, and then do it. Whatever your goal is, first, the goal is to keep the goal the goal.
The thought that we need calendars and dates to better ourselves is ludicrous. We each owe ourselves the best things that life has to offer. There are few things better and more satisfying than constant, steady progress towards something that matters to you.
Hold onto your calendars, but as far as setting goals for yourself, just pretend that every day from now on is January 1. (Minus the hangovers).
Josh Hanagarne
Get Stronger, Get Smarter, Live Better…Every Day
About the Author: Josh Hanagarne is the twitchy giant behind World’s Strongest Librarian, a blog about living with Tourette’s Syndrome, kettlebells, book recommendations, buying pants when you’re 6’8”, old-time strongman training, and much more. Please subscribe to Josh’s RSS Updates to stay in touch.
A World Without Calendars
By Josh Hanagarne, World’s Strongest Librarian
If you just pretend that calendars were never invented, the notion of New Year’s Resolutions is pretty silly. We all want to be better. We all want to be happier. We all want to become something…more, right? Even if it’s just more than we were the day before.
So why would something as trivial as a particular date on the calendar mean it was finally time to set things in motion and take control of our lives?
Madness, I tell you!
And yet...if you’re anything like me, you’ve made goals that you haven’t followed through on. Lots of those goals were probably born on New Year’s and dead by February.
So what’s the matter with us? (or just me, if you’re one of the go-getters)
Why make goals anyway?
Goals often come from fears, insecurities, longing, skewed priorities, and lacks. Let’s look at a very common goal: weight loss. It can stem from:
• Fear of bad health, death, or disease
• Insecurity about our appearance
• Lack of self-confidence, self-love, self-esteem, take your pick
Nothing is more simple than weight loss. Burn more calories than you eat and go build some muscle. That’s it. But just because it is simple doesn’t mean that, for many people, it isn’t a seemingly insurmountable obstacle.
It isn’t insurmountable. Very few of the goals we set are.
The only goal that matters
The best advice I ever heard about goals was from a strength coach during a lecture about how to swing a kettlebell. Dan John looked at us all and said something I’ll never forget.
The goal is always to keep the goal the goal.
I just stood there with my mouth open. It was like being hit in the head with a hammer made of profundity and simplicity. It was simple, but not simplistic.
In other words, pick a goal and don’t get distracted. Once you pick a goal, your new task is to avoid being distracted by anything that slows the progress towards the goal.
This is just the world according to Lame-o Josh, but I really believe that we don’t achieve our goals because it’s easier not to. That’s it. We seek the path of least resistance and do what comes naturally and easily.
Remember, goals are born out of things we lack. The admission that we lack something can be uncomfortable. Self scrutiny ain’t a whole lot of fun sometimes. When you turn over rocks and take a good long look at yourself, what you find can be turbulent and troubling. What could be more natural than to replace the rock and pretend you never saw it in the first place?
A new definition of want?
“I want this.” Really?
I would gently suggest that the reason we don’t achieve so many of our goals is because we don’t really want them. We just say we want them because, well, it’s that time of year and that’s what we do.
When I want something, I get it. And if I don’t get it, I force myself to admit that I may not have wanted it as bad as I thought. I don’t beat myself up over it, I just admit that my priorities weren’t what I thought or that they changed. That maybe “want” wasn’t the right word. There is a vast difference between saying you want something out of habit and being driven to get it.
I believe that when I want something, I can prove it to you by matching my behaviors, thoughts, words, and patterns to the goal.
My intent here is not to prove to you that you don’t want the things you say you want. Or that you don’t really need the things you say you want. Rather, this is just my small attempt to think out loud in the hopes that each of us can be more honest with ourselves in the next couple of weeks while we’re thinking about what we want to accomplish next year.
Find your weaknesses, make a plan to change them, and then do it. Whatever your goal is, first, the goal is to keep the goal the goal.
The thought that we need calendars and dates to better ourselves is ludicrous. We each owe ourselves the best things that life has to offer. There are few things better and more satisfying than constant, steady progress towards something that matters to you.
Hold onto your calendars, but as far as setting goals for yourself, just pretend that every day from now on is January 1. (Minus the hangovers).
Josh Hanagarne
Get Stronger, Get Smarter, Live Better…Every Day
About the Author: Josh Hanagarne is the twitchy giant behind World’s Strongest Librarian, a blog about living with Tourette’s Syndrome, kettlebells, book recommendations, buying pants when you’re 6’8”, old-time strongman training, and much more. Please subscribe to Josh’s RSS Updates to stay in touch.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Princeton Library Tours
Even though time is very tight now that the semester is in its last few weeks, I couldn't let the opportunity pass to tour select Princeton University libraries with a bunch of other MLIS students at Rutgers. We began our tour at the Seely G. Mudd Manuscript Library. Our excellent guides were Dan and Christine (both of whom also attended MARAC). They talked to us about the services the library provides and showed us the archives in all their glory (OK, in all their boxes).
The most-used collection held at Mudd is the ACLU legal case files archives. Mudd also is the home to the university archives, public policy papers, George McGovern's papers, Woodrow Wilson's papers, senior theses for every student, tons of alumni information, and much more. The archives stacks aren't open to the public, which means that if, after searching through the finding aids, you want to view some freedom of speech documents from ACLU's Roger Baldwin years, you will need to either show up at the library or email the Mudd folks with your precise request (i.e., call, series, reel, and volume numbers -- that collection is on microfilm).
You really should start requesting items because they are following the same model as the Amsterdam Archives. Meaning that each time they digitize an archive item, they put the item online for anyone to use and link it to the finding aid. The Mudd librarians now also have these huge photocopiers that function as high-quality scanners (very helpful in lowering costs of digitization efforts).
One interesting thing I learned about climate control and fire prevention was that Princeton uses halon to supress potential fires (they haven't yet had to use it). The way Dan explained it was in case of emergency, halon is released into the air. It sucks all the oxygen out of the air, disabling any fire instantly. It also would disable (and probably kill) anyone in the room pretty handily as well if they didn't make it to an exit.
Mudd houses 250 collections, which take up approximately 15,000 linear feet worth of archives. Since 2005, they have spent less time and fewer resources on sorting and rehousing, and more time on letting people know that these items are available on line (via their extensive finding aids).
During our tour through the stacks, we passed 16th century Mongolian texts, John Foster Dulles' papers (he was Eisenhower's Secretary of State, if you didn't know), files on every single alum and staff person, and much more. They appear to be outgrowing their space and plan to move some things offsite in the next five years.
After our Mudd tour ended, half the group stayed for the afternoon tour of the Marquand Library of Art and Archeology. Well, we went to a fabulous Indian restaurant (Masala Grill) downtown for lunch first.
Prior to our tour of Marquand, we had a very brief look around the Princeton University Art Museum (FREE, so go!), an art museum in the way that the Metropolitan Museum is an art museum -- very historical as well. We were told that it's open until 10 pm on Thursday nights, with free food, so it might be a good place to go on a date night some time.
When we began our afternoon tour, we were first placed with Colum Hourihane the Director of the Index of Christian Art. I wished we had more time with him because his presentation was fascinating. I tried to note most of what he was sharing, but it was so much and so interesting that I just wanted to experience it in the moment. Colum is an excellent storyteller (and the Irish accent didn't hurt either). I'll try to relate as much as I was able to remember here, but do try to get an appointment with him to hear about the Index right from the source.
Did you know that Princeton was the first university to teach art history as a subject? I didn't either. The fellow who started the index, Charles Morey was very into iconography. He collected all kinds of images of paintings, stained glass, postcards, and whatever else he could put his hands on because images were in such short supply at that time. Morey was strict about what he collected in terms of dates. He only collected images of art up until A.D. 700. The collection was later extended up until A.D. 1550.
Getting into the nitty gritty, the collection was cataloged on 300,000 cards using a thesaurus structure with 28,000 subject headings. Can you imagine? The index has scholars who painstakingly analyze the images and describe them in impartial ways. Colum gave the example of describing a painting of 12 gentlemen (last supper, perhaps? or knights of the round table?).
The index was computerized in 1981. I tried to access it, but wasn't able to enter it. My guess is that I'd need a subscription or a Princeton libraries account to see it in action. My last interesting fact about the index is that the indexers have been cataloging all of the Morgan Library's medieval manuscripts.
It's way too much to publish here, so I encourage you to visit the index and see for yourself the largest archive of medieval art in the world. Mind you, the history of the index as described by Colum was far more interesting than what's displayed online.
From Colum's presentation, we were whisked away to Visual Resources and Trudy Jacoby. Trudy, like all of our excellent hosts, was passionate about her collections. She walked us into one of the oldest slide collections in the country (600,000) that serve the Art History department. It reminded me of my sophmore year at William Paterson (back then, it was a College, not a University). We all sat in a huge lecture hall as the professor showed us slide after slide of the images shown in our tome of an art history book. I loved it. Although there's nothing like seeing the paintings in person -- or better yet, interning or working in a museum or another cultural heritage institution where you can be around the art and really see it differently day after day. (That said, you can read about my missing the artists' books project I'm working on now here.)
Trudy talked with us about how she teaches people how to use ARTstor, and she showed us some amazing photographs from archeological digs. I really enjoyed her part of the tour because I could tell how fond she is of the collections and how much she likes serving her faculty and the emeriti. Of course, learning about the collections was interesting as well. It's interesting that they are specifically for the professors. I'm curious to know whether researchers outside the university call for the slides or digital versions of them as well.
Finally, we moved on to the actual Marquand tour. The Marquand library functions very differently than the rest of the Princeton libraries in that it has its own funding through an endowment. Their acquisitions budget is the largest of all the Princeton libraries. The history of the library is quite interesting. Marquand himself bought and selected all the books with his own resources. After he married, the collection was moved out of his home and onto the campus.
The books do not circulate out of the library, and it seems like very little of the library's contents are digitized. Hence, people set up shop at the library in little cubicles called carrels. There are 109 of those carrels, primarily for graduate students and long-term researchers who might be there every day. The library has a system where someone may "check out" a book to their carrel or shelf. If another student or researcher needs the book, they can recall it in a way -- by borrowing it from the person who checked it out.
As our group toured the library facilities, I was continually impressed by the design and flow. The organization and shelving was very tidy. The resources are shelved by size (as is appropriate with art books, which are often so large they are called "elephant folios").
Even the basements didn't seem at all like basements. There were mosaics from historic archelogical digs mounted on the red walls, and natural light was plentiful. They also have very comfortable chairs.
Finally, our tour closed with a presentation and Q&A session with our guides Sandy Brooke, the librarian; Rebecca Friedman, the assistant librarian; Julie Melby, graphic arts curator (who writes a marvelous blog); and Trudy.
I'm not sure I can adequately express how great of an opportunity it is to spend the day touring a portion of Princeton's libraries. Our guides for the day were incredibly generous with their time, especially since they all are doing so much more with so much less and must wear many hats. I'm very glad to have made the time to take the tours. It was well worth the trip.
The most-used collection held at Mudd is the ACLU legal case files archives. Mudd also is the home to the university archives, public policy papers, George McGovern's papers, Woodrow Wilson's papers, senior theses for every student, tons of alumni information, and much more. The archives stacks aren't open to the public, which means that if, after searching through the finding aids, you want to view some freedom of speech documents from ACLU's Roger Baldwin years, you will need to either show up at the library or email the Mudd folks with your precise request (i.e., call, series, reel, and volume numbers -- that collection is on microfilm).
You really should start requesting items because they are following the same model as the Amsterdam Archives. Meaning that each time they digitize an archive item, they put the item online for anyone to use and link it to the finding aid. The Mudd librarians now also have these huge photocopiers that function as high-quality scanners (very helpful in lowering costs of digitization efforts).
One interesting thing I learned about climate control and fire prevention was that Princeton uses halon to supress potential fires (they haven't yet had to use it). The way Dan explained it was in case of emergency, halon is released into the air. It sucks all the oxygen out of the air, disabling any fire instantly. It also would disable (and probably kill) anyone in the room pretty handily as well if they didn't make it to an exit.
Mudd houses 250 collections, which take up approximately 15,000 linear feet worth of archives. Since 2005, they have spent less time and fewer resources on sorting and rehousing, and more time on letting people know that these items are available on line (via their extensive finding aids).
During our tour through the stacks, we passed 16th century Mongolian texts, John Foster Dulles' papers (he was Eisenhower's Secretary of State, if you didn't know), files on every single alum and staff person, and much more. They appear to be outgrowing their space and plan to move some things offsite in the next five years.
After our Mudd tour ended, half the group stayed for the afternoon tour of the Marquand Library of Art and Archeology. Well, we went to a fabulous Indian restaurant (Masala Grill) downtown for lunch first.
Prior to our tour of Marquand, we had a very brief look around the Princeton University Art Museum (FREE, so go!), an art museum in the way that the Metropolitan Museum is an art museum -- very historical as well. We were told that it's open until 10 pm on Thursday nights, with free food, so it might be a good place to go on a date night some time.
When we began our afternoon tour, we were first placed with Colum Hourihane the Director of the Index of Christian Art. I wished we had more time with him because his presentation was fascinating. I tried to note most of what he was sharing, but it was so much and so interesting that I just wanted to experience it in the moment. Colum is an excellent storyteller (and the Irish accent didn't hurt either). I'll try to relate as much as I was able to remember here, but do try to get an appointment with him to hear about the Index right from the source.
Did you know that Princeton was the first university to teach art history as a subject? I didn't either. The fellow who started the index, Charles Morey was very into iconography. He collected all kinds of images of paintings, stained glass, postcards, and whatever else he could put his hands on because images were in such short supply at that time. Morey was strict about what he collected in terms of dates. He only collected images of art up until A.D. 700. The collection was later extended up until A.D. 1550.
Getting into the nitty gritty, the collection was cataloged on 300,000 cards using a thesaurus structure with 28,000 subject headings. Can you imagine? The index has scholars who painstakingly analyze the images and describe them in impartial ways. Colum gave the example of describing a painting of 12 gentlemen (last supper, perhaps? or knights of the round table?).
The index was computerized in 1981. I tried to access it, but wasn't able to enter it. My guess is that I'd need a subscription or a Princeton libraries account to see it in action. My last interesting fact about the index is that the indexers have been cataloging all of the Morgan Library's medieval manuscripts.
It's way too much to publish here, so I encourage you to visit the index and see for yourself the largest archive of medieval art in the world. Mind you, the history of the index as described by Colum was far more interesting than what's displayed online.
From Colum's presentation, we were whisked away to Visual Resources and Trudy Jacoby. Trudy, like all of our excellent hosts, was passionate about her collections. She walked us into one of the oldest slide collections in the country (600,000) that serve the Art History department. It reminded me of my sophmore year at William Paterson (back then, it was a College, not a University). We all sat in a huge lecture hall as the professor showed us slide after slide of the images shown in our tome of an art history book. I loved it. Although there's nothing like seeing the paintings in person -- or better yet, interning or working in a museum or another cultural heritage institution where you can be around the art and really see it differently day after day. (That said, you can read about my missing the artists' books project I'm working on now here.)
Trudy talked with us about how she teaches people how to use ARTstor, and she showed us some amazing photographs from archeological digs. I really enjoyed her part of the tour because I could tell how fond she is of the collections and how much she likes serving her faculty and the emeriti. Of course, learning about the collections was interesting as well. It's interesting that they are specifically for the professors. I'm curious to know whether researchers outside the university call for the slides or digital versions of them as well.
Finally, we moved on to the actual Marquand tour. The Marquand library functions very differently than the rest of the Princeton libraries in that it has its own funding through an endowment. Their acquisitions budget is the largest of all the Princeton libraries. The history of the library is quite interesting. Marquand himself bought and selected all the books with his own resources. After he married, the collection was moved out of his home and onto the campus.
The books do not circulate out of the library, and it seems like very little of the library's contents are digitized. Hence, people set up shop at the library in little cubicles called carrels. There are 109 of those carrels, primarily for graduate students and long-term researchers who might be there every day. The library has a system where someone may "check out" a book to their carrel or shelf. If another student or researcher needs the book, they can recall it in a way -- by borrowing it from the person who checked it out.
As our group toured the library facilities, I was continually impressed by the design and flow. The organization and shelving was very tidy. The resources are shelved by size (as is appropriate with art books, which are often so large they are called "elephant folios").
Even the basements didn't seem at all like basements. There were mosaics from historic archelogical digs mounted on the red walls, and natural light was plentiful. They also have very comfortable chairs.
Finally, our tour closed with a presentation and Q&A session with our guides Sandy Brooke, the librarian; Rebecca Friedman, the assistant librarian; Julie Melby, graphic arts curator (who writes a marvelous blog); and Trudy.
I'm not sure I can adequately express how great of an opportunity it is to spend the day touring a portion of Princeton's libraries. Our guides for the day were incredibly generous with their time, especially since they all are doing so much more with so much less and must wear many hats. I'm very glad to have made the time to take the tours. It was well worth the trip.
Sunday, November 01, 2009
My Time at MARAC
What is MARAC (pronounced with the accent on the MAR)? It's the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference, and it was one of the most interesting events I've attended in quite some time.
Most of the people attending were archivists from all over New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and D.C. And, then there were all the Rutgers folks who attended and helped host the event with the other locals. There were all kinds of librarians, catalogers, and other professionals in the archival fields, including museum professionals (and much more on them later).
Because I'm still a student in the MLIS program at Rutgers, my attendance fee was only $35. Typically, these kinds of conferences cost much more than that, so I had enough money left in my educational budget this semester to attend one of the all-day workshops ($75 -- quite reasonable for what I learned). I originally signed up for Records Management, but after I read more about Strategies and Sources for Funding, I decided to attend that workshop.
The Workshop
It was taught by Ben Primer, Associate University Librarian for Rare Books and Special Collections at Princeton. Due to the crazy traffic, I'd arrived a little late and Ben became my partner for an ice-breaker exercise. Had I known what I was getting into, I probably would have taken more notes than I had. However, it all worked out well.
I sat next to the very charming Heidi Abbey, Humanities Reference Librarian & Archivist at Penn State, Harrisburg. I liked her immediately, and even more so after she told me of her background in art librarianship.
During the workshop, which was focused on good management during the morning and some of the afternoon before proceeding to the funding section of the program, Ben gave us the big picture about the fact that archives are a luxury. It's our job as archival librarians to convince those in power that archives are not a luxury, but a needed element of the community. For example, he told us about how his group stepped up to deliver unique and valuable reports that no one else could have been able to process (at least not without them).
He also talked about some things I already knew, but brought new ways of thinking about them. For instance, as librarians, we all had been taught the value of the reference interview (how we listen in an inquiring way to patrons who may not necessarily know how to articulate their research need). But I didn't know that successful archivists also conduct exit interviews. These aren't necessarily done to everyone who visits the archive or special collections. Those are done with people who spend days there actively researching their topics. I need to ask them what they learned from the collection. I also need to ask if there was a single item that would satisfy their needs, what would it be? These are are important things to know if the library wants to continue providing good archival support.
One thing I didn't know was that Princeton and other big libraries (Rutgers among them) don't examine every single piece of archival material in their archives. They simply don't have the resources. They may describe boxes or linear feet of materials in a satisfactory way in a finding aid (a good tool for grasping the content and scope of a particular collection within an archive).
When Ben moved on to the funding part of the program, I'm glad to have had my mini computer with me because I type much faster than I write, and there was a lot to type. In order to find the funding for projects, he said that we need to find the people who have vested interests in projects. For example, my mother's congressman is a Frelinghuysen, which means he's one of many in the line of famous New Jersey politicians. He stands to have a vested interest in a project that may include archives of his family members' papers.
The thrust of Ben's message was that we should try to find private funding since the competition for federal and state funding is so very stiff. One easy was is to build funding into gifts. Let's say my mom makes a gift of her papers to the John Cotton Dana Library in Newark (it's part of the Rutgers Library system). If I were the person working with her on the deed of gift, I would build funding into the gift by letting her know what goes into processing a gift of that kind (staffing, time, effort, preservation, etc) and the accompanying costs.
He also mentioned approaching class presidents because alumni want to help the students, and providing researchable archives helps students. Overall, it was a wonderful workshop that was well worth the price of admission. Ben sounds like a great boss, but I'm not sure I agreed with his views about metadata. I'm a big fan of documenting as much as possible in metadata, and he doesn't see it that way. That's alright though. It's diversity in opinion that makes it all interesting.
The Plenary Session
By far, the highlight of the MARAC was the plenary session, which was way too short for the presenters to adequately show their rapt audience their whole presentation on the Amsterdam City Archives and the Archiefbank (the archives database -- GO SEE IT!) The two presenters were Ellen Fleurbaay, Division Leader of Public Services, and Marc Holtman, Senior Digital Public Services Project Leader.
They had a clever catch phrase -- "Yes We Scan!" I would buy it in a T-shirt. Fluerbaay explained that the archive was digitizing approximately 1 million documents a year. Now you may not think that's incredible if you're thinking in Google Books terms, but it is. One of the major reasons why is that it's consumer driven. The users of the online inventories determine what gets digitized.
Let me back up a bit to share what Fluerbaay talked about in her history of the archives. Year after year, the archives had been seeing huge drops in the number of people who visited the reading rooms, but a huge increase in the number of people requesting digital scans of the materials in the archives to be delivered via email or on the web. The archives made a major decision that in order to remain relevant, they had to be at the forefront of technological developments in the field and be able to offer access online 24-7. (They succeeded there!)
One of the issues they had to deal with was public perception. Because the collection, previously located on the outskirts of Amsterdam, was known as the municipal archives, the public didn't think they had access to its contents. They gave themselves a new corporate identity, logo, and name that reflected the larger access offered to the citizens -- the City of Amsterdam Archives. They also moved to the cultural heart of the city in a historic bank building which could hold the archives (which previously had been spread across many buildings).
When the archivists originally calculated how long it would take them to scan the 20 or so miles of archives, they knew that they had to be making approximately 730,200,001 scans. If they scanned 10,000 scans per week, it would take them 406 years to complete the project.
Instead, they prioritized the project. Or rather, the patrons set the priorities. Amsterdam's archivists honor all requests except in the cases of materials that just cannot be scanned due to their fragile or dangerous condition, or in the case of copyright infringement. After a user pays the 0.50 Euro per scan (sliding scale, gets cheaper the more items you request to be scanned), the item becomes available to the user and the entire world via the Internet. The low price is important because it makes it equivalent (more or less) to making copies in a reading room.
The delivery takes between two and three weeks because some items may require more processing and preparation than others. That seemed like a long time to me, but I didn't have the opportunity to find out how long the queue is (probably pretty long if they are scanning 10,000 items per week!).
The institution works on a project basis, meaning that if I select a page from a book, they will scan the whole book (which probably is the why it takes 2-3 weeks).
The really cool stuff comes when you look at the images online. You can change the quality of the scan with a slider the changes the legibility and the shading as well as the zoom. Overall, it's great if you understand Dutch. However, I found it tough to get through because I don't speak/read it. But, if you do, you can get all kinds of information at the site.
Unfortunately, we, the audience of the plenary, didn't get to hear the whole story of all their processes, but it certainly whetted our appetites. The most remarkable thing was that in a pretty full ballroom, you could have heard a pin drop during their presentation. I've never seen such a focused audience in my life. It was quite inspiring.
The Andy Warhol Museum Catalogers Speak
After the plenary, there was a break then the first sessions of the conference. I signed up for "Exploding Acid Free Inevitable: An Item Level Passageway Into the World of Andy Warhol" given by Molly Tighe and Liz Scott, both Project Cataloguers of the Museum Archives at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. Sitting right in front of me was Heidi, so I knew I was in the right place.
It was clear that the speakers really enjoyed their jobs cataloging the 600 or so time capsules made by Warhol during the period 1974-1987. It seems he chronicled his life by obsessively collecting all manner of items (correspondence, fan mail, artwork, alcohol, magazines, and other objects that came across his desk) and placing them into cardboard boxes, then sealing and dating them. His intention was to eventually sell the time capsules as works of art (sometimes squirreling away legitimate works as incentives to get people to bid on them in auctions), so they are treated as individual artworks. Which makes things a bit complex.
Molly and Liz are proceeding to catalog each item within each box at the item level -- a huge job to say the least, especially since they said that on average they had been finding 400 items per box. The catalogers mentioned that it was important to do the item-level cataloging for other reasons. For instance, researchers and art historians have been using some of the un-boxed items for provenance. Additionally, 90 of the previously cataloged time capsules had been exhibited.
Eventually, they plan to digitize the collection, however their grant is written primarily for the cataloging project. They don't seem to be worried about that because the majority of the funding comes from the Andy Warhol Foundation, which will most likely fund the digitization project (and wouldn't I just love to be in on that gig!!).
They are using TMS (The Museum System) to keep the records of the project, along with a wiki for the interns who work on the project. Interesting, I remembered that the Zimmerli Museum, where I did my internship this past summer is in the process of transferring their records to TMS. It looks pretty easy to use and allows you to do all kinds of neat stuff with the data.
The catalogers' biggest challenges came from the nature of the items themselves. There is an inherent blurring of the line between art object and everyday material that makes things a bit sticky. OK, truly sticky. Some of the altered soup cans sent to him by fans (intended as art) exploded or leaked in their respective boxes, causing damage to the rest of the box contents. They also told us that they found a lot of bugs (dead) in the food items included in the boxes. Good for them for wearing gloves when handling the objects.
They also ran into a lot of preservation issues due to the high acid level in so many of the paper-based items, as well as the alcohol-based materials (booze, perfume, etc.).
So far, they have cataloged 78,000 items. They sort them in series per box, within the larger collection of boxes. The series are actually more like subgenres like toys, food, products, etc. Some of the archivists in the audience couldn't get it, but my light bulb went on right away due to my experience with the artists' books collection.
One of the big surprises was that they developed their finding aids in Word. However, they used AAT terms, which are standardized through the Getty. They also used LoC subject and authority headings. They also included discarded items (e.g., soup remnants which could be filled with botulism and therefore discarded) in their finding aids so that the integrity of the collection could be respected.
One thing that surprised me, but not entirely because of the nature of artworks, was that they repackaged all the items back in their original boxes. However, they always line the boxes with acid-free liners and place the items in mylar bags or other acid-free materials.
The Lunch of All Lunches (except for the food)
In an unexpected turn events, I wound up lunching with our guests from Amsterdam. After the morning sessions, some of the other Rutgers MLIS students asked me to join them at the food court in the mall next to the conference venue (the Westin in Jersey City -- a really nice place to attend a conference). I went along, got my food, and when I got back to the table where my classmates were waiting, there were Marc and Ellen finishing their food.
So, what would you do in my spot? Would you politely ask them about their trip? How long are you in town? Or, would you start asking them about their groundbreaking work in digital archives? Well, I did both. I also recommended doing one of the best free things you can do in NY -- take the Staten Island Ferry around the Statue of Liberty because that's just the way it goes.
If I haven't spent this semester immersed in critiquing digital libraries and user interfaces, I probably wouldn't have been able to ask all the questions I did. I felt like I monopolized their time, so I opened it up to the other Rutgers students. They didn't take the opportunity -- perhaps they had been interested in the question and answer session I was having or perhaps were thinking of other things they heard earlier in the morning. I don't know. But I was very glad to have had the opportunity to pick their brains. I also got an invite to a behind-the-scenes tour of the archive and Amsterdam when I eventually get there. How cool is that?
After lunch, I attended another session that turned out to be, well, not a good match for my interests, so I won't tie up this blog with info on it.
Career Lab
One the most helpful things MARAC did was to offer a place where students and other participants could shop around their resumes and perform mock interviews. I didn't participate in a mock interview, but I did talk with someone from the Smithsonian Institution about my resume and a career in museums/library special collections. She had some very good advice and told me I was on the right track. She also recommended that I consider whole house museums (e.g., The Dickens House Museum) for a place to work because it would allow me to do all kinds of fun things, from giving tours to archiving, to cataloging objects, to keeping a blog on new discoveries. This was in opposition to a place like the Smithsonian, which prefers very specialized professionals over generalists like me. She also recommended that I get some reference experience, which I sorely need.
NJVid
The last session I attended was one on NJVid, a online digital video project by several New Jersey Universities and supported by an IMLS grant. I came in a bit late, so I missed the beginning of the presentation, but it seemed like it was primarily a place for institutions to house their videos and provide access to them to other institutions.
Since I've been studying copyright law, this was a good presentation for me to see because it involved an interesting way of handling copyrights and intellectual property rights. I'm not going to go into details, because they are available online here.
But, just as a synopsis, NJVid places the responsibility on the depositor for all rights and protections. Check it out, it's worth the read if you follow these things. Suffice to say, it provided a lot of food for thought.
Finally, I joined a bunch of the Rutgers folks in attending the MARAC reception at City Hall. It was a pack of us, eating the tiny quiches, cheese squares, and assorted nibbles. Finally, I had to break us up and mingle otherwise we wouldn't network and meet new folks. I told the group that we should go talk to folks who weren't talking to anyone else. Just be friendly and ask people about themselves, and the conversation will happen on its own. Oh, and smile.
I edged over to a solitary fellow to strike up a conversation. Within 5 minutes another Rutgers person came over and started chatting with us. Since he was in good hands, I moved on and walked over to one of the women who I'd sat with at the Warhol session. She is a delightful person who had the good fortune of interning at the Warhol museum on the Time Capsule project. Eventually, more Rutgers folks and the man came over to join us. He picked up on my cue and immediately introduced himself to the woman I'd been talking to. It looked like there were some sparks, so I moved on to chatting with the Rutgers grad who interned at the Baseball Hall of Fame.
It was a long, very interesting day full of lively conversations and brain-tingling moments. Well worth the price of admission.
Most of the people attending were archivists from all over New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and D.C. And, then there were all the Rutgers folks who attended and helped host the event with the other locals. There were all kinds of librarians, catalogers, and other professionals in the archival fields, including museum professionals (and much more on them later).
Because I'm still a student in the MLIS program at Rutgers, my attendance fee was only $35. Typically, these kinds of conferences cost much more than that, so I had enough money left in my educational budget this semester to attend one of the all-day workshops ($75 -- quite reasonable for what I learned). I originally signed up for Records Management, but after I read more about Strategies and Sources for Funding, I decided to attend that workshop.
The Workshop
It was taught by Ben Primer, Associate University Librarian for Rare Books and Special Collections at Princeton. Due to the crazy traffic, I'd arrived a little late and Ben became my partner for an ice-breaker exercise. Had I known what I was getting into, I probably would have taken more notes than I had. However, it all worked out well.
I sat next to the very charming Heidi Abbey, Humanities Reference Librarian & Archivist at Penn State, Harrisburg. I liked her immediately, and even more so after she told me of her background in art librarianship.
During the workshop, which was focused on good management during the morning and some of the afternoon before proceeding to the funding section of the program, Ben gave us the big picture about the fact that archives are a luxury. It's our job as archival librarians to convince those in power that archives are not a luxury, but a needed element of the community. For example, he told us about how his group stepped up to deliver unique and valuable reports that no one else could have been able to process (at least not without them).
He also talked about some things I already knew, but brought new ways of thinking about them. For instance, as librarians, we all had been taught the value of the reference interview (how we listen in an inquiring way to patrons who may not necessarily know how to articulate their research need). But I didn't know that successful archivists also conduct exit interviews. These aren't necessarily done to everyone who visits the archive or special collections. Those are done with people who spend days there actively researching their topics. I need to ask them what they learned from the collection. I also need to ask if there was a single item that would satisfy their needs, what would it be? These are are important things to know if the library wants to continue providing good archival support.
One thing I didn't know was that Princeton and other big libraries (Rutgers among them) don't examine every single piece of archival material in their archives. They simply don't have the resources. They may describe boxes or linear feet of materials in a satisfactory way in a finding aid (a good tool for grasping the content and scope of a particular collection within an archive).
When Ben moved on to the funding part of the program, I'm glad to have had my mini computer with me because I type much faster than I write, and there was a lot to type. In order to find the funding for projects, he said that we need to find the people who have vested interests in projects. For example, my mother's congressman is a Frelinghuysen, which means he's one of many in the line of famous New Jersey politicians. He stands to have a vested interest in a project that may include archives of his family members' papers.
The thrust of Ben's message was that we should try to find private funding since the competition for federal and state funding is so very stiff. One easy was is to build funding into gifts. Let's say my mom makes a gift of her papers to the John Cotton Dana Library in Newark (it's part of the Rutgers Library system). If I were the person working with her on the deed of gift, I would build funding into the gift by letting her know what goes into processing a gift of that kind (staffing, time, effort, preservation, etc) and the accompanying costs.
He also mentioned approaching class presidents because alumni want to help the students, and providing researchable archives helps students. Overall, it was a wonderful workshop that was well worth the price of admission. Ben sounds like a great boss, but I'm not sure I agreed with his views about metadata. I'm a big fan of documenting as much as possible in metadata, and he doesn't see it that way. That's alright though. It's diversity in opinion that makes it all interesting.
The Plenary Session
By far, the highlight of the MARAC was the plenary session, which was way too short for the presenters to adequately show their rapt audience their whole presentation on the Amsterdam City Archives and the Archiefbank (the archives database -- GO SEE IT!) The two presenters were Ellen Fleurbaay, Division Leader of Public Services, and Marc Holtman, Senior Digital Public Services Project Leader.
They had a clever catch phrase -- "Yes We Scan!" I would buy it in a T-shirt. Fluerbaay explained that the archive was digitizing approximately 1 million documents a year. Now you may not think that's incredible if you're thinking in Google Books terms, but it is. One of the major reasons why is that it's consumer driven. The users of the online inventories determine what gets digitized.
Let me back up a bit to share what Fluerbaay talked about in her history of the archives. Year after year, the archives had been seeing huge drops in the number of people who visited the reading rooms, but a huge increase in the number of people requesting digital scans of the materials in the archives to be delivered via email or on the web. The archives made a major decision that in order to remain relevant, they had to be at the forefront of technological developments in the field and be able to offer access online 24-7. (They succeeded there!)
One of the issues they had to deal with was public perception. Because the collection, previously located on the outskirts of Amsterdam, was known as the municipal archives, the public didn't think they had access to its contents. They gave themselves a new corporate identity, logo, and name that reflected the larger access offered to the citizens -- the City of Amsterdam Archives. They also moved to the cultural heart of the city in a historic bank building which could hold the archives (which previously had been spread across many buildings).
When the archivists originally calculated how long it would take them to scan the 20 or so miles of archives, they knew that they had to be making approximately 730,200,001 scans. If they scanned 10,000 scans per week, it would take them 406 years to complete the project.
Instead, they prioritized the project. Or rather, the patrons set the priorities. Amsterdam's archivists honor all requests except in the cases of materials that just cannot be scanned due to their fragile or dangerous condition, or in the case of copyright infringement. After a user pays the 0.50 Euro per scan (sliding scale, gets cheaper the more items you request to be scanned), the item becomes available to the user and the entire world via the Internet. The low price is important because it makes it equivalent (more or less) to making copies in a reading room.
The delivery takes between two and three weeks because some items may require more processing and preparation than others. That seemed like a long time to me, but I didn't have the opportunity to find out how long the queue is (probably pretty long if they are scanning 10,000 items per week!).
The institution works on a project basis, meaning that if I select a page from a book, they will scan the whole book (which probably is the why it takes 2-3 weeks).
The really cool stuff comes when you look at the images online. You can change the quality of the scan with a slider the changes the legibility and the shading as well as the zoom. Overall, it's great if you understand Dutch. However, I found it tough to get through because I don't speak/read it. But, if you do, you can get all kinds of information at the site.
Unfortunately, we, the audience of the plenary, didn't get to hear the whole story of all their processes, but it certainly whetted our appetites. The most remarkable thing was that in a pretty full ballroom, you could have heard a pin drop during their presentation. I've never seen such a focused audience in my life. It was quite inspiring.
The Andy Warhol Museum Catalogers Speak
After the plenary, there was a break then the first sessions of the conference. I signed up for "Exploding Acid Free Inevitable: An Item Level Passageway Into the World of Andy Warhol" given by Molly Tighe and Liz Scott, both Project Cataloguers of the Museum Archives at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. Sitting right in front of me was Heidi, so I knew I was in the right place.
It was clear that the speakers really enjoyed their jobs cataloging the 600 or so time capsules made by Warhol during the period 1974-1987. It seems he chronicled his life by obsessively collecting all manner of items (correspondence, fan mail, artwork, alcohol, magazines, and other objects that came across his desk) and placing them into cardboard boxes, then sealing and dating them. His intention was to eventually sell the time capsules as works of art (sometimes squirreling away legitimate works as incentives to get people to bid on them in auctions), so they are treated as individual artworks. Which makes things a bit complex.
Molly and Liz are proceeding to catalog each item within each box at the item level -- a huge job to say the least, especially since they said that on average they had been finding 400 items per box. The catalogers mentioned that it was important to do the item-level cataloging for other reasons. For instance, researchers and art historians have been using some of the un-boxed items for provenance. Additionally, 90 of the previously cataloged time capsules had been exhibited.
Eventually, they plan to digitize the collection, however their grant is written primarily for the cataloging project. They don't seem to be worried about that because the majority of the funding comes from the Andy Warhol Foundation, which will most likely fund the digitization project (and wouldn't I just love to be in on that gig!!).
They are using TMS (The Museum System) to keep the records of the project, along with a wiki for the interns who work on the project. Interesting, I remembered that the Zimmerli Museum, where I did my internship this past summer is in the process of transferring their records to TMS. It looks pretty easy to use and allows you to do all kinds of neat stuff with the data.
The catalogers' biggest challenges came from the nature of the items themselves. There is an inherent blurring of the line between art object and everyday material that makes things a bit sticky. OK, truly sticky. Some of the altered soup cans sent to him by fans (intended as art) exploded or leaked in their respective boxes, causing damage to the rest of the box contents. They also told us that they found a lot of bugs (dead) in the food items included in the boxes. Good for them for wearing gloves when handling the objects.
They also ran into a lot of preservation issues due to the high acid level in so many of the paper-based items, as well as the alcohol-based materials (booze, perfume, etc.).
So far, they have cataloged 78,000 items. They sort them in series per box, within the larger collection of boxes. The series are actually more like subgenres like toys, food, products, etc. Some of the archivists in the audience couldn't get it, but my light bulb went on right away due to my experience with the artists' books collection.
One of the big surprises was that they developed their finding aids in Word. However, they used AAT terms, which are standardized through the Getty. They also used LoC subject and authority headings. They also included discarded items (e.g., soup remnants which could be filled with botulism and therefore discarded) in their finding aids so that the integrity of the collection could be respected.
One thing that surprised me, but not entirely because of the nature of artworks, was that they repackaged all the items back in their original boxes. However, they always line the boxes with acid-free liners and place the items in mylar bags or other acid-free materials.
The Lunch of All Lunches (except for the food)
In an unexpected turn events, I wound up lunching with our guests from Amsterdam. After the morning sessions, some of the other Rutgers MLIS students asked me to join them at the food court in the mall next to the conference venue (the Westin in Jersey City -- a really nice place to attend a conference). I went along, got my food, and when I got back to the table where my classmates were waiting, there were Marc and Ellen finishing their food.
So, what would you do in my spot? Would you politely ask them about their trip? How long are you in town? Or, would you start asking them about their groundbreaking work in digital archives? Well, I did both. I also recommended doing one of the best free things you can do in NY -- take the Staten Island Ferry around the Statue of Liberty because that's just the way it goes.
If I haven't spent this semester immersed in critiquing digital libraries and user interfaces, I probably wouldn't have been able to ask all the questions I did. I felt like I monopolized their time, so I opened it up to the other Rutgers students. They didn't take the opportunity -- perhaps they had been interested in the question and answer session I was having or perhaps were thinking of other things they heard earlier in the morning. I don't know. But I was very glad to have had the opportunity to pick their brains. I also got an invite to a behind-the-scenes tour of the archive and Amsterdam when I eventually get there. How cool is that?
After lunch, I attended another session that turned out to be, well, not a good match for my interests, so I won't tie up this blog with info on it.
Career Lab
One the most helpful things MARAC did was to offer a place where students and other participants could shop around their resumes and perform mock interviews. I didn't participate in a mock interview, but I did talk with someone from the Smithsonian Institution about my resume and a career in museums/library special collections. She had some very good advice and told me I was on the right track. She also recommended that I consider whole house museums (e.g., The Dickens House Museum) for a place to work because it would allow me to do all kinds of fun things, from giving tours to archiving, to cataloging objects, to keeping a blog on new discoveries. This was in opposition to a place like the Smithsonian, which prefers very specialized professionals over generalists like me. She also recommended that I get some reference experience, which I sorely need.
NJVid
The last session I attended was one on NJVid, a online digital video project by several New Jersey Universities and supported by an IMLS grant. I came in a bit late, so I missed the beginning of the presentation, but it seemed like it was primarily a place for institutions to house their videos and provide access to them to other institutions.
Since I've been studying copyright law, this was a good presentation for me to see because it involved an interesting way of handling copyrights and intellectual property rights. I'm not going to go into details, because they are available online here.
But, just as a synopsis, NJVid places the responsibility on the depositor for all rights and protections. Check it out, it's worth the read if you follow these things. Suffice to say, it provided a lot of food for thought.
Finally, I joined a bunch of the Rutgers folks in attending the MARAC reception at City Hall. It was a pack of us, eating the tiny quiches, cheese squares, and assorted nibbles. Finally, I had to break us up and mingle otherwise we wouldn't network and meet new folks. I told the group that we should go talk to folks who weren't talking to anyone else. Just be friendly and ask people about themselves, and the conversation will happen on its own. Oh, and smile.
I edged over to a solitary fellow to strike up a conversation. Within 5 minutes another Rutgers person came over and started chatting with us. Since he was in good hands, I moved on and walked over to one of the women who I'd sat with at the Warhol session. She is a delightful person who had the good fortune of interning at the Warhol museum on the Time Capsule project. Eventually, more Rutgers folks and the man came over to join us. He picked up on my cue and immediately introduced himself to the woman I'd been talking to. It looked like there were some sparks, so I moved on to chatting with the Rutgers grad who interned at the Baseball Hall of Fame.
It was a long, very interesting day full of lively conversations and brain-tingling moments. Well worth the price of admission.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Martha Stewart's Kale, Bean, and Barley Soup
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| From October 2009 Photos |
My version above is only slightly different from the "Black-Kale and White-Bean Soup with Barley" shown on page 186 of the November 2009 issue of Martha Stewart Living. For instance, I used vegetable stock instead of chicken. I also used plain, ol' kale from the co-op. But otherwise, it was the same recipe, and looks very similar to what shown in the photos.
I wish I could share the recipe with you, but it's not available on the Martha Stewart site yet. Suffice to say, it's wonderful stuff with loads of nutritional value (without fat or cholesterol). Great for chilly days.
What I can recommend is that you pay a visit to your local library, or check your state library's web site to see if they have a copy you can borrow and photocopy the recipe for your own use (not for distribution or publishing on your blog, if you have one, without permission).
One last thing -- the recipe says it serves 4. Serves four giants, more likely! I got more than 10 servings, plus some for the freezer. Just bear that in mind. The photo above shows my largest dutch oven.
What's your favorite soup?
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Stopping in for a Little Catch-up
I feel like I've been neglecting this blog in favor of my independent study, my online class, my other class, my agave nectar blog, and my life offline. So, here's what's been happening (insomuch as I'll share up here).
When I look at it objectively, there is a LOT on my plate. But, it's mostly enjoyable stuff. For instance, I like the challenges of learning all kinds of new things related to digital and brick-and-mortar libraries. It's been very interesting investigating collections of artists' books, as well as other digitization projects for research purposes. It's amazing how many different ways people describe the same things.
I also have enjoyed making new friends in the MLIS program. There are some very sharp and amusing people who are becoming librarians right now. I've also enjoyed doing some fun things with friends I already have, like visiting the new wood block prints exhibit at the Zimmerli with Tanya.
There also have been very nice visits with Mom and Dave, especially their annual cousins party, where my tuna, egg, and pasta salad was a big hit. (I really should make that again soon. It's yummy!)
And, I've taken advantage of the fact that both my courses are online this semester. I've attended a bookmaking workshop at Mason Gross (Rutgers' art school), and I'm scheduled to attend an archivist conference at the end of this month in Jersey City.
Sometimes I wonder if I'll be able to juggle it all, plus the other life stuff (time with John, exercise, cooking, blogging, etc.). I guess the thing is that I already am, and that's good because I only have the rest of this semester and the spring to finish in order to earn my degree.
One last thing -- one of the primary foci of this blog has (in the past) been gardening. I will get back to that in the warmer months, but in the meantime, here's an early photo of my spring garden to keep you warm.
When I look at it objectively, there is a LOT on my plate. But, it's mostly enjoyable stuff. For instance, I like the challenges of learning all kinds of new things related to digital and brick-and-mortar libraries. It's been very interesting investigating collections of artists' books, as well as other digitization projects for research purposes. It's amazing how many different ways people describe the same things.
I also have enjoyed making new friends in the MLIS program. There are some very sharp and amusing people who are becoming librarians right now. I've also enjoyed doing some fun things with friends I already have, like visiting the new wood block prints exhibit at the Zimmerli with Tanya.
There also have been very nice visits with Mom and Dave, especially their annual cousins party, where my tuna, egg, and pasta salad was a big hit. (I really should make that again soon. It's yummy!)
And, I've taken advantage of the fact that both my courses are online this semester. I've attended a bookmaking workshop at Mason Gross (Rutgers' art school), and I'm scheduled to attend an archivist conference at the end of this month in Jersey City.
Sometimes I wonder if I'll be able to juggle it all, plus the other life stuff (time with John, exercise, cooking, blogging, etc.). I guess the thing is that I already am, and that's good because I only have the rest of this semester and the spring to finish in order to earn my degree.
One last thing -- one of the primary foci of this blog has (in the past) been gardening. I will get back to that in the warmer months, but in the meantime, here's an early photo of my spring garden to keep you warm.
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| From first May 2008 garden updates |
Sunday, October 11, 2009
I Wish I Was There Standing Up with You for Equality
Even as someone who has experienced discrimination and hatred against my gender and religion, I cannot possibly understand how my LGBTQ friends feel every day that their legal rights are not the same as mine. If you don't know what I mean, let me expand a bit with an example.
God forbid anything happens to me, John can sit at my beside with me and potentially pull the plug because we're married. My social security benefits automatically go to him as well as many other monetary benefits. He also has access to my medical records. This is not the case for my LGBTQ friends in most states of the U.S. There needs to be a national policy because otherwise, my friends are not considered equal despite the fact that they are 1. American, 2. just as human as I am, and 3. love just as deeply as I do (although that doesn't enter into it, legally speaking -- I'm just a bit wound up about this whole thing so bear with me).
Yesterday, President Obama spoke at the national annual dinner of Human Rights Campaign. I was home and watched his speech. It struck me that he committed to a few things, but not everything. It also seemed like a very politically driven speech, and not as well written as many of his other speeches. It was like half of it was coming from him and half were words that were concessions. However, he did go further than any other president has ever gone. He might well be the first president to ever say "Transgendered" in public.
There is much work to be done, and I'm glad that the Human Rights Campaign folks are working night and day to change things. There are many other organizations that are trying to move our country in ways that promote equality (here's a great big list). I hope that you'll consider standing up for equal rights today and every day until everyone regardless of their gender identity or sexuality gets the same rights across the board.
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Visit Your Local Museum
Tonight, a guitarist will be playing throughout the evening, the film Mechanic to Millionaire: The Peter Cooper Story, will be shown at 6:30 pm, and tours of select exhibitions will be given at 7 and 8 pm. At the same time, a poetry showcase will be ongoing followed by open mic opportunities for poets.
You should definitely check it out!
Image credit: Copyright The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Banned Books Week
In this day and age, it's hard to believe that there are still books being banned in America. I encourage you to visit the American Library Association's site on Banned and Challenged books to see if any of your favorites have been banned over the years. Also, I encourage you to explore some of these books at your local library and introduce them to your family. Especially A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle. Oh, and read just about anything by Judy Blume while you're at it.
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