Dear GSLIS Colleagues and GSLIS Community.

I am delighted to share the below.  The Queens Memory Project has been awarded Outstanding Collaboration Citation for the 2012.  Ceremony to be featured at this summer’s ALA conference in Anaheim.  This is a tremendous comment on (if I may) the project’s prescient understanding of evolving conceptualization of the archive in the 21st with an equally poignant commitment and dedication to community and collaboration with unity provided by innovative use of emerging technologies.  (A true example of the future of the archive).  All very capably Directed (really, invented) by GSLIS alum, graduate of the Fellows Program, and current Special Collections and Archives staff member Natalie Milbrodt.  Indeed, Natalie deserves the full focus of this recognition.

I would simply add my strong comment that the attribution of award as supported by the comments below confirms the interests this project continues to receive from institutions across the country and around the world.

Finally, and of equal importance, Natalie’s continued development of this project highlights the unique opportunities available to students (Fellows) pursuing our course of study – this really sets our program apart.

Again, my congratulations to Natalie and all the students who have made invaluable contributions to this project.

I also include as attachment the Fall Newsletter issued by Department of Special Collections and Archives and which highlights additional activities – all well steered by both graduates of GSLIS Archives Certificate and well shaped by continued work of our outstanding Fellows.

It is my very great pleasure to let you know that the Queens Memory Project is the recipient of the ALCTS Outstanding Collaboration Citation award for 2012!

The awards ceremony is on Sunday, June 24, 2012 at 5:30 pm, as part of the American Library Association Annual Conference in Anaheim, CA, exact location TBA. It is a long way to commute, but I hope that each of you, along with the whole city of Queens J, will be there.
Here are some of the jury members’ comments:

“The project meets all three of the OCC award’s criteria by developing a project that is likely to become an industry standard; breaking barriers to enable budget conscientious actions (Jason Kucsma of the Metropolitan New York Library Council notes the project’s ability to do more with less); the project itself is an innovative product/service that meet an industry need to digitize and preserve local history.”

“[The project] Offers a unique collection that ties multiple materials together with metadata. The partnership involved in the Queens Memory Project is admirable and the future of the project seems exciting.”

“[Particular strengths of the project include] The extent of the collaboration: Not only the two archives (Queens Library & Queens College), but also the Queens Historical Society (noted in the accompanying blog), StoryCorps, and members of the community (invited to share information and tags). Queens College faculty included the project in a course as well. The digitization of existing collections. The Documentation of the project (found in the blog) to allow others to benefit from their experience creating the project. The plans for continuation and expansion of the project.”

“The project showcases collaboration between the Queens Library, the Queens College and, what impressed me the most – the community. The opportunity the draw the public into the project and help them gain ownership of the project is wonderful. I feel this type of collaboration is what will help keep libraries vital and important to the people we serve for years to come. It is a nice model that could be emulated by other institutions. The blog is quite nice that they maintain with the guidelines for interviews, standards, etc.”

“This project was created by a partnership forged between the Queens Public Library, Queens College, an open source software company, and the people of Queens. The efforts of the project to document and digitize the oral histories of the borough’s population is impressive, and the project should be lauded for both digitally preserving and cataloging these oral histories.”

Please let me know if you have any questions. Again, congratulations!

Regards,
Elaine Yontz, Chair
ALCTS Outstanding Collaboration Citation Award Jury

The Queens Memory Project is ready for the public launch of its online archives!

We are pleased to invite you to our public launch event to be held October 27^th from 5pm-7pm on the 5^th floor of Rosenthal Library at Queens College in Flushing.  A formal program of invited speakers will be followed by an open house where you and other guests will be able to see and hear highlights of the collection first-hand through listening stations featuring a selection of images and interviews.  Our website (queensmemory.org) will be featured for its ability to gather otherwise scattered archival materials and personal stories in one, searchable, user-friendly site.  This is a very exciting time for us and we would be honored by your attendance.

This event will also kick off StoryCorps’ Queens Week (Oct. 28th – Nov. 2nd).  This event is dedicated to recording and preserving the stories of Queens residents.  We are proud to be able to host such a distinguished partner in association with the Queens Memory Project.  StoryCorps is a national non-profit organization most notably affiliated with the Library of Congress and with their regular broadcasts on National Public Radio.

StoryCorps staff will be recording Queens Week interviews Oct. 28th-30th at the Rosenthal Library on the Queens College campus in Flushing.  They will continue interviewing from Oct. 31-Nov. 2nd at the Flushing Community Library in downtown Flushing.  StoryCorps will also donate all interviews to the Archives at Queens Library to make them locally accessible. Those wishing to participate can nominate residents to be interviewed and all recordings will be eligible for inclusion in the Queens Memory Project.  Please see the attached flyer for additional details.  This will be an amazing opportunity for Queens residents to weave their stories into the tapestry of national collective memory as never before!

We hope that you will join us for our launch event October 27th and find out more of what the Queens Memory Project is all about!

Sincerely,

Natalie Milbrodt
Director, Queens Memory Project

I am a GSLIS student enrolled in the Archives Certificate program at Queens College and a participant in Occupy Wall Street. I and another participant are currently working in collaboration with the Tamiment Library at NYU to develop an archival collection of the material that has been generated during the Occupy Wall Street movement. Some of these materials include ephemera, handmade cardboard signs, photos, videos, websites, and more. We are also attempting to develop an oral history project.

We will be meeting at 6:00 pm at Sunday at Zuccotti Park which is located in between Broadway, Trinity Place, Liberty street, and Cedar Place in lower Manhattan.

If anyone  would be interested in committing to any aspect of this project you can contact  me at aaroberts76@yahoo.com or contact Jeremy Bold at  jtb321@nyu.edu.

Starting more than two years ago, when a small group of Queens College alumni and faculty members with civil rights backgrounds began contributing items from their personal collections, and cresting in February, when the family of the civil rights activist James Forman donated his remaining collection to the school, the archives have attracted an international audience.

The Queens Memory Project (QMP) is a site of digital collective memory which began here at Queens College, and in collaboration with Queens Library, as an independent study for GSLIS alumni and project director, Natalie Milbrodt.  It is a digital archive, but its public face is a website featuring interviews and photos documenting the lives of contemporary Queens residents. These stories and images are presented alongside digitized historical photographs, maps, news clippings and other rare archival records.

If you are interested in archives, oral history, digital memory projects, or anything and everything Queens please check out our website and join us on Facebook (Queens Memory Project) and Twitter (@Queensmemory) to receive the latest news on exciting events coming this fall!

The ARChive of Contemporary Music is the largest collection of popular music in America, with more than two million recordings.  Our music book collection is also one of the best in America, numbering 20,000+ volumes.  To scan this resource the Internet Archive has installed one of their Scribe machines in our Lower Manhattan facility.  When completed, all of our materials will be preserved electronically, OCR Readable, and available in-house for reading and research.

Currently, we are looking for interns for Fall of 2011 and Spring 2012. Interns will share responsibilities with volunteers and employees and will be involved with every part of the project.

Internship description and duties:

• Scanning involves handling a wide assortment of delicate and valuable books while utilizing the Internet Archive’s Scribe Machine.
• Republishing and touch up is done through open source software at www.archive.org.
• Metadata creation/manipulation requires melding of our filemaker catalog with existing MARC records at the Internet Archive.

Qualification requirements:

• Some library experience and/or graduate-level library classes.
• Good interpersonal skills, responsible, reliable, detail-oriented.
• Familiarity with and enthusiasm for music, books, and the visual arts!

Those that wish to take on a larger role will be invited to apply to formally manage the project for a term of no less than one Semester. Project Management will require overseeing all of the required processes as well as scheduling and managing team members. Management may be ideal for a student interested in receiving credit for independent study, or for those focused on a career in  digitizing materials. Potential Interns should email will@arcmusic.org and should provide a resume with a few words about their interest in this project.

We would greatly appreciate it if you passed this message on to Queens College students or faculty with applicable research interests (Music Archives, Special Libraries, Digitization, Copyright/ Public Domain Issues). We would also love to discuss establishing a long-term relationship with your program that could be promoted to our mutual benefit. We are regularly undertaking cutting edge projects in the field and always need the help and spark that interns provide.

Yours,

Will Susich, Archivist / Project Director

The ARChive of Contemporary Music

54 White Street

New York NY 10013 USA

(212) 226-6967

The American Museum of Natural History Library seeks a Library School student to volunteer part-time on a digital imaging database project.

The Museum Library’s Special Collections focuses on the history of the institution and of natural science and is developing an image database for its Photographic Collections.  The Library is seeking an intern/volunteer to catalog image records and input data into an Omeka database.  The pilot of this on-going database is Picturing the Museum: Education and Exhibition at the Museum of Natural History which is online at: http://images.library.amnh.org/photos/index.html

Position description and duties:
Works under the general direction of the Photograph Cataloger.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:
Cataloging and editing records for the Image Database.

The position to begin in fall of 2011, with training sessions during the summer.

Qualification requirements:
Undergraduate degree; some library experience and/or graduate-level library classes, preferably to include digital imaging classes.
Research and writing skills.
Good interpersonal skills, responsible, reliable, detail-oriented.
Familiarity with and enthusiasm for photographic images.

Ability to work flexibly and independently.

A commitment to the project for the semester, for at least 8 hours per week.

Must be able to work at least part of the time on Fridays.
Contact

Interested students should email a letter of interest, a list of MLS courses taken thus far, and a resume to Stacy Schiff at sschiff@amnh.org