Today, I tested a scavenger hunt across Columbia’s libraries. Have I mentioned that this is the best internship ever? Elizabeth asked me whether I’d be interested in testing a scavenger hunt she’d designed to help incoming UTS graduate students get acquainted with Columbia libraries. Some of the tasks on the hunt meant physically exploring library […]
Category: Student Entry
Field trip to ReCAP Offsite Storage
Today, I joined a busload of other Columbia librarians for a field trip to ReCAP, an offsite storage facility for books and resources shared by Columbia, the New York Public Library and Princeton. ReCAP stands for The Research Collections and Preservation Consortium. ReCAP houses over 11 million total volumes in giant, massive airport-hangar looking rooms. […]
Saying Goodbye to Burke…For Now
My last day really snuck up on me. One can really get lost in boxes and boxes of unprocessed archival material, it seems. But all good things must come to an end, and for me, that took place today. After a great 7 month internship at Burke, I closed the lid on my last archival […]
Practicum at Burke: My First Two Weeks
I’ve just about finished the second week of my month-long practicum at Burke and I feel like time is flying! I can’t believe I’m nearly halfway done with my internship. Even though it’s summer and we are between semesters, Burke is as busy as ever; the whole staff is buzzing around with new and existing […]
From Finding Aids to Floppy Disks
I spent yesterday and today getting acquainted with my first archival box. To learn and get experience with writing a finding aid, I’m working with materials that already have a finding aid, “The Chinese Church of Christ in Korea papers 1908-1975.” Some of what needed to be done was basic copy editing and formatting the […]
My First Day as an Intern: So Much to Learn!
Today is my first day as an intern at the Burke Library, working with Brigette on the UTS archives. One of the tasks of getting started is to write a blog post about what I hope the internship will teach me. You can see some entries from my predecessors and fellow interns here, here and […]
Saving the Books
When I arrived the morning of May 20th, I was met with a flurry of activity. Over the previous weekend, a small drip had made a big mess in the reference section of the reading room. Since it was so small and over the weekend, we didn’t notice it until it had reached several books. […]
My Time as Burke Library Liaison: Working at the Circulation Desk
Being at the circulation desk at Burke Library for the past two years has been a very valuable position. I think the best description of a circulation desk worker is a liaison. Those at the circulation desk are the first people that patrons see working the library, so we explain the library and all of […]
Reflecting Back…
Having just graduated last week from my Masters program at Union Theological Seminary, I am finding myself in a reflective mode. I am reflecting back on the challenging classes I took, the professors who inspired me, the deep relationships I formed with my fellow students, and my work at the library. So much of what […]
My Last Day at the Burke
The following is a final entry post by Juanita James. I want to thank Dr. Bidlack and the Burke Library staff for giving me this opportunity to serve as an intern. I gained valuable knowledge about academic library management and about preservation of archival materials. I would like to thank you for giving me the […]