The Blog Editors of Art Library Students & New ARLIS Professionals (ArLiSNAP) would like to invite guest writers to contribute to our blog: http://arlisnap.arlisna.org/
This writing opportunity is open to all! We welcome posts from art information paraprofessionals, professionals, students, and prospective art librarians! This could include anyone working with visual and performing arts, new media, and other arts-related collections. We also welcome posts from people who started their careers in librarianship and/or art information but have moved on to other arts-adjacent fields.
Choose from one of our suggested themes below, or propose a topic of your own! You do not need to have any previous writing experience. We will work with you to edit your work.
Please send an email to arlisnap.na@gmail.com expressing your interest and proposed topic.
Suggested themes:
Review a conference or seminar (including virtual webinars and other online experiences)
Highlight your experiences transitioning from a student to a new professional
Share an interesting read about librarianship or another information services-adjacent topic
What are you working on? Share the process of putting together a webinar, conference, project, or other creative endeavor
Discuss an internship, fellowship, or first-year librarian experience
We’d love to thank the ARLIS/NA Special Interest Groups (SIGs) which took part in our interview series over the past three months. We’ve loved getting to know you!
Co-Coordinators, Rebecca K. Friedman and Sara Ellis
How can students and new professionals get involved in your SIG? And/or are there any projects in progress that need support that they can provide?
Anyone interested in artist files is welcome to get involved! One good starting point would be to look at our website and contribute to our blog at http://artistfiles.arlisna.org/. Examples include: suggesting content to add to the SIG’s Artist Files Bibliography or writing a post for the Artist Files in Action Series, highlighting how artist files have been used or promoted in unique ways at your institution.
Our most important project right now is figuring out how to move the Artist Files Revealed (artist file directory) project forward, likely with help from ARLIS/NA. Keep an eye out for further details in the coming months.
What actions has your group taken to adapt to remote community engagement? What has worked well? What lessons have you learned?
In April-May 2020, as other ARLIS/NA groups were also holding virtual meetings, the SIG hosted an asynchronous “meeting” using Miro https://miro.com, an innovative and collaborative whiteboard platform. Former co-coordinator Sam Duncan set this up for the group and, over the course of a week, we collected ideas around goals for 2020, potential improvements to the SIG’s website, ways to move the Artist Files Revealed project forward, cataloguing artist files, and digital ephemera.
From your perspective, what are actions that can be taken within your SIG and the broader field of art information in order to examine the lack of diversity and develop networks of support for communities of color and specifically Black information professionals?
The SIG could make greater efforts to publicize the collections we have across our respective institutions that are especially diverse and unique. This includes assessing and highlighting the collecting efforts of members in recent months (knowing that print collecting and acquiring may have been impacted in general), and perhaps partnering with the Collection Development SIG to discuss new and targeted collecting efforts going forward, digital and otherwise (we could also involve the Web Archiving SIG and other groups).
How did you first hear about/join your SIG?
Rebecca Friedman: I’ve been a member for some time but have gotten more actively involved and interested in recent years due to the extensive artist files I manage at work currently.
Sara Ellis: I began by following the SIG’s initiatives through the ARLIS listserv. At the 2019 ARLIS Conference in Salt Lake City, I attended the panel “Better to Receive?: Approaches to Building, Managing, and Promoting Artist Files Collections” as well as the SIG’s annual meeting. At the meeting, the group was friendly and encouraged open discussion among attendees. It made me feel welcome to participate and this engagement has been valuable for shaping my work with the artist files collection at my institution.
How can we get connected with or learn more about your SIG? (primary platform for sharing etc.)
Check out our website: http://artistfiles.arlisna.org/, which points to many relevant resources and publications (including best practices documentation), attend our meetings, and read our semi-annual reports. Also, keep an eye out for SIG announcements on the ARLIS-L listserv.
What is an emerging trend you see happening in your particular area of interest?
It would be interesting to hear what museum library colleagues might say on this front. There are very recent trends in librarianship in general due to the pandemic, like an increase in requests for digitization to fulfill research needs. Various institutions have digitized whole collections and have spoken about this work for ARLIS/NA (Beth Goodrich, from the American Craft Council, spoke at the virtual conference several weeks back, for example). It would be good to collect additional examples and revisit these conversations in the coming months.
Ralph Baylor from the Frick Collection sent an email out to the ARLIS-L listserv last fall regarding results from an OCLC survey on sharing special collections materials via ILL. This initiative speaks to the potential of sharing digitized artist files across various institutions. The SIG could be a possible hub for moving such work forward.
At the present moment, there is an urgency for improving representation of BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and artists from other marginalized or underrepresented groups in artist files collections. As well, to try to document ephemeral material produced by artists whose creative output may fall outside of traditional publishing or dissemination practices but is just as essential for scholarly research. Perhaps the SIG could work on developing a toolkit, a set of best practices, or a similar initiative to support this, which would tie in well with ARLIS/NA’s Strategic Directions around diversity & inclusion and immediate Societal goals in this regard.
How have the members of your SIG been contributing to their field of practice or study in that area?
Work with artist file collections may have taken a back seat to more pressing concerns and many of us are working remotely. Colleagues in general have worked on and/or managed metadata projects and the like from afar; we haven’t polled the SIG’s members but certainly could. The processing and/or cataloging of print collections is also likely on hold for many (as it is in Rebecca’s case, having taken in a large gift prior to the COVID shutdown). Digitization may be happening for some, though many may be dealing with limitations around copyright, time/staffing to support such projects, ways to sustainably host digital content, etc.
As you look ahead, what are your goals, vision, or dreams for your SIG for the next year?
Our main goal remains moving the Artist Files Revealed project forward, which revived a previous platform that was no longer stable nor accessible. It was determined that the Humanities Commons was not the proper spot for hosting the resource because it is not able to support the required features. Sam Duncan continues to improve the platform and the SIG needs to help create the long-term infrastructure to maintain the project and keep it sustainable for the long-term, if this is possible.
Responder: Carol Ng-He, Co-coordinator, Exhibitions SIG, & Exhibits Coordinator, Arlington Heights Memorial Library, Illinois
How can students and new professionals get involved in your SIG? And/or are there any projects in progress that need support they can provide?
The easiest and quickest way for students and new professionals to join us is to subscribe to our listserv. Simply send an email to imailsrv@arlisna.org with “subscribe exhibitions_sig” in the body of the message and leave subject blank). You will receive an email confirming your subscription. Anyone who is interested can also email either co-coordinator directly at cng-he@ahml.info or exm296@case.edu. We host virtual book clubs and meet-ups from time to time, and we welcome additional co-hosts. We also have a blog which we always look for new contributors and keep it up to date.
Boston Public Library Exhibition Room
What actions has your group taken to adapt to remote community engagement? What has worked well? What lessons have you learned?
In the past summer, we hosted a “Virtual Exhibit Show ‘n’ Tell” and we were impressed that 70 people showed up, which tells the pressing needs for creating and/or repurposing digital exhibits to support remote learning. We had librarians and archivists on the panel who talked about their experience in developing exhibits for users in both higher education and K-12 schools. What we found successful in running this event is the importance of peer learning. The event was relatively low-key as we put a call on the listserv to invite presenters and let them share what the exhibit was and how they created it. We were delighted to see the questions and interactions that came after the presentations. We would like to organize more virtual programs, similar to the show ‘n’ tell, that engage people in sharing and reflecting on their work and process. As there are many different web-based tools and applications that are available for digital exhibits, we learned that people appreciate opportunities that allow them to not just see real examples, and also directly ask questions to those who have experience with it to bring their learning up to speed.
From your perspective, what are actions that can be taken within your SIG and the broader field of art information in order to examine the lack of diversity and develop networks of support for communities of color and specifically Black information professionals?
Diversity, equity, and inclusion is core to our SIG. As mentioned, we host book clubs and one thing we have done to bring DEI front and center to our exhibition practice is to draw inspiration from books that explore this very topic. For example, in our previous book clubs, we chose Curatorial Activism: Toward an Ethic of Curating by Maura Reily (2018, Thames & Hudson) and Exhibitions for Social Justice by Elena Gonzales (2019, Routledge), and we even invited the latter to give a virtual author talk the past summer. We aim to continue the momentum by bringing in literature and scholars that stimulates discussions. We are thankful for ARLIS/NA special funding and annual funding that have helped make our book clubs and other events a reality. We encourage anyone who is interested in joining us to make suggestions of projects or events with or without potential ARLIS/NA funding to promote DEI in our SIG. We are open to collaborate with you!
As you look ahead, what are your goals, vision, or dreams for your SIG for the next year?
Our SIG is currently busy working with the Exhibition Standards Task Force that was formed this August. The task force is made up of 11 art information professionals with different levels of experience in library exhibitions from across the country (including both SIG co-coordinators). Our goal is to develop standards and best practices in library exhibitions, both in person and online, which will be published on ARLIS/NA website and possibly presented at the annual conference in May 2021.
How did you first hear about/join your SIG?
I learned about the Exhibitions SIG in 2018 when I joined ARLIS/NA membership. I was excited to see a group that’s dedicated to library exhibitions. I was (and still am) curious to learn from my peers and take this as an opportunity to explore ways to tackle exhibitions related issues together.
How can students and new professionals get involved in your SIG? And/or are there any projects in progress that need support they can provide?
To get involved, come to a quarterly meeting, join the listserv (dh-sig@arlisna.org), and/or get in touch with me directly. The pandemic has put some projects on hold, but calls for project volunteers are still being announced during meetings and on the listserv. Recent projects have included the Directory of Digital Art History, the Documentation SIG’s ARLIS/NA history visualization project, and Wikipedia/Wikidata projects/edit-a-thons.
What actions has your group taken to adapt to remote community engagement? What has worked well? What lessons have you learned?
We are on Zoom like everyone else, and this allows us to meet more frequently. Some things haven’t changed – people want to be involved and want to learn more about Digital Humanities. Many people have even less time now, however, along with a greater sense of urgency to understand digital tools. The group is a good place to find people with experience with a particular tool or get advice or moral support for projects. The group membership has a wide range of experience from burgeoning interest in Digital Humanities to seasoned practitioners.
From your perspective, what are actions that can be taken within your SIG and the broader field of art information in order to examine the lack of diversity and develop networks of support for communities of color and specifically Black information professionals?
One of the most important steps that we are all capable of is to listen to our colleagues of color—to what they may have been saying for decades—and make sure their voices are being heard and their contributions to our field and adjacent fields are reflected in our everyday work. When they are not and when we see racism, call it out. Our colleagues at the Digital Libraries Forum (DLF) have an active bystander orientation that provides specific information on how to do this. In ARLIS/NA, the Anti-Racism Task Force and Diversity Committee are working on these issues for the organization.
Beyond empathetic, active listening, I think there are a few practical things every art librarian can do:
1. Make our libraries safe and welcoming places for students of color starting as undergraduates if not sooner; recruit them for meaningful, well-paid positions in our libraries; and share skills and processes that enable them to be successful in whatever career path they follow. Personally, I became a librarian because of the positive experience I had as an undergraduate student employee in an art and architecture library. I try to show the students in my library the same kindness, acceptance, and support that my supervisors Betty Davis and Shirl Johnson, both Black women, showed me. I hope this opens up the possibility for students of color to consider a future career in librarianship. Not everyone is in a position to hire students, but we can all help create a community supportive of the students and other staff of color in our libraries.
2. Develop digital collections, exhibits, and digital humanities projects that reflect the diversity of our communities. As art information professionals, we have the opportunity to make sure all patrons can see themselves in our collections. This could include writing blog or social media posts that highlight our collections by artists or authors of color; covering algorithmic bias as a topic in our information literacy sessions; or selecting archival materials for digitization that reflect communities of color. Contribute the digital collections you’ve already created to a project like Umbra Search. Explore partnerships with local African American and Latinx museums, heritage groups, schools, and individual artists of color. Find the instructors who are doing service learning projects or have a focus on race and justice and invite them to collaborate on digital projects or open educational resources (OER).
3. Students or new professionals who aren’t in a decision-making position can contact libraries, archives, and museums to ask for materials related to communities of color to be collected, digitized, and displayed. Most libraries have an avenue for suggesting books for purchase – this is something you can do to help increase resources that reflect all members of the community. You can also archive websites related to race and justice, increase the visibility of communities of color on Wikipedia and in Wikidata, support non-profit organizations like the South Asian American Digital Archive, Art Resources Transfer, The Rebuild Foundation, and many others. As you prepare to be a librarian, make it a priority to learn enough about technology to both question it and leverage it to address injustice.
One of the biggest changes for a lot of librarians or students may be getting out of the library, so to speak. Digital humanities makes this possible, especially during the pandemic. We can extend our collections well outside the traditional space of the library while using our traditional librarian skills to make our collections and our profession more inclusive of people of color. One of these traditional skills is persistence; we use it every time we track down an obscure reference or image for a patron. We may not get it right every time, but we learn from it and we keep trying.
Coordinators: Mary (“Suzy”) Frechette, Carol Terry
How can students and new professionals get involved in your SIG? And/or are there any projects in progress that need support they can provide?
As the Retirement SIG, we are not exactly geared toward students and new professionals; however one of our ongoing projects involves oral history interviews with retired leaders of the profession and the Society, and the Documentation Committee is looking for new members who can assist with this.
What actions has your group taken to adapt to remote community engagement? What has worked well? What lessons have you learned?
We haven’t done much on this yet; our only interaction is through the SIG’s listserv.
We are planning on doing some Oral History interviews remotely this fall.
From your perspective, what are actions that can be taken within your SIG and the broader field of art information in order to examine the lack of diversity and develop networks of support for communities of color and specifically Black information professionals?
The 50th Anniversary Task Force is talking about raising funds to support internships and mentoring for librarians of color. We are hopeful that retired members will be in a position to support this initiative.
How did you first hear about/join your SIG?
The SIG’s first meeting was at the Seattle conference in 2016. Suzy had suggested on ARLIS-L that we do something to keep retirees involved, Joan Benedetti took the ball and ran with it, and a new SIG was born. Carol, like many others in our group, joined just before retiring in order to learn from colleagues who had already been through that major transition.
What are the main topics of conversation for your SIG right now? Has there been any unexpected or fruitful conversation in the past year?
Our group has a large social component as we have known each other for decades; we are always looking for ways to stay engaged with the membership and the profession.
Through our list-serv, members occasionally post links to interesting articles about the art world or retirement issues. In the months leading up to a conference, we will exchange information about the conference location and perhaps decide on a social activity or two.
How has this SIG enhanced your professional life?
It has given us a way to remain involved in an organization that we first joined decades ago.
How can we get connected with or learn more about your SIG? (primary platform for sharing, etc.)
The SIG is listed on the ARLIS/NA website, but there is no information except the two moderators. Perhaps that is something that could be added.
What is an emerging trend you see happening in your particular area of interest?
Retirement isn’t just for “old people” anymore. And, retirement doesn’t mean becoming inactive. We want to be both active in and useful to ARLIS/NA.
As you look ahead, what are your goals, vision, or dreams for your SIG for the next year?
To continue with the oral history project and to encourage members to support the 50th Anniversary fund drive.
To encourage members to communicate through our list-serv and, ideally, plan for in-person activity in Montreal. Attending the 50th anniversary conference in Chicago will be a goal for many in our group.
How can students and new professionals get involved in your SIG? And/or are there any projects in progress that need support they can provide?
One of our biggest areas for involvement is the blog! We’re always looking for more contributors, and we’re very open and flexible on the content. We’d love to have students and new professionals sharing their thoughts and experiences on information literacy and teaching in art librarianship. We also occasionally host meetings outside of the annual ARLIS/NA conference, on a variety of topics, which we always post about to the Teaching SIG listserv. Join that if you’d like to stay in the know about our upcoming events and efforts!
What actions has your group taken to adapt to remote community engagement? What has worked well? What lessons have you learned?
Honestly, we’re still sort of figuring that out. We’ve had a virtual SIG meeting thus far, and we did one of our two planned conference presentations online, but neither of us have had the time thus far this semester to engage in more ambitious programming. We still have the dream of hosting a virtual mini or unconference, though!
From your perspective, what are actions that can be taken within your SIG and the broader field of art information in order to examine the lack of diversity and develop networks of support for communities of color and specifically Black information professionals?
This is a very big one. I’ve (EKS) been seeing some momentum from within regional chapters. I’m currently part of a working group in the SE chapter that is looking at what other chapters have been doing in order to develop recommendations for our chapter. I think that chapters have a particularly tangible opportunity here by providing scholarships and material support that the SIGs might not have funds for. I also think as far as the Teaching SIG is concerned that exploring ways to incorporate DEI into our teaching is vital.
How did you first hear about/join your SIG?
EKS: I was maybe one or two conferences into my time with ARLIS, and an acquaintance mentioned SIGs as a great way to get involved and connected. As I was in an instruction coordinator position, the Teaching SIG was also the most relevant to me, so I went to their meeting that year.
ABC: I think it was the ARLIS/NA SLC conference where I attended the SIG meeting, and Eva asked for a co-chair. I was getting involved in more teaching at the time, and thought that this would be a great way to really immerse myself into both ARLIS/NA and the information literacy world.
How can we get connected with or learn more about your SIG? (primary platform for sharing, etc.)
The Teaching SIG maintains a blog, where we publish a post on current topics of interest once a month. You can find that here: teaching.arlisna.org
We also will send out announcements to the Teaching SIG listserv, which folks can join by emailing imailsrv@arlisna.org, with the text “subscribe teaching_sig” in the body of the message. (The subject line isn’t read, so that doesn’t matter.)
Of course, you are always welcome to contact either Eva or Anna with questions, at esclippa@gmail.com or anna.boutin-cooper@fandm.edu!
How has this SIG enhanced your professional life?
ABC: Being a leader of the Teaching SIG has greatly enhanced my professional life, and provided me with many opportunities for leadership and scholarship in the field. Eva and I work closely together to determine conference proposals for the upcoming ARLIS/NA Annual Conferences, and I’ve had the chance to present and facilitate sessions, as well. I can’t recommend getting involved with your SIG enough!
EKS: Concurred! I have gotten familiar with so many more people in the field and the organization since I became a coordinator for the Teaching SIG. Especially as someone currently in a position that is not formally art-affiliated, being involved in a SIG has been a great way to keep myself connected to art librarianship until I’m able to get back into the field directly.
Coordinator: Jill Chisnell | Art, Architecture and Design Librarian | Carnegie Mellon University | jillianc@andrew.cme.edu
How can students and new professionals get involved in your SIG? And/or are there any projects in progress that need support they can provide?
The Stimulating Creativity in Practice (aka SCIP) SIG is a community that supports the idea of library as an incubator of creative discovery. SCIP is open to anyone who wishes to explore how personal and professional artistic practice enhances our work as information professional while also fostering creativity in others.
Sign up for the SCIP listserv by emailing, imailsrv@arlisna.org with subscribe scip_sig in the body of the message. Message the list at scip_sig@arlisna.org to introduce yourself! Add SCIP to your SIG selections on your ARLIS/NA membership profile. And you can always email me directly at jillianc@andrew.cmu.edu.
What actions has your group taken to adapt to remote community engagement? What has worked well? What lessons have you learned?
During our annual meeting members expressed interest in a series of informal gatherings to share creative endeavors. There was particular interest in learning more about ways librarians have engaged with students in the studio. Sadly enthusiasm—mine and the group’s fizzled. It was a rough summer. I know I haven’t felt very creative or social. Ironically, a regular SCIP SIG meetup to make something, learn a new skill, or just “stitch ‘n bitch” is probably what many people needed. Geesh, I could use that now. OK, ARLISnAP – who wants to co-host this endeavor with me?
From your perspective, what are actions that can be taken within your SIG and the broader field of art information in order to examine the lack of diversity and develop networks of support for communities of color and specifically Black information professionals?
I believe there is great potential to connect and grow through making together, sharing the art we create and admire, and exploring creative approaches to address the lack of diversity in the information profession. The SCIP SIG would benefit from more voices to reinvigorate enthusiasm and engagement for the group’s mission. New leadership and/or transitioning to a co-coordinator model might be a good first step. There is no diversity in a voice of one.
How did you first hear about/join your SIG?
ARLIS-L of course. I volunteered to help out at the DIY postcard makerspace organized by the SCIP SIG at the 2016 conference in Seattle. I signed up for the SCIP listserv and followed social media accounts. In 2018 I replied to a call for volunteers to fill the coordinator vacancy. Suddenly, I was planning makerspace activities for the 2019 conference in Salt Lake City.
How has this SIG enhanced your professional life?
I have made connections with several librarians who have become co-presenters, mentors, and friends. I have been inspired by SIG members to add more creativity and fun to my job.
As you look ahead, what are your goals, vision, or dreams for your SIG for the next year?
In these times of chaos, uncertainty, and blurred work/life boundaries, it becomes even more crucial to take the time to slow down and express oneself through craft, art, writing, dance, music—any creative outlet. I believe that creativity makes us better humans and better librarians. But I am just one person. I would love to partner up with an enthusiastic member (or members) to coordinate SCIP SIG activities, promote the SIG’s mission, and engage a diverse community of creative information professionals. If you are interested in joining or taking on this effort, please contact me at jillianc@andrew.cmu.edu.
To all our loyal ArLiSNAP members, we welcome you to the end of 2020, a hectic year for our profession. The unprecedented pandemic has affected librarians at every career level, but for new librarians, students, and prospective librarians, it has been especially difficult. Job hunting has grown more complicated, and closings have left institutions bereft of funds to hire new librarians. School has moved to an online format, leaving students in a strange world of screen fatigue, balancing home and work lives in a new hybrid environment.
For the end of 2020 the ArLiSNAP blog will focus on Wellness and Mental Health for new librarians. Through the end of the year we will be posting resources and guest articles focused on the more personal complications of being a librarian in a rapidly changing world.
We would like to invite anyone interested in the library field (including students, professional librarians, library interns & volunteers, and prospective librarians) to share your stories of the past year. Do you have tips for how to balance work and life while working from home? Did you manage the stress of a job interview while learning how to use Zoom? How did you stay social with other librarians while in quarantine?
Please write to our blog editors with interest in writing a guest post for us. We are happy to guide you through the process.
Sarah Bilotta, co-editor Melanie Zerah, co-editor arlisnap.na@gmail.com
In early April 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kim Ross (Ojibwe, Walpole Island First Nation) began her new position as the Mellon Library Fellow in the Phillips Library as part of the Native American Fellowship Program of the Peabody Essex Museum. While the museum, which houses the oldest ongoing collection of Native art in the western hemisphere, is located just north of Boston, Massachusetts, Kim was quarantined at home in Brooklyn, New York. Here she shares her experience as a new remote employee in an art museum library.
Kim’s work from home office
SB: Can you describe for me your position at the Phillips Library and how COVID-19 has affected your position?
KR: I’m currently the Long-Term Mellon Library Fellow with the Native American Fellowship Program at the Peabody Essex Museum. In the context of this fellowship, I am working on a project to help the Phillips Library achieve their goal of enhancing access to materials related to Indigenous subjects. Right now, I’m focusing on the vocabulary used for cataloging these materials, finding alternatives, and designing methodology to incorporate Indigenous terminologies and worldviews into the library’s catalog records.
COVID-19 restrictions came into effect around the same time that I was planning to move to Salem and begin this fellowship, so I’ve been researching from my home in Brooklyn since early April. It’s been an interesting experience, because it’s the first time that I’ve started a job remotely and I’m working with a collection that I can’t physically access. The restrictions have really pushed us all to move to online platforms, and it has enabled certain aspects of the fellowship to happen that otherwise may not have been possible. For instance, it’s been easier to communicate with people that otherwise I maybe wouldn’t have been able to meet in the early stages of my time at PEM. I’ve also been able to attend more training and workshops than would have been possible under normal circumstances, because it would have been cost or time prohibitive. But there are also disadvantages: I am missing out on a lot of the in-person connections and mentorship that I would be receiving if I were there physically as well as the whole experience of that environment to inform what I’m working on and define certain goals.
SB: You actually touched on this already a little bit, but what do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of starting a job remotely?
KR: When you’re starting any job, there is a certain amount of anxiety and nerves involved because it’s a new experience. You’re meeting new people. You’re going to a new place. One of the advantages of starting remotely for this position is that that wasn’t a factor. I am still meeting new people and in a new space, but it is from the comfort of my home, so it feels a little bit different. When you’re meeting people virtually, it’s a different sort of connection than the kind that you make in the real world. You can’t negotiate signals and cues as you would face-to-face, which could be an advantage or a disadvantage depending on how you look at it. I respond better in person than I do through, say, emails, and virtual conferencing doesn’t really allow for the full expression of someone’s personality.
As for the advantages, the ability to be present in places that wouldn’t otherwise be possible is a notable one. For instance, I can be at an all-staff meeting at 9:00, a conference in Chicago at 11:00, and back home for dinner by seven o’clock – which definitely is an advantage. As a result of that ability to “travel” so quickly, I can meet far more people and ask many more questions than I could if I were limited to working in a single location.
SB: My next question is, what tips and tricks have you learned for time management or motivation and accomplishing goals–or anything like that, really–while working remotely?
KR: It’s been over two months since this fellowship began and there have been peaks and valleys as far as my motivation level goes while working from home. They say that it takes twenty-one days to form a new habit. The hardest part for me has been time management. Working from home there is no physical separation between work life and personal life. When you’re self-quarantining and only leaving your home to get essential things, your kitchen soon becomes your office and your desk becomes your craft table. Because everyday is basically the same as the day before, there was a period of adjustment during which time management was a real challenge.
Since COVID my weekends seem shorter. I could probably use a three-day weekend instead of a two-day weekend due to that lack of separation between work and home. I need that break that comes from shutting down the workstation and physically leaving work. The same goes for Monday morning; it takes a little longer to switch from weekend mode to work mode because I’m still at home. I can see all of the things I didn’t get finished on the weekend, and they’ll continue to be a distraction until I have the time to finish them.
It’s definitely become easier over time. I find working with a passionate and motivated team to be very helpful. Because the people that I’m working with are interested in what they’re doing, they inspire me to be committed and involved as well. That sort of motivation is contagious.
I accepted this fellowship because it would allow me to develop projects related to subjects I’m passionate about and provide me with training within an outstanding institutional framework, so this collective motivation has been a vital force that has confirmed for me that what I’m working on right now is meaningful and relevant to a lot of people.
SB: What skills do you think new librarians need in order to succeed in a work-from-home environment?
KR: When you’re working from home, you definitely need to be able to manage your time. It also helps to check in with the people you’re working with, just a little face time that will allow you to touch base, process feedback, and make sure that everyone is on the same page.
You can’t be afraid to ask questions and reach out for help. It can often feel like you’re interrupting someone when you come to them with questions or concerns, and this feeling is magnified by the circumstances of working remotely, because you really can’t be sure if they’re busy at that very moment. But you can’t overthink these considerations. Remember that this is collaborative work. You are a part of a team, so don’t be afraid to reach out. Even if they are busy, you’ll find that everyone will reply to that email as soon as they have a moment to do so.
KR: So much! One-on-one introductions to PEM staff from Collection Services, Curatorial, Finance, and Communications has been an incredible resource. Learning about what each of these individuals do at the museum and how each of the departments intersect with the library has taught me a lot about the internal functioning of the institution. I’ve been attending department meetings where I’m learning about project management and the many aspects of operating a museum, all while observing leadership in action. It has been an enlightening experience to put faces, voices, and names to specific roles and also to have the opportunity to interact with and ask questions to the leadership team.
I’m also being encouraged by the NAF program mentors to pursue professional development through workshops and webinars offered by PEM as well as from outside institutions. These activities are helping me to think more critically, ask better questions, and focus my direction for this project. It’s interesting to think about, because I’ve always thought of myself as an in-person, practical learner, but I’m realising that isn’t 100% true. This kind of encouragement really corresponds to my own ideals regarding a professional working environment, and this fellowship has really been the first time those expectations have been met.
For my work on the Indigenous terminology project, I’m learning to catalog and learning how tribal libraries and other diverse cultural institutions approach this topic. Conducting this research from home is opening my eyes to how standard vocabularies make accessing materials related to Indigenous subjects extremely difficult as well as the problems and obstacles these vocabularies create for accurately cataloging these materials. I’m building a document of preferred terms that can either replace or modify the culturally inappropriate terms currently in use in our catalog. I’m also writing a local note for use in our bibliographic records that will both explain the subject headings and signal to users that this is something we’re actively working on.
Sarah (below) interviews Kim
SB: What challenges and/or positive changes, so one or the other or both, do you anticipate once you are finally able to start working in person, in the office? So it could be like what are you looking forward to versus what are you dreading, or, you know.
KR: I look forward to having a separation between work and home again. That period of time between work and home, when you get to reset and check in with yourself. Like a lot of people, that is something I’ve really felt the absence of since I began telecommuting. But working from home is very convenient and I’m enjoying not having to structure the essential things, like eating, and the personal things, like laundry, around my work day.
It will be a big adjustment to go from interacting with only my partner to interacting in a group setting with people who I’ve only met virtually. Those adjustments will be the main challenges – going back to being a social creature and sharing physical space – but it will be a welcome challenge. I miss people.
SB: I love everything you just said. I hadn’t really thought about it that way, but you’re right. I think on some level I’m going to have to relearn social skills because these screen-to-screen interactions are not like real in-person interactions. How can colleagues and supervisors help a new remote employee to succeed?
KR: I’ve been really lucky at PEM. Karen Kramer and Jennifer Himmelreich, NAF program Director and Manager, respectively, and Dan Lipcan, Head Librarian, have each been really great mentors and supervisors. Since the application process, they’ve been extremely welcoming and really good about maintaining communication. I don’t have any sort of hesitation about approaching any one of them with a question or just to say, “Hey, do you want to chat for a little while?” The Phillips Library team has been equally supportive and welcoming.
The best ideas come through collaborative work, so if supervisors are looking to help new employees succeed, there needs to be a support system in place, a shared vision, and a palpable general enthusiasm for the work itself.
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Kim Ross is the 2020-2021 Mellon Library Fellow in the Phillips Library of the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. She is currently working on a decentering plan of action for the Phillips Library. Sarah Bilotta is cataloger at the Phillips Library and an ArLiSNAP blog co-editor. Together, they are working on a project to address bias in the Phillips Library’s cataloging.
The Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) is the Museum’s research library. It includes several hundred thousand printed volumes, a linear mile of manuscript collections, as well as thousands of logbooks, account books, diaries, printed ephemera, maps, photo albums and photographs. The Phillips Library and Native American Fellowship Program at PEM are proud to welcome Kim Ross as our 2020-2021 Mellon Library Fellow and hope to see her in Salem and Rowley soon.*
*Since the time of this interview, Kim has relocated and is now working from her new home in Massachusetts.
