Today I attended a free class in "Getting started in blogging" held in the Celeste Bartos Education Center at South Court in the main NYPL building on 5th Avenue: a state-of-the-art classroom, complete with terminals, comfortable chairs and lesson notes on a hand-out. The class was lead by an archivist/special formats cataloguer, ie not a librarian specifically responsible for "education and outreach" but simply a member of staff with a particular set of interest and skills. There was a diverse group of students, with enormously varying degrees of ability, and the teacher patiently explained the very basics, whilst trying to encourage those who were wanting to move ahead. The most important thing I learned:
Anybody Can Read Your Blog
I hadn't seriously thought about this, but it did make me re-consider (and even edit) some of the thoughts I have already posted. And for the same reason, I have decided to simultaneously run two blogs: this one will concentrate on more professional stuff such as visits to collections, meetings with other art librarian's etc, and the other will be a more personal record of three months in the United States.
I'm hoping this blog will give a glimpse into the kinds of issues that some art librarians deal with or are interested in, which is why I have linked to the Just an Art Librarian blog, and why ARLIS/UK & Ireland have put it on their website. Since arriving in New York and being placed in the position of consumer, rather than provider, I have also begun to think about public libraries and how they serve their communities. (The library I work in, although not a public library, is open to the public, but also has other user comunities). So I have also added another library blog:
The Library of Digress http://libraryofdigress.wordpress.com/
which I admire not only because I have worked with the author, but also because it gives a British perspective.
I'm off to New Haven, Connecticut tomorrow morning, but will add a couple more posts this evening.
And if you are interested, my other blog is called Deborah in America and is at:
http://drsnyc.wordpress.com/
Wednesday, 27 January 2010
Thursday, 21 January 2010
At last - news from America
My sister has finally returned from a conference in Argentina, and I have access to the internet, so all the news I've been bursting to tell can start trickling onto the screen. I have loads of photos, too, but they will have to wait until after I've attended the New York Public Library free lecture on Tuesday 26th: "Getting started with blogging".
I am bowled over by how rooted in its community this library seems to be. There are masses of events and opportunities to learn, most of which are free: http://www.nypl.org/events. Yesterday I went to see an exhibition of prints by Michael Dal Cerro on the 3rd floor of the Mid-Manhattan Library (across the street from the amazing beaux-arts NYPL building guarded by the famous lions).
Its a different place entirely from the "main branch" - scuffed and tatty, with some clientele familiar to anyone who's ever used a public library (that disturbing not-washed recently smell) but it was so busy and buzzy: there was a line about 5 metres long of people who'd seemingly popped in after work to check out books and dvds, and 3 librarians busy at the terminals to assist them. I went in, stood behind a man prepared for a good long sleep (I guess) with his pillows and blanket, had my bag checked, but otherwise unchallenged. On the art floor a reference librarian was constantly answering a range of questions - not just "where are the toilets", but "how do I find information about Arthur Miller" or "a video about Louis Kahn". The exhibition proved to be 6 vibrant woodcuts on a wall - on the theme of the city, and, in particular, exploring how the car has become so central to our/American lives (a favourite soapbox of mine) The influence of comic book art was clear, as well as, I thought, the influence of the science fiction aesthetic of mass-production (The Matrix, Alien II etc). I thought I'd see if they had a copy of John Berger's "Ways of seeing" as I was hoping to attend classes at the Brooklyn Brainery on how to look at art (http://brooklynbrainery.com/), and when I checked the catalogue 4 of the 5 copies were out, but the last - very battered - copy was on the shelf where it should be, so I sat down and spent a happy half hour studying. All unhassled and for free.
The Brooklyn Brainery was booked up so I returned to Mid-Manhattan Library this evening to listen to Sharon Zukin, author of "Naked City" talk about how the gentrification of neighbourhoods in New York City's 5 boroughs has reduced the very "authenticity" that people seek by moving there. In an audience of probably 200 people, about 20 appeared to be regulars to the lecture programme, and all enjoyed a thorough, if occasionally somewhat nostalgic, debate about change in the city and the homogenisation of communities and consumer choices (yet another of my soapboxes - I'm starting to feel right at home here!)
Thanks to sightseeing with family and a bit of solo exploring I even recognised and had visited some of those neighbourhoods, more of which later.
I am bowled over by how rooted in its community this library seems to be. There are masses of events and opportunities to learn, most of which are free: http://www.nypl.org/events. Yesterday I went to see an exhibition of prints by Michael Dal Cerro on the 3rd floor of the Mid-Manhattan Library (across the street from the amazing beaux-arts NYPL building guarded by the famous lions).
Its a different place entirely from the "main branch" - scuffed and tatty, with some clientele familiar to anyone who's ever used a public library (that disturbing not-washed recently smell) but it was so busy and buzzy: there was a line about 5 metres long of people who'd seemingly popped in after work to check out books and dvds, and 3 librarians busy at the terminals to assist them. I went in, stood behind a man prepared for a good long sleep (I guess) with his pillows and blanket, had my bag checked, but otherwise unchallenged. On the art floor a reference librarian was constantly answering a range of questions - not just "where are the toilets", but "how do I find information about Arthur Miller" or "a video about Louis Kahn". The exhibition proved to be 6 vibrant woodcuts on a wall - on the theme of the city, and, in particular, exploring how the car has become so central to our/American lives (a favourite soapbox of mine) The influence of comic book art was clear, as well as, I thought, the influence of the science fiction aesthetic of mass-production (The Matrix, Alien II etc). I thought I'd see if they had a copy of John Berger's "Ways of seeing" as I was hoping to attend classes at the Brooklyn Brainery on how to look at art (http://brooklynbrainery.com/), and when I checked the catalogue 4 of the 5 copies were out, but the last - very battered - copy was on the shelf where it should be, so I sat down and spent a happy half hour studying. All unhassled and for free.
The Brooklyn Brainery was booked up so I returned to Mid-Manhattan Library this evening to listen to Sharon Zukin, author of "Naked City" talk about how the gentrification of neighbourhoods in New York City's 5 boroughs has reduced the very "authenticity" that people seek by moving there. In an audience of probably 200 people, about 20 appeared to be regulars to the lecture programme, and all enjoyed a thorough, if occasionally somewhat nostalgic, debate about change in the city and the homogenisation of communities and consumer choices (yet another of my soapboxes - I'm starting to feel right at home here!)
Thanks to sightseeing with family and a bit of solo exploring I even recognised and had visited some of those neighbourhoods, more of which later.
Tuesday, 5 January 2010
Early winter morning
An unexpected early morning, and no obligations meant a comfortable commute and nearly two hours of a quiet office to mess around and catch up with stuff.
I'm very excited to have my first follower - thanks Maggie! And I've added "Just an Art Librarian" to my blog reading list. Struck by the fact that the three librarian blogs I've come across so far (including this one) have a somewhat self-deprecatory tone to their user names. When will we ever give ourselves some credit???
Looking forward, today, to getting the Liberty catalogues photographed for the website, organising the re-pressmarking and handing over 20th century Gallery responsibilities to Ruth. The endless list of people who have happily taken on more work so that I can take this break is amazing. Thanks very much Anne, Bryony, Dawn, Ella, Frances, Jen, Juliet, Kirsten, Marc, Natasha, Patrick, Ruth, Sally, and Shona (and Keith!)
I'm very excited to have my first follower - thanks Maggie! And I've added "Just an Art Librarian" to my blog reading list. Struck by the fact that the three librarian blogs I've come across so far (including this one) have a somewhat self-deprecatory tone to their user names. When will we ever give ourselves some credit???
Looking forward, today, to getting the Liberty catalogues photographed for the website, organising the re-pressmarking and handing over 20th century Gallery responsibilities to Ruth. The endless list of people who have happily taken on more work so that I can take this break is amazing. Thanks very much Anne, Bryony, Dawn, Ella, Frances, Jen, Juliet, Kirsten, Marc, Natasha, Patrick, Ruth, Sally, and Shona (and Keith!)
Monday, 4 January 2010
Brilliant news!
The best news so far this year is that ARLIS/UK & Ireland have kindly agreed to support these travels with funding from the Travel & Study Fund.
I am really grateful and have already started to contact libraries I hope to visit, as well as ARLIS North America, since their annual conference is in April, in Boston (only 3 hours from NYC by train, I think) and this funding means I'll be able to attend:
http://www.arlisna.org/boston2010/
I am really grateful and have already started to contact libraries I hope to visit, as well as ARLIS North America, since their annual conference is in April, in Boston (only 3 hours from NYC by train, I think) and this funding means I'll be able to attend:
http://www.arlisna.org/boston2010/
The first working Monday of the year
and here I am still sitting at my desk with a pile of things to do - although officially I'm not working today, or for the next 77 days. Hoping that no one will notice me and I can enjoy finally clearing away some of this clutter ...
I'm going to have to learn to type properly is one thing for sure
I'm going to have to learn to type properly is one thing for sure
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