Seventh Salon: What it is that we do.

[jenett]

Welcome to our seventh salon discussion thread. Wander in, invite a friend to come along, and chat! (Not sure what's going on? Here, have a brief FAQ.) You can find previous ones in my salon tag. Please take a quick look at the reminders at the bottom of this post, too. (Quick note: I'd originally said we'd do these through at least July. I am formally declaring that we'll keep going through at least August.)

Topic of the day:
A couple of conversations this week have gotten me thinking about jobs. One was a conversation with a friend yesterday (hi!) about job hunting, another was a meeting of a committee I'm on for staff awards, where we were asked to introduce ourselves (it's the first time we've met) with something we do that we're really good at (work or not.)

The committee is staff from all over the campus, only one of whom I already knew. And one of the things we were talking about is how recognising people for doing things well can take a lot of forms - but it's also complicated, because talking about what we do well is really hard, and sometimes (often!) other people don't really know what goes into our jobs. (And yes, I talked a little about both Imposter Syndrome and about synecdochic's weekly Pride Thread)

And yet, it's really important to talk about what we're good at, for a dozen reasons and more. (Morale, helping us do more of the really awesome stuff, helping other people do more really awesome stuff, appreciating the work other people do that keeps things running smoothly - we were talking about the school health service, and how you never hear when things are fine there, but it's important that they *are* fine.)

So, my question: What do you do, and why do you like it, and how did you get into doing that thing? I'm curious both about job-that-pays-you stuff but also about ongoing projects that aren't your job.

For bonus amusement, last January, there was a meme about describing things (your job) using the ten-thousand most common words in English. (Inspired by a xkcd cartoon). You can use a web-based tool to write one. If you did that meme and want to share in comments, that'd be awesome. (Or if you want to play with it and share something new!) Mine's in the first comment.

Currently reading: Queen Victoria's Book of Spells: An Anthology of Gaslamp Fantasy - like the title says, this is gaslamp fantasy, not steampunk. Thus far I am generally agreeing with Brit Mandelo's review over on Tor.com, but even the stories that aren't quite my thing are making me think, which is pretty much what I ask for in an anthology.

Quick reminders

- jjhunter did a great guide to following conversations here on Dreamwidth. Also a roundup of regular Dreamwidth events.
- If you want to post anonymously, please pick a name (any name you like) that we can call you - it makes it more conversational and helps if we have more than one anon post.
- Base rule remains "Leave the conversation better than you found it, or at least not worse". If you're nervous about that, I'd rather you say something and we maybe sort out confusion later than have you not say something. (I've heard from a few people who worry they're going to say something that's going to be taken weirdly. If it helps, I am usually around and if there's a thing you'd like to get out in the conversation, but you're not sure how, feel free to PM or email or IM me, and I'll nudge the conversation that direction.)
- The FAQ still has useful stuff, and I added some thoughts about getting conversations going this week.
- Comments tend to trickle in over the course of a day or two, with a few nearly a week later: you might enjoy checking back later if you're not tracking the conversation.

Comments

[elisem]

Another archivist. Neat!

What kinds of things can donors do to make collections easier to process? (I should really ask the people I'm sending my stuff to. :blush: Mostly I've been sorting it into labeled folders, and adding notes to the folders where the context isn't clear from the title and items themselves. So far, they seem amiable about that, but if there's better stuff I can do, I should do it.)

[sofiaviolet]

The biggest thing is to keep your stuff away from water, mice, mold, mildew, and other elements that cause damage. We have had to reject collections/portions of collections in the past because they were too damaged to be safe - both for the archivists' health and the other materials in the repository. In one instance, birds had nested in some boxes that were stored outdoors on the donor's porch. If any of your items are damaged, keep them separate from the rest of the collection and identify it to the archivist - they may want to perform some mitigation before bringing it into their space.

But assuming your stuff is in decent shape physically, the kindest thing to do is have some form of organization. A lot of times, we receive boxes of loose papers and have to figure out everything for ourselves - but when things are in some kind of order, it makes our lives easier and gives us (and potentially future researchers) some information about how the donor(s) used and/or conceptualized their records. You're going above and beyond by taking the time to folder and label, to say nothing of notes!

Since you're doing folders and labels before sending in your papers, it would be ideal for the folders to be archival-quality and the labels to be written in pencil rather than ink, but as long as you don't use super-bleedy pens it should be completely fine. Archival folders are more expensive than ordinary ones especially if you're not ordering in bulk, so definitely don't feel obligated to track those down! Archivists label folders in pencil for a few reasons: we do everything with pencils to avoid getting permanent marks on materials by accident, pencil lead is more stable/inert than ink, and we can change or update a folder's label later if needed.

Some places will put literally everything into archival-quality folders, and some will not. My own institution only replaces non-archival folders when they're too beat-up to adequately contain or protect the stuff inside of them, or when the folder shows signs of damaging the materials (color transfer or general paper deterioration), or when the labeling is somehow not up to snuff (often, when the label is wrong/insufficient and there's not enough room to correct or amend it on the folder), though each individual processor has their own personal standards - I err toward replacing non-archival folders.

[elisem]

The kind of notes I add are things like, "This folder contains correspondence between Certain Author and a game company that may be of particular interest to someone working on issues of gender in computer games. He's rather fiercely taking them to task for not having playable female characters -- ten years ago."