Tiger Thompson

In our directed study looking through some of the newspaper articles and pictures found things that intrigued me. For example, the Little Tiger Thompson article is the one I remember the most. He was 8- years-old and the youngest disc jockey.He worked at WEDR and had his own radio show, making 10 dollars a week, I believe. In the article it talks about how at the age of three he was spinning records, and he was able to work the controls and put together his own program. Little Tiger's show was apparently very popular with children and adults as he received countless letters every week. I find Tiger Thompson impressive as at very young age, he was able to speak and articulate in a way that reached a broad audience.

Last Day

Today was our last day at the Birmingham Black Radio Museum, we accomplished so much this semester. We learned to how to organize a collection, create a mission statement and collection development policy, and prepare materials for preservation. We also created metadata and finding aids to locate items in the collection. We had our final meeting with Bob to give him details on what we did and give him a few suggestions of what needs to happen next.This semester went by so fast, and I feel like we just started the project, as we really began to get into a rhythm towards the end. We struggled in the beginning as we tried to organize the collection by radio station, because that's what Bob wanted. However, finally we felt it was better to arrange everything by year and later finding aids could be created to catalog by radio station, or person. I'm really satisfied with what we were able to get done, some days were good days, and some not so productive.I will miss all the people we meet while working there.

Directed Study

We are in our final week for the directed study at the Birmingham Black Radio Museum, and throughout this process I have learned to organize a collection, and prepare it for preservation. I also learned how to create metadata to find specific items in the collection. We respected the fonds as we went through this process. And finally we created a finding aid for the collection. Now that we have reached the end Mr. Friedmann has started asking questions about the organization of everything, and we explained to him that we did not rearrange anything but maintained the order that he had things in. He mentioned a flyer that we had in a particular folder that possibily should be somewhere else, however we have seen that flyer in two seperate places, so it was hard organizing this collection. We have many questions about dates in this collection, that unfortunately due to the time, will possibly have to go unanswered.

Gov. Docs. Tutorials

Government Documents Tutorials

This is the link to all the tutorials that I have done this semester as a GTA in Government Documents. I used Captivate and it gave me the blues most of the time, but overall I liked it. The first video has been altered and has not been posted to the site yet. Check them out!

Week 9

Time is still ticking but I think we will make it to the finish line. Everything is cataloged in a way that those who come behind us will understand. We are aware that the next crew could decide to go a totally different direction, which is fine, we have come to terms with that. At least we had the opportunity to help with this project and gain valuable experience.We had our pictures taken today by Bob to document what we have been doing, and also so he can show others that the project, his vision, is moving along.There are so many people that want to see this museum happen and hopefully it will. I remember earlier that Lydia and I wanted to do a display of the pictures or sheet music as a final display, but that may not work out for us. We have about seven boxes with folders of pictures, newspapers clippings, and other documents and we have started on the finding aid. We may change how we have it because there is not wireless Internet access at the station for us to check how one looks, or to look at the one we did in our Archives class. I know we will have it ready to go by next trip.

Week 8

So, we(Lydia and I) decided to stop at the 1970s as time is running out in this semester. We have placed the majority of the items in the file cabinet in archival materials, and the record transcriptions are now in archival folders and boxes. We may not get to catalog the transcriptions nor the interview tapes, which we have not even touched. I think we have accomplished much since we began, it seemed overwhelming at first but thankfully we figured it out. Having Dr. Weddle for Archives helped a lot, he taught us in a hands on approach, showing us how to create a finding aid and putting together a collection. So the class prepared us somewhat for this directed study, and this experience was a good one. I still want to work in Archives.

week 7

We have almost made it through the file cabinet, and as predicted we will not finish the project. We mentioned this to Mr. Friedmann this week when he asked about transferring the interview tapes onto more lasting medium. Even though,we will not finish this project maybe there will be more students to help with this. The truth about starting a museum is that it takes time, money and people.

Week 6

Today we continued to catalog the 1950s and 1960s, we realize that a large number of duplicate items are in different folders for various years. Which makes it difficult for us to decipher exactly what goes where in the collection. Some photographs have one date in the picture but on the back a completely different date. Starting a collection from scratch I realize can be time consuming, and frustrating if the materials are not any consistent order.

Directed Study Week 5 Part 2

Not much to talk about today we basically cataloged items from the 1930s up until the 1960s. Mainly pictures, correspondence, postcards and technical documents. As we continue to go through the collection, I think that some items would be a great asset to the Civil Rights Institute in Birmingham. I wonder will this project continue after we finish, or if our work will be for nothing.

Directed Study Week 5

When my directed study partner Lydia first started talking about unique identifier, and spreadsheets in the beginning of this whole organizing the collection, it all went over my head. However, today once we started working on the meta data, it actually was not as complicated as I intentionally thought. We had a moment where we realized that Mr. Friedmann's desire to have the collection sectioned by radio station just would not work because of how things are all jumbled. So, as a solution we decided to organize by date, which seems to work fine. I found it interesting how each item has a different code, for instance a photograph from the 1930s would be identified as 0001.0002.000001, which the larger the number the more room it allows the collection to grow. Each set of number representing the year, the item type and the number it is in the collection. I have come to the realization that archives is the way for me, but not just any archive, a photography archive.

Directed Study Week 4 Part 2

Another slow day, we are still archiving the materials to what kind of collection this will be. There loads of papers to go through and some things that need not be in this collection, but the problem is that we believe that the Director of this project will not want to part with any of the material, especially the multiple copies. Only thing Lydia, my partner in this study feel we can do is catalog everything, just make sure everything is protected from further deterioration and create a finding aid for the next crew.

Young Adult, that's what I'm reading

I am taking a young adult course and we have to read a lot of literature that is geared towards teens. At the moment I'm reading a bit of Sci-Fi, a book by Garth Nix titled Sabriel. It started off slow for me but it is becoming more interesting, and it deals with a 18 year-old necromancer in a race to save the only family she has left, her father the previous Abhorsen, the title that Sabriel now holds. He may be trapped in Death still alive, so Sabriel hopes. Her journey is marked with dangerous trials and evil monsters determined to kill her, and a cat named Mogget bound to servitude by her family years ago for reasons unknown, and a beautiful stranger Touchstone that she saves from Death returning him to Life. Touchstone has secrets and bond by the same restrictions as Mogget, which Sabriel feels something is wrong, but what? I also finished the graphic novel Tokyo Babylon Volume 1 by the Clamp artistic group, it was hilarious, but they are hard to find and I'm eager to read the rest. At the moment I have an Inter library loan request for the next two volumes, and I'm surprised my Public Library does not have any. OK, so the novel basically is about 16 year-old Subaru Sumeragi, who puts dead souls to rest that have crossed over, see a pattern here, and his twin sister Hokuta Sumeragi whose main purpose seems to play matchmaker with her brother and 25 year-old veterinarian Seishiro Sakurazuka. Seishiro constantly teases and flirts with Subaru, with Hokuta egging him on. The last thing I have to read is a book of short stories called Black Juice, which deals with a variety of things about human nature, including death. When I selected these books to read, I didn't realize they all would be about death, but they are good reads.

Directed Study Week 4

Today was a slow start, we had to wait for Bob to come in and let us into our workspace. We got started about two hours late but accomplished getting a vast majority of the photographs into protective sleeves, as well as the other materials into to archival folders. Now our main goal is to figure out how to organize the collection. I think a lot of weeding needs to be done to decipher what actually should be considered for the collection, mainly because some of the contents are not relevant to what we are trying to accomplish. But the problem is what does Bob want in the collection, and whether his ideas fit with what this project could or should be.

Directed Study Week 3

Today was a slow day for us at WJLD, so mainly we discussed a possible collection development policy for the museum, to provide focus for the project. I also wrote down a few questions to ask Bob Friedmann, so we can document all the information he knows about black radio, and his vision of what the museum should be. I glad we are doing this project because it gives us valuable hands on experience of the beginnings of a museum archive that we could not get from class alone.

Gov. Docs. Tutorial

How to locate and use Heinonline 
This is the link to the tutorial that I have been working on at my job in Government documents. Check it out and tell me what you think.

Directed Study Week 2

Today we got in all the materials we needed to preserve the photographs, and Lydia and I talked a bit about doing a display with the various photos in the collection being there are multitudes of 8 by 10 head shots of a variety of radio personalities, contest giveaways, parties and beauty contests. We discussed maybe talking to Bob Friedman about doing a display of the sheet music in his office, which I have experience doing displays, so it would be very exciting for me. I mentioned to Lydia that we could possibly as one of the places to do displays besides at the Hoole Special Collections Library on campus, is maybe the public library in Tuscaloosa, where I worked previously. This library has two large display cases right up front and one that stands alone, so if we requested time to display anything, if any time was available, we could possibly reserve both displays for an entire month. Or even better see if the local libraries or even the museums in Birmingham would allow us to display some of the collection. I think we have multiple options in this aspect. Also learning to write a grant to help raise money to fund this project would be an excellent experience, maybe we will get the chance.

Directed Study

Today we looked through the photographs to place those that are the same together. It is somewhat difficult to since we do not have the materials we need to start preserving them. We decided to work on a unique identifier for the collection as a way to catalog. My partner Lydia is very interested in meta data and I am more interested in organizing the collection for preservation because we still have items we have not even touched and there is a possibility that we will not even get to the actual cataloging. At the moment I'm taking each day as it goes, I like to work to get things done and I hope we will have a least prepared the bulk of the collection for preservation before the semester is over.

Book Review:Binge to Blackout

This is a true story told in a two part narrative by Chris and Toren Volkmann. This book discusses Toren’s relationship with alcohol since he was a teen. Toren didn’t believe he had a problem. Toren drank to get drunk other than; he thought what the point was. Drinking to him “was fun, and it made socializing easier, he felt free, life was better with alcohol.” One night after some heavy drinking Toren wakes up to find he has no clue where he is nor what happened between him and the girl lying beside him. When Chris receives the call that her son is in the states being treated for alcoholism instead of in South America with the Peace Corp, she takes it as a blow to her parenting. As the reality of Toren’s addiction sinks in for them, he must decide if he will overcome his addiction or succumb to the call of the bottle.This book has good tips on when to intervene, and even talks about the best time to start the discussing alcohol is as your child is a toddler.

Assistantship in Government Documents

I am not only doing the directed study in Birmingham at WJLD, but am also working in Government Documents this semester and next semester. My task for this term, creating tutorials on using HeinOnline, which a database that contains and provides access to government documents and publications such as the U.S. Statutes at Large, Law Journal Library, United States Code and the Federal Register.At the moment I have completed a tutorial for the U.S. Code, and must input the audio of my little girl voice into the video. The software that I'm using is Macromedia Captivate, which I like so much better than Camtasia, if it would just stop freezing up on me. I will do three more tutorials on other resources in this database, one being the Code of Federal Regulations.I am learning a lot so far about how to find citations using this resource and as well how to look things up in the book copies. I still trying to find where I fit in the library profession, and all the things going this semester give me a taste of what I am interested in, museums, archives and government libraries.

Directed Study at WJLD

Today marked day one of searching through all the materials that Bob Friedman has collected over time about the history of black radio. The are a number of photos, correspondence, memorabilia, radio logs, interviews,news clippings, old equipment and the list goes on. The main thing we did today was make a list what was in each folder to gain an idea of what we are working to assist in making the radio station museum a reality. A lot of the photographs we realized need to come out of the folders they are in and be enclosed in more archival materials to preserve them. There are interviews recorded on fragile paper that could easily tear if handled roughly. Basically we have an better idea of what we are dealing with but now we have to figure out how to organize it in a way that the next person that comes after us can pick up and run with it.

Directed Study at Birmingham Radio Museum

I will begin tomorrow a new experience, a directed study at one of the first black radio stations in Birmingham. It is a bit exciting because I have a small clue as to what I'm doing from class work in my Archives class, but other than that not a clue. I love learning new things and I'm up for the challenge, as I do learn better in a hands on setting. Most of the material is in some kind of working order thanks to the station manager Bob Friedman, and he is an asset because he know so much himself, a walking museum. I'm just ready to get started because this is what I'm interested in museums and archives,and I think it will be fun.

Coming Soon to a blog near you!!

At the moment I am listening to a book called Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and I must say, so far it is an interesting choice from what I have been reading, no vampires, wizards or fairies, yet. I still trying to figure out what time period its set in, seems a bit futuristic. It is about a young girl, who volunteered for these games, where they choose two kids from each district ranging from 12-18 and force them to fight each other in what is called " the hunger games" till one victor remains. I will say that this book is also a series, book two Catching Fire just came out.I also have begun reading From Binge to Blackout by Chris and Toren Volkmann, it is nonfiction, which I don't usually read, but it's for a class. I do believe however it will be intriguing, and of course I will post comments about what I think about them. Until next time.

Catching Fire

I am currently listening to part two of the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. So, far it has me not wanting to get out of my car but I can't run down my battery. The love triangle between Pita, Gail and is so intriguing, of course I'm pulling for the underdog but at the moment they both seem to be the underdog.

Tokyo Babylon

I am still reading the Manga Tokyo Babylon, there are seven books in the series, and I have made it to volume three. The story continues with 16 year-old Subaru, the 13th descendant of the Sumeragi Clan, and a very powerful onmyoji. His twin sister Hokuta development as a character that has some pretty descent skills as well. She is still persistent that Subaru and Sei-chan, the man that has a huge crush on her brother are destined to be together. She goes as far as to call him brother-in-law.

Book Review: Wintergirls

I just finished this book a few days ago and feel that it gives a very vivid and realistic view of what it feels like to have an eating disorder. The main character Lia struggles with being a daughter, sister and friend. But her biggest struggle is with herself, her true self and her real self, basically how she sees herself and how she used to be. There are a number of tragedies in her life that contribute to her downward spiral, such as the death of her best friend, Cassie. I think her relationship with her step-sister Emma shows how the things we do can directly influence and damage those around especially those that look up to you. Lia is truly battling and fighting to survive even though she wants to be zero, nothing, no more. She is haunted by her best friend Cassie but mostly she is haunted by herself and her thoughts. She cuts herself to feel and dull the pain of her life.Does she overcome it all, I suggest you read it and find out.Wintergirls is written by Laurie H. Anderson

Book Review:Evernight

Evernight by Claudia Gray was suggested  by a friend who knew I was in a vampire phase. She told me that this time the girl was the vampire, which I found interesting because most of the books I have read the guy was the vamp. I liked this book, and even though I knew the heroine was a vampire when it actually happened it took me by surprise. The book keep me going until the end wondering what will happen next with her and her love interest Lucas, but also as usual the other guy Balthazar who the wise older yet very handsome vampire. Yet she has no interest in him. Lucas is not aware she is a vampire but he has a secret of his own that he is keeping from her.Her parents are vampires that by some miracle conceived her, one the few vampires babies that are born not made. Overall it is an intriguing book and currently I'm reading the second book in the series titled Stargazer.

Thirteen Reasons Why

I listened to this book by Jay Asher and all I can think is was it really that bad that she had to commit suicide. No, I don't think so after listening to the main character Hannah Baker, I have to disagree with her. None of the things that happened to her were extreme enough that she couldn't have dealt with it in some other way. There are people that have gone through the same things she did and dealt with it. People will talk about you no matter what, but that's all it is, talk.

Harry Potter Movie 6

I was amongst the fray of Potter fans at the midnight showing of Harry Potter. Before the movie even started I saw the golden snitch, Voldermort, Bellatrix and a number Hogwarts students. I see people take this movie to the extreme. There were so many people there that all 16 movie theatres were open to show the movie, WOW!! The movie I thought was cute and funny, except of course the part about Dumbledore. I found it interesting that the writers could make such a sad book, funny. My favorite scenes have to be of Ron Weasley and Harry, hilarious. Overall I really enjoyed the movie.

What am I reading NOW?

I am always reading something. At the moment I just finished the Summoning by Kelley Armstrong, and guess what it's another series. I will be starting the second book the Awakening soon, but I have homework and things to finish before I can truly delve into. Okay so not really, I love to read so I will find time to read a page or two. Anyhow this book was interesting, it also deals with the supernatural theme I seem to be fascinated with. The main character Chloe Saunders the heroine, of course can see ghosts and raise the dead. I usually get freaked out by stuff like this every since I read a scary book when I was younger, may have possibly been an R.L. Stine book, I used to love those. I don't even watch scary movies, so you count me out for horror nights. But this book drew me in and it intrigued me just a bit about how the character is dealing with the realization that she has this ability. In the beginning of the book we find her as a child seeing beheaded ghosts and one that has hung himself in the basement of her home, so her family moves and the story continues to her in high school and she had not had an episode in years, then all of a sudden she sees a ghost at school and freaks. Her family then sends her to this home for disturbed kids to help them get better. But what she finds there is truly interesting.

Blogging, Oh Boy

I thought the hardest thing about creating blog would be what to write about, at least that what I heard. But through my Information Technology class, I found that adding links and sometimes gadgets can be downright frustrating. I was challenged to make it work and through the stress, exhaustion and a few tears, I was able to make it work by sheer determination. I was not defeated because I refused to accept that there was no way to get it to work. That's a life lesson, I keep experiencing or telling my brothers and friends, NEVER ACCEPT DEFEAT even if it's just good old Technology knocking you around.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

This is another movie I've been waiting to see about another series I had read and listened to. I was a little disappointed last year when the release date got pushed back for whatever reason. But now my wait is almost over. The movie are so well put together and follow the books well. I feel in love with these characters three times, in the books, the audios and the movies, and have enjoyed watching the actors grow through each one. On July 15th I will be among the fray of Harry Potter Fans in line at the movie theatre.

How to Locate A Book Review

Ready for New Moon

I am a Twilight fan and I loved most of the books, the last one left me wanting.Honestly, I found parts of it disturbingly gross. I liked the Twilight movie by itself but if I had to choose I would pick the book. The guy that plays Edward, is okay but he is not my ideal that I had in my mind. My Edward dressed better, and didn't look like he had an eternal frown. I guess the teenage Twihards love Robert Pattinson. The girl Kristen Stewart that plays Bella is perfect because she gets on my nerves, so I found that consistent with book. My favorite characters in the movie was the guy that played her dad, he was hilarious and Alice who was a favorite from the book as well . Emmett and James those are some gorgeous men. So, they will be one the good points of new moon, however brief the glimpse may be since their part in the New Moon was short. I have seen the previews and it looks like it is going to be even better than first one, and I can't wait to continue the Twilight Saga. Hopefully the makeup will be better.

What type of librarian should I be?

A couple weeks ago I took a quiz on Facebook called " What type of librarian are you" and my results were a youth librarian. I thought this was interesting because since I worked in a public library I got turned on to Twilight and Harry Potter. Since then I have become to love this type of literature. Yet, I'm not sure I want to work with the public again, it a joy and a pain. Some people are very polite and friendly some are just down right mean. I also love arts and crafts, basically anything creative. So, I took the quiz again to see what it would say again, and the result was a law librarian. That is a definite, NO. A music library or a museum library would be cool. At this point in my degree program, there is still time to grow and figure it out, one can only hope. I hope my future is filled doing something that makes me happy and that I'm good at, but right that is unknown to me.

Audio books are cool

I have found that listening to the radio bores me. The radio deejays play the same stuff over and over again, and it just burns me out on music I really like. So, what do I do, I listen to audio books. My family when they get in the car with me and hear my book of the moment they either take it out or turn it off. They think I'm weird, and talk about me. I only have one person that's cool with it and that person is my youngest brother, sad but true.
I became intrigued by audio books when I started reading the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, and one of my co-workers suggested it to me. As with the books I have read, most of the audios came in series such as Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, the Inheritance series(Eragon) by Christopher Paolini, the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett, which are about a new witch in the making and are hilarious. A few others that I liked that are not series are Jinx by Meg Cabot(hope for more), Fairest by Gail Carson Levine and Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry and the list goes on. I also listened to Identical by Ellen Hopkins, which was interestingly disturbing but the subject matter was relevant to life for some teens now. The story matter concerns two girls, one being molested by her father and the other seemingly wishing she had his attention. There is more to the story but that's just a tiny bit. I am currently on book five of the Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix. I've become addicted to listening to books in the car, and am now running out selections to entertain me. Audio books are great ways to get families to read and story tell together . Another bonus to audio books is that they can get a child that won't read or struggles reading, interested.

Website Usability Test

In my Information Technology class, we are doing a usability test of a library website of our choice to determine how easy or difficult it is to navigate throughout the site. At first, I didn't think I would get much information from watching someone click on a computer following the tasks that I had given them. So far I have only tested with two participants, each of them stumbling at different points through the process. However, I found it interesting that they both agreed that the site was easy to use, even though they struggled somewhat with completing the tasks. One user stated that it was easy once he got the hang of it, but was not compelled to linger on the site, and at times becoming distracted and bored. Also, these two participants agreed that the design of this particular website was lacking in aspects of the design and layout. I am intrigued to hear what the remaining testers opinions will be.

I'm going to library school ....What do you think about that? pt.2

The most interesting responses come from librarians when I discuss with them my decision to come to library school. When I told one librarian who at the time was a co-worker of mine my intentions to go to library school, they were like " Why? You don't want to do that, look at me" or as another just flat out stated "You don't look like a librarian" Now in my head as sit and think about this now, what exactly does a librarian look like? I mean, I'm no read the sign says BE QUIET bun wearing librarian stereotype of old. However, I am capable of a stern look every now and then. This person did reason that I am more of the creative type because they knew my interests are photography and writing, but what is a librarian if he/she is not a bit creative. Times have changed and so has the look of the new generation of librarians.

I'm going to library school....What do you think about that?

I find peoples' responses to me going to library school hilariously entertaining, and bit offensive. When they ask what I’m going to school to be, and I say librarian. Not only are the facial expressions funny but some comments are "Oh you must really like to read books!" or "You must like to check out stuff?" Others look puzzled and ask well "What can you do with a Masters in Library Science?" or "You can get a degree to become a Librarian?" There are those that make the assumption that public libraries are the only types of libraries. Well there are many things one can do with a library degree besides work within a public library such as cataloging, publishing, working for book vendors,school media centers, library technical specialists, museums and government libraries, and so many places you wouldn't think needed or had a library. So when someone says they are library school don’t assume they just like checking out books and reading.

Loss of time and Social Networking

I find that when on my computer or the internet my sense of time is different. One second it is 9 o"clock at night then the next the sun is shining. I feel like I'm so absorbed in what I'm doing that time just seems to stand still for me, but keeps moving for the rest of the world. What am I doing, social networking. I like social networks but I find that they waste time, especially when I realize I've spent 6 hours doing absolutely nothing. Looking at what other people are doing or playing games and taking silly little quizzes. At other times talking to high school friends, I don't even remember or avoiding some random stranger. Oh,the joy of social networks, such a wonderful tool for those of us who are already antisocial. In my opinion they are good to reconnect or locate lost friends, of course if the websites are free. I'm not that desperate to pay to find someone.

What I'm Reading

Currently, well since I read Twilight, I have been in this young adult phase. I have read, as can be seen from my bookshelf, a number of young adult fantasy books ranging from vampires, immortals to fairies, and wizards. It seems like every book I picked to read became or was a part of a series, and I found that part of me wanted it to end. However, every time I would get to the last few pages, I would start reading slower not wanting to part with the characters. This gets harder when I read series, because I become so engrossed and a part of the books, making it difficult at times to come back to the real world. The latest book that was suggested for me to read was Evermore by Alyson Noel, which I just finished a few days ago. This book was a different twist on the forever love story and I thought it was going to be another vampire story. It wasn't, but I don't want tell too much of the story, someone may want to read it. I really liked the book but it is another series that I must remember to read, when the next addition is published. Here are few other series that I am awaiting to finish: The House of Night novels by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast, Wicked Lovely series by Melissa Marr, the Fairie Path by Frewin Jones,Septimus Heap by Angie Sage, Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston and Vampire Kisses by Ellen Schreiber. At the moment I'm beginning to read the Immortal Realm book four of the Fairie Path series.

Michael Jackson

I like all types of things, so therefore I will blog about some of everything. I saw the memorial for M.J. on television today. It was very sad, even more when I thought about all the things he's been through these past years. He just wanted to be happy and for others around him to be happy and LIVE. His daughter when she spoke brought me to tears and that was the most moving moment to me. Those kids I hope whoever they end up with takes care of them the way their father would. My brother lost his father last year, at the time he was in Kuwait and the loss of a parent, how hard it must be for them, the children. In the case of my brother, you wonder of regrets or never getting to say goodbye.I hope all the best for his family not because he was famous but because he was a person just like us.