January 10, 2011

Practicum Entry for 7 December 2011

Today I continued with my experience in the back of house at the Archive. I was able to preserve a significant amount of outsized rolls. I also shelved many of the items that had been pulled for customers. Sometimes these projects can become monotonous but I have found that it is important to keep your attention sharp. It is vital that care is taken with many of these delicate documents.

Today I also got to observe the procedure for a malfunction in the environmental systems. I observed a puddle of water in the stacks near the outsized roll stacks and aI brought it to the attention of my supervisor, Alex. He was able to immediately call the repairman who was prompt in his arrival. He was able to fix the problem. These was reassuring as the preservation standards are specific with regard to humidity. The manner in which this situation was resolved showed adherence to the archival stadards "Temperature and relative humidity levels must be monitored, so that problems with the storage environment can be identified and managed" (Continuum, 2007).

Once I had finished with my preservation responsibilities, I was able to update the records for the items completed. It is important to note in the computer system every step that has been completed in the preservation of documents to ensure that nothing is overlooked.

This week has been an excellent introduction to principles of record keeping that we studied in INFO 535 & 534.

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