Where do you work? What is your favorite part of your job?
I work at Pikes Peak Library District in beautiful Colorado Springs, Colorado. I am the photo archivist in our Special Collections/Regional History & Genealogy department. The best part of my job is locating material for our patrons which may have been buried in archives for many decades! Some of my largest collections remain largely unprocessed, particularly those of prolific local photographers. Patrons request photos taken of family or friends, or perhaps an important event in their lives (or our city). Finding that needle in a haystack is my favorite part of this job. The search can be challenging, but our patrons’ joy over that discovery is very rewarding. I also find historic photographic formats endlessly fascinating – there is always more to learn with every collection.
What’s a typical day like at your job?
While it feels like there is no such thing as a typical day in a public library setting, I often spend my time split between manning the reference desk, answering patron queries, and squeezing in archival processing when possible. I am also responsible for most of our digitization efforts and the maintenance of our content management system. I spend much of my time deciding what to digitize, entering metadata for those items, and uploading to our system.
When and how did you become an archivist or become interested in archives?
After graduating with my masters in history, I took a part time job in our library district thinking it would be a temporary gig. Within just a couple of weeks I knew that this was the place for me! I absolutely loved connecting patrons to resources of all kinds. With a background in history, I worked my way into our Special Collections and returned to school to train as an archivist. I obtained my MLIS in 2018 and moved into the role of photo archivist in 2019. It has been the perfect marriage of my love of history and libraries, serving to make more of our collections accessible and easy to find.
What’s your favorite project or collection you’ve worked with in the past year?
It’s too hard to choose because I do a wide variety of work that I love, but I think my favorite project has been learning how to do web archiving. We joined Internet Archive’s Community Webs program in February of 2023. It’s been a great learning experience which has allowed me to dabble in more digital archives work, but also introduced me to a wonderful community of institutions doing the same type of work. In fact, that’s how I heard about PLASC.
What made you join PLASC Steering Committee?
When I first discovered PLASC, I was so excited to learn there were others like me in the archives world gathering to discuss our unique experiences in the public library setting. We sit at an interesting nexus of general public library service and technical archival work that many of our library colleagues and the general public don’t truly grasp. Our struggles and triumphs are not the same as those in academic or corporate settings, and the opportunity to hear from others is fantastic. There is no better way to connect with others than to get involved so I was thrilled to be accepted into the Steering Committee. I look forward to collaborating and connecting with PLASC members over the next year.
The Finding Aid 