Special Collections

Do you work in an archive or Special Collection repository?

Are you interested in exploring cooperative projects and partnerships?

Looking for ways to bring more professional development opportunities to North Texas?

Would you like to meet other archivists and Special Collections librarians in the area?

Please join the Special Collections Affinity Group of the Cross Timbers Library Collaborative for their fall meeting on September 24, 2014 at the University of Texas at Arlington Central Library. 

Special Collections Affinity Group - Cross Timbers Library Collaborative

Fall Meeting: Wednesday, September 24, 2014

University of Texas at Arlington, Central Library

Meeting Agenda (PDF):

  • 9-9:15  Welcome and Introductions
  • 9:15-9:45  "When Fulltext Search Isn't Enough: Text Encoding for Manuscripts and Other Special Collections Materials"

Kevin Hawkins - Director of Library Publishing, University of North Texas

  • Scanning and OCR technology has made it easy to digitize many types of printed material and make them easy to browse and search online, as found in interfaces such as the Portal to Texas History and HathiTrust.  But certain types of documents, like manuscripts and printed reference works, remain difficult to consult in these interfaces.  This presentation will provide an introduction to XML and its use for encoding transcriptions of texts and their structure in order to enable targeted searching and even the production of scholarly editions of primary source material.
  • 9:45-10:05  “I won't do that again: Project Planning during my first year at A&M”

Shanna Strunk – Archivist, Texas A&M Commerce

  • In this presentation, I will discuss the importance of defining measurable goals and successes prior to project implementation, as well as the need to consider project sustainability, and how to “bounce back” from unsuccessful projects or use them as a spring board for accomplishing future projects.
  • 10:05-10:20  Break provided by UTA Libraries
  • 10:20-10:40  “Citizen Archivist Program”

Ketina Taylor – Archivist, National Archives at Fort Worth

  • In 2012, the National Archives began a project to digitize the Slave Manifests from our Customs Records using our Citizen Archivist Program.  The Citizen Archivist Program allows citizens to experience archival work for three days. 
  • 10:40-11:00  “Hands-on-History”

Courtney Jacobs - Special Collections Librarian, University of North Texas

  • The Special Collections Department at the University of North Texas Libraries has partnered with the Department of History and the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) to provide local Denton ISD 7th graders an opportunity to explore UNT, including access to special collections materials for research.
  • 11-11:30  “Making or Purchasing Custom Enclosures for Special Collections”

Jessica Phillips - Preservation Librarian, University of North Texas

  • Jessica will cover why one might consider using custom-made enclosures for materials as well as how to come by these enclosures.  She will have examples of a variety of boxes on hand for people to look at as well as handouts with instructions on how to create the simpler boxes. 
  • 11:30--12:00  Pitches for SAA/SSA/RBMS session proposals (a chance for people to discuss session proposal ideas and identify possible participants)
  • What would you like to see at SAA, SSA or RBMS next year? Share you presentation ideas with the group, recruit panel participants or help other to develop their panel ideas.
  • 12:00-12:15 – Wrap up

Parking at University of Texas at Austin:

Here is the link to the UTA Libraries webpage with parking maps and directions to the Central Library, 702 Planetarium Place: http://www.uta.edu/library/about/directions.php.   The closest parking to the Central Library is available in the Maverick Parking Garage, 908 South West Street (hourly rate charged, max approximately $12/day).  Handicapped spaces are located at the rear of the Central Library at 702 Planetarium Place and in the Maverick Parking Garage.  Other parking options are parking meters scattered at various places around campus; complimentary visitor parking decals can also be obtained at the booth on Nedderman Drive west of Cooper Street. 

Questions:

Morgan Gieringer, University of North Texas

morgan.gieringer@unt.edu | 940-369-8657

Brenda McClurkin, University of Texas at Arlington

mcclurkin@uta.edu | 817-272-7512

Call for Proposals:

The CTLC Special Collections Affinity Group is accepting proposals for 30 minutes presentations on topics relevant to the work of archivists, curators and special collections librarians in the cross timbers region. During the spring meeting the group discussed possible topics for presentations including:

·         Managing remote facilities

·         Project management

·         Digitization

·         Metadata

·         Preservation/conservation

·         Archives Space software

·         Collaboration between special collections other areas. We welcome proposals from other CTLC Affinity groups in Digital Humanities, Scholarly Communications, Digital Curation and other topics.

In your proposal please include your name and contact information, presentation title and a brief summary of presentation (no more than 200 words).

Submit your proposal by September 1, 2014 to:

Morgan Gierigner,  UNT Libraries,
morgan.gieringer@unt.edu