GLAM Blog Club
Writings about galleries, libraries, archives, and museums.
A File Format By Any Other PRONOM Signature
November third is World Digital Preservation Day and what better excuse to blog about my journey into digital preservation so far? This time last year I was being interviewed for what would become my new role as Digital Preservation Officer at an Australian State Library. I remember reading the entirety of the DPC (Digital Preservation Coalition) Handbook trying to bring myself up to speed on all the acronyms, lingo, and underpinning values of digital preservation. This was a specialised world t
It Was the Best of Times...
For me, 2021 has been a mixed bag of good and bad. Charles said it best: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” ― Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities 2021 didn't start out the best for me. I had put off a lot of things for far too long and t
Growth and Ethics
I recently undertook a personal development practice and found out that two of my highest personal values is growth and ethics. It explains why I find people who refuse to learn, or grow extremely infuriating, and reinforced my stance on personal and professional ethics. So when a professional library group in my state decided to invite a speaker that (for me) violates both of those values I was deeply disappointed. More so, the response I got from my objection was met with: "Our belief is that
The Year That Was
I wasn't going to do a review piece this year because... *gestures around*. However upon reviewing my year I realised there were some really good things that happened and I wanted to focus on them. A little bit of good amongst the bad. I've mentioned before how bad coffee is actually better than good coffee, so I see 2020 as the bad cup of coffee that makes us appreciate all the good ones we've had before. Professional The year started off with a practicum placement at ARDC/Curtin University,
Don't Make Me Tap The Sign...
Ever since I wrote my 'Do No Harm' post late last year, I've seen a few examples of where this model could be used in GLAMs around the word. I'm not the best at self promotion but occasionally I will see twitter conversations around this topic and drop a link to the model. This is usually met with positive comments but is quickly forgotten. I've been encouraged to write it up properly for something like Lead Pipe so it can get a wider exposure, but that will be a bit of a work in progress at the
Once More, With Feeling
I haven’t blogged in a while due to an overwhelming lack of motivation, despite having far more free time due to work from home privileges. In last three months I managed to write just over 1,000 words of a new story that I’m interested in exploring, but I must have stared at the page for longer than I wrote. That said, when I saw the topic for this month’s GLAM blog club was ‘play’, a post started forming in my mind and I had to sit down and write. Motivation is odd like that. Why this topic th
A Year In Read-View 2019 (Comics)
I read a lot of comics this year, but didn't realise till I started compling it for this blog post! Single Issues Note: italics indicates series has ceased. * Die * Exorsisters #1 * Five Years (Terry Moore) * Giant Days * Hex Wives (2018-2019) * Man-Eaters #1 * Rat Queens (2017-) * Steeple * Strangers In Paradise XXV * Transformers: Lost Light * The Wicked + The Divine * The Wicked + The Divine: 455 AD (special issue) * The Wicked + The Divine: 1373 (special issue) Most anticip
A Year In Read-View 2019 (Books)
Eighteen books this year. A pretty good effort, along with the truck load of comics I managed to get through as well. Still trying to prioritise women writers over men and still having no regrets. For years I've been wanting to try and read poetry and at the end of the year finally got around to looking into the Beat poets, true to form though I sought out women writers first and thoroughly enjoyed Elise Cowen's work. I did try to read more non-fiction and I am quite happy with all the ones I m
An Annotated Bibliography of the Inside of My Head
I saw this post by Alex Bayley and thought, why not. So in no particular order (actually it ended up in the order I first read them), here are some books that I just can't stop thinking about. You know, those ones where every now and then a line or an image from it just pops into your head. They may not be your all time favourite books, but they certainly stick with you or have influenced you in some way. I've split it up into fiction, non-fiction, and comics. Enjoy. Fiction Powers That Be b
Do No Harm
Since I listened to the Incendium Radical Library (IRL) cardiCast episode I can't stop thinking about the collecting policy they have adopted (time stamp 17:49). IRL have broad frameworks they align the library with, so when accepting new donations or looking at acquisitions they look at how these items could harm the wider community and balance that against the good they could do. In Annelise's words: "I guess like the frameworks of this library is social justice, anti-oppression, intersection