Jack Delano (FSA/OWI), “Loading oranges into refrigerator car at a co-op orange packing plant,” c. 1939.
From the depths of my packing for relocation to Miami, I bring you some questions about the scholarly journal in the age of digital reading.
As I go through my bookshelves, I’m confronting an amazing number of issues of scholarly journals that I subscribe to, in paper, and have never had time to read. Even though some of them offer online-only subscriptions, I’ve been partial to receiving the paper journals. There’s utility in an object: it hangs around my house/office, reminding me that I can find out about really fascinating new research if I just take the time to open the journal.
But have I actually made time for reading them? Regrettably, no.
Source: SSA History Archives, via Larry DeWitt.
Last week, I had the good fortune to present an invited talk at the Radcliffe Workshop on Technology and Archival Processing, a small gathering of archives professionals from Harvard and other New England institutions. The Workshop is put together by the staff of the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, where I’ve been a frequent visitor, camera in hand, shooting research-quality images of their collections. I was invited to participate in a session on “Processing for End Users,” but rather than rehashing my posts on digital tools and archives research, I decided to present about my new project. read more…
Several people have written to me individually to express concern that they haven’t seen me on the Internet much lately. (Thanks for getting in touch! I really appreciate it, I just haven’t had the time to respond individually.) Since January, I’ve been very busy with professional and personal matters which have taken a good deal of time and will continue to do so. But there’s some good news amid the hard work:
I’m excited to announce that I’ve accepted a permanent faculty position in the history department at Florida International University in Miami, where I will be starting this fall.
My position is at the rank of Instructor, but it’s an unusually-structured position– a blend of classrooom instruction and service. I’ll be teaching 2 courses per semester, focusing primarily on digital history methods. In my service capacity, I’ll be advising faculty and graduate students on digital research and analysis methods. I’ll also be working with the university library on a number of digital projects, including but not limited to:
- digitization of some interesting archival collections;
- grantwriting to support these projects and development of digital-humanities infrastructure in the university libraries;
- helping out with a digital asset-management platform used by FIU’s libraries and museums;
- and helping to bring FIU’s digital collections into wider use within the history curriculum.
This is a great faculty opportunity with an alt-ac flavor, and I’m very enthusiastic to start working with FIU’s history department and library staff. Accordingly, for the next few months, I will mostly be scarce on the Internet, as I work hard towards a dissertation defense. Think of it as a social media sabbatical.
One of the few exceptions to my generally-offline spring and summer will be today and tomorrow, when I’ll be participating in the American Antiquarian Society’s conference “Research Libraries in the Digital Age: Needs and Opportunities,” which will be on Twitter at #AAS3rdCentury. More on that later, perhaps. For now, off to Worcester!
