Audiovisual Materials at the Clarke

 By Tanya Fox

You may think the Clarke Historical Library has only books, manuscripts and serial publications.  But we have a collection of audiovisual materials, also.  This collection includes DVDs, VHS tapes, albums (yes, the old fashioned vinyl type), cassette tapes and CD-ROMs.  We provide a room with all the equipment to view and listen to the materials we have at the Clarke.

Perhaps you would enjoy viewing the DVD School Days Remembered: the Mt. Pleasant Indian School Reunion 1991 or Full Metal Corset: Secret Soldiers of the Civil War from The History Channel in 2007.  We have some DVDs and videos about local history such as The History & Pioneers of the Port Austin Area, 1937-1957 : 120 Years of Progress. Listen to the audiocassette of Folk Songs of the Great Lakes Region by Lee Murdock. These titles are just a small sampling of media available.

Harken back to the old days of Tiger baseball with the sound recordings Echoes of Tiger Stadium and Tiger Baseball Trivia. If you’re an Ernest Hemingway fan hear him read selections of his works on Ernest Hemingway Reads. Peruse the Ernest Hemingway Audio Collection.

Even though the audio visual materials may not be checked out of the Clarke, there are many items of interest dealing with a myriad of topics.  Spend an hour or a day at the library and be surprised at what we have available.

Ask Archivists Day June 9, 2011

By Susan Powers

On Thursday, June 9, archivists from all over the world will be responding to questions on Twitter for “Ask Archivists Day”. Participating archives are listed here.

Ask your questions on Twitter by finding an archive that you are interested in contacting from the list of participating archives, then add the hashtag #AskArchivists to your question. Here is a slide show that tells you more about how to ask your questions via Twitter.

If you would like to ask the Clarke's very own archivist Marian Matyn a question, email her at marian.matyn@cmich.edu

"Out of Sight" by Pittau and Gervais

By Christa Clare
 
The Clarke Historical Library received a new children’s book that is really interesting. 

Did you know that you can tell a male and female giraffe by looking at the top of their horns? (The top of a male giraffe’s  horns are bald but the top of the females horns are fuzzy.) Or that a beaver’s front teeth never stop growing?  Or that pigs are very good swimmers? Or that a kangaroo cannot move backward? 

All of these interesting animal facts can be found in our newest children’s book titled Out of Sight by Bernadette Gervais and Francesco Pittau.  It is a gorgeous lift-the-flap book.  It is written for Kindergarten through grade 2, but you will find that children and adults alike find it very entertaining and educational!

Stop in and take a look at this fun book in the Clarke Library soon!

One Old Book and One Brief Moment

By Tanya Fox

I recently cataloged a book from 1701 which is the oldest book I’ve ever cataloged. As I perused the book for specific information needed for cataloging, I found myself thinking about this book that was over 300 years old. The pages were worn. The print was unusual. The cover was soft and smooth. This book allowed me to hold history in my hands and for a moment think about people and events from a much earlier period of time. 

The book’s title was Anglia Libera : or the Limitation and Succession of the Crown of England Explain’d and Asserted by Jo[hn] Toland. I did not have the luxury of reading the book to find out Toland’s ideas.  Instead, in the short time I had the book, I thought about the ephemeral nature of life.  I was reminded that some material items will outlive me but even this specific book would one day disintegrate. 

This small, antique volume gave me pause to wonder and reminded me that people and events come and go.  It reminded me that things fade away.  It reminded me that nothing lasts forever.  Marcus Aurelius once said “All is ephemeral, fame and the famous as well.”  One small book from 1701, that I didn’t completely read, was for a moment a reason for me to contemplate my own brief time in history. 

Come find one brief moment or lose yourself in longer periods of thought with the books you will find at the Clarke Historical Library.  One old book and one brief moment equals a walk with history.

Today's Electronic Records Issues for University Archivists

By Marian Matyn

I recently attended the SAA (Society of American Archivists) Electronic Records (ER) Records Workshop in Rhode Island. I thought the workshop was very informative and interesting. I learned all kinds of fun phrases like hash, checksums, password crackers, TRODS, CERP, and “endowing a terabyte.” Now I understand them. There are so many issues that have to be considered with electronic records: time, temporariness of the records and formats, and the impact of quickly changing technology. Archivists now have to deal with deleted files which aren't really deleted and could be illegal, and we need to run forensic analysis to discover these “hidden records.” All the different types of ERs at universities now have to be considered by archivists, including websites, metadata, intranets, emails, and videos, and postings on Blackboard, YouTube, and Facebook. Archivists must also consider involved access and security issues, including the ability to copy and change or prevent changes to records, and the staff time and costs involved.

A couple of important questions arise when making decisions about ERs.  Are all of these university electronic formats really records?  How do state laws and university description of a record says affects what we must define as a record? Our current, voluntary record retention schedule at CMU defines a university record as "all records, regardless of their form, prepared, owned, used, retained by, or in the possession of an individual in the performance of an official function of the university."   Obviously, records generated by students, staff, faculty or the public in an unofficial capacity do not meet CMU’s definition of record.  Let’s be clear: ERs are not permanent in any format, and they are a part of our lives now.  Archivists and their archives are going to have to begin to seriously deal with the plethora of ER issues and ERs themselves soon if they haven’t already.