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A cooperative effort between Library of Michigan and the presses of University of Michigan, Michigan State University, and Wayne State University has recently launched a unique collection of regional eBooks available to all residents of Michigan. ReadMichigan.org is a statewide eBook collection consisting of eBooks published by local university presses about Michigan and the Great Lakes region. The homegrown collection includes winners of the prestigious Michigan Notable Books award as well as other important books published by Michigan presses and authors. Residents and visitors to the state of Michigan can access these eBooks (with no wait lists or holds) via geolocation at any time at www.ReadMichigan.org. Michigan Humanities has provided important financial support and is also a founding partner of the project. The complete press release may be found at https://www.michigan.gov/libraryofmichigan/0,9327,7-381-88857_20585-576165--,00.html. There are announcement posts about ReadMic...

The academic term is now in full force. I have completed my first bibliographic instruction session of the term for Art 341, on the topic of the history of photography, in which I discussed a number of historic photographic processes and provided the students with context, instructions for holding and using the materials, an overview of the Clarke, its collections, and researcher procedures and policies. Several students were interested in returning to see and use more of the collections! And I taught some archivist tricks to identify photographic processes to the professor. Here are a few examples of what the students saw. First an autochrome glass slide of a garden, 1907- the color process was invented by the Lumiere Bros in the 19th. century. Next the materials for the class on the cart. A lovely girl in a daguerreotype, probably 1850s or '60s. Her jewelry is tinted. Lastly 1926 blueprint of Warriner Hall. It's been a busy week.

Join the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives for our next Smithsonian 175th Film Fest program! Smithsonian 175th Film Fest: Fossils When: January 28th at 12 p.m. ET Registration: https://siarchives.si.edu/smithsonian-175th-film-fest-fossils How are those massive dinosaur mounts created at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History? What if some of the bones are missing? How do new technologies assist fossil preparators in their work? On Friday, January 28, 2022, at 12 p.m. ET, join us for a screening of Putting Triceratops Together Again (2001). In the short videos in this series, the Museum's paleobiology staff discussed how they used 3D scanning to restore, maintain, and better understand Hatcher, the world's first skeletal mount of Triceratops to ever go on exhibit. Following the film, we'll sit down for a conversation with fossil preparator Steve Jabo, one of the stars of the 2001 series, preparator Michelle Pinsdorf, and FossiLab volunteer Peter Finkel...

I've trained all my new students and everyone is busy processing. Here are images of their tables covered with paper-based collections. Most of them are processing CMU. Athletics organizational records. I'll show the film processing students another day.

CMU recently launched a new website which has altered the web addresses for some of the Clarke Historical Library's popular resources. If you have bookmarked these sites, you may wish to update your bookmarks. --Michigan Digital Newspaper Portal - https://www.cmich.edu/research/clarke-historical-library/services/digmich-newspaper-preservation/newspaper-digitization-and-microfilming --Aladdin Kit Homes - https://www.cmich.edu/research/clarke-historical-library/explore-collection/explore-online/michigan-material/alladin-company-bay-city --Aladdin Kit Catalogs - https://www.cmich.edu/research/clarke-historical-library/explore-collection/explore-online/michigan-material/alladin-company-bay-city/aladdin-catalogs --CMU History - https://www.cmich.edu/research/clarke-historical-library/explore-collection/explore-online/cmu-history If you have any trouble accessing Clarke resources with the new website, please contact the Clarke Historical Library (clarke@cmich.edu, 989-774-3352).

Creating and Caring for Digital Collections 3-day class, February 15-17, 10am-12pm Eastern (9-11am Central) Class Description: Libraries have long collected and preserved unique local history collections that tell stories about the places we live and work. But how do we start to bring these valuable collections into the 21st century? This course will provide an overview of basic considerations for starting a digital collections project, with a special focus on small or under-resourced institutions. Topics include project preparation and readiness, defining scope, assessment and selection, basic digitization, metadata standards and requirements, rights statements, providing access, digital preservation, and using digital collections in organizational advocacy. For questions, please email training@mcls.org. MOre information at https://mcls.corsizio.com/c/619515157161ca35ccf61f22

Our new digital microfilm planetary Zeutschel camera was installed last week. This expensive, state-of-the-art equipment arrived in various large, well wrapped boxes which occuppied a lot of space in the Clarke's back hall and Microfilming/Digitizing unit for a few weeks. It took all day for the tech man to assemble it. He broke a cord in the process, so now we must wait for a replacement. The old camera was so huge that you couldn't open/close the door all the way to get in or out of the filming room. My students and I took 4 large carts of recycling to the recycling dumpster late Fri to clear the hall. There are still 2 large wooden boxes and some plastic packing pieces to remove. The largest wooden box remaining in the hall is adult coffin-size. Last week I was so busy I couldn't even blog until now. I have 5 new students I trained and lots of ongoing and new work. We got new webpages, so are still adjusting to them. We also had COVID-impact last week, so I had my first...

Scientists Settled a Century-Old Family Drama Using DNA From Postcards at https://www.wired.com/story/dna-artifact-testing/ I found this very interesting story. DNA from saliva on a postcard stamp helped confirmed who a person's father was. There are no secrets anymore.

On my first day at work in 2022, I have an upgraded mask and a new mousepad.