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Yesterday CMU held its first job fair for first year students. This is the only student job fair where all units were represented that I recall in my years at CMU. I volunteered to represent the Clarke for the first half of the event with a nice group of co-workers from multiple units within the CMU Libraries. Hundreds of students attended, many were lined up and waiting for us. Some students were interested specifically in working in the library and archives! We had fun destressor Library pencils we handed out. I love them and so did the students! Now I can destress by squeezing my CMU OCRIE squirrel in one hand and my CMU Libraries pencil in the other! I should be calmer in no time. Here are photos: left to right: Me, Michael Curcuruto, Vicky Swarthout, and Denise Pahl.  This gives you an idea of their size and squeeze-ability.

While inventorying a large mixed format collection of a potential donor, my interns found music printing blocks. The blocks have typeset  lines of music and lyrics, and when printed in a printing press, created hymnals.  What is particularly interesting is these hymns are mostly in Ojibwa and Odawa, with some Latin for hymns like Panis Angelicus. The hymnal was used at the Holy Childhood School, Harbor Springs, MI. While I've seen printing blocks before, and we have some in our collection, they are for images printed in ads and blocks to print calling cards, not music. The printing block is a mirror image of how we would read it. It must be created this way for it to print so we can read it.   These are atypical music printing blocks because of the language and the history of Holy Childhood. Built in 1829 with help from Odawa tribes, Holy Childhood School was open for a few years during which children learned lessons in their mother tongue, Anishinaabemowin. However, as federal pol

  Albion  District Library Archivist has moved on to an exciting educational opportunity this fall.  Therefore, Albion District Library is accepting applications for Local History Room Archivist.     Local History Room Archivist Starting wage is $16.80/hour for this part-time, hourly, non-exempt position scheduled for approximately 25-32 hours weekly. Benefits include paid holidays, paid sick leave (after six months), and paid vacation (after one year).   Under the direct supervision of the Library Director, the Archivist is responsible for the Local History Room, local history material collection development and processing, local history and genealogy reference services and programming, supervising/directing part-time employees and volunteers assisting in the Local History Room, and promoting ADL’s Local History Room services and collections in the community. The Archivist also supports broader library service with regular shifts at our patron circulation desks, as scheduled.

  Katie Higley, a CMU senior and student employee in the Clarke Historical Library archives unit, and the lead in the Clarke’s Historic Films Preservation Project, was recently selected to receive the CMU Shapiro Prize in Social and Behavioral Sciences in the amount of $2,000 for the 2022-2023 academic year. This endowment is funded through gifts from Dr. E. Gary and Myra Shapiro. Dr. Shapiro has dedicated more than 35 years of service to Central Michigan University, including serving as Provost and as Dean of the College of Humanities and Social and Behavioral Sciences. He joined CMU as a sociology faculty member in 1978 and became an administrator in 1989. He then served as director of institutional research, assistant Vice Provost of institutional research and planning, interim registrar, and Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences. He became the first Dean of the College of Humanities and Social and Behavioral Sciences in July 1997. Katie’s name will also be placed on a permanent plaqu

  Fannie Baty at Benzonia College Andy Bolander from the Benzie Area Historical Society (BAHS) contacted me to see if I could verify some data regarding Fannie Baty. BAHS accumulated the information, which I have permission from him to include in this blog, about Fannie. Fannie is documented as graduating from what was then called the Central State Normal School, now CMU, in 1901. This makes  Fannie the earliest documented African American graduate from CMU. Previously, Emma Norman Todd, of the Old Settlers Association, held that distinction, having graduated in 1907. Emma remains the first African American CMU graduate from the Old Settlers Association. As I noted when I did extensive research on the topic of early minority graduates at CMU in 2015, we may never know who all the early graduates of color were. The majority of early CMU records were burned in a campus fire, some students did not or could not afford to pay for their senior photograph to be included in the yearbook, and

Finally. the Clarke's new exhibit lighting is installed, the ceiling patched and repainted, and the exhibit cases all returned to their locations, dusted and clean. For the last month, the cases and other exhibit displays were squished into the reading room and back hall. The new bulbs are less powerful than the old ones, decreasing potential light damage to exhibit materials. One bank of lights is calibrated for very light sensitive materials.

APPLICATION PERIOD EXTENDED! Complete applications (cover letter, resume, ADL application) must be received before 5:00pm on Saturday, August 13. Our Archivist is moving on to an exciting educational opportunity this fall. Therefore, Albion District Library is accepting applications for this part-time position. Local History Room Archivist Starting wage is $16.80/hour for this part-time, hourly, non-exempt position scheduled for approximately 25-32 hours weekly. Benefits include paid holidays, paid sick leave (after six months), and paid vacation (after one year). Under the direct supervision of the Library Director, the Archivist is responsible for the Local History Room, local history material collection development and processing, local history and genealogy reference services and programming, supervising/directing part-time employees and volunteers assisting in the Local History Room, and serving as a public face of the LHR while promoting services and collections in the com