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 With all the snow on the ground here this morning, I think of Christmas. My intern Liz Uzarski found this example (1 page front & back) of children's art and Christmas greeting, in German, in the Carstens family papers. We are still processing the papers. I did very similar work in English as a child. Holiday greetings and children's art are universal themes. Enjoy and drive safely today. 

  CMU held an AI Symposium last Friday. Here are some quotes that resonated with me.  AI isn’t coming for your job, but someone who works w AI is. AI can’t replace hands on learning experience, such as labs & [archival] internships.  [Yeah! This is so good for me and my archival internships!] Librarians need to be involved as digital experts. About Student AI equity concerns: CMU Student already have access to AI in Adobe and Firefox and, soon, Ultra Blackboard. We are not [yet all] teaching them about and how to use AI, that is the equity problem. We must interact w tools & figure out how to teach students to use them to elevate our understanding & use. Conversations within departments about how faculty were thinking about AI and using it was not as helpful or as expansive as conversing w faculty from other depts using it and thinking about it in totally different ways.

T he Library of Michigan is pleased to announce that the Improving Access to Information grant programs is open for 2024!   This LSTA grant program is designed to provide  public and academic libraries and library cooperatives  with the opportunity to expand services for learning and access to information and/or to develop library services that provide all users access to information. The intent is to fund one-year projects that increase capacity to provide access to library collections and information for users. The expected focus will be the  improvement in access to library users  in one of the three priorities listed below and that align with the LSTA priorities listed in the grant documentation. Proposals that do not focus on improving access to users do not fit the criteria.   Improve access to services & information in areas of literacy. Improve access to services & information in areas of local history or specia...

Michigan's weather has been insane this week with drastic changes from 74 degrees here Tues. to tornados and freezing cold Weds. Recently my student Max and I processed and described a reel#180 of Channel 9 & 10 News from January 1976. Below are some still images of snowy scenes reminding us of how much the winter weather has changed since then.  The reel started with a Coast Guard Icebreaker breaking up ice near the Soo. This year the Great Lakes never froze over completely. The first three images below are from a segment titled Governor's Cup Ski Race at Crystal Mountain Jan. 17, 1976. Then we have two general snowy MI scenes, unidentified, which is not uncommon. Then we have what is described as Sault Ste Marie Bowl/Bowling in snow, Jan. 17, 1976, although they are not bowling. We could not figure out what they were really doing. Next are four images of snowmobiling at Tahquamenon Falls. This entire segment, Snowmobile #182 Jan. 2, 1976, has red dye deterioration damage....

Once again, I'm very proud to post about CMU junior Kenndall Wallace and her awesome playwriting accomplishments. In January Kenndall (pictured above third from right) again attended the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival Region 3 in Flint. She was the KCACTF,  John Cauble One Act Play Regional Finalist for her play “Momma’s Boy.” Kenndall thought it was a great experience. She gets feedback from the actors performing her play. From the Writers Guild she learned a lot about writing style and tailoring material for specific audiences and that you don't always get the audience you want. Next year when a senior, Kenndall hopes to participate with a two-act play. She received a lot of advice in Flint about how to approach writing a two-act play. An established playwright encouraged Kenndall to continue forward, to submit plays to theatres, and to be find ways to continue practice writing free-lance on the side while pursuing full time work as a playwright. When Kennda...

 My film student Max and I were watching 9&10 News reel 162 and enjoyed a silent segment on Bear Mountain in Grayling. Here are some still shots I took from "Bear Mountain"  9/24/1974. It was a very snowy day. Shots include the Bear Mountain Sign, the Fred Bear Museum, the Polygedron Hotel, ticket booth, Games building, Inn sign, skiiers on the lift, and cars driving on snowy road. Neither the miniature train, Little Smokey, nor the stage coach are in this film.                                                                                        

Let's hope 2024 is a good year. Below is excellent information about disaster preparedness and recovery of damaged family materials, personal digital archiving, and lists of workshops & funding sources from the Northeast Documentation Conservation Center (NEDCC), which specializes in conservation, digitization, audio preservation, and preservation training.  Top Preservation Leaflets: - Emergency Salvage of Moldy Books and Paper - Temperature, Relative Humidity, Light, and Air Quality: Basic Guidelines for Preservation - A Short Guide to Film Base Photographic Materials: Identification, Care, and Duplication New NEDCC Stories: - Digitizing Oversized Scrapbooks - Visiting Researcher Examines the Pastels of James McNeill Whistler - A Case Study in Producing Bound Facsimiles Most Viewed Videos: - D isaster Preparedness for Small Organizations in California - Personal Digital Archiving - Creating Archival Book Encl...