|
Staffing the Evening Shift
For those of you who don’t get to visit Interference Archive regularly, we want to share thoughts and idas from our volunteers. Below is an excerpt of a longer piece posted on our blog by volunteer Michele Hardesty
"After several years of coming to Interference Archive events, and even doing a bit of work in the collections, I became a sustaining contributor last fall, and then I began staffing the Thursday evening shift. Evenings are often busy with meetings, events, and installations, but Thursday is the only evening when there are open hours at IA. These are just what they sound like: times the archive and its exhibitions are staffed by volunteers and open to visitors.
Early this year, I started hosting “cataloging parties†on Thursday nights, with the help of fellow volunteers Jen Hoyer and Drew Gordon. What “cataloging†means in this case is making digital records of our holdings for the online catalog that launched this past year. Right now the online catalog represents only a fraction of our collection. However, as we populate it, the catalog will make it easier for researchers to find things in the collection, and it will make our holdings accessible beyond the physical space of the archive. At the same time, opening the process of cataloging to all volunteers is another way in which we practice community archiving."
If you’re interested in volunteering at Interference Archive, check out our website for info on how to get involved, or email info@interferencearchive.org. You can also support the amazing work of all our volunteers by making a financial donation.
|
