
Posts Tagged ‘saa’

Missed Opportunities: a haiku

August 31, 2011

So, maybe you heard that I was one of the winners of this archives haiku contest? Some people asked for an illustrated version, so here you go. I made this one extra big so you can print it out at any size and stick it on your wall.

Title: Missed Opportunities. Haiku: Hey, handsome stranger/ Saw your pic in the archives/ Too bad you're dead now. And who's that daguerreotype hottie? "Portrait of a Young Man," from the Museum of Photographic Arts Collections http://www.flickr.com/photos/mopa1/5710931881

Title: Missed Opportunities. Haiku: Hey, handsome stranger/ Saw your pic in the archives/ Too bad you're dead now. And who's that daguerreotype hottie? "Portrait of a Young Man," from the Museum of Photographic Arts Collections http://www.flickr.com/photos/mopa1/5710931881

Deranging SAA

August 17, 2011

Derangers, come find me at SAA and I will give you one of these for your badge:

Deranger ribbon

Deranger ribbon

Unless you are the archivist who so generously indulged my desire to hear the phrase “XSLin’ like a felon” in an SAA webinar, in which case your ribbon is already in the mail to you. (If you aren’t coming to SAA but still want a ribbon, let me know after the conference and we’ll work something out.)

Likely places to find me are:

  • The Social Media Forum, where you’ll get to see what happens when SAA lets me work on a presentation
  • The Tweetup and Beer Roundtable
  • The Drexel reception
  • The SAA Career Center, from 11 AM-1 PM on Saturday. I will be offering career advice and hugs.
  • Anywhere with free food (students and new archivists represent!)

Post-SAA Howl

August 16, 2010

(Edited August 16, 2020 to include a transcript at the end of this post.)

(If you want to share today’s comic, please link to this post instead of copying the image–the context is very important. Thank you!)

Those of you who know me as an archives tech, rather than as a webcomicker, know that I am passionate about supporting archives students and new archivists. I started the original Crash Space for Archivists and listed my house. I support my local SAA student chapter. I CC-license my comics so that students (and others) have a large collection of free, archives-themed images to use in their papers and presentations. You could say that my interest in these issues, as an aspiring archivist,  is somewhat self-serving, but as someone with a full-time, non-grant-funded archives job, I am unaffected by many of the issues facing new members of our profession (and pretty damn lucky).

When I attended SAA this year, I was fortunate to meet lots of experienced archivists–many of whom were excited to meet me because I post drawings on the Internet. But you’ve probably read their papers and seen their conference presentations and subscribed to their blogs already.

I also met some great students and recent grads. You probably wouldn’t recognize most of their names. And these are the people I want to talk about, because I worry about them, archivists. It is amazing the things that people will tell you when you have no power to hire anyone, and now I’m angry. Really angry. It almost makes me want to…howl?

Enter a caption

I worry about these kids. And I worry about you, archivists, and your profession,  because I worry that these archivists will take their skills and ideas and find jobs outside the field instead of putting up with all this bullshit. And how can you truly preserve your collections in the long term if there is no one to replace you if you change jobs or retire or get crushed in your own compact shelving?

I know there are influential archivists out there who read this blog, as well as plenty of people new to the field. I want to read all your ideas for how to fix this, here, elsewhere on the Internet, or privately. (You can post anonymous comments here, but WordPress will show me your IP address on the back end–if that makes you nervous, don’t leave a comment.) I want to get back to writing the humorous comics you’ve all come to expect from DnD, but I can’t work on the funny stuff unless other people step up to take care of the serious stuff.

–Rebecca

(Photo credits, top to bottom: National Library of Wales, George Eastman House, the Library of Virginia, the U.S. National Archives, JWA Commons.)

Transcript:

I saw the new archivists of my generation

destroyed by burnout,

starving desperate unemployed,

dragging themselves to internships

where they worked for nothing but the promise of “good work experience,”

idealistic scholars accumulating debt

for a degree that guaranteed nothing,

who delayed plans for houses,

and marriages,

and children,

citing the uncertainty of their chosen vocation,

who relied on the income

of partners they otherwise regarded

as their equals,

who vented to me

outside the hotel

before leaving

the conference

she used

her vacation time

to attend,

as the illusion

of equality

among colleagues

ended

with the last

plenary session.

 

Dangers and Derangers

August 12, 2010

Here’s an image Lance and I made for his SAA presentation on Friday. Be sure to check it out at the Preservation Section meeting!

Hooray for comics! I have heard rumors of comics appearing in various SAA presentations–thanks for the visual shout-out, y’all, and don’t forget to cite!

Some swag you can bring to SAA

August 5, 2010

A million points to anyone who prints and hangs one of these in the conference hotel.

If you are worried about meeting new people at SAA, why not add this badge to your nametag, and let the archivists with excellent taste in webcomics find you?

Hooray for SAA! I hope to see you at the SAA Tweetup and the session I’m presenting at.

Rejected themes for SAA’s 75th anniversary

May 28, 2010

At least, I assume they would be rejected…

Yeah, I am so getting my ass kicked in DC. Cudos to @amycsc for the inspiration, and don’t forget to submit better ideas to SAA by the 31st!

Photo credits (all from Flickr Commons):

Panel 1: New York Public Library

Panel 2: The U.S. National Archives

Panel 3: LSE Library

Mayday! Mayday!

May 1, 2009

comic28_mayday

Well, what is your archives doing for May Day? SAA has a list of ideas if you’re feeling uncreative.

awkward turtle

February 5, 2009

comic15_turtle

 

Decided to post this week’s comic early, while the topic is still fresh. Personally, I think gay marriage is awesome, and probably won’t lead to anyone marrying box turtles.

(Hat tip to Records Junkie. He’s got a pretty good discussion going on over on his blog, but comments are also welcome here.)

Deranged Bedfellows

January 11, 2009

comic11

Wouldn’t it be awesome if members of the preferred sex came with a handbook too?
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