#archivists

[todays-xkcd]

They just want researchers in the enclosure to feel enriched and stimulated. ('The Enclosure' is what archivists call the shadowy world outside their archives in which so many people are trapped.)

Archive Request [Explained]

Transcript Under the Cut

[Cueball sits at a desk, on his laptop.]

Computer: To request data from the archives, fill out this form. The pages will be scanned, encoded to CD-ROM, and mailed to you within 10 business days. Computer: Download the decoder for our propriety format here (requires Windows 98® or XP®). Cueball: Ugh, fine...

Caption: Archivists actually have everything in digital repos now, but they still do this to provide enrichment for researchers, the way zoos hide food for animals in hard-to-open-boxes.

[jstor]

Want to write for JSTOR and get paid to do it?

Have you used JSTOR for a project in a unique or interesting way? Are you a faculty member or librarian who uses JSTOR in instruction? Got any pointers or cool techniques for incorporating JSTOR into research or even archival workflows?

If so, we want to hear from you! We're accepting submissions of drafts for blog posts, teaching resources, librarian tips, and more. Your work could be featured on the JSTOR Blog or JSTOR Daily and contribute to a wider conversation about how JSTOR supports critical thinking and deeper learning. This is a great opportunity to add a new publication to your CV/resumé and inspire peers across institutions.

We're especially interested in examples that show how JSTOR supports engagement with primary sources, the development of research skills, or interdisciplinary discovery—whether that’s through direct student use or the behind-the-scenes work that makes those moments possible.

Some more details:

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Wide audience: higher ed, secondary ed, scholars, libraries, and lifelong learners

Learn more and submit your drafts here!

Image: A Scholar/Apothecary Mixing a Concoction with a Pestle and Mortar and Writing down the Remedy; an Emblem from a Drug Jar. Watercolour. Wellcome Collection.

[genevawrenn]

Philza, upon learning the grave of Cellbit he has spent the last half an hour searching for does not exist :

[u-mspcoll]

Meet our archives cats!

Chloe!

Charmander!

Roxanne!

Oliver!

Meet a few of our archives cats!

[deadpresidents]

Answering that question about writing to Presidents reminds me of something that I found fascinating. When I lived in Austin many years ago, I went to the LBJ Library a million times obviously, but on one of my visits, I met with the Supervisory Archivist who explained some of the inner workings of the library to me (a really cool experience, by the way). When you walk into the LBJ Library, one of the most incredible things is seeing the several floors of archival materials in their red boxes:

Those are filled with millions of feet of papers -- from the important to the seemingly meaningless -- from President Johnson's Administration and they are available for archivists to research. But to illustrate how LBJ and his Administration archived EVERYTHING, the supervisory archivist told me that if your parent or grandparent (or you, if you were alive at the time) wrote a letter to President Johnson or the White House between 1963-1969, it is archived somewhere in those files. How cool is that?!

[bitcell]

"okay. ey, wait before you go, uuh... dad, should i put sharpness I in my axe?"

philza needs to add cellbit to his long list of minecraft sons.

[stellanslashgeode]

You know what’s always broken immersion for me? Jocasta Nu flippantly telling Obi-Wan that Kamino doesn’t exist if it’s not in the archives despite him having eyewitnesses and data of its gravitational effects.

George knew anything about librarians Jocasta Nu would have skipped her lunch to call up a dozen other repositories to see what they had and she’d have gone along with him just to document the error. Even after Kenobi telling her it’s okay, she can chill.

Somehow, I think she’d sense Dooku fucking messed with her goddamn data, too and she’d take that personally.