Most of the patron requests I handle at work involve little interaction between myself and the requestor. This streamlines my work, but it is nice to occasionally meet with patrons to learn about how they are using digitized versions of library collections material. There have been two orders over the last quarter where I did indeed get some insight about projects for which I’m responsible. The first is developing into an on-going collaboration between an international artist, the library, and the Block Museum. His request allowed me the opportunity to work with the Duckworth collection from our Africana special library. The second came from a professor who is working to create an online repository of classic literature dating to Shakespeare’s time for academic research and discovery. Working with original collections material is what’s drawn me to this field, but it’s that much more rewarding when I can learn how others are using our work.
Crops from a few of the Duckwoth images.
One of the classics being digitized.
