Starting to digitize

I got to work on digitizing the Roberts collection this week. It was great to put some practical experience to all that I had been reading about. It is so much easier to understand and remember histogram and bit rate, for instance, once you have actually used them. It is not as dry as my research would suggest.
We have not yet been able to get the METS working, it is some problem with the CaliSphere protocols. I don't entirely understand why yet. I am hopeful that once I get to actually do a few wrappers that I will know better.
On a different topic; I tested with the state archives a couple of months ago but apparently didn't pass the oral interview. So, I took the test for program technician last week and passed. Today I saw a posting at the Secretary of State department. It is my plan to try starting there as a tech and once I have a better understanding of the workings of the various departments that I will try again. Anyway, it is a plan.

Turner posting

Finally finished the Morrie Turner finding aid last week. I was able to do the EAD from beginning to end, posted on the OAC and entered it in Archivist's Toolkit. So far I don't see why it is so desirable to be able to use Archivist's Toolkit. It seems a useful thing and pretty easy to use. Of course I have not explored its full functionality yet but I think I could pick it up quickly.
I am very proud to have finished this finding aid from beginning to end. During my internship I was able to enter mostly the overview section into OAC. This time I was able to get the container list, series, sub-series levels. And the beat your head against the desk until you figure out the error message, argh! The archivist had a great idea on that, just copy and past the error section and look at just that. You can even look at it in larger type. Made it so much easier to pick out the problem.
Check out my posting.
http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c83n24mg/