Pawarisa Nipawattanapong, NYU Bobst Library, Summer 2012, Mellon Foundation
In Summer 2012, I worked for the Video at Risk: Strategies for Preserving Commercial Video Collections in Research Libraries at NYU's Bobst Library, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, under the supervision of Walter Forsberg. My main task for this internship included the experiment of tape baking and desiccant using. I researched and collected information about tape baking and desiccant using, as well as designed the experiment. I had the great opportunity to work with Eric Breitung, a scientist of Preservation Research and Testing Division at Library of Congress, to conduct the tape degradation experiment by using the Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR) spectroscopy.
I also performed the OCLC replaceable research for the Mellon project, by searching items from the lists of NYU Avery Fisher Center on the OCLC WorldCat database and Amazon websites to ensure that the items are uniquely held by NYU. Another interesting task is a mini web project named ‘Video Art’. I scanned over 160 the VHS tape covers and uploaded images and data of VHS distribution companies to the Video at Risk’s blog on Tumblr. In addition, I had the opportunity to work at Barbara Goldsmith Preservation and Conservation Department’s video lab at NYU library two days a week under supervision of Alice Moscoso, and Ben Moskowitz. From this internship, I learned a lot of things and gained various skills that I can apply to my study and work: research, writing, and communication skills. We have to learn and update knowledge all the time. It is impossible that we will know everything, but we can be a specialist by learning and practicing.
Pawarisa Nipawattanapong at Bobst
