Mary Jackson, The Bancroft Library (UC Berkley), Summer 2019, NEH
My summer was spent in the Digital Collections Unit (DCU) at The Bancroft Library, the primary special collections library at the University of California, Berkeley. During my internship I worked on three projects: 1) Recordings at Risk; 2) Project IRENE; and 3) VHS Transfers. The library has an extensive and heavily used environmental movement collection. My work on the Recordings at Risk project included identifying moving image and sound items for reformatting for a grant proposal, assisting with quality control procedures on digitized files, and captioning and transcribing digitized videos. As part of Project IRENE, I assisted the Digital Imaging Specialist with an item-level inventory of phonodiscs to support selection, prioritization, and preservation planning. Lastly, I developed an onsite digitization station plan for, at this stage, VHS tapes. This will support staff’s efforts to assess the contents of tapes in the collection and identify preservation priorities. In addition, my supervisor arranged for additional professional development opportunities during my time at the library. I received training in cleaning the internal components of a VCR, as well as participated in a visit to Canyon Films to receive additional instruction on film projection. The Bancroft internship provided me with exposure to a variety of new and interesting areas in the management of A/V collections. I benefited greatly from the knowledge and expertise of the DCU staff.
Mary Jackson interned at The Bancroft Library (UC Berkeley) in Summer 2019.
