Like many people who sit in front of a computer screen to conduct work, I have made the fairly straightforward transition of working from home during the pandemic: I packed up my laptop and created makeshift workstations near power outlets throughout my cozy apartment.
I am the Cataloging and Metadata Librarian at the American Museum of Natural History Library. While I do need to refer to a physical object in order to describe it, much of my job can be done in bits and bytes. You would think that this format would lend itself to a painless adjustment for working remotely, but as I struggle to fill in the blank of this blog post, I am faced with a number of words to describe the setting of this moment.
"Data in the Time of Corona" was my original title. A fitting term for a person in my profession. As Ann Herendeen so succinctly described in her post about cataloging, metadata is a set of values containing descriptive information about all kinds of material -- this blog post, case in point. The title I am currently struggling with is a metadata field in its own right. And although “data” aligns with my work activities, I want to acknowledge circumstantial thoughts that bring an unexpected humanity to my otherwise automated metadata work.
"Nostalgia in the Time of Corona" came to mind while working on a set of records describing the Museum’s Temporary Exhibitions throughout the years. I have the task of encoding the metadata for publishing to the Library’s Archives Authorities site – an online resource offering contextual information about AMNH entities such as Museum-affiliated people, exhibitions, expeditions to name a few. Back in my office at the Library, I might have zoned out in a repetitive mechanical bustle of combo keystrokes and application functions in-step with the electronic music playing on my headphones. Admittedly, transforming information in spreadsheet cells into machine-readable structured data for enhanced searchability on our public site was a blissfully peaceful part of my day. It helped that, outside my Zen data garden, I could venture out into the Museum’s public spaces and explore the exhibitions IRL. Now, confined to my apartment working in isolation feels far from blissful. XML content completion is not exactly filling me with the same satisfaction when there is so much uncertainty beyond my four walls.
"Content in the Time of Corona." As I prepare to publish additional descriptive records for the Museum’s past Temporary Exhibitions, I find myself spending a little more time with the content, lingering in the details of past exhibitions I failed to see when they were open because I was on-site every day during the work week and there was “always tomorrow.”
Here’s one I missed: Nature's Fury: The Science of Natural Disasters. It explored the immense forces of nature that shape our planet -- from earthquakes and volcanoes to tornadoes and hurricanes. The exhibit uncovered the causes of these natural disasters and explored the consequences through interactive displays, animations and models. As I ruminate on the awesome power of natural forces, I feel humbled by the fragility of life. My son was born in the immediate aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. In that moment, I was giving life during a natural disaster. In the face of a different kind of fury of nature, COVID-19, I’ve sheltered in the safety of my home to protect myself and others from losing their lives.
"Hope in the Time of Corona." Working on these records of exhibits past give me a renewed sense of appreciation for public exhibition, education and dissemination of natural science data. It brings a concerted focus back on the mechanisms and causes of these powerful forces, often illuminating our part in it. I’m looking forward to a time when we can look back on the pandemic of 2020 and again learn from the forces of nature.
You can read more about the exhibition Nature’s Fury: the Science of Natural Disasters in the Library’s Archives Authority’s site, and see images of natural disasters curated by our Visual Resources Librarian, Stacy Schiff.
I would be remiss to not acknowledge one of Library’s dedicated volunteers, Roxanne Edwards, for the tremendous work she did compiling information and writing descriptions for so many of the Museum’s Temporary Exhibitions over its 150 years. As we continue to work from home, new records will be made public on our Archives Authorities site. Come visit (virtually, for now) and explore!
This is the seventh post in a series about how the Library's staff is working remotely and enriching its digital collections to enhance access to researchers and the public during the COVID-19 pandemic. This entry was written by Iris Lee, Metadata Librarian.