Spring 2021
Learning about how to properly maintain collections of rare or unusual books - May 11, 2021
INFO 5450 was a wonderful class. Professor Hoyenski did an excellent job teaching us about the history of the printed word and how we can best take care of rare book materials. One of the most interesting aspects of the class was learning about the construction of books and how they have changed over time. We went through the whole process of making a book, from making the paper to printing to binding, particularly how it was done before modern mass-production printing was introduced. We learned about the earliest printing presses and how they developed into the modern printing methods we have today. We also discussed printing adjacent topics like illustration and how images were first set down on paper. Professor Hoyenski brought in rare book materials from his own collection so we could get hands on experience with identifying and handling them. Along with this, we discussed the proper methods of handling and presenting materials, like not over bending spines and using book cradles. I found this extremely stimulating and helpful, since I am more of a hands-on learner in many ways.
This documentary provides a great introduction to the invention of the printed word.
A particularly interesting subject we touched on was the process of imposition. As a part of the printing process, imposition guides how sheets of paper are printed so that they can later be folded to form gatherings (or alternatively, signatures) and still have all the pages in order. Professor Hoyenski gave us large sheets of paper and asked us to try to figure out how certain signature formats, like duodecimo and octavo, were folded. This was quite fun and gave me a new appreciation for the work that went into book making in the past. The professor also briefly discussed modern binding techniques, like perfect binding, and how they differ from those of the past and what problems they can present. All of this information, aside from being very useful for my overall education, also came into use when I was doing my final project for the class. I will discuss this project in much greater detail in my next reflection post.
Creating my own paper and book - May 13, 2021
For our final project in INFO 5450, Professor Hoyenski gave us the option either writing a research paper or reproducing one of the rare book materials that we had learned about in the class. For my final project, I ended up making a book from scratch. This included making the paper for the text block and binding the whole thing together. I had become enamored with the paper making process when we had learned about it in the class, so I knew I wanted to do that. However, professor Hoyenski had said that he wanted whatever we made to require at least a similar amount of work as writing the paper would. For some reason, I felt that just making some paper wouldn't be enough to meet the professor's requirement. So, I asked professor Hoyenski if I could make a book from scratch for the project. At first, he was a little concerned because he wasn't sure how much would be "from scratch" since that could end up being a lot of work. I reassured him that I just meant the text block and binding the whole thing together and he agreed that that would make for a good project. In hindsight, just making the paper probably would have been enough.
The finished product.
Before I could start making anything, I need to decide what kind of book I was going to make. By this I mean, what size and format of book am I going to make. I decided that I wanted to use an older binding style, rather than a modern perfect binding. I also decided that I wasn't going to print anything in the book and instead make a sort of notebook with blank pages. That being said, I did end up writing a little bit in the book using a fountain pen just to test if I could before I hand it in, but most of the pages were left blank. Before I could make any paper, I needed to buy or make a mould and deckle that I could use to actually make my paper. This was probably the second hardest part of the whole process. There are places online that you can buy moulds and deckles, like etsy, but they are quite expensive, and, at the time, I just didn't really have the money to buy something like that. So, instead of buying them, I decided to make my own. Luckily, professor Hoyenski had already given me some ideas in class about how I could make my own mould and deckle and I chose to go with his suggestions. This involved buying two picture frames and stapling some kind of mesh to one of the frames to catch the paper fibres. The other frame, unmeshed frame, would be used as the deckle. The hardest part of this process was finding pictures frames that were both small enough and strong enough for my needs. My wife and I went to numerous hobby stores before I found a set of picture frames that would work. Once I got my mould and deckle made, I could finally start making my paper. This was the most challenging part of the whole project.
Another angle.
To begin making paper, I first had to fill a tub with water and pulp (paper fibre). I created the pulp by first shredding some old paper in our paper shredder and then blending it using a handheld blender. This took a long time because I had to blend the pulp for a while before it got to a good size and consistency. Once I had my pulp and water mixture, I was ready to dip in my mould and deckle. My first dozen attempts at dipping were quite unsuccessful. The paper was either too thick, too thin, or was uneven. Eventually, I was able to create a couple of sheets that I was happy with. They were still far from perfect, but they were good enough for this project. I had to transfer the sheet of paper from my mould to a piece of cloth, which would be used to dry it out and press it down. I went through a number of different fabric types before I settled on using chamois rags since they didn't stick to the paper like of materials did. After pressing and drying, I finally had my paper. It certainly wasn't the highest quality paper, but it was still paper. Now that I had my paper, I could bind it up into a book. This part was pretty straight forward because I pretty much just followed a tutorial from the YouTube channel SeaLemon. All in all, despite all the challenges, it was a very intellectually rewarding project and I ended up getting a good grade, which is always a plus. It also gave me enough confidence with the book making process that I may end up doing it again for fun in future at some point.
Exploring the world of digital imaging - May 15, 2021
INFO 5815 was a class that I was especially looking forward to ever since I started my degree. I am extremely interested in how technology can be used to aid in the preservation of materials and I was excited to learn about digital imaging and how it could be used in the field of library science. The week-to-week work for the class was pretty nice in that it let us focus in on subjects we found interesting in the weekly readings. Each week we were tasked with further researching a few topics of our choice from that week's readings and creating a short write-up about them with some sources. I really liked this because it allowed me to deep dive into the topics that I found interesting. We went through so many topics for the class but there were a few that really stood out to me.
Metadata was a particularly interesting subject, because I had never really thought about how important it is to the digital imaging process. You may think about capturing obvious information like who created an object or where it was made, but you might not think about more technical metadata that is just as useful like what camera did you use, what were the focus and aperture settings, and what bit depth and resolution did you shoot in. There is a lot of information we may not think to include, but in all actuality that is probably some of the most important information we can capture. Capturing structural and administrative metadata aids in the preservation process because it gives us better insights into what an image is actual representing and how its contents relate to other images in our collections.
Working on a digitization project - May 15, 2021
The final project for INFO 5815 was a digitization project. The setup for the project was that we were being asked by a local museum to take photos of items around our house that play into our daily lives. We also needed to capture metadata about each object using a metadata schema of our choice. Lastly, we needed to upload the photos to an image sharing site so that they could be shared with the museum (really our professor). I loved this project both while I was doing it and thinking back on it now. It was both challenging and extremely rewarding. I had to make use of all the knowledge I had learned about digital imaging up to that point. I also really wanted to try and take the best photos I could for both my own gratification and because I thought it would be good to show off the kind of work I can do. I am by no means an experienced photographer, really I barely take photos in my everyday life. I am just not one of those people. However, I am technically minded and I can figure out new technology pretty quickly. As a result, I think the images I turned out were pretty good for an amateur. You can check them out here: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmVqxCvi.
That being said, it was not all smooth sailing. I did have a lot of trouble getting flat lighting and keeping as much of each object in focus as possible. Most of these problems, I believe, came down to a combination of my inexperience and a lack of proper equipment. I did have access to a nice digital single-lens mirrorless Sony camera that I borrowed from my wife, as well as a tripod, but other than that I had to come up with the rest of my backdrop and lighting setup using things I had lying around my apartment. It was really a slapdash setup, which makes the final results even more surprising in my opinion. The actual photography was really the most challenging part of the whole project. Metadata capture is very similar to cataloging and I was already use to doing that at this point so it went by pretty smoothly. I ended up using the VRA Core 4.0 metadata schema because it best fit to the needs of the assignment and my objects. Overall, I was really proud of this project and it will definitely be something I that will always look back on fondly.