Thursday, January 22, 2009

Back to School

The Spring 2009 semester has kicked off for San Jose State University, and so I begin another period of online study and coursework in the library field. The two courses I'm taking this semester represent areas I'm both interested in and have no experience with - Government Information Sources and Archives and Manuscripts. I can't say with any certainty that I'll ever focus on either of these areas in my library adventures, but I'm interested in becoming familiar with as many aspects of the field as possible. And anybody who knows me is aware of how much things like government information and archives mean to me.

So before I get bogged down with the drudgery of daily discussion postings and laborious readings, allow me to share something very cool that I'll be referring to often throughout the semester - the National Archives website. A wonderful online resource, this website allows individuals to access many of the documents preserved in the archival halls of the country, directs users to presidential libraries, and offers ways to request information not posted online. They also make available interactive guides to previous or ongoing archive exhibits. It's with no sense of shame that I report my favorite exhibit so far has to be the When Nixon Met Elvis display, complete with Elvis' original note to the President on American Airlines stationary in which he offered to fight the drug war by infiltrating the Black Panthers and SDS.

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