UH Special Collections

I started my practicum at the University of Houston last week. Today, as a part of an on-going series where the different parts of the library invite other library staff to come to a presentation about their services, I went to a presentation by Special Collections. They started by introducing several of the people who work in that area, including talking about current projects, which sounded really great. I'd list them here, but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to or not, so I won't. I would just recommend keeping an or an ear out for new exhibits produced by Special Collections. I was able to see some of the old and rare stuff they have like a 16th century King James Bible in excellent condition.

They also took us on a tour of the vault, which is a very large and very cold room where they keep all the really old stuff--and some new stuff. They explained that they also keep all the theses written by UH PhD students and some new books that have been published that they feel are or will be classic works of literature in the future, like Gone with the Wind. As we walked down the rows, it was really neat to get a glimpse of some of their rare books. When we walked out, I saw a whole row of nothing but bibles of varying ages. I do have a question about the fifty years after Gutenberg created his printing press. Why is it only those books published during that time that get a special name? (By the way, they're called incunabule.)

Cataloging the World

Last night I had a dream that two friends and I were traveling around the world cataloging everything. Hmm...now that I think about it, maybe we were a part of that scene in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy where they had to replace the earth and everything on it back in its right spot. Or maybe it just means that I have finally taken in enough library stuff that I'm starting to live it...or something like that. It's kind of like you really know when you're truly understanding a foreign language when you dream in that language. Maybe it just means I'm finally getting this library stuff.

New House Update

It's been raining for several days now off and on, but yesterday we had what my landlord described as a driving rain, which was a possible explanation for the leak in the walls of the kitchen. Yep. Just after I finally unpack the kitchen, line the shelves with non-adhesive contact paper, stack all the dishes and glasses into my pristine cupboards, up springs this nicely spread out leak that has run trails of orange colored water in the cupboards, the curtain in the window, and all down the backsplash. As my friends sing, "ooooold houses..."

The nice thing about this house, though, is that it is a good three or four feet off the ground so I shouldn't have to worry about flooding. (I hope.)