Searching the Archives Thursday, January 26th (2-6pm)

Today, I staffed the reading room reference desk. It was a quiet shift, although there were a few researchers already looking at materials when I arrived. I assisted one researcher who wanted to know whether we had staff names for the Texas Memorial Museum for the period of time between the 1970s and 1980s. I had been asked this question before so I directed her to the museum's annual reports located in our general collection which contained staff listings. I also researched and responded to two reference emails: one came from an architect who was looking for aerial maps of the Brentwood neighborhood to prepare for a talk the architect was giving. I directed him to the City of Austin's online aerial mapping program and also let him know that we have physical copies of the aerial maps onsite if he wanted to visit the AHC in person. The other reference email came from a patron seeking documents relating to the renaming of the Mexican American Cultural Center plaza to the Perez-Ramosplaza. I researched and downloaded the relevant City of Austin's edim records, reviewed our archival collections for related documents, and began drafting a responsive email. I'll finish that tomorrow.

I met with Nancy Toombs, the head of public services, to discuss the event we are hosting this coming Sunday and what my responsibilities will be during that event. I also met with my immediate supervisor Jennifer Hecker to clarify a few things: I had a question about standard procedures for logging visits in our reading room tracker and another inquiry regarding the procedure for determining whether specific archival collections are onsite or in the offsite temporary storage facility that AHC is using while construction is ongoing. At closing, I tidied up the reading room, returned items to dollies for re-shelving purposes, and closed out the cash drawer.

Maria-Elena Cigarroa

Supervisor: Jennifer Hecker

General Schedule: Sundays (11-6); Thursdays (2:00-6:00); Fridays (12:30-5:30)