Retrieving the Past: UMBC History Interns : More about my Adventures at the LOC! #2

Hello everyone! I am back again to tell you more about my summer adventure at the Library of Congress. As I may have mentioned in my first post, I was an intern at the Copyright Office (COP) for ten weeks. During this time, I learned so much about the Library of Congress and the Copyright Office itself. The particular internship I was selected for was the Copyright Archival Records Digitization, and the main objective of this internship was to increase the access of copyright collections to researchers. At the Copyright Office, there are file cabinets with thousands of bibliographic files from the 1950s through the 1980s. These special files were developed and long-used by Copyright staff for reports on the copyright status of works. Many of the files include search reports which are objective statements of the results from searches in the COP records, original dust jacket deposits, obituaries, correspondence, and copies of applications. As a Junior Fellow, my task was to look through these files and decide whether or not they should be digitized.

During my time at the COP, I was able to go through 2,000 bibliographic files with the help of another Junior Fellow named Swatha. We had to work together to create a metadata scheme which would essentially become a finding aid for COP staff assigned to the digitization of the files. The first thing we did was to create a spreadsheet on excel that contained metadata meaning the cabinet|folder name|number files within the folder|author(s)|claimant(s)|date| registration number(s)|type of work(s)|. For the duration of the internship, we took inventory of the files while also doing extensive research. For example to decide whether a file should be digitized, we had to do research on the importance of the works. One of the most interesting files I came across was that of Francis Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby. This was a file worthy of digitizing as Fitzgerald himself contributed to American Culture with his portrayal of the Jazz Age and grand gestures that took place. The amount of reading I did this summer was exhausting, but it was worth it. One of the trickiest things about this internship was time-management and literacy skills. On top of creating this metadata scheme, my colleague I had several oral briefings There were several occasions where we had to explain our tasks and findings to the Librarian of Congress Dr. Carla Hayden and Register of Copyrights Karyn Temple. This was very nerve-wracking as we had to know how different Copyright Acts impacted the status of works. However, I quickly became comfortable with presenting because I had done my research on the 1976 Copyright Act and the 1988 Digital Millennium Copyright Act. I enjoyed my time at the COP because I not only got to do research, but I also learned about a bit about intellectual property.

Figure 1. Dr. Hayden explaining Oculus to me

Figure 2. Original Copyright Registration for The Great Gatsby 1925

Upon the completion of my assignment, I also had to work with my partner to create a display day project. I want to say that this was the most fascinating part of my internship. All of the interns in the program worked with Library curators and specialists to plan and present a display of the most significant discoveries we made. My partner and I chose to display a search report regarding the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald, a tray from the COP’s copyright catalog (largest in the world btw), The World Crisis book deposit, a special search report on the works of Winston Churchill, and a marbled record book from 1925. It was amazing because we got to present our findings to congressional staff members and the general public. This experience taught me a lot about preservation especially because I was able to see how they test for the acidity of paper as well as how they rehouse materials. It was just amazing!