Fall Finish Line

Posted November 25, 2025 by Will Romey

The end of the semester is almost upon us! I’ve got one more class online this evening, then a whole week off from both my Simmons courses and work at the bar. I’m looking forward to hitting this break with a lot of academic momentum – there’s some reading and writing I’m looking forward to getting into that’s been pushed aside by the immediate needs of class work. I’ve got some ideas on applying bibliographic techniques to e-books, which’ll be fun to think about while in a tryptophan-fueled fugue state.

But, to get to the Fall semester finish line I need to finish a few things. First, my paper and presentation for LIS 471 (Photographic Archives), which is a close analysis of the Howes brothers’ dry-plate glass negatives held at Historic Northampton. This incredible set of images (linked here) has been fascinating to explore, both for the portraits of people and places right in my backyard in Western MA, but also for the convoluted path the negatives took to their current home. Exploring the history of a specific image collection in an archive has been an eye-opening way to study how objects are moved and stored, and the relationship between different historical societies. I’m looking forward to sharing some of this gossip information with the class when I return from break.

Next, I need to complete my website for LIS 488 (Technology for Information Professionals). This course is one of the core requirements for all the LIS concentrations, so I’m glad to have been through the technical orientation. While much of it was re-hashing things I’ve done before, it was nice to reinforce some of these foundational skills before getting into higher-level courses. I’ve enjoyed building a website / portfolio for the final project – here’s a link to the half-baked site (perhaps it’ll be fully baked by the time this post comes out). As someone who abandoned social media sites a few years ago, it’s nice to have a way to share my collages, audio recordings, and academic work in one place.

Then, just a few more classes for 491 (Rare Book Librarianship and Special Collections). This course doesn’t have a specific final project or paper, but I’ve certainly cranked out a high wordcount over the semester (about eighty pages of notes, typed out in garamond nonetheless). The last couple classes will focus on outreach and on professional development, which feel like good ways to conclude – how to transmit information, and how to continue to accumulate knowledge in the field.

I’m already looking forward to next semester’s courses. I’ll be knocking out two big prerequisites, including 438: Introduction to Archival Theory and Practice. My first semester took a fairly close look at specific archival areas (photos and rare books) so I’m excited to zoom out a bit and develop some theory around archives. I’m also particularly excited about 444 (Digital Preservation), which’ll touch on some existing digitization projects I’m working on as well as provide background for future digitization and preservation projects I’d like to work on in the future.