Posted December 10, 2025 by Will Romey

It’s hard to believe that after one final presentation on Saturday morning, my first semester will be complete and I’ll be 25% through my grad school program! I’m looking forward to a winter break of digging into some of my own research (largely on bibliography and ebooks) and non-academic fiction (I’ve been on a big Tim Powers kick). I’m also working on a cassette digitization project, which has been a blast, though keeping a cassette deck from the mid-80s in good shape has been a challenge. Maybe more on that in a future blog post!

I presented my research on Historic Northampton’s collection of dry-plate glass negatives last weekend. The presentation went well, and I really enjoyed hearing about what my classmates had been working on. While we all profiled photographic collections, there was a surprising range of topics. A few of the presentations highlighted issues with organization or management. Others discussed the challenges of working with very small archives. As a whole, they highlighted the diverse array of challenges archivists face in dealing with photographs. I enjoyed the small class size of 449 – it was a good way to make connections with fellow students in my first semester.

Monday night was the last session of my rare books and special collections course, online. The final section was focused on professional development and donor relations. An explicit academic focus on these two areas was a great way to wrap up the course. I’d worked with donors in a non-profit context before, and would have done better had I been given a copy of some of the readings we covered in class! In addition, the readings on appraisals and the dangers of oral contracts both gave a solid road map through potential minefields. I’ve also been fortunate to meet with some library professionals outside of class. I appreciate that people in this field seem to be willing to meet and talk about their experiences with students. On Monday, over coffee, I received some great advice and feedback on ideas from a special collections librarian at a nearby university. Earlier last week, I had an informative and helpful conversation over Zoom with a Simmons professor who I’m not currently taking a course with. Proactively scheduling conversations with people I admire in the field has felt like a great way to both build a professional network but also to understand the broad scope of the LIS field.

So, in addition to reading and writing over break, I also have ambitions to brew another batch of beer or mead, pick up some extra hours bartending (because money is a useful thing to have), sleep in more, and hopefully make it to Upstate NY and VT to visit family. I’ve got ambitious bass guitar practice plans, and hope to brush up on Bach’s third cello suite and perhaps start in on the fourth.