Skip to main content
The Collation

Librarians gone wild: an alternative spring break

[Editor’s note: This is the second in an ongoing series of posts written by interns at the Folger. For the introduction to the series, see the first post.]

I am a student working towards my Masters of Science in Information from the University of Michigan’s School of Information (UM-SI).  I recently had the opportunity, along with six of my peers, to volunteer my time at the Folger Shakespeare Library during the week of our spring break.

The UM-SI ASB group, from left to right: Karmen Beecroft, Stacy Lee Maat, Jacqueline DiOrio, Sarah Wingo, Allison Bailey and Adriana Maynard

Our experience was made possible through the Alternative Spring Break (ASB) program run by UM-SI. Each year, ASB provides opportunities for students to volunteer their time in professional work environments in Detroit, Chicago, New York, and Washington, D.C. This year, a total of 135 students participated in this program with 57 of them working in and around the D.C. area. 

  1. Folger catalogers use Archivisits Toolkit to create online finding aids in the Encoded Archival Description format.
  2. The Library uses many of the RBMS Controlled Vocabulary thesauri; Karmen specifically worked with Binding Terms: A Thesaurus for Use in Rare Book and Special Collections Cataloging.
  3. For more on the Folger’s cover-to-cover digitization of books and manuscripts, see Jim Kuhn’s Collation post.
  4. See Erin Blake’s Collation post on the topic and visit the Folger website to learn more about Acq Night.
  5. For more on this project, see Rare Book Cataloger Carrie Smith’s Collation post.