EDUCATION
North Bennet Street School; Boston, Massachusetts; 2007-2009
Certificate in Bookbinding, 2009Scholarship Award, 2008Simmons College, Graduate School of Library and Information Science; Boston, Massachusetts; 2004–2006
M.L.S. Preservation Management, August 2006
Scholarship Award, 2006
Eugene Lang College, New School University; New York, New York; 2000–2003
B.A. Non-Fiction Writing and Journalism, 2003
Writing Fellow/Teaching Assistant to Dr. Neil Gordon, Fall 2002 and Spring 2003
Marlboro College; Marlboro, Vermont; 1999–2000
WORK EXPERIENCE
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Hayden Library, Preservation Services; Cambridge, Massachusetts;
January 2010 – presentVail Conservation Technician
- Performs basic cleaning and stabilization treatment on items in the Vail Collection, a collection of approximately 25,000 rare books on magnets and electricity. Stabilization treatments include surface cleaning, washing, paper repair, removing acidic pockets and endpapers, inner hinge repair, and making custom enclosures.
- Manages the shipment of items between an offsite storage facility, the conservation lab, and the cataloging department.
- The training and supervision of project interns.
- Conducts detailed condition surveys of selected items, and keeps statistics for all items treated.
- Other duties as required, including workshops and training for library staff and exhibit preparation.
Iowa State University, Parks Library; Ames, Iowa; June – July 2009
Lennox Foundation Preservation Intern
- Modified an existing survey tool created by a previous intern, using Microsoft Access 2007.
- Presently engaged in a collections survey of materials located in the Special Collection vault, with particular attention to oversize items.
- Propose and carry out conservation treatments under the guidance of Conservator Ketherine Kelly, including humidification and flattening of vellum bindings, washing and de-acidification, paper repair, encapsulation, construction of custom enclosures, humidification and flattening of rolled photographs, and rebinding of special collection materials.
- Creation of written and photographic documentation for conservation treatments.
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Archives & Records Preservation; Boston, Massachusetts; June 2008
Intern
- Worked under supervision of the Conservator, repairing early court records from the 1750’s – 1820’s.
- Tasks included: dry cleaning, washing, minor paper repair, full linings with Japanese tissue, and leaf casting.
North Bennet Street School; Boston, Massachusetts; December 2007 - Present
Library Assistant
- Worked to create a searchable catalog of the Bookbinding Department’s extensive library using commercially available software.
- Developed circulation policies and procedures.
- Made various enclosures for fragile books, including clamshell boxes, four flap wrappers, and mylar sleeves.
Wheelock College Library; Boston, Massachusetts; September 2007 – December 2007
Reference Assistant
- Provided reference and research assistance to a community focused on early childhood education and social work.
- Processed inter-library loan requests for users within the Fenway Library Consortium (FLO).
- Preformed document delivery services for faculty.
- Other duties included: Closing down the library in the evenings, keeping statistics, and providing after hours technical support.
Babson College, Horn Library; Wellesley, Massachusetts; October 2005 – August 2007
Information Services Coordinator
- Basic job duties included the training and supervision of student workers, assisting patrons with the use of equipment, providing ready reference assistance, opening and closing the library, issuing library cards, receiving fines, and keeping statistics.
- Functioned as the back-up for the Interlibrary Loan and Reserves Librarians and maintain a working knowledge of Iliad, Odyssey, and Ariel, as well as SIRSI and Blackboard.
- Served on the planning committee for the Grace K. Babson collection of the Works of Sir Isaac Newton.
- Helped create a website for Babson’s online collection of Sir Isaac Newton’s books and manuscripts.
- Other activities included weeding, maintaining portions of the library website, and basic book repair.
Harvard University, Widener Library, Preservation and Imaging Services; Cambridge, Massachusetts;
August 2006 – January 2007Conservation Technician
- Supervised the East Lab in the Manager’s absence.
- Participated in the training and supervision of student workers.
- Constructed a variety of enclosures including phase boxes, media cases, four flap wrappers, board sets, envelopes, pockets, and Co-Libri wrappers.
- Performed minor paper repair, spine corrections, labeling, Acme Bindery preparation, and photocopy replacement.
- Aided in disaster recovery efforts.
Harvard University Graduate School of Design: Conservation Lab, Frances Loeb Library; Cambridge,
Massachusetts; June – July 2006Intern
- Worked under the supervision of the Conservator to perform basic repairs on books in the circulating and special collections.
- Tasks included flat paper repair, guarding of sections, sewing on endpapers with a cloth hinge, re-sewing text blocks with link stitch, sewing on tapes, cloth case construction and re-backs.
Boston Public Library: Rare Books and Manuscripts Department; Boston, Massachusetts; Spring 2005
Intern
- Processed a variety of materials including books and manuscripts, ranging in age and subject.
- Used AACR2 and Library of Congress standards to catalog and assign subject headings to materials.
- Researched 545 field (Biographical or Historical note).
- Used MARC to create preliminary bibliographic records, which were then used by then formally added to the system by the cataloger.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT/CONTINUING EDUCATION
American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works; Washington, D.C.
- 37th Annual Meeting; Los Angeles, CA (May 19th-23rd, 2009)
Guild of Book Workers; New York, New York
- 2008 Standard of Excellence Seminar; Toronto, Ontario (October 16th-18th, 2008)
Harvard Extension School; Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Preservation and Conservation of Museum Collections w/ Vicky L. Kruckeberg (Spring 2007)
International Academic Projects; London, England
- Chemistry for Conservators w/ C.V. Horie and Dr. D. Kenyon (Fall 2008)
North Bennet Street School; Boston, Massachusetts
- Crossed Structure Bookbinding w/ Heather Hamilton (July 24th-26th, 2006)
- Girdle Books w/ Stacie Dolin (July 9th-11th, 2008) Served as teaching assistant to this class.
- 18th Century French Binding w/ Jeff Peachey (July 21st-24th, 2009)
- Brass Tool Making w/ Tom Conroy (March 14-15th, 2009)
- Small Business Course w/ Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts (Spring 2009)
Northeast Document Conservation Center; Andover, Massachusetts
- Intermediate Book Repair Workshop w/ Lori Foley (May 11th, 2006)
Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science; Boston, Massachusetts
- Learning About Artists’ Books w/ Sarah Smith (October 14th, 2006)
SOLINET; Atlanta, Georgia
- Metadata for Digitization and Preservation [Live, Online] (August 14th, 2006)
- Introduction to Grants for Preservation [Live, Online] (August 31st, 2006)
- Demystifying Mold [Live, Online] (August 26-28th, 2008)
PROFESSIONAL AFFILLIATIONS
American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works; Washington, D.C.
- Member April 2006 – present.
- Specialty Group : Book & Paper
Association of College & Research Libraries, New England Chapter; Smithfield, Rhode Island
- Member September 2004 – present
- Specialty Group: Preservation and Conservation
Designer Bookbinders; London, England
- Associate Member 2007 – present
Guild of Book Workers; New York, New York
- Member 2007 – present
- New England and Delaware Valley Chapter Member
- Currently serve on the Welcome Committee
PUBLICATIONS
- "15th & 16th Century Alem Taw Bindings - Don Etherington." Guild of Book Workers Newsletter 181 (2008): 6.
Bexx CaswellBookbinding and Conservation PortfolioRESUME
