Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S.T.E.M.) programming is becoming increasingly popular in public libraries. However, facilitating these programs can be expensive and smaller libraries, including Gretna Public Library's teen department, often struggle to fund them. By interviewing other teen librarians in similar situations and researching community resources, I was able to create a S.T.E.M. focused programming guide for the Gretna Public Library teen department. This guide specifies the budget, materials, time, and space needed for each program, as well as other resources they can share with their teens.

The University of Washington Libraries Special Collections Department is marking the 100th anniversary of the 1918 Influenza Epidemic with a new online exhibit. This retrospective will highlight the effects of the epidemic on the city of Seattle and its residents. We have created an online resource in order to fill a vital gap in our understanding of this historical event. We used a number of digital and physical resources to gather genealogical and historical information about the influenza epidemic, focusing on Seattle and highlighting a small number of local victims and institutions.

The Costume Shop at Millikin University holds thousands of costuming items. Unfortunately, there is no inventory, no organizational system, nor a database of the items in the collection. This is a major problem for everyone in the shop, which includes students, staff, and any guest designers they may have for a show. I built a database for them in FileMaker Pro, which could be used by both experienced designers and less experienced student workers. Over the next two years, they will continue to add items to the database to make the transition to their new building a smooth one.

The Malcom Stilson Special Collections, located in the Library Underground area of the Evergreen State College campus, houses the history of the institution, and consists of manuscripts and media in different formats. The purpose of this capstone was to assist with media digitization. I have also provided documentation on a new digitizing process, and metadata retention. It is believed that this will be of value to future students and staff, and help maintain consistency across multimedia collections. Additional deliverables include an analysis of DACS and EAD, and the pros and cons of incorporating EAD into a collection.

The Naturalist’s Scrapbook is a digital crowdsourcing project that activates the relevance of archival materials while growing community investment in the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History collections. Featuring digitized excerpts of the scrapbook made by the Museum’s founding collector, naturalist and lighthouse keeper Laura Hecox, the project asks volunteers to transcribe details and identify keywords for each scrapbook clipping. This information is operationalized by museum staff to engage nontraditional volunteers, enhance mission-relevant outreach content, increase awareness of the Museum’s history, and develop new directions for further research into the local history of Santa Cruz natural history.

The Soviet Broadcast Collection contains over a thousand hours of news, documentaries, and cultural programming aired in the Soviet Union from 1986 to 1992. The collection is currently stored on video cassette in the Suzzallo Library and is at risk of complete deterioration. Working with John Vallier in the Media Archiving and Digitization Lab, I was able to continue the work of digitally preserving this material. I have provided recommendations for the full preservation and sharing of the content, including creation of finding aids, adding media to the Media Arcade’s Jukebox, and making material available for language and culture studies.

As part of its Boundless campaign, the University of Washington is positioning itself as a way through which donors can support the causes they care about--like curing cancer, sustainable fishing practices, or increasing access to higher education. I constructed a thesaurus of philanthropic interests for UW Advancement so they can connect the causes donors care about to the departments that need their support. Upon implementation, my thesaurus will be used to index marketing content and tag prospect database records based on interests. My thesaurus is a first step towards helping donors connect with the right philanthropic opportunities easily and efficiently.

Carbonado is a small, rural town nestled at the base of Mount Rainier and is one of just three cities in Pierce County, Washington without public library access. The goal of this project was to determine community members’ interest in joining the local public library system and to clearly outline the process, costs and benefits of library annexation. The Mayor and Town Council can now utilize the research and analysis provided to make an informed decision about putting a proposition on the ballot, giving residents their first opportunity to vote on this important topic.

OCLC claims that the Dewey Decimal System is “continuously revised to keep pace with knowledge (1)," but what pace is that, and which knowledge? Following through with inaccurate ideas about the public, using language that supports pervasive socio-cultural hierarchies, has violent cultural implications that our public library stacks express linguistically and structurally. This project sought to apply alternative cataloging methods to a small collection of Black Feminist works in attempt to eliminate these biased practices and rectify issues the that arise, such as misinformation and access. 1. (goo.gl/VmwtNe)

As the fastest growing city in the nation, Seattle's transportation infrastructure is under tremendous stress. As an interested citizen, information about our transportation system can be confusing and difficult to find. TransitSphere, built in partnership with the Seattle Department of Transportation, is an easy, interactive way to discover how Seattle's transportation assets work together to keep us moving. This tool gives citizens the how, what, and why of our city's transportation infrastructure management, and can serve as an introduction to a part of their government that they may not be familiar with.