Building upon the work of the “Poison Book Project,” I worked with the University of Washington Libraries to investigate the presence of the toxic pigment "emerald green" (copper acetoarsenite) in Victorian-era bookcloth published between the 1840s and 1860s. After extensively searching UW Libraries collections, 50 volumes were tested by the Pacific Northwest Conservation Science Consortium using x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy; nine were confirmed to contain arsenic. As a result, arsenical books are now labeled, and precautionary measures for the handling and storage of such books have been implemented to mitigate the risk of unintentional arsenic exposure for patrons and library staff.

The Recipe Book Compendium addresses the inaccessibility of Early Modern recipe books to the general public. With barriers such as academic pedigree limiting engagement, these books have remained largely hidden away in institutional special collections. However, they hold valuable insights into the lives of Early Modern families and their knowledge creation and organization practices. This free online resource connects the average person to digitized recipe books and myriad resources to assist with understanding Early Modern material and social culture. By making this information accessible to a wider audience, the Compendium promotes a deeper understanding of Early Modern knowledge practices.

Grapevine, the Puget Sound Regional Council’s intranet, is a resource rich with HR documents, historical records, and more. However, it is inconvenient to access, requiring VPN login, and challenging to navigate. For my Capstone, I began planning to update and rebuild Grapevine using Microsoft SharePoint. I conducted a survey to learn how staff currently use Grapevine and researched how to build a SharePoint intranet site to meet PSRC’s needs. Utilizing my findings, I drafted a site map and a SharePoint hub for future user-testing. This project will help the PSRC Library Manager build a better organized and more user-friendly Grapevine.

This project helps Bridwell Library reconstitute its World Methodist Museum Collection through the creation of an exhibit. This information problem was addressed by researching and writing the necessary materials for the exhibit brochure and the information accompanying the displayed documents and artifacts. Specifically, the essays focused on the history of how John Wesley and other early Methodists were represented in sculpture and art, what his letters tell us about Wesley the preacher and person, and how present-day Methodists can contend with problematic aspects of their history. The exhibit, which will be digitized, will benefit Bridwell, its surrounding community, and Methodism.

Seattle nonprofit Scarecrow Video is world’s largest publicly available audiovisual archive, with over 145,000 titles spanning 125+ years. Many of these titles are only available on VHS, a medium that is highly susceptible to physical degradation. With funding from 4Culture and in collaboration with Moving Image Preservation of Puget Sound, my project resulted in the digital reformatting of 40 rare VHS tapes, with special focus on works by historically marginalized peoples and pieces spotlighting cultural heritage in Seattle. The digital preservation of these works will aid in their indefinite accessibility to researchers and film fans around the world.

Project Completed for University of Washington Housing and Food Services, Communications and Marketing Department. The Goal of this project was to find a solution to the issue of disorganized and decentralized information, which was causing significant delays and inconsistencies. This was accomplished through the Identification of a storage system which would better fit ConMar's needs as well as the creation of a taxonomy with which to organize the information stored.

The Instructional Materials Center (IMC) is a collection of resources designed to assist pre-service educators as they develop into effective teachers who generate positive change for schools. As a result of competing priorities through a global pandemic, the IMC has been underused from a lack of awareness of its existence. This project shares the creation of a marketing plan through stakeholder interviews and research of traditional marketing strategies critically applied to academic settings. The plan will guide staff of the IMC in communicating the value of the center through authentic storytelling while prioritizing success of organizational goals, sustainability, and longevity.

As a group, we (Erin Shapland and Zach Wagman) worked with Washington Center for the Book to design a zine workshop. We sought to address a lack of knowledge about zine history among the general public. We also wanted to teach members of the public the basic skills involved in creating zines for oneself, with the hope of fostering a sense of freedom and artistic whimsy in our attendees! We recorded a workshop for all ages that can (and likely will) be used for programs in the future, which will ideally inspire more people to create and learn about zines.

My project consisted of a deep dive into the legacy VHS collection at Scarecrow Video, assessing items on the basis of rights ownership & management and physical rarity. Over the course of my project I narrowed my focus to look at queer porn and erotica, as I felt they were a particularly vulnerable part of an already vulnerable collection consisting of an ephemeral and obsolete analog medium. My goal was to provide Scarecrow information which would help them maintain their collection in the future.

To address rising textbook costs, California’s governor gave $20,000 to each community college to lay the foundation for establishing zero-textbook cost (ZTC) degree pathways. This project assists in building that foundation for Mendocino College by streamlining the textbook adoption process for faculty and increasing the accessibility and visibility of course materials in the discovery layer. By doing this, there are now centralized access points available to all users to find course materials. This project not only improves UX and UI of the library’s ILS, but also compiles existing information to later be used by the Institutional Research Office.