LAMs (Libraries, Archives, and Museums)
MLIS (Master’s of Library and Information Science)
Week Three
Day Eighteen: National Army Museum
Pithy Subtitle Goes Here
“But I didn’t take any notes this time, so I won’t have a quote or any pithy titles”
Deb Eschweiler, Video Editor, Media Asset Manager, Audiovisual Archivist, Almost Former Student
Eunice needed to go the National Army Museum to work on her research into Southeast Asian family and military records. I tagged along because it was a beautiful day, and why not, Canadians are some of my favorite humans!
I was immediately impressed with how well the Museum incorporates audiovisual media into their exhibits. Most museums have some sort of multimedia display happening, often it’s a focus, but feeling somehow divorced from the material surrounding it. Sometimes it feels like an afterthought, as if they decided to shoehorn in an audio or video oral history or another video presentation into an existing exhibit. At the National Army Museum, it feels more intentional, as if designed with the media in mind from the start. It all fit together with the physical parts of the exhibits and helps to tell the stories more intentionally.
Once we found ourselves on the ground floor, I noticed the Templer Study Centre. At first the front desk was unstaffed, but upon my second pass, friendly faces appeared, so I mentioned to Eunice that there were PEOPLE in there. She decided to go in and enquire about the military records of her grandfather and another family member to see if they would have the records in their collection, or if they would know where she might find them (Spoiler: they did not have them. But they gave her good information on where to look next. Some of this information she already had. Unfortunately, that answer was “Glasgow”).
I would love to find out who edited it and speak with them about their workflow
After Eunice spoke with the staff, I stepped away with her to allow other patrons to do the business thy needed with the staff, and Eunice wrote a few notes. This gave me a few moments to reflect on the audiovisual display whiting the museum, and I wondered how much connection they had to the holdings within the archive. Professional experience tells me there is a chance that they are not necessarily related, although it is likely they would have wanted dot use material form the collection, if they had access to anything relevant. So I decided to ask about their audiovisual materials.
This limits how many people can read about different artifacts at once,
but it offers a certain ability to change displays quickly without replacing physical descriptions
After a brief discussion, I walked away with contact information for the woman who would be the best person to answer my questions regarding this. And that I could expect a response within “21 days”. I’m hoping that is just the boiler-plate they say because that is their internal deadline for all enquiries… because my paper is due in about, oh, not too much longer than 21 days or so… And I’m really hoping/planning to have it done sooner rather than later!
I was studying the motion graphic structure.
2.8 miles/7,500 steps/2 flights climbed
Deb's in London & on the LAM(s) 