ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 458 / C&RL News ■ July/August 2003 J o b o f a L i f e T i m e D anianne Mizzy Observations of an observatory librarian I f you’re a se lf-startin g jack-of-all-trades, then ru n n in g a one-person observatory li­ brary m ig h t be your job o f a lifetim e. Betty Fridena has been at the U niversity o f Arizona’s (UA) P arker L ib ra ry S tew ard O b s e rv a to ry (PLSO) since 1985. PLSO houses a working collection focusing on the fields o f astronomy, astrophysics, cosmology, and instrum entation. It serves Steward O b servatory faculty, staff, g ra d u a te s tu d e n ts , a n d u n d e rg ra d u a te as­ tro n o m y m ajors. T h e c o ll e c t io n in c lu d e s th in g s y o u ’d e x p e c t such as b o o k s, j o u r ­ nals, technical and ob­ servatory reports, and less fam iliar m aterials like star charts, sky sur­ veys a n d c a ta lo g a t ­ lases, w hich show the locations o f stars and other heavenly objects. The one-person lib rary W h en I called for the Betty Fridena, solo librinterview, Fridena was Arizona’s Park Library taking in v en to ry … and dusting. W h en I asked her to talk about the rewards and challenges o f being in a one- person library, it quickly became apparent th at the o n e -p erso n lib ra ry is n o t for everyone. Fridena described a first day th at m ight have proved to be some people’s last. “W hen I first got here in 1985, there had been only student aides for five years. W hen I w ent in the office, th e re were books stack ed up on the floor. T hings they d id n ’t w ant up at the telescopes anymore and th at they d id n ’t know w hat to do ar Ste w ith, they just stacked in the office. T h e labels were falling o ff the books. T he way they were checking in the periodicals wasn’t too accurate either. It was a big mess. Since serials was w hat I d id at my previous job, th a t’s w hat I started w ith. I fixed up the serials, th en I cleaned o ut all the backlog and organized.” An accomplish­ m ent o f w hich she is duly proud. Solo work has its pluses and minuses. Fridena does everything, literally. “I order and do the c o lle c tio n d e v e lo p ­ m ent, keep up w ith re­ sources, fix the W eb p age, [and] c atalo g , w hich they d o n ’t seem to te a c h in lib r a r y s c h o o l a n y m o re fo r som e reason. I do the in v en to ry , sh ift, a nd check in the serials. I m aintain some special collections and a small archive, m ainly o f our preprints, theses, and n e w sp a p e r c lip p in g s o f articles th at have to ian at the University of do w ith us.” ward Observatory. H e r a t t i t u d e t o ­ wards reference is, “You can’t expect them to come to you. I f they open up the card catalog, I usually go over there and say, A re you finding w hat you w ant?’ It’s im p o rta n t n o t to just sit in the office.” She w ent on to say, “W h at I like about being a one-person library is the flexibil­ ity. I ’m m y own boss and I d on’t have th at m any meetings. I never have to wear a little suit to the office. W h at is hard is being invis­ ible. I ’m the only th at does m y job a nd some folks th in k the journals just appear here.” Danianne Mizzy is assistant head o f the Engineering Library a t the University o f Pittsburgh. Have an idea fora “ Job of a Lifetime” story? E-mail: danianne+@pitt.edu C&RL News ■ July/August 2003 / 459 S ta y in g c u rre n t Another challenge is staying current. “I belong to the Special L ibraries A ssociation Physics-A s tronom y-M athem atics (PAM) Division and that group has a very useful conference called LISA (Library and Inform ation Services in Astronom y). I ’ve gotten to go once, w hen it was in W ashington D .C ., b u t after th at it was in M unich, the C anary Islands, and Prague. I’d like them to bring it back to the States, b u t I understand because astronom y is very international.” F r id e n a w as a c o n t r i b u t o r to th e PA M Division’s A stronom y Thesaurus. She is able to netw ork locally w ith the librarians at the UA’s Lunar and Planetary Lab and Science Libraries, as well as the N ational O ptical A stronom y Observa­ tory Library, w hich is conveniently located right across the street. Up t o t h e te le s c o p e s a n d d o w n a t th e o b s e r v a to ry Naturally, I h ad to ask what she m eant by “sent Solo li down from (or up to) the telescopes.” It turns out Where: Parker Library Steth a t the once isolated University o f Arizse tting o f th e observa­ tory has been steadily en­ croached u p o n by th e For more infor w w w .a s.a riz o n a .e d udevelopm ent o f Tucson, p lso/plso.htmso m ost o f the telescopes are now located on sites on nearby m ountains. Fridena reels them o ff like old friends. “We have the two on M t. Lem mon, the 90 inch up on K itt Peak, the M M T (M ultiple M irror Telescope) on M t. H opkins, etc.” M ateri­ als are sent for the use o f the researchers at these remote facilities, reference works like “the Astro­ nomical Almanac, w hich gives them the positions o f different objects and som e journals for which we get m ultiple copies.” Back in 1985, “Parker Library was in just one room. As tim e w ent on, we were running out of space and getting very cramped. I n i 992, they built a wing onto the building, and gave us a m uch bigger library space. It has a nice view, three public access computers, and seating for a dozen, so more stu­ dents can study. I also got a bigger office and a work area. I used to process materials on m y desk, which also held the typewriter, so it was a nice change.” The lo n g ro a d t o o n lin e access F rid e n a is close to realizing th e lo n g -sta n d in g d ream o f p ro v id in g an o n lin e catalog, a p ro jec t th a t has seen its share o f reversals. O n e o f the challenges o f b e ing a lib ra ria n in th e cyber age is d e aling w ith system s issues. “F o r fo u r years I ’ve b een w o rk in g on g e ttin g th e card catalog online. I got W indow s-based softw are, In m a g ic because it allow ed m e to do it myself. I have p ra ctically th e w hole card catalog in th ere now. b u t I still h a v en ’t g o t it o n lin e . I h a d it o n m y c o m p u te r a n d I was p la n n in g to use m y c o m ­ p u te r as the server, b u t th e n I g ot a virus. I t d i d n ’t d e stro y th e catalog b u t it really messed up th e c o m p u te r. “A fte r th a t, it was to o h ig h o f a se c u rity risk, so th e y p u t th e lib ra ry W eb page I h ad c reated on a bigger m achine, a server th a t has m o re security. B ut w h e n I g o t ready to lau n c h th e catalog, I fo u n d o u t th a t th e server used L in u x . N o w w e’re b ack to m a k in g m y c o m ­ p u te r a server again, b u t I n e ed to get W in ­ dow s 2 0 0 0 in stea d o f W in d o w s N T because it h as m o re se c u rity . I rarian h a d to o r d e r a n e w c o m p u t e r a n d I h a v e n ’t g o t t e n t h a t y e t.” ard O bservatory na L ittle pearls Along w ith p u ttin g the tion, visit: h t t p : / / catalog online, Fridena 0 8 0 /A stro /re s o u rc e s/ h as b e e n c a re fu lly evaluating and catalog­ ing previously uncata­ loged observatory publications. “G oing through them is tim e consum ing because so m any o f them are reprints, b u t in there w ith all the yellow pa­ pers are little pearls. You have to go through it all to make sure you d on’t discard a paper th a t w asn’t p u b lish e d in any o f the jo u rn als, b u t was som e­ th in g th e o b se rv ato ry p u b lis h e d o n its ow n. T hese can be im p o rta n t papers th a t p e ople still ask for. I am also catalo g in g o b servatory p u b li­ c atio n s th a t are like sky surveys. T h e y w ere d istrib u te d to o th e r places, b u t y ou d o n ’t k now ho w m an y p e o p le still have th e m .” L ooking to the future, there is an o th er u n ­ cataloged collection th a t Fridena w ould like to m ake available, if tim e a nd fu n d in g ever perm it. A long w ith m any o th er observatories, Stew ard has a collection o f glass-negatives p roduced m any years ago by o b server-photographers. She w o uld like to take th e m o u t o f th e ir ba se m e n t s to r­ age, digitize th e m , a n d p u t th e m o n the W eb. I f F rid e n a has h e r way, these stars will shine once m ore. ■ b w o ma :8 http://www.as.arizona.edu:8080/Astro/resources/