{"id":2314,"date":"2021-05-03T16:31:26","date_gmt":"2021-05-03T16:31:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/saasc\/?p=2314"},"modified":"2021-10-14T02:57:34","modified_gmt":"2021-10-14T02:57:34","slug":"sjsu-survival-mode","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/saasc\/2021\/05\/03\/sjsu-survival-mode\/","title":{"rendered":"SJSU Survival Mode"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m studying at SJSU to become a better information professional. Therefore, observing how information has been presented and processed in the past is a necessary step in my education. I challenge myself to never reach a stalemate in my navigation of the world, and to acknowledge, honor, and support the experiences people share with one other.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s why I\u2019m drawn to SJSU\u2019s virtual exhibit called <\/span>Survival Mode<\/b><\/a><\/span> which was led by Carli Lowe: University Archivist. It\u2019s a powerful reminder that we are never alone, and that our struggles are unifying. Throughout the past 164 years, San Jos\u00e9 State students have encountered numerous crises such as wars, pandemics, and natural disasters, and their accounts have thankfully been memorialized by the university\u2019s archives. The exhibit reminds us that while our experiences with COVID-19 may feel unfamiliar, they are not as unique as they seem.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The creators of this exhibit note, \u201c<\/strong><\/span><\/span>there is a great deal of precedence and lessons to be learned from past successes and mistakes in how human society has responded to historic moments of crisis.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The journal entries, pictures, news clippings, and yearbook comments of previous and current SJSU students serve as surprisingly comforting gifts. Organized by a timeline, you can click arrows to read their stories and see related information. After viewing this virtual exhibit, I felt a sense of great reassurance knowing that people, both then and now, are more than capable of rising from the ashes. You can explore the digital exhibit here: <\/span>https:\/\/library.sjsu.edu\/survival-mode<\/a><\/span><\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

My interview with Carli Lowe:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. What was the process of compiling this exhibit and\/or the resources that were used?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I worked with one of our talented student assistants, Samira Habibi, to search SJSU digital collections and the Spartan Daily archives for keywords related to the topics in the exhibit. Most of the content comes from yearbooks and the newspapers. Sometimes we would discover trails of breadcrumbs. For example, I came across an article in the Spartan Daily about a Japanese American alumni in a prison camp in Salinas during WWII making an appeal to students for art supplies. I then went into the yearbooks to find a photo of this alumni when she was a student.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. What were your favorite and least favorite parts of compiling this exhibit?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      When I started working on the exhibit, I knew there were some stories I would include for sure, such as the “Normal Hospital” opened during the 1918 flu pandemic, and the story about the SJSC football players who were in Honolulu when Pearl Harbor was bombed. But I most enjoyed finding unexpected connections between our campus and significant moments in history, such as the occupational therapy instructor who traveled the country lecturing on polio. Some of the work was also emotional. It was disturbing to read about the treatment of our Japanese American students during WWII, and our Muslim students following the September 11th attacks. I was also surprised to discover that one of our Aviation alumni was a pilot killed during the September 11th attacks. My least favorite part was just how long it took to figure out the technical details. We spent months and months locating the material, and I was impatient to share it, but it took time to think about how we wanted the online interface to function, how to best crop images, write contextualizing descriptions, etc. I was lucky to have the support of Diane Malmstrom (Special Collections and Digitization Coordinator) and the library’s webteam, specifically Lyna Nguyen and Jessie Cai, to help me with these details.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Do you have any plans or ambitions for future university archive exhibits?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        There will be future University Archives exhibits, but for now I’m going to be focused on processing submissions to the Spartans Speak on COVID-19 project so that those can be accessible to the community.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

          \n
        1. What brought you to the library field? Do you have any tips for current students enrolled in the MLIS program?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          What brought me to the library field is a long story that would require a live conversation, but the short version is that I was an elementary school teacher looking for a different way to connect people to transformative information. You can find a little bit more about that in my <\/b><\/span>online portfolio<\/b><\/a><\/span>, and I’m happy to talk and share more details. As far as tips, I think the most important thing I did as an MLIS student was to seek mentors and accept mentorship whenever it was offered. I don’t think it’s possible to have too many mentors.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          I\u2019m studying at SJSU to become a better information professional. Therefore, observing how information has been presented and processed in … Continue reading SJSU Survival Mode<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2319,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/saasc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/SJSU-Survival-Mode-Banner.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/saasc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/saasc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/saasc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/saasc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/saasc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2314"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/saasc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2314\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2321,"href":"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/saasc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2314\/revisions\/2321"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/saasc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/saasc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/saasc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/saasc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}