More Information
How would you describe your role at UCLA Library?
I'm the processing conservator with the UCLA Film and Television Archive's collection services department. In this role, my primary responsibility entails processing new acquisitions and addressing our substantial acquisitions backlog. Additionally, I assist with post-processing tasks and day-to-day collections care duties.
What do you wish people knew about the work you do to support discovery and access?
As a member of the collection services team, every audiovisual resource from the Archive's collection passes through our department's hands. Whether it be a videotape made available for researchers at the Archive Research and Study Center (opens in a new tab)(ARSC) or reels of film projected at the Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer Museum as part of FTVA’s programming, the collection services team is responsible for processing, circulating, storing and safeguarding the Archive's holdings. In conjunction with our senior processing conservator, I help inspect, research, collect element information and assess elements made available for public research and viewing.
Why do you care about the work you do?
Moving images have the unique ability to embody various identities, cultures, perspectives and interpretations of art. Whether they be well-known titles from major studios or productions that have drifted into obscurity, every moving image resource has value for a particular person and at times, a whole community. That value can vary from educational to entertaining to deeply personal. The work I do is part of the Archive's broader mission to collect, preserve, restore and exhibit moving images — my work falls under collections care and conservation, so I'm incredibly grateful and proud to serve our mission through my responsibilities as processing conservator.
How does your work benefit students, faculty and other researchers? Can you give an example from a recent project?
In order to use any resource, it has to be processed and cataloged first and foremost. The Archive's resources that are discoverable through UCLA Library Search or our own website have all been researched, identified, inspected, stored and circulated via the collection services department. Additionally, an essential part of processing workflows includes creating item-level records and inputting element information to facilitate formal cataloging, which is key to having publicly accessible records for researchers.
The Archive maintains a long-standing partnership with the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, so we collaborate with them for a variety of projects. One such project I've had the pleasure of assisting with is an ongoing digitization project involving the works of Nuyorican experimental performance artist Raphael Montañez Ortiz. My role has consisted of conducting in-depth research of our holdings and assessing which elements will be sent to our digitization partner. Once this project is completed, many of Ortiz's works will be made publicly available for viewing and research. As a prominent educator, artist and Latine arts advocate, Ortiz's substantial body of work merits widespread study and recognition, so this project is critical to advancing that goal.
Is there anything you want students, faculty and researchers to know about the resources you steward?
Many of the titles in the Archive's collections have been digitized and are available for online viewing! These also include Q&A's with filmmakers and special guests at past screenings. Researchers can access them via the Archive's website(opens in a new tab) and on YouTube(opens in a new tab). Some recent additions include “Greta's Girls” (1978), an independent short film centering the domestic life of an interracial lesbian couple, and UCLA student films preserved and digitally restored by UCLA graduate students.
Which resources are your favorite? Which ones have you discovered working at the Library?
My favorite resources are those part of the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project. This collection is vital to research about LGBTQ+ representation on film and video and is a remarkable achievement for the Archive. In celebration of LGBTQ+ History Month this past October, I watched episodes of "In the Life(opens in a new tab)" through the Archive's website; some of my favorites include interviews with Marlon Riggs, Leslie Feinberg and Jewel Thais-Williams.
The list is endless! While processing collections, I'm often learning about titles and creators I hadn't otherwise heard of, or learning even more about those I admire. For example, I was familiar with Raphael Montañez Ortiz's performance art and works on film, but less familiar with the wide breadth of his art on video. I also helped process a collection donated by Betty White, and discovered that she created and hosted a program called “Pet Set” in the '70s, which consisted of interviews with celebrities like Rod Serling, Miyoshi Umeki and Vincent Price — and their pets! A hidden gem to say the least.
Any additional information or thoughts about your work that you’d like to share?
My fellow colleagues in the collection services team have helped me cultivate a breadth of knowledge I wouldn't have otherwise! Processing collections is sometimes considered an independent and rather solitary activity, but this department has always made me feel supported and afforded me the space to ask questions and carry out my work collaboratively.
