The Vietnam Center and Archive is now on Facebook. Become a fan and keep up with the latest happenings at the Center and Archive, find out about upcoming events, see pictures from past events, make comments, and connect with other Vietnam Center and Archive supporters.
To become a fan, you first need to have your own Facebook page. The go to the Vietnam Center and Archive Facebook page and click Become a Fan.
To assist researchers studying the topic of agent orange during and after the Vietnam War, the Vietnam Center and Archive has produced a new subject guide highlighting agent orange related resources in both our digital and physical collections. The subject guide is divided by media type and subcategory, and includes links to the digital objects when available. This is the first in a series of subject guides that we will produce over the next year.
Do you have family heirlooms in need of proper storage, but aren’t sure what to do with them? Are you interested in, or want to learn more about the archival profession? Then don’t miss this exciting opportunity!
Kickoff Event: Thursday October 16, 2008, 3:00pm – 5:30pm in the Formby Room of the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Building. Attend a presentation about archives and then take a behind the scenes tour of both archival facilities.
Preserving Your Family Records Workshop Series: Tuesday October 21, 2008, 11:00am – 6:30pm in the Formby Room of the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Building. The series will include workshops focusing on the basic preservation of paper, photographs, textiles, audio-visuals and digital materials. Workshops will be followed by a one on one, in depth question and answer forum with archival professionals.
For more detailed information, please visit http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/archivesmonth.htm
Researchers familiar with our Virtual Vietnam Archive have probably seen their fair share of the “Ghostbusters” like sign above and many have probably wondered what that sign really means.
The red sign means that a document is not available online. Why is it not available some might ask? There are two reasons for seeing the dreaded red sign. One, the document is copyrighted. Due to the stipulations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, copyrighted documents can be digitized as a form of preservation, but can not be redistributed in that format. This stipulation means that while we can scan the document to PDF or electronic form, we can not redistribute the electronic version over the internet or by burning it to a CD and giving it to someone else. Providing electronic versions of copyrighted documents to a third party constitutes a violation of the copyright law.
The second reason for seeing the little red sign is that the material in question has not been digitized yet. Many items are difficult and time consuming to digitize, video and microfilm are primary examples, or may be too fragile to digitize. Because these materials take so long to digitize, we create documents for them in the virtual archive so they are accessible via reference request.
The real issue out of all the red sign business is how do I get a copy of those materials? For paper documents you can request a copy be mailed to you. Send us a Reference Request from our web page with a list of the item numbers and item titles and we will make photocopies of the documents and mail them to your home. For videos and photographs we can make copies of the materials, but only if they are not copyrighted. If the videos and photos are copyrighted you will have to order copies of them from the copyright owner. Reproduction and postage fees do apply for reproduction requests. See our price list for the current charges.
This is the conclusion of a three part series on ways to access the digitized materials of the Vietnam Archive without using the Virtual Vietnam Archive search page (see Part I and Part II).
Last week, I started a post on Ways to Access the Digitzed Materials of the Vietnam Archive. This is a continuation of that series.
Look for conclusion of this series later this week.
Did you know that there are a number of ways to access the digitized materials of the Vietnam Archive other than through the Virtual Vietnam Archive search page?
One way to access digital materials, or just to browse through the holdings of the Vietnam Archive, is through the Browse the Collections page. This section of our website contains alphabetical listings of all of the collections in the Vietnam Archive (arranged by last name for individuals, or first word for other collection types). Each browse page contains some basic information about the collection, including a Scope and Content note (when available) that provides an overview of what the collection contains. There is also a link to the full finding aid for the collection (a finding aid is basically an inventory of the collection). When materials from a particular collection have been digitized, links will be provided at the bottom of the finding aid to the digital materials. Please note, though, that due to system limitations, these links will only generate up to 250 records. To access the remainder of a collection, you will have to utilize the Virtual Archive search page. Additionally, the finding aid will have a link to an oral history if one has been conducted with the donor of the collection. A link to Browse the Collections can be found on our homepage.
Speaking of Oral Histories, there is also a Browse the Oral History Interviews page (link available on the homepage). This page is arranged alphabetically by last name of the interviewee, includes a description of each interview, and links to listen to the audio of the interview and/or a transcript, when available. In addition to the browse pages, there are also pages listing just interviews or collections added within the last few months.
I’ll post more ways to access digital materials here next week. (see Part II, Part III)
Summer is an excellent time to travel, visit friends and perhaps do a little research at the Vietnam Archives on the Texas Tech University campus. We love to welcome researchers into our facility and truly enjoy seeing people using our collections for their projects. However, during the summer the reference room operates on a different schedule from the fall and spring semesters. The reference room is open Monday through Friday from 9 – 5, Saturday from 9 – 1 and is closed on major holidays. See the Southwest Collection Reference Room Hours page to keep updated on the reference room schedule and holidays to be sure you don’t plan your trip during a time when the facility is closed. And as always you can contact us at vietnamarchive@ttu.edu if you have any questions or need help with your research projects.
