[Resume] Suzy Morgan's Portfolio

University of Texas at Austin, School of Information {View Website}

2009, Master of Science in Information Studies (MSIS)
Certificate of Advanced Study in Conservation of Library and Archival Materials

Knox College {View Website}

2006, Bachelor of Arts, Cum Laude
Major in Anthropology, with a Minor in Biology

The Newberry (Library)

April 10, 2012 - Present
Web Manager

Manage the content, organizational structure and information architecture of the Newberry's website.

The Newberry (Library)

November 2012-Present
Conservation Lab Volunteer

Performed treatments and created housings for a variety of bound and unbound objects, under the supervision of Conservator Barbara Korbel.

Syracuse University

July 2011 - September 2011
Gaylord Brothers Preservation Intern

Performed a variety of conservation treatments on Special Collections items.
Studied and completed several historical bookbinding models

Conservator in Private Practice

January 2011 - Present

Completed conservation treatments and preservation assessments for private clients.

GCI, Chicago, IL

October 2009-December 2010
Conservator and Archivist

Preservation assessment survey of a private archival collection of over 3,000 items, including books, paper documents, photographic materials, scrapbooks, war medals, textiles and maps.
Rehoused the collection and made preservation enclosures such as book boxes and padded artifact boxes.
Performed conservation treatment on several items in order to stabilize them for long term storage.
Supervised the digitization of over 1,500 cellulose acetate negatives and photographic prints.

Northwestern University Library, Evanston, IL

September 2008-August 2009
Preservation Department Intern

Performed conservation treatments on both circulating and special collection items.
Participated in weekly Preservation Evaluation meetings of circulating collection materials to determine the appropriate preservation measures for those items in need of in-house conservation treatment, library binding or selector review.
Managed the department's environmental monitoring program by collecting and analyzing data from PEM and Hobo monitors.

Special Preservation Department Projects

Africana Collection Digital Preservation Survey

Designed a survey tool in order to assess the overall condition of materials within the Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies prior to being sent off-site for a large scale scanning project.
Built a Microsoft Access database to implement the survey tool, such that three people could work on it simultaneously to maximize efficiency.
Trained and supervised two Preservation Department assistants and three student assistants in locating books and use of the survey tool.

Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Response

Updated and redesigned an emergency response poster that was distributed and posted throughout the Northwestern Library system.
Responded to at least three water-related emergencies and supervised library employees during response procedures that included draping stacks with plastic sheeting, interleaving wet books and doing follow-up checks for mold growth in affected books.

Exhibit Design, Preparation and Installation

Oversaw the physical layout and design of an exhibit titled, "HIV/AIDS Educational Materials from Nigeria". Special poster mounts were engineered so as to better use the exhibit space. The exhibit was installed in the main "street" of the Northwestern University Library on the Evanston, IL campus, and remained on display for three months.
Designed a promotional poster and related signage for the "HIV/AIDS Educational Materials from Nigeria".
Collaborated with the Circulation Desk team to create an exhibit promoting the proper care and handling of library materials. This included making mounts for book specimens, designing and printing informative posters and installing the exhibit.

Cincinnati Art Museum {View Website} and the
John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art [Sarasota, FL] {View Website}

July 2007-August 2007
Conservation Intern
Worked as part of a team to complete a condition survey of over 800 circus advertising posters printed by the Strobridge Lithograph Company. Performed minor treatments on about twenty posters, to stabilize them for easier handling by the curatorial staff. These posters are included in an exhibit at the Cincinnati Art Museum (and traveling to the Ringling Museum), opening February 26, 2011, entitled "The Amazing American Circus Poster".

Tulsa Historical Society [Tulsa, OK] {View Website}

June 2006 to July 2006
Volunteer Archival Assistant
Accessioned artifacts using Past Perfect software, organizing and locating objects within the archives. Prepared wall plaques and signage for an exhibit that showcased famous Oklahoma women.

Knox College Special Collections and Archives [Galesburg, IL] {View Website}

March 2005 to May 2006
Volunteer Assistant
Helped with routine archival tasks such as photocopying, filing and shelving.
Used OCLC's WorldCat database to catalog and identify several boxes of 18th-20th century children's literature so that it may be added to the main archival database.
Modified and refined a FilemakerPro computer database to organize and catalogue those books.

School of Information Information Technology Lab, University of Texas at Austin

2007-2008
Lab Staff Teaching Assistant

Provided IT assistance to students in the School of Information.

Specialized in helping students with questions about Adobe Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Microsoft Word, Excel and web authoring (HTML and CSS).

Edited and revised the "Photo-documentation for Conservators" tutorial, and created another tutorial "Google Bookbinding with Adobe Acrobat".
Taught instructional courses, both individually and as part of a teaching team:

Web Portfolios for Conservators and Preservation Administrators

Web Development Series: HTML and CSS

Introduction to Photoshop

Public Relations Team Member

Sent out notification emails to the School of Information listserv about upcoming courses and lab events.

Created several posters advertising the various short courses provided by the lab.

Archaeological Survey Work [Tulsa, OK]

June 2005 to July 2005
Assistant to Dr. George Odell, Chair of the Anthropology Department at the University of Tulsa
Helped to survey land near the Arkansas River for signs of significant archaeological sites near a proposed bridge construction site. Duties performed included digging test pits, assisting in soil classification and locating artifacts.

Archaeological Survey Work [Galesburg, IL]

May 2005
Assistant to Ron Hall, District Conservationist for the USDA National Resources Conservation Service
Conducted walk-over surveys of farmland to determine if there were any sites of archaeological significance in need of further investigation or preservation.

Chartex research project

May 24, 2009
Presented original research to the annual ANAGPIC conference:
"Chartex backing cloth: a preliminary investigation of its history and physical properties"
Abstract: Chartex is a dry-mount backing-cloth that was manufactured by Seal, Inc. and marketed to librarians and teachers as an easy, affordable and reversible way to mount photographs, maps and educational materials. Its presence in library, museum and archival collections poses several preservation issues that are in need of investigation, especially given the lack of conservation literature devoted to Chartex. The purpose of this paper is to raise awareness in the conservation and preservation field about this particular kind of backing cloth and to begin a preliminary inquiry of its physical properties, particularly in the context of conservation treatment. Samples of Chartex were examined and photographed under the microscope, tested for lignin using a phloroglucinol solution and also tested for pH using a pH pencil. It was found to be a cotton fabric permeated with a thermo-active wax and rubber adhesive mixture. The adhesive was tested for solubility in several solvents. Mechanical, heat-assisted and solvent-assisted removal methods were explored as possible treatment options, along with the potential effects and limitations of using those methods on heat-sensitive objects backed with Chartex.

September 2007-present
Maintained a research blog to collect and disseminate information relevant to research about Chartex backing cloth.

Kilgarlin Blog

2007-2009
Creator and moderator of Kilgarlin Center Denizens, a blog for both current and past students in the Kilgarlin Center programs in library conservation and preservation

Tutorial: Photo-documentation for Conservators

2007
Available through the iSchool IT Tutorial webpage, this tutorial guides conservation students through all steps of the photo-documentation process, with instruction on using Photoshop to modify digital images for display on webpages.

Tutorial: Google Bookbinding {View Tutorial}

2008
This tutorial explains how to use Adobe Acrobat 8 to print out a PDF downloaded from Google Book Search in sections for bookbinding. At the end of the tutorial, you should have an analog copy of a digital copy of an analog book.

Skills

Productivity: Extensis Portfolio, Google Apps Suite, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Access, Filemaker Pro, Adobe Creative Suite (Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Acrobat, Illustrator and InDesign)
Spoken Languages: English, (basic) Spanish; Can also read music.
Web Design and Authoring: Drupal, HTML, CSS. Basic EAD.
Operating Systems: MacOSX, Windows XP and Windows Vista
Typing Speed: 112 words per minute

Publications, Projects and Public Speaking

The Multi-lingual Bookbinding and Conservation Dictionary Project: The goal of this project is to combine, in one place, all the known bookbinding and book conservation terminology, in as many languages as possible. We are also including both current and archaic terms, to make the dictionary useful for both practicing conservators and bookbinders, as well as book history scholars. There are already a variety of multi-lingual dictionaries in existence, but none so comprehensive as what we envision for this project. In essence, we have taken every available multi-lingual dictionary of bookbinding, conservation or library words, and combined them. We are not seeking to define these terms, but rather provide a simple tool for translating words that can be used together with other tools such as Google Translate.
Association of North American Graduate Programs in Conservation (ANAGPIC) Annual Conference: Presentation "Chartex backing cloth: a preliminary investigation of its history and physical properties", April 24, 2009.
Northwestern University Library, Presentation: Chartex backing cloth: a preliminary investigation of its history and physical properties, April 18, 2009.

Significant Conferences and Workshops Attended