Who is Crystal Willer?</h1> <article> <h1>Who is Crystal Willer?</h1> <p>ygay — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 16:47:27 +0000</p> <span>Who is Crystal Willer?</span> <span><span>ygay</span></span> <span><time datetime="2022-03-11T11:47:27-05:00" title="Friday, March 11, 2022 - 11:47">Fri, 03/11/2022 - 11:47</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p> </p> <hr> <p><strong>Full Name:</strong> <a href="/crystal-willer" target="_blank">Crystal Willer</a></p> <p><strong>Department and location on campus:</strong> The conservatory library located in <a href="/bibbins" target="_blank">Bibbins Hall</a></p> <p><strong>Job title:</strong> Special Collections Librarian and Curator of the <a href="https://libraries.oberlin.edu/libraries/conservatory-library/special-collections/collections/the-james-r-and-susan-neumann-jazz-collection/history-of-the-collection" target="_blank">James R. and Susan Neumann Jazz Collection</a></p> <p><strong>How many years at �鶹��Ƶ?</strong> 3 ½ years—I was a project archivist before my current position.</p> <p><strong>What does your job entail?</strong> I manage the conservatory library’s special collections. We have a rich variety of material and formats, from 16th-century music theory books to more than 42,000 jazz LPs. My job involves storing, arranging, describing, and sharing these items.</p> <p><strong>Have you always wanted to be an archivist?</strong> I doubt I knew what an archivist was growing up, but I’ve always enjoyed saving and organizing things, and snooping around in other people’s houses. (Kidding! but I do get to read letters, diaries, and other personal items in our collections.)</p> <p><strong>What is it about this career path that appeals to you the most?</strong> I get to see and handle interesting and historical items every day, which means I’m always learning something new. I love being able to share our collections with students, faculty, and outside researchers. Seeing other people get excited about what we have reinforces my whole reason for doing this work.</p> <p><strong>You also held a position at the Circus World Museum’s Robert L. Parkinson Library. That sounds like it was a lot of fun! What did you do there?</strong> It was fun! I inventoried and described photographs (learned some terms such as "candy butcher"), created digital collections, and recorded oral histories with former circus performers during a reunion weekend for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus.</p> <p><strong>You have taught undergraduate poetry writing workshops. Is there a correlation to your poetry writing and your career as an archivist?</strong> In a broad sense, both are interested in detail, description, care, empathy, and memory. As a writer, I'm interested in how we try to make sense of ourselves and others through language and memory, and how often we fail. As an archivist, I'm interested in how our collections (both individual items and collections as a composite whole) document history or tell a story. And of course, the flip side to that is investigating archival silences: how do items or collections fail to tell the whole story, and who gets left out of the archive and why?</p> <p>This might be a long-winded way of saying both areas require creative participation. I think the same muscles that can craft and analyze poems can serve primary source objects well by being open to many modes of inquiry. Or maybe I think there's more connection between the two than there is since I’m always thinking about both.</p> <p><strong>Do you have a favorite movie?</strong> I watch a lot more TV shows than movies, but I’ve recently gotten into the documentaries of Les Blank, like <em>A Well-Spent Life</em> (about Texas blues musician Mance Lipscomb) and <em>In Heaven There Is No Beer?</em> (about polka festivals in the US in the 1970s and early 1980s).</p> <p><strong>Favorite places in �鶹��Ƶ?</strong> <a href="https://www.thinithai.com/" target="_blank">Thini Thai</a>, <a href="https://www.oberlinlibrary.org/" target="_blank">�鶹��Ƶ Public Library</a>, walks in <a href="https://www.cityofoberlin.com/for-residents/westwood-cemetery/" target="_blank">Westwood Cemetery</a> and surrounding neighborhoods. </p> <p><strong>Favorite childhood memory?</strong> Summers spent on the Oregon coast with my extended family. </p> <p><strong>Best vacation ever?</strong> Hopefully, the best is yet to come! I'm saving up for a trip to Japan.</p> <p><strong>Any recent achievements you would like to tell us about?</strong> During the height of the pandemic my husband successfully went through chemotherapy treatment for lymphoma, and I gave birth to our daughter, who is now 15 months old and a budding percussionist.</p> <p><strong>Hobbies?</strong> Spending time with my family and friends, eating out, and going to used bookstores.</p> <p><strong>Favorite food?</strong> A steamed artichoke with melted lemon butter</p> <p><strong>Favorite Quote?</strong> "Almost every person has something secret he likes to eat,” by Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">Campus News</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2022-03-11T12:00:00Z">Fri, 03/11/2022 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Yvonne Gay</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Crystal Willer didn’t really know what an archivist did when she was growing up, but she knew she enjoyed saving and organizing things. Today her job as special collections archivist in the conservatory library not only involves storing, arranging, describing, and sharing a rich variety of material, but she has found a unique way to combine her love of poetry writing with the work she does. Find out more about Willer in this installment of Who Am I?</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=3450">Conservatory Library</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2551">Staff</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=3448">Conservatory Special Collections</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Crystal Willer, special collections librarian and curator of the James R. and Susan Neumann Jazz Collection.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Tanya Rosen-Jones '97</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>This Week in Photos: Tiny, but Mighty</h1> <p>ygay — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 15:42:28 +0000</p> <span>This Week in Photos: Tiny, but Mighty</span> <span><span>ygay</span></span> <span><time datetime="2022-03-04T10:42:28-05:00" title="Friday, March 4, 2022 - 10:42">Fri, 03/04/2022 - 10:42</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><div class="obj-center"> <figure class="captioned-image"> <figcaption>Jake and Eliza Balmuth speak with their peers at the end of the concert. Photo credit: Yvonne Gay</figcaption> </figure> </div> <p>The <a href="/news/concerts-library" target="_blank">Tiny Ref Desk Concerts</a> are modeled after the popular <a href="https://www.npr.org/series/tiny-desk-concerts/" target="_blank">NPR Tiny Desk concert series</a>: 20-minute intimate performances in a noise-free environment. </p> <p><a href="/kathy-abromeit" target="_blank">Abromeit</a> launched �鶹��Ƶ’s rendition of the concerts in the fall of 2018. By December 2019, 10 guest performers, faculty, and students had taken the tiny concert stage, fulfilling what Abromeit had hoped: challenging the stereotypes of a library and bringing it to life. The last concert—given just before the height of the pandemic—was held in March 2020 by a group of women who performed suffrage songs as part of �鶹��Ƶ’s Women's Leadership and Suffrage programming.</p> <p>On March 1, after a small delay to allow for more guests to make their way to the conservatory library, Abromeit welcomed siblings Jake and Eliza Balmuth to the tiny stage. After the concert visitors were invited to a pop-up Women’s History Month exhibit in the Special Collections room. A woodwinds quintessence concert is scheduled for April 28. See more photos from the March concert on <a href="http://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzEdw9" target="_blank">�鶹��Ƶ's Flicker page</a>.</p> <p>Our tour continues with stops at <em>Olympus</em>, <em>The Puppy Episode</em>, a Festival of Ideas, Allen Mercy Hospital, and Dye Lecture Hall</p> <p> </p> <hr> <div class="obj-center"> <figure class="captioned-image"> <figcaption>In the premiere of <a href="https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzEkBK" target="_blank"><em>Olympus</em></a> by Cyril Amanfo ’22, young people of color recognize their spiritual, mental, and emotional immortality—and in claiming their power, they discover their ability to heal themselves and others. Photo credit: John Seyfried</figcaption> </figure> </div> <div class="obj-center"> <figure class="captioned-image"> <figcaption>The Winter Term opera—<a href="https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzE5YV" target="_blank"><em>The Puppy Episode</em></a>—was performed in Warner Concert Hall. The opera was based on the two-part episode of Ellen DeGeneres’ eponymous sitcom that aired in spring 1997. “The Puppy Episode” marked—in hilarious fashion—the long-rumored coming out of the program’s central character as well as the comedian who portrayed her. Photo credit: Yevhen Gulenko</figcaption> </figure> </div> <div class="obj-center"> <figure class="captioned-image"> <figcaption><br> The Festival of Ideas in the Science Center Commons celebrated <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/oberlin/collections/72157720412304151/" target="_blank">research and projects </a>performed by students during Winter Term. Students at this table demonstrate their “In or out” project—an automated tennis line calling system. Members in the project included Suvan Agarwal ’23, Ben Chermside ’25, Griffin O’Neal-Freeman ’24, Sydney Paunan ’25, and Katie Siegfried ’25. Photo credit: Courtesy of the Office of Communications</figcaption> </figure> </div> <div class="obj-center"> <figure class="captioned-image"> <figcaption><br> Award-winning author and �鶹��Ƶ College Writer-in-Residence Molly Antopol gave <a href="https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzEtVv" target="_blank">a public reading</a> of her book, the UnAmericans, in Dye Lecture Hall. Antopol was joined on stage by Associate Professor of Creative Writing <a href="/emily-barton" target="_blank">Emily Barton</a> and Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature and Jewish Studies <a href="/sheera-talpaz" target="_blank">Sheera Talpaz</a> for a discussion and question and answer session. During her week-long residency, Antopol also workshopped with students in classes taught by Barton and Talpaz. Photo credit: Yvonne Gay</figcaption> </figure> </div> <div class="obj-center"> <figure class="captioned-image"> <figcaption>Jackie Brick ’24 stands next to the emergency entrance of the Allen Mercy Hospital in �鶹��Ƶ. Brick interned as an ER assistant at Mercy during Winter Term. Photo credit: Yvonne Gay</figcaption> </figure> </div> <p> </p> <p><em>This Week in Photos is a selection of images and is not meant to represent a weekly timeline. Images highlight campus, community, people, and events related to �鶹��Ƶ College.</em></p> <p> </p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">Campus News</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2022-03-04T12:00:00Z">Fri, 03/04/2022 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Yvonne Gay</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>After a five minute delay to the start of the program, Public Services Librarian Kathleen Abromeit inches her way to the back of the conservatory library, then pauses. “Should we give it another five minutes,” she asks, looking around the room. She’s excited. After a two-year hiatus Abromeit will announce the library’s first Tiny Ref Desk Concert. The program’s return also serves as inspiration for this week’s photo series.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2379">Student Life</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2402">Winter Term</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2546">Photo Feature</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=3450">Conservatory Library</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25326">Creative Writing</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25386">Jewish Studies</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=32971">Opera Theater</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/emily-barton" hreflang="und">Emily Barton</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/creative-writing" hreflang="und">Creative Writing</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/jewish-studies" hreflang="und">Jewish Studies</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/strings" hreflang="und">Strings</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Third-year students Jake and Eliza Balmuth perform on violin and guitar in the conservatory library.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Yvonne Gay</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Who is Gregory Solow?</h1> <p>ygay — Fri, 03 Dec 2021 16:39:05 +0000</p> <span>Who is Gregory Solow?</span> <span><span>ygay</span></span> <span><time datetime="2021-12-03T11:39:05-05:00" title="Friday, December 3, 2021 - 11:39">Fri, 12/03/2021 - 11:39</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><hr> <p><strong>Full Name:</strong> <a href="https://libraries.oberlin.edu/libraries/conservatory-library/about/our-staff" target="_blank">Gregory Lawson Solow</a></p> <p><strong>Department and location on campus:</strong> Conservatory Library Public Services located in Bibbins Hall.</p> <p><strong>Job title:</strong> Circulation Coordinator of the <a href="https://libraries.oberlin.edu/libraries/conservatory-library" target="_blank">conservatory library</a></p> <p><strong>What does your job entail:</strong> I oversee the day-to-day functioning of the conservatory library circulation desk, both in face-to-face interactions and transactions, and through the hiring, training, and supervision of about two dozen student assistants.</p> <p><strong>How many years at �鶹��Ƶ?</strong> I’ve worked professionally at the conservatory library since 2011, but also worked here as a student since I first arrived as a freshman in 2006. So, 10 or 15 years, depending on how you count it!</p> <p><strong>How did you get introduced to the library system?</strong> I was hired as a student assistant working in the stacks department of the conservatory library in my first few weeks as a first-year. After that, I worked as a student assistant at the conservatory library circulation desk. I did a Winter Term project with the special zine collection over at <a href="https://libraries.oberlin.edu/libraries/mary-church-terrell" target="_blank">Mary Church Terrell Main Library</a>, and spent summer working in the preservation lab there as well.</p> <p><strong>Were you into books and reading when you were growing up?</strong> Of course! Mostly science fiction and fantasy, or anything where there’s a touch of the off-beat.</p> <p><strong>Do you write as well or play any instruments?</strong> Not for a long time, unfortunately. I’m a better library person than I was either a writer or musician!</p> <p><strong>Which author do you think is most overlooked?</strong> Can a classic count as overlooked? I hadn’t heard of the Russian author Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin or any of his work before reading “The Golovlyov Family” during my junior year of college, and it’s been repeat-reading ever since.</p> <p><strong>Do you have any winter reading or listening recommendations?</strong> Anything so long as it’s curled up with a dog and a mug of hot tea. </p> <p><strong>What resources impress you most at the conservatory library?</strong> Our staff! You’ll be hard-pressed to find better people at what they do here.</p> <p><strong>Favorite movie?</strong> <em>Mad Max: Fury Road</em></p> <p><strong>Favorite author and/or composer?</strong> Gene Wolfe</p> <p><strong>Hobbies?</strong> Writing ponderously long emails to my student workers.</p> <p><strong>Favorite food?</strong> Feve brunch, which I consider its own category.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">Campus News</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2021-12-03T12:00:00Z">Fri, 12/03/2021 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Yvonne Gay</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>When he’s not working in the conservatory library, Circulation Coordinator Gregory Solow could be found curled up with a good science fiction or fantasy book. Find out his winter reading or listening recommendations in this installment of Who Am I?</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2551">Staff</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=3450">Conservatory Library</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Gregory Solow, conservatory library circulation coordinator.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Tanya Rosen-Jones '97</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> </main></body></html>