it has never been easier to fill out the Census without leaving your house. Respond to the Census online at my2020census.gov, or over the phone at 1-844-330-2020.
October is National Archives Month and the Alaska State Archives will be celebrating with a number of online activities:
In response to questions about the four sets of REALM results that have been published, we put together a summary spreadsheet that is ordered by type of material and whether it is stacked or unstacked. You can find this summary sheet as the first link under “Research on quarantine times for library materials” at our recently revamped Libraries and COVID-19 guide.
Because so many of you have transitioned to providing some kind of services to the public, sometimes in person, we changed up the guide to reflect current operations. If you still need reopening plans and webinars, just click on “Archived Reopening Resources” in the left-hand column. We’ll also soon be updating the “Services Alaska libraries are offering now” page.
Libraries – Are you still finding the Libraries and COVID-19 guide useful? Are there things we ought to take off? Or add? Or rearrange? Send your suggestions to daniel.cornwall@alaska.gov.
Alaska State Museum Conservator Ellen Carrlee recently published a condition reporting guide. From her introduction:
“This guide aims to provide images of condition issues for anyone working in a museum, but may also be of interest to the general public. The examples are based on nearly 20 years of experience with Alaskan collections. Future drafts may include further collections management recommendations for these materials. An upcoming companion project in 2020 will be the Ten Agents of Deterioration common in Alaskan collections.”
The guide currently covers twenty types of materials from Antler & Bone to Wood with stops in Fur, Gut, Taxidermy and more. If you find this guide useful in your collections, we’d love to hear from you.
In addition to listing some of the most popular resources from SLED and our division, this month we’d like to highlight three resources that did not crack the top five most popular resources of the month, but did attract at least one visit a day during August 2020. We hope you’ll give them a look and tell your friends:
Did you know that Soldotna Public Library has a Facebook video channel? While many videos are from Year 1 of the Pandemic Age (2020), videos go back several years. Many of their videos are organized into playlists like:
Like many libraries around the nation, Kenai Community Library has been staying in touch with patrons with a YouTube channel In addition to the videos pictured above, they’ve had videos on baking cookies, cooking pumpkin cookies and provided a virtual visit to the City of Kenai’s greenhouse.
Has your library, archives or museum posted video content you’d like to tell your statewide colleagues about? Drop us a line!
We’re happy to report on bright spots in this pandemic age. KHNS FM radio ran a story last week on how Haines’ Sheldon Museum broke records for its annual Totem Trot fundraiser despite having to restructure the event to address pandemic safety concerns. According to the article:
This was the sixth year for the 5k fundraiser and sixty participants completed the course that loops around local totem poles. The course was open to racers for two weeks, so they could complete the walk, trot, or run on their own time.
For more details visit:
Despite pandemic, Haines Sheldon Museum fundraiser breaks record. By Claire Stremple, 9/11/2020. KHNS.
Exciting news from our friends at the Alutiiq Museum:
The Alutiiq Museum is launching an effort to promote the work of Alutiiq artists and help consumers identify authentic Alutiiq-made works. The Alutiiq Seal program, which debuts today, will maintain a registry of Alutiiq visual artists. Every registered artist will receive a set of tags to use in labeling their art. The tag, or Alutiiq Seal, will identify the work as authentically Alutiiq.
“It can be tricky to tell if a work is genuine Native art,” said Alutiiq Museum Executive Director April Laktonen Counceller. “Clear labeling can help buyers understand which works are crafted by Native people and which are not. We are telling people to look for the Alutiiq Seal as a mark of authenticity. The Alutiiq Seal emblem will help Alutiiq artists distinguish themselves from others, and help consumers avoid phony Native art.”
The program emblem features the stylized face of a seal. Alutiiq artist Hanna Sholl designed the graphic with inspiration from ancestral rock art.
“We worked with our Cultural Arts Community – a volunteer group of Alutiiq artists – to design the program and its emblem,” said Counceller. “The committee liked the play on words between a seal of authenticity and a harbor seal, an important animal in Alutiiq culture. Hanna’s drawing takes that idea and shows it in a traditional style. She uses elements and rounded lines from Alutiiq petroglyphs to draw a seal face.”
Any Alutiiq artist may join the registry by completing an application on the Alutiiq Museum’s website. There is no fee to participate, and the registry is open to Alutiiq artists wherever they live. The Alutiiq Museum Store will maintain the list of registered artists and publish their names to its website.
The development of the Alutiiq Seal program was supported by a grant from the Alaska Community Foundation’s Alaska Native Social Justice Fund.
Read more about the work of the Alutiiq Museum on their press releases page.
Need home activities for the small (5 and under) children in your life? The UA Museum of the North has you covered. From their web page:
Virtual Early Explorers is a growing activity resource for parents and caregivers to lead their own exploration, sensory, and craft activities at home. We believe young children learn best through hands-on exploration, and these activities are not intended as computer time (except for occasional links to optional educational videos). While we cannot provide in-person programs at the museum at this time, we hope you will find some of these activities helpful to continue exploring with your children.
Early Explorers activities are designed for children 5 and under (with adult), but are adaptable to other ages.
Available themes as of this writing are:
Is your library, archives or museum providing at home activity kits, either virtually or as “take homes”? Drop us a line!
On the night of Saturday, 9/26/2020 people around the planet will observe International Observe the Moon Night, rain or shine, using the safety measures that make sense for their location. From our friends at International Observe the Moon Night:
Observing the Moon is something you can do no matter the weather, time of day, or location. We interpret "observe" broadly, and encourage you to get creative with the ways in which you observe. Here are printable Moon Maps, Moon observation journal, viewing guide, or any of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's scientific visualizations to get started. Happy Observing!
If your library or museum observes International Observe the Moon Night in anyway, we’d love to hear an account of how things went.
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