This month I returned to archival work. The Library reopened in late June. I was grateful I would have access to the archives again, particularly as I was running out of other work to do and had started to question if I would need to defer. Despite this relief, the prospect of actually being out in the world, especially in central Sydney, was daunting. So my goal was to get as much done as quickly as possible, particularly to lessen the impact of any future Library closures.
As with everything else, trips to the Library have changed. For one thing, I was driving in. Anyone who knows me knows city driving is something I normally avoid at all costs but at the moment the idea of being on a train is scarier. The commute is almost five hours each day so I listened to a lot of podcasts, webinars and lectures.
Being able to book a spot at the Library was reassuring. I knew I would get a seat and that the room wouldn't be too crowded. There was hand sanitizer everywhere, there were screens up at the desk, the method of issuing materials had changed, not all the rooms were open, I couldn't access the Friends Room. But once I was actually seated in the Special Collections Reading Room with the materials in front of me, there was a certain comfort in the familiarity of the routine. The fundamentals of the process hadn't changed.
I was able to use the Library for a 3hour session per day and was taking about 1,500 photographs in that time. After working exclusively at home for so long I found these trips draining. I especially missed having a teapot at easy reach. But I was excited by the materials I was viewing and have been trying to remind myself this should be the most enjoyable stage even during a pandemic.
It's been a busy month but today I finished photographing all 114 scrapbooks in my collection! I now have enough work to get me through to January next year, so I can happily retreat to my isolated bubble and ignore the outside world for awhile.
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