With catch phrases like “repurposing content” and “harvesting our metadata” still rattling their way across my synapses this morning, I began to wonder if there was anything I could reuse in a blog post from one of the myriad of more “official” accounts of the RBMS Preconference that I had been trying to crank out earlier. Probably not.

The usual mix of workshops, plenaries, seminars, and social events (some planned, some improvised), the event did not appear to offer all that much that would be of direct or particular interest to performing arts archivists (although much of what was discussed obviously will have a great impact on those archivists working in research libraries). Indeed, with so many archivists lurking in the wings and even seizing center stage, the conference had a kind of strange vibe. Certainly nothing quite compares to the experience of being exhorted by various library administrators to “get over ourselves” and “get on with it” (although maybe they weren’t talking to me–I’m never sure). For a fair minded representation of the goings on at RBMS you might do well to check out Hanging Together, the lovely blog brought to you by the good peeps at RLG.

Speaking of blogs, much of the conference buzz appeared to center around the SRO RBMS Blog Boot Camp seminar, which has its own blog. Aside from the profession’s unfortunate penchant for earthy terms like “boot camp” and “toolkit” (I would have preferred blogging barre), the session was surprisingly energizing and quaint all at the same time. Even the venerable Terry Belanger seemingly was moved to pronounce this apparent breakdown of previously rigid hierarchies to be a good thing–a moment not captured for YouTube, I believe, but some of the seminar participants already have been blogging about it. Maybe someone else took down the exact quote.

Image credit: 20th Century Limited cigarette card; NYPL Digital Image ID #1561478