Today’s blog post is an interview with Liz Caringola of the Digital Services Directorate here at the Library of Congress. You can read other interviews with digital collections staff here.
Carlyn: Hi Liz, could you tell us a bit about what you do in the Digital Services Directorate? How would you explain your job to someone outside the Library of Congress? What do you like most about your job?
Liz: I am a Digital Collection Specialist in the Digital Collections Workflow Section. I’m still very new to this job, but my understanding is that our section is responsible for acquiring and preserving digital content and making it as widely available as possible. This often means adding digital materials to the Library’s public website so that people from across the country and the world can make use of the Library’s extensive collections without having to travel to DC. For digital materials that have copyright or other rights concerns, they are loaded into a system called Stacks for onsite researchers to use.
I’m thrilled that this position allows me to combine my expertise as a librarian and archivist with a lifelong interest in technology and coding. As a teenager, I taught myself HTML and CSS so that I could build websites, so I really enjoy the technical aspects of my job and being able to utilize scripting and other tools to make routine tasks more efficient, accurate, and scalable.
C: Can you tell us a bit about your professional background and journey. In particular, what professional or educational experiences prepared you for your role?
L: My earliest professional experiences were working on digitization projects. I digitized archaeological records while I was studying anthropology and history as an undergrad. Hands-on digitization experience coupled with what I was learning in class led me to pursue a career as an archivist. I wanted to make information—especially the one-of-a-kind, unpublished records held by archives—more widely accessible. I got my MLIS from the University of Pittsburgh, and then moved to the DC-area to briefly work for the National Archives’ digitization partnership with Ancestry.com. Next, I worked at the University of Maryland (UMD) as the project manager of the Historic Maryland Newspapers Project, which digitizes and contributes newspaper content to the Library’s Chronicling America database. After a few years, I moved on to a new role at UMD as the Archival Metadata Librarian in Special Collections and University Archives. I was responsible for coordinating the creation, enhancement, and transformation of metadata in order to make special collection materials in all formats discoverable and accessible to the UMD community and the public.
Returning to a role that focuses on digital materials feels full circle to me. I’m excited that this position will allow me to grow beyond digitization and to participate in the full lifecycle and ongoing maintenance of digital collections.
C: What part of your work do you find most meaningful or engaging?
L: Although my role doesn’t directly interact with the Library’s researchers or the general public, I find the most meaning in knowing that my work allows people to discover and access information that they may not have been able to find otherwise. There are many barriers that may prevent people from physically visiting libraries and archives. Making digital materials available online doesn’t solve all of those problems, but it does help.
C: Do you have any advice for people interested in getting into the kind of work you do? Are there any skills or competencies that you think are really important for folks that want to get into this field to develop?
L: For anyone who is interested in the digital side of libraries and archives, there are a lot of specializations within this domain, and not all of them require that you know coding, for example. Soft skills and project management can be just as valuable. My advice is to think about what your existing strengths are, what specific roles interest you the most, and to map out your professional development plans from there.
If you’re not sure what skills you should be trying to build, a piece of advice someone once gave me is to keep a folder of job postings that interest you and that you want to be qualified to apply for. Periodically review them, see what requirements they have in common, and identify gaps in your skill set. I think this is something that people at any stage of their career can do, but I especially recommend this to students so that they can adjust their coursework or seek out internships or other opportunities to try to start building those skills before they’re on the job market.
C: Aside from work, what sorts of things are you passionate about? Do you have any hobbies or interests that you’re up for sharing out with folks?
L: This first one is still work-related, but I am passionate about improving labor practices in libraries and archives and was an active member of the DLF Working Group on Labor in Digital Libraries, Archives, and Museums for several years. As someone who lives outside of DC and has a long commute, I am a huge fan of podcasts. Most of my favorites are comedy-related, but I also love a good spooky paranormal podcast. I enjoy spending time with friends and taking a stroll through historic downtown Frederick, Maryland, where I live. Finally—and I guess it’s obvious since I am a librarian, but it feels weird not to say it—I love reading!