I'm Jim (the beautiful lady I am standing on is the Eagle)

I'm Jim. I work in the Nashville Public Library in the Special Collections Division. I am also the archivist (part time and unpaid) for the Tennessee Conference of the United Methodist Church. My training is in history/public history, with an emphasis on archives management and museum studies. I also had training in electronics many years ago and even in computers in the days of punch cards and Basic. I work primarily providing reference services, processing collections, and work a lot with oral histories (both old collections and ongoing projects.) My thesis work was in the field of studying users/visitors/patrons/students (what I call the-other-side-of-the- counter folk) and finding ways to help provide the best access to our collections possible. During the process, I watched the emergence of the Web 2.0 concept, which seems to me to be the natural evolution of some other concepts that I had studied previously.

I am an other-side-of-the-counter-advocate. Having left school for a dozen years or so, but continuing to research and write, I have a strong memory of what it is like to be a patron/researcher, and that colors my views on a number of issues. I try to picture the results of my work from the viewpoint of the researcher and promote programs that I think will help them. I had many years in businesses where customer service was paramount, and I often use that skill set in my current jobs.

In keeping with the nautical theme, I will say that I am a veteran of the United States Coast Guard, (Semper Paratus!) and the first "grown-up book I ever read was Treasure Island. Boy, there was a unique vocabulary in that one for an elementary school kid. 18th-century nautical. Sheesh. I suggested names of famous shipwrecks to my siblings for their children, but alas, I have no neices named Andrea Doria or Lusitania, nor even a nephew named Edward Fitzgerald or General Slocum. I am not accorded the respect that I deserve! (Or perhaps I am.)

There is a somewhat more realistic image of me, along with my beautiful wife, Roseanne, among the pictures on this page. Our real life dog's image is also among them. (The cat lives in my wife's office and has adopted her, but neither he nor the dog has developed enough inter-species tolerance to allow him to come to our home.)