At this point in the project of cataloging homes in the Roanoke Valley, I am about half way through the collection of photographs. It is very exciting to see everything go from 5 big boxes full of photos to only 2 and a half right now. It is projected that the cataloging process will be completed by mid-April which means I will be involved in the process of making them public to the rest of the library and community.
Since I have gone through over 3,000 photos so far, I have come across several problems that have to be addressed throughout the cataloging process. Most of the issues deal with street names and city quadrants. For example, there is a street in Roanoke that has the same name as a street in Salem and in Vinton. The only difference is the end of the street name (i.e. road, lane, street, etc.). When cataloging homes like this, it is extremely important to keep everything as organized as possible and file them in the correct order. Another problem I face very often is the similarity in street names all over the Roanoke Valley. The ‘W’ section of the cataloged items takes up almost an entire box because there are so many streets that start with that letter. For example: there are about 25 different street in the Roanoke area whose street name all start with ‘water’ or ‘wood’. This can get very confusing when you are trying to type them into Google Maps and are trying to view the correct home. A smaller issue I also run into is paper cuts and rogue staples that prick my hands. Otherwise, the project is relatively danger-free.
I have also included a photo of my work space at the Virginia Room.
