Category Archives: Grants

Internship Opportunities

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UCSF Library Archives and Special Collections has 2 new internship opportunities.

Archives Intern for AIDS History

The San Francisco Bay Area’s Response to the AIDS Epidemic: Digitizing, Reuniting and Providing Universal Access to Historical AIDS Records.

The Archives Intern for AIDS History will be assigned various tasks to assist in completion of the project including performing Quality Control checks on digitized papers, digital objects and metadata. Candidate should be a student or recent graduate from a library or information science program, preferably with a concentration or interest in archives and special collections. Students of public history, and history of health sciences are also encouraged to apply. This is a part time temporary appointment.
Department: Archives and Special Collections
Rank and Salary: Library Intern – $15/hr
Term: 150 hours Fall 2018 – Spring 2019

Project Description

The Archives and Special Collections department of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Library, in collaboration with the San Francisco Public Library (SFPL) and the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender (GLBT) Historical Society, has been awarded a $315,000 implementation grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The collaborating institutions will digitize about 127,000 pages from 49 archival collections related to the early days of the AIDS epidemic in the San Francisco Bay Area and make them widely accessible to the public online. In the process, collections whose components had been placed in different archives for various reasons will be digitally reunited, facilitating access for researchers outside the Bay Area.
 The 127,000 pages from the three archives range from handwritten correspondence and notebooks to typed reports and agency records to printed magazines. Also included are photographic prints, negatives, transparencies, and posters. The materials will be digitized by the University of California, Merced Library’s Digital Assets Unit, which has established a reputation for digitizing information resources so that they can be made available to the world via the web. All items selected for digitization will be carefully examined to address any privacy concerns. The digital files generated by this project will be disseminated broadly through the California Digital Library, with the objects freely accessible to the public through both Calisphere, operated by the University of California, and the Digital Public Library of America, which will have an AIDS history primary sources set.

Skills and experience desired:

  • Strong candidates will be detail oriented and possess excellent organizational skills
  • Proficiency  with MS Excel and Google spreadsheets
  • Proficiency with document sharing and cloud computing services (Google drive, Box)
  • Experience with digital asset management systems
  • Ability to work independently
  • Ability to lift boxes weighing up to 40 pounds.

Hours and Location:

The timing of the internship is flexible, but should be carried out during the Fall of 2018 and ending early Spring 2019,  based on applicant and institutional commitments.  Up to two 8-hour days per week for 10-12 weeks. Work will be performed onsite at the library, though offsite work is possible.

Stipend:

A stipend of $15/hour is available for the internship. 

To Apply:

Applications for the UCSF Archives & Special Collections Internship, including a cover letter, resume, and names/contact info of two references should be sent to 
David Krah, Project Archivist 
UCSF Archives and Special Collections
University of California, San Francisco
530 Parnassus Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94143-0840
Apply for this position

Digital Processing and Implementation Intern

The Digital Processing and Implementation Intern will assist the UCSF Digital Archivist with various aspects of the Digital Archives program as they are implemented and brought online for the first time. Potential projects include:

  • Testing digital forensics and processing hardware and software being implemented in the digital forensics lab.
  • Compiling inventory of physical archival collections containing digital media, and pulling collections and identifying, counting, and cataloging digital media present.
  • Disk-imaging digital media removed from collections and transferring data to library storage systems.
  • Creating metadata about digital media being processed in digital forensics lab, editing metadata for various digitization or cataloging projects.
  • Operating scanning equipment to digitize archival collections for patron and researcher use.
  • Processing digital collections under the supervision of the Digital Archivist, including finding aid and container list creation and manipulation of access copies of born-digital content to create access-ready versions of collection.
  • Researching computer tools and systems for management and preservation of digital objects, and compiling and reporting on capabilities, requirements, dependencies, etc. of these utilities.
  • Participate in staff meetings, assist with writing blog posts, and help with reference/duplication requests.
Department: Archives and Special Collections
Rank and Salary: Library Intern – $15/hr
Term: 150 – 200 hours Fall 2018 – Spring 2019

Location

UCSF Library and Center for Knowledge Management,
530 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94143-0840

Work Type

Archival Processing, Information Technology, Computer Science

Work To Be Done

On site, with occasional opportunities to work from home or other location

Desired Qualifications

  • Experience with ArchivesSpace, Nuxeo or other archival collections management software
  • Experience with or interest in digital preservation, digital file formats and media, computer science, or history of computing technologies
  • Experience with or interest in digital forensics in archival collections and various digital forensics tools, such as FTK Imager and BitCurator
  • Familiarity with scripting, computer programming in any language, Unix.
  • Excellent analytical and writing skills
  • High level of accuracy and attention to detail
  • Ability to work independently
  • Ability to lift boxes weighing up to 40 pounds

Stipend

A stipend of $15/hour is available for the internship. The internship is intended for those who are currently enrolled in an undergraduate/graduate program.

Hours

Up to two 8-hour days per week for 10-12 weeks. Specific on-site hours are negotiable, but must be completed between 8:00 a.m.  and 5:00 pm Monday through Friday. Start and end dates are flexible.

Application Process

Please submit a letter of interest, a current resume and contact information for two professional references to:

Charles Macquarie
Digital Archivist
UCSF Archives and Special Collections
University of California, San Francisco
530 Parnassus Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94143-0840

Apply for this position

The UCSF Library is committed to a culture of inclusion and respect. We embrace diversity of thought, experience, and people as a source of strength which is critical to our success. We encourage candidates to apply who thrive in an environment which celebrates and serves our diverse communities.

Equal Employment Opportunity
The University of California San Francisco is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, protected veteran or disabled status, or genetic information.

About UCSF
The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a leading university dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. It is the only campus in the 10-campus UC system dedicated exclusively to the health sciences.

About UCSF Archives and Special Collections
UCSF Archives & Special Collections is a dynamic health sciences research center that contributes to innovative scholarship, actively engages users through educational activities, preserves past knowledge, enables collaborative research experiences to address contemporary challenges, and translates scientific research into patient care.

The San Francisco Bay Area’s Response to the AIDS Epidemic: 1 year update on the National Endowment for the Humanities Implementation Grant

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Archives and Special Collections has just submitted its annual report to the National Endowment for the Humanities on the collaborative mass digitization grant The San Francisco Bay Area’s Response to the AIDS Epidemic. 

At the one year point of The Bay Area’s Response to the AIDS Epidemic, the consortium of UCSF Library Archives & Special Collections, San Francisco Public Library History Center/Hormel LGBTQIA Center, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society, and UC Merced have made significant headway towards our goal of digitizing and publishing 127,000 pages from our various AIDS History collections.

To date we have published seven complete collections on Calisphere, and we have scanned and published the poster component of UCSF’s AIDS History Project Ephemera collection. Thirteen other collections have nearly completed the digitization process and are undergoing quality control checks before being harvested into Calisphere.

The Ultimate Point: Shooting Up and Sharing Needles Puts You at Risk for AIDS. This Fact May Save Your Life!

The Ultimate Point (SF AIDS Foundation). AIDS History Project Ephemera Collection, MSS 2000-31

40,518 pages of materials have to date been uploaded to the Nuxeo Digital Asset Management System we use for managing and publishing to Calisphere.  Some of these have gone to active publication, some are still undergoing quality assurance (QA) procedures. An additional 35,061 pages have been scanned, but have yet to be ingested into the DAMS.

We have also given talks at four library and archives conferences in the past year to share details about our project.

In the coming year we will continue digitizing and publishing collection materials to Calisphere.org and begin planning online exhibits for Calisphere and Digital Public Library of America that will serve to unite and interpret the collections across our partnering institutions.

AIDS Legal Referral Panel's AIDSLaw Conference. Friday November 11, 1988.

AIDSLaw Conference 1988. AIDS Legal Referral Panel Records, 2000-46, Box 2, Folder 8 (GLBTHS)

Digitized collections currently online:

  1. ACT-UP Golden Gate Records, 1988-1993, MSS 98-47 https://calisphere.org/collections/308/ 
  2. Barbara Cameron Papers, 1968-2003 (SFPL GLC 63) https://calisphere.org/collections/27002/
  3. Shanti Project Records, 1982-1994, MSS 98-48 https://calisphere.org/collections/19989/
  4. AIDS Legal Referral Panel (ALRP) records, 1984-2000, (#2000-46) GLBT HS  https://calisphere.org/collections/469/
  5. Bobbi Campbell Diary, 1983-1984, MSS 96-33 https://calisphere.org/collections/3684/
  6. Mobilization Against AIDS Records, 1984-1995,
    MSS 95-03 https://calisphere.org/collections/14922/
  7. People vs. Owen Bathhouse Closure Litigation, 1984-1987
    (SFPL SFH 31) https://calisphere.org/collections/26990/
  8. AIDS History Project — Ephemera Collection, 1981-2002, MSS 2000-31 (posters) https://calisphere.org/collections/466/

National Endowment for the Humanities

The San Francisco Bay Area’s Response to the AIDS Epidemic has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor.

 

John S. Greenspan Papers Update: The Women’s Interagency HIV Study

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We are currently processing and digitizing material from the John S. Greenspan papers as part of our National Archives NHPRC grant, “Evolution of San Francisco’s Response to a Public Health Crisis: Providing Access to New AIDS History Collections.”

John S. Greenspan and Deborah Greenspan. Photograph by David Powers. AR 2015-31, carton 2.

Included in the Greenspan papers are files related to the Women’s Interagency HIV Study (WIHS). WIHS was organized in 1993 to investigate the impact of HIV infection on women. It is one of the largest and longest ongoing U.S. studies of its kind, with clinical sites and cohorts throughout the country. John Greenspan and Deborah Greenspan, his wife and longtime research partner, participated in research activities associated with WIHS.

In the collection are copies of WIHS newsletters created for and by women living with HIV. The newsletters include updates on WIHS research, stories and letters from participating women, event announcements, and other related information. Below are sample pages from the Spring 1997 issue of Health WIHS, a publication of the Women’s lnteragency HIV Study in Chicago.

To learn more about the Greenspan papers read our earlier post, “Processing the John Greenspan Papers.”

You can view the complete Greenspan digital collection on Calisphere.

Processing the John Greenspan Papers

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As part of our current National Archives NHPRC grant, “Evolution of San Francisco’s Response to a Public Health Crisis: Providing Access to New AIDS History Collections,” we’ve been processing the papers of John S. Greenspan. Greenspan served as the founding Director of the UCSF Oral AIDS Center and the UCSF AIDS Specimen Bank. He is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Oral Pathology in the Department of Orofacial Sciences and the former Associate Dean for Global Oral Health in the School of Dentistry at UCSF along with Director-Emeritus of the campuswide AIDS Research Institute at UCSF.

John S. Greenspan and Deborah Greenspan. Photograph by David Powers. AR 2015-31, carton 2.

Greenspan’s work has played a major role in HIV research and care. He and his longtime collaborator and wife Deborah Greenspan, BDS, DSc, discovered the lesion hairy leukoplakia and determined the significance of this and other oral lesions in HIV/AIDS. He has published and lectured widely on the oral aspects of AIDS, oral pathology, and immunopathology.

Photographs of the Second International Workshop on the Oral Manifestations of HIV Infection, 1993. Greenspan papers, MSS 2016-14.

Greenspan’s research interests include the global health aspects of AIDS and his professional service reflects this. He has served as President of the American Association for Dental Research (AADR) and the International Association for Dental Research (IADR). He is the founding President of the IADR Global Oral Health Inequalities Research Network (IADR-GOHIRN) and of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health’s Global Oral Health Interest Group (GOHIG).

Conference programs. Greenspan papers, MSS 2016-14.

Greenspan’s papers include records of his research and work developing the Oral AIDS Center and the AIDS Specimen Bank. They also include material related to his teaching and service in professional organizations, including AADR and IADR. Greenspan’s papers feature correspondence with members of his global network of researchers and healthcare providers and records of the various national and international conferences and meetings of which he was a part. The collection includes some unique types of material, including audiovisual recordings, glass microscope slides, health science instruments, and conference posters and photographs of events.

Dissection instruments. Greenspan papers, MSS 2016-14.

At the conclusion of the Greenspan processing project, a detailed finding aid will be available to researchers online and a small portion of the collection will be digitized and made available on Calisphere.

New AIDS History Project Collections Online

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Materials newly digitized as part of our NEH grant-funded project The Bay Area’s Response to the AIDS Epidemic are available online on Calisphere.

Most of theses collections represent a “mass digitization” approach to putting materials online. In most cases (Ephemera Collection excepted), the collections are scanned at the folder level. The objects on Calisphere correspond to the folder titles you see in the collection guides found on the Online Archive of California. 

These objects contain a multi-page pdf of all the papers in each folder. Click the image to download a keyword-searchable pdf.

In some cases, when a folder title actually refers to a group of several folders, you’ll see multiple images (one for each folder) in a carousel below the main image, such as People vs. Owen Bathhouse Closure Records, Sex Clubs-Bathhouses Subject Files.

These collections are ready to research, plenty more on the way.

Bobbi Campell Diary

AIDS History Project Ephemera Collection

ACT-UP Golden Gate

People vs. Owen Bathhouse Closure (San Francisco Public Library)

Barbara Cameron Papers (San Francisco Public Library)

AIDS Treatment News Digital Collection

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We’re announcing the publication of the AIDS Treatment News (ATN) digital collection.

The collection includes a sampling of the ATN records that we house at UCSF. ATN is a publication created by John S. James that investigates and reports on both conventional and experimental treatments for HIV/AIDS and related social and political issues. It began publication in 1986.

This collection is made possible through the generous support of an NHPRC grant from the National Archives.

The digital collection includes ephemera, photographs, and documents that illustrate AIDS-related activism and ATN’s operations.

Notable material includes images of the 1988 protest at the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) offices in Washington, DC, flyers related to the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, and ACT UP San Francisco material.

View the complete digital collection on Calisphere. Contact us to visit the reading room and work with the ATN records.

Volunteer Report: Working on the AIDS History Project

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This is a guest post by Edith Martinez, UCSF Archives Volunteer.

Volunteering at the UCSF Archives has been a great learning experience. I have been able to help with the NHPRC grant project, Evolution of San Francisco’s Response to a Public Health Crisis: Providing Access to New AIDS History Collections, an expansion of the AIDS History Project.

AIDS National Conference booklet, 1987. ATN records, MSS 94-28.

I have specifically been working on material from AIDS Treatment News, a biweekly newsletter started by John James in 1986 that reports on experimental and conventional treatments for HIV/AIDS and related conditions. ATN articles are based on information that James gathered from meetings, conferences, interviews, publications, and correspondence.

VIIIth International Conference on AIDS in Africa and VIIIth African Conference on Sexually Transmitted Diseases, 1993. ATN records, MSS 94-28.

Working on this collection I realized that it is a lot of work organizing and processing. I’ve also learned more about the history of AIDS and found some really interesting items that I thought were fascinating. John James attended many conferences and saved many of the booklets from these conferences. The booklets for the VIIIth International Conference on AIDS in Africa and the AIDS National Conference in San Francisco are just some examples. Looking through these booklets and reading about the talks and workshops listed in each, one can see how AIDS prevention and treatment has progressed and changed over the years. It’s a true learning experience, and working on this collection has really helped me better understand AIDS history and archival work.

New Donald P. Francis Digital Collection

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We’re highlighting the new digital collection of Donald P. Francis, CDC epidemiologist, pediatrician, and AIDS public health advocate. The digital collection includes selections from the Francis papers (MSS 2015-01) that we recently processed with the generous support of a National Archives NHPRC grant.

Francis grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and attended the University of California, Berkeley. He received his MD from Northwestern University, his Doctor of Science from Harvard University, and completed training in pediatrics. In 1971 he joined the CDC, where he continued to work for the next 21 years. At the CDC, he worked on a number of projects in coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO), including the Smallpox Eradication Program in Sudan and India. He was also part of the WHO team that investigated the first Ebola outbreak in 1976.

Francis began investigating HIV/AIDS after its emergence in 1981. He directed the AIDS laboratory at the CDC and worked closely with the Institut Pasteur to identify the causative virus. He called attention to the threat of AIDS among gay and straight people and warned of the inadequacy of the public health response and lack of funding. As he stated in a 1983 letter to CDC Center for Infectious Diseases Director Walter R. Dowdle, “Our past and present efforts have been and are far too small and we can’t be proud. It is time to do more. It is time to do what is right.”

In 1992, Francis joined Genentech and helped found what became the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI). Francis later co-founded VaxGen, which completed the world’s first Phase III trials of two candidate HIV vaccines in 2003. In 2004, Francis co-founded Global Solutions for Infectious Diseases (GSID) and he continues to consult regarding vaccines and public health.

You can view the digital collection on Calisphere. If you would like to research the Francis papers, please make an appointment with us.

New AIDS Health Project Digital Collection

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We’ve started work on our NHPRC grant project, “Evolution of San Francisco’s Response to a Public Health Crisis: Providing Access to New AIDS History Collections.” Throughout the project, we’ll be posting regular updates on Brought to Light.

We’re happy to announce the new AIDS Health Project (AHP) digital collection. The UCSF AIDS Health Project (AHP) began its HIV/AIDS education, prevention, and counseling efforts in 1984 with support from the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH). It grew out of a community commitment to respond and treat itself.

AHP staff and volunteers conducted research and provided mental health counseling, crisis intervention, HIV testing, youth outreach, and social services. Additionally, AHP provided HIV/AIDS training to mental health and other healthcare providers.

AHP implemented innovative programs and developed literature aimed at youth, gay men, minority communities, and other groups. AHP changed its name from the AIDS Health Project to the Alliance Health Project in 2013, expanding its mission to explicitly include the health and wellness of LGBTQ people. Check out their current work at ucsf-ahp.org.

You can view the complete AHP digital collection on Calisphere. To research the AHP records in person, please make an appointment with us.

New UCSF Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS) Digital Collection

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This is a post by Kelsi Evans, Project Archivist, and Lynda Letona, Archives Intern.

We’ve started work on our NHPRC grant project, “Evolution of San Francisco’s Response to a Public Health Crisis: Providing Access to New AIDS History Collections.” Throughout the project, we’ll be posting regular updates on Brought to Light.

We’d like to highlight the new digital collection of the UCSF Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS). CAPS was established in 1986 to educate scientists and stimulate new research projects that impact the practice, theory, and policy of HIV/AIDS prevention and keep pace with the changing epidemic. The scope of CAPS has evolved over the decades to include global projects, the development of prevention interventions, and collaborative work among researchers in fields including biomedicine, psychology, epidemiology, behavioral science, policy, clinical medicine, and other disciplines. The digital collection includes selected conference and research project materials, correspondence, publications, and ephemera.

Correspondence in the digital collection includes a 1994 letter from the American Psychiatric Association Commission on AIDS and the American Psychological Association Committee on Psychology and AIDS to Dr. David Kessler, Commissioner of the FDA. The letter expresses concerns about home sample collection (HSC) testing kits for HIV, including the range of reactions that people testing HIV positive or negative might experience. Such reactions, the letter argues, could result in severe states of anxiety and depression, increased suicidal thoughts and behavior, and increased high risk behavior for HIV transmission. The authors write, “We believe that face-to-face HIV counseling remains the procedure of choice and that HSC kit testing should be utilized only when the former is unavailable or unacceptable to the consumer,” since in-person counseling allows for more adequate assessment and management of psychological responses to testing.

The digital collection also includes issues of the Women Organized to Respond to Life-threatening Diseases (WORLD) newsletter. This publication includes powerful stories, including “Fighting Two Diseases” from issue number 12. Here, a woman writes about her experience of battling drug addiction in her youth and later HIV. She shares her great appreciation of going to a Kaiser educator who cared about her and helped her through difficult times. She writes that in spite of all the fear and devastation the diagnosis brought her, she has managed to experience many wonderful things and learned to remain focused on the good in life.

You can view the CAPS digital collection on Calisphere at calisphere.org/collections/26898/. To research the CAPS records in person, please make an appointment with us.