Posted 3:18 p.m. Wednesday, April 10, 2024
Meet Megan Moeller, Student Archivist
By Laura Godden
Megan Moeller is an archaeology major with minors in anthropology and art. She is from West Bend, WI, and graduated from Kettle Moraine Lutheran High School. This semester, Megan is finishing her studies at UWL and plans on attending graduate school in library and information studies with an archives concentration and anthropology at UW-Milwaukee in the fall.
Megan has an impressive track record in the archaeology field. She completed both photogrammetry and curation internships in the UWL Archaeology Department. She also worked as a research intern at the Town Heritage Center in West Bend, WI, and gained practical experience as an archaeological field technician for the Tremaine Archaeological Project in Holmen, WI. Additionally, Megan has served as an officer in the UWL Archaeology and Anthropology Club.
Megan has also devoted time to volunteering and has been involved in several community programs that help people with special needs.
Megan has been working in Special Collections/Area Research Center (SC/ARC) archives since November 2021. In SC/ARC, Megan regularly delivers informative reference assistance to students, university staff and faculty, and members of the public, helping them locate and understand archival information and resources.
This campus job has provided Megan with considerable, hands-on experience in the cultural heritage field, and through it, she has gained foundational knowledge about preservation methods and archival best practices. She has also become highly effective at finding materials and information using the library’s catalog, finding aids, databases, and other discovery tools.
Additionally, she has gained practical skills in areas like making reproductions of archival documents and images, the operation of technology and equipment commonly found in archives, and safely and correctly retrieving and re-shelving fragile and unique items with distinctive arrangements and specific handling requirements.
During the past six semesters, Megan has also contributed to advanced curatorial tasks like photograph processing, long-term space planning, selecting clipping-file articles, improving archival folders, adding materials to the university theatre collection, and using the library’s services platform software (Ex Libris Alma) to track usage statistics and catalog vertical files.
Megan’s efforts in these areas are of a high caliber, as she seriously embraces the long-term importance and enduring influence of her labor. Thanks to Megan, our archives’ outlook is much improved, and materials are more discoverable and accessible to current and future researchers. There is no doubt that all this first-hand experience will help Megan succeed in library graduate school!
Megan answered a few of our questions:
How did you find out about this job? Why did you want to work here?
I found out about this job through a friend and classmate who was a student archivist. When I applied, I was motivated by the opportunity to work with old and rare books and preserve that knowledge for the future. Since then, I have found that I enjoy working with students and community members to help them do research.
What do you like best about working in Special Collections/Area Research Center?
There are lots of things that I love about working in special collections, but I think the best part is being able to work with people who are passionate about history. The staff here have been great mentors, and it’s really rewarding to see patrons’ faces light up when they find information about their research interests.
What kinds of things have you learned through this work? Did you gain any transferrable skills that you think you'll take with you when you graduate?
In addition to the more obvious things like learning the Library of Congress call number system, scanning documents, and getting information from microfilm, I have also learned skills like working with patrons and problem-solving. I have learned how to fix issues independently, and I am very grateful for how much this position has increased my ability to make professional phone calls and write formal emails.
How did this work influence your decision to go to library school?
My love of history stemmed from a love of archaeology. For other people, their interest in history is based in genealogy or local history. Through helping people research their specific interests, archivists can make history interesting and applicable in ways that many textbooks can’t. Helping people get to that point is the most rewarding part of my job, and training to be an archivist will allow me to do that as a lifelong career.
Would you recommend this library job to other students? Why or why not?
I would recommend this job to students who are interested in history, education, or public engagement. It has been one of the best parts of my college career, and I am so grateful that I was able to have this opportunity.
What is one of your favorite things or aspects about the archives collection?
I find the older documents on medicine and anthropology most interesting. As an anthropology minor with an interest in medical history, I am curious about the outdated “facts” that were present in these disciplines. Historical context is vital in understanding how these inaccuracies were accepted, and examining them combines many of my interests.
Megan's immediate future:
Megan will be graduating in May, and pursuing a graduate degree in library and information science at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee in the fall 2024.
Thank you Megan for your hard work and contributions to helping our patrons!
More than a student job in the Campus Connection