A View From the Stacks: Interns' Journal - Week 1

Greetings from the Jean Outland Chrysler Library!

My name is Casey Nye and I’ve just started my summer internship and the Chrysler’s Library. I’m currently a rising senior at Virginia Tech majoring in Studio Art, Art History, and Communications. I’ve hoped for an opportunity like this to come my way, and am excited to work with professionals in the art world as I approach graduation.

Having been a frequenter of Virginia Tech’s Art and Architecture Library for the past three years, I thought the Chrysler Museum’s Jean Outland Chrysler Library would be the perfect fit for me. I didn’t know much about the library at first, but knowing that I plan to apply to graduate school for either Art History or Museum Studies, I thought I could gain valuable experience from this type of internship.

Our first day was, of course, a brief introduction to the museum staff and facilities. I met my supervisors, Laura and Sara, as well as other interns here at the Chrysler. After our introductions, we toured the museum, inside and out, and let me say, the public museum space is far less confusing than the building’s inner workings – I hardly have my bearings after one week! After being spun through the galleries, we dizzily headed to the library, which I hoped I would be able to find again on my own. Like I said, I didn’t know much about the library and had never visited.

The Library sits at the end of a hidden hallway off one of the galleries. It opens into a small reading room with general reference books, including a myriad of multivolume encyclopedias, dictionaries, museum catalogues, and trendy art publications, ranging from the Art Bulletin, to Paperweight Quarterly. Gazing at the number of shelves and shallow depth of material, I began to wonder about the whereabouts of all the actual art books. I thought, if I sit in this room of encyclopedias and dictionaries all summer, I will surely drive myself crazy! On the bright side, I would probably become a Jeopardy star. But just as I questioned my decision to spend my summer as a library intern, Laura took us through the STAFF ONLY entrance into the closed stacks, where all the scholarly published authors sitting on the shelves started to laugh in my face. My embarrassment set in. The Chrysler’s library holds over 110,000 items, including thousands of monographs, auction catalogues, folios, oversized books, rare books, and much more. How could I be so foolish as to think we would be working only with Webster’s Dictionaries! The small reading room is only a veneer hiding the enclosed treasures.

As the week progressed and I became more acquainted with the library’s collection, my initial skepticism seemed a distant memory and my fear of monotony turned to a fear of incompetence. There is much to learn from this secret library, and far more than I can hope to glean in a mere two months. So far, I have only seen a fraction of what this library has to offer, but I am certainly excited to explore cache of knowledge. The Jean Outland Chrysler Library is a hidden jewel within the walls of the Chrysler, and has taught me that you really can’t judge a book by its cover.

- Casey Nye,  2010 Summer Library Intern