The Civil Service Council will feature a civil service employee at Illinois State University each month to highlight an exceptional colleague and the outstanding work being done on campus! This month get a chance to learn about and applaud Karmine Beecroft, digitization coordinator for Milner Library.
What is your position on campus and how long have you been with the University?
I came to ISU to run Milner Library’s Digitization Center in mid-2019. Our job is to create digital surrogates of the University’s unique cultural heritage materials, with a focus on Milner’s Special Collections and Archives. We also provide limited free digitization services to ISU’s staff, students, and faculty in service of their scholarship and class work, as well as paid services for community members.
What do you find most rewarding about your work?
I love that the work is largely project based; this allows me to explore Milner’s incredible collections in-depth while building in enough variety that I never get bored. My passion is connecting researchers with information, so it’s especially fulfilling for me to be able to share these distinctive materials with the world online.
I’m also very excited about a new platform called From The Page that the library recently partnered with in order to crowdsource transcription of handwritten materials. Transcription is necessary both for accessibility and searchability, but because it is very labor-intensive it has always been a bottleneck for our small department. Beginning July 1, we will be able to make several newly digitized collections available for transcription through From The Page, ranging from Ringling Bros. Circus correspondence to ISNU’s first financial ledger. We’re also instituting a rewards program to make it fun and competitive—volunteers will earn stickers and other Milner swag the more they transcribe!
What are your hobbies or favorite pastimes?
Naturally, as a librarian, I’m a big reader! I also enjoy board games, hiking, baking, and cuddling my cats.
What else would you like others to know about you or your time at Illinois State?
I’ll definitely put in a plug for visiting Special Collections (Milner Library, sixth floor) and the Dr. Jo Ann Rayfield Archives (2016 Warehouse Road, Normal) in person! While the Digitization Center does its best to provide online access for high-interest collections, the vast majority of the materials in these remarkable repositories are not—and likely never will be—available online. There are many reasons for this, ranging from copyright and other legal protections to privacy ethics, infrastructure constraints, and environmental concerns. If you can’t find what you’re looking for online, Milner’s librarians and archivists are more than happy to help you access collections relating to your research in the Reading Rooms. You can also jumpstart the search yourself by checking out our finding aids database, which provides structured guides to all processed collections.
Finally, as the incoming president of ISU’s Queer Coalition (LGBTQIA+ faculty, staff, and graduate student affinity group), I’m happy to report that we have an exciting slate of programming coming your way this summer and fall. Those who wish to become a part of QC are invited to fill out our membership form.
More about Karmine from Milner Library Dean, Dallas Long
As coordinator of Milner Library’s digitization coordinator, Karmine serves a vital role for Illinois State students, faculty, and staff by providing digital access to the rare and unique materials held in our special collections and rare books department and in our university archives. Karmine is currently at work on an oral history project, collecting and making accessible the stories of Redbirds who belonged to marginalized groups during their years on campus. Their influence extends well beyond the digitization center and the library. Their work with the Queer Coalition, presence on Milner’s Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA) Committee, and coordination of the Student Employee Recognition Program are a significant part of why Milner is the welcoming, inclusive space that it is. Karmine’s recent contributions to a book display featuring LGBTQIA2S+-authored works and their creativity in incorporating digital assets to the display is just one of many examples of their commitment to providing diverse, inclusive, and reliable resources for the Illinois State community above and beyond their work in the Digitization Center. Karmine’s commitment to inclusive communities was the genesis of Milner Library’s organizing and hosting a summit for school librarians in the Central Illinois region to come together for one day in January 2023 to discuss experiences and strategies for mitigating book censorship attempts and how school libraries support the intellectual freedom of Illinois students.
