Relentless Curiosity: An Interview with Seth Langer

Today’s blog post is an interview with Seth Langer, a Digital Collections Technician here at the Library of Congress. You can read other interviews with digital collections staff here.

Hi Seth, could you tell us a bit about what you do in the Digital Services Directorate? How would you explain your job to someone outside the Library of Congress? What do you like most about your job?

I’d love to! Digital Collections Technicians ensure that digital materials in the Library’s vast catalog are accessible to researchers and the general public. We do that in a lot of different ways, depending on the type of material we’re processing and the desired uses of that material. For example, our Open Access E-Journals collection requires us to compile entire volumes of scholarly journals from across all academic disciplines and create complete issues which can be found easily through our search layer, Locate. Many of these e-journals exist online only as single articles; if you know exactly what article you’re looking for, that may be helpful, but typically a researcher will want to consult an entire issue (or series of issues!) of an academic journal.

Without the Technicians compiling volumes, updating bibliographic records, generating URLs, and performing other tasks that get down to the fundamentals of digital preservation, hundreds of years of scholarship may never find its audience. Our division processes all kinds of other materials, too, including digitized newspapers, ebooks, images, sound recordings, government publications, and an eclectic assortment of collections from practically all divisions of the Library.

What I like most about my job is that I have a hand in the integrity and discoverability of the Library’s catalog. Researchers who are physically at the Library, and especially remotely throughout the world, depend on our digital services to realize their work; knowing my efforts contribute to successful research and the overall progression of human knowledge (no biggie!) is very fulfilling.

Can you tell us a bit about your professional background and journey. In particular, what professional or educational experiences prepared you for your role?

I’ve been fortunate to have a varied and dynamic career, especially because my current role touches so many different disciplines and types of librarianship. My educational and early professional experiences were in the performing arts. In my hometown of Atlanta, I was an actor, puppeteer, musician, and teaching artist, and did much hands-on research (literally!) on a wide variety of performance traditions from around the world. I then worked at a combination record label/sound archive, where I supported digital collections by conducting ethnomusicological research, determining copyright and provenance, compiling playlists of recorded material for commercial use, confirming and updating metadata, and many other related tasks. Later, I worked at a university library where I coordinated the licensing and renewal of the library’s database subscriptions, serials, research tools, digital archives, and other special collections. Perhaps the experience which best prepared me for the role was my unyielding (some might say obsessive?) commitment to keeping a perfectly cataloged iPod and corresponding iTunes library. With all the album art, track metadata, formatting, and naming conventions I established, I wish I had gotten paid for being my own personal music librarian – it was practically a full-time job!

What part of your work do you find most meaningful or engaging?

I love knowing that every collection we work with will at some point contain the exact answer to a library user’s reference request. Research projects that I can’t even imagine will engage with materials that my section preserved, stewarded, and made widely available. Because of how broad the scope of our work is, I’ve gotten a front-row seat to authors, subjects, and entire fields of study I had never considered before, and my worldview is all the broader because of it. We also go deep, and if there’s anything that excites me, it’s a rabbit hole! I get to learn new things every single day at the Library, and the more I learn about the world, the more I feel connected to the people in it.

What do you think is the biggest thing you’ve learned so far in working at the Library of Congress?

Since I started, I’ve learned about donkey sentences, truncatelloiden gastropods of the Western Hemisphere, Copperplate versus Spencerian handwriting styles, Armenian diasporic periodicals, and even popular (or not-so-popular) songs of the Suffragist movement! Additionally, I’ve enjoyed upskilling in working with python scripts, virtual machine environments, product management workflows, and perhaps most importantly, how not to get lost in the Library’s buildings!

Do you have any advice for people interested in getting into the kind of work you do? Are there any skills or competencies that you think are really important for folks that want to get into this field to develop?

There are many skills one can bring to this kind of work, and a diversity of perspectives is crucial to the success of projects like ours. If you can develop efficient digital workflows, are an effective communicator and can facilitate large, complex projects with multiple stakeholders, adapt to change, learn new technologies, and remain persistent in the face of unexpected challenges, you have a place in this work. What do these qualities all have in common? Creative problem-solving. You need to develop the ability to see both the forest for the trees, and the trees for the forest – at the same time! Folks who aren’t afraid to ask questions, who actively enjoy collaborating with others, and who exhibit relentless curiosity will find great satisfaction in working with digital collections.

Aside from work, what sorts of things are you passionate about? Do you have any hobbies or interests that you’re up for sharing out with folks?

I love taking advantage of D.C.’s vibrant arts scenes and cultural offerings, and regularly saunter through the museums, check out local bands, take walking tours of different neighborhoods, and attend city-wide events and festivals. I still perform as an actor and puppeteer, so come support live theater! Also, I love a weekend outside the city and try and go camping in beautiful spots throughout Maryland and Virginia as much as weather allows. And, of course, somehow or another I wound up catching the compulsory hobby of all mid-thirtysomethings, birding. Shout-out to the family of Cooper’s Hawks that live at 14th St. and Independence!