Archived For the Ages: Every copy of The Commuter is now available on LBCC library database
Flip a page… scan.
Another page… scan.
This guy has it down to a science. For months he’s stared at a scanner — scanning, and scanning. Without the aid of caffeine, he’s fueled only by his love of discomfort. It takes a certain kind of man to sit in a copy room all day — it takes quite another to do it without help from sweet, sweet, coffee.
Meet Chase Sublette. Since early October he has been hard at work archiving every copy of The Commuter that’s circulated since its beginnings in the early ’70s. With some help from fellow student Bowen Orcutt, the pair have logged 1,329 copies of The Commuter into the LBCC Library database, taking The Commuter and all its past contributors into the digital age.
Frustrated and fed up of being a 19-year-old with no job, Sublette applied for an assistant position within the LBCC Library. Soon after being hired he started to archive as part-time work. As soon as librarians realized what a task it was, Sublette found himself neck deep in volume after volume of The Commuter.
“He’s a very good and detailed worker,” said Bryan Myagishima, LBCC librarian.
The project has provided access to decades worth of material that the community may use to recount the past within an available platform. Michaela Hooper and Jane Sandberg, both LBCC librarians, oversaw the work done by Sublette and Orcutt.
“I’m excited to see this trove available to people interested in the history of Linn and Benton Counties,” said Hooper.
The library’s online Community Archive can be accessed at http://libarchive.linnbenton.edu.
Throughout the long task of creating the archive, Sublette found the most interesting part to be peering through history; finding out that we may not have changed as much as we think we have.
“There are some articles from the ’70s and ’80s issues that you could just copy and paste, and no one would notice. They talked a lot about abortion and marijuana,” said Sublette. “They were talking about clean energy, and nuclear energy.”
No longer will old copies of The Commuter sit unused on a dusty shelf in the newsroom. Anyone will be able to jump online and sift through a variety of past articles, photos, and advertisements.
“It’s easy to get caught up for hours looking at these pages from the past,” said Rob Priewe, The Commuter’s faculty adviser.
Additional Information:
All editions of The Commuter are available at http://libarchive.linnbenton.edu
Contact Information:
LBCC Librarian Michaela Hooper- willimh@linnbenton.edu
The Commuter- commuter@linnbenton.edu
