Blog Spot: Special Collections Student Assistant Jourdan Pineda

Courtesy of Carlos Carbajal

My name in Jordan Pineda and I am currently working on my B.S. in Biochemistry as well as being a pre-dental student. Throughout the years, history has always been an interesting subject to me. I enjoy reading about past events and learning about different cultures. Volunteering is also a passion of mine. During high school, I was a part of Day One, a nonprofit organization, which focused on healthy community living. As a volunteer, I helped introduce and pass legislation which introduced bike lanes into the city of El Monte. Other than volunteering, I enjoy reading and watching Game of Thrones.

I applied for the Special Collections department because rare artifacts and books are intriguing to me. With my experience as a library assistant, I wanted to dive deeper on how archival collections are organized and stored. I started as a Special Collections and Archives Library Assistant on November 2016, and my first project was processing a comic book collection! My favorite part of working on collections is when I am able to stop and actually read the content. I could not resist opening up some comic books and reading some pages while processing the collection! Other collections I have processed include the John B. Glass Collection and Federal Employees' Distributing Company (FEDCO) Collection, as well as digitizing the University Times, and helping install exhibits. My current project is pertaining to the Cal State LA Music Department, which includes CDs and programs produced by the music department. Not only have I enjoyed my time working here, but I have also learned a tremendous amount of how exhibits and collections are created and used. Assisting researchers, creating inventory lists, digitization, and book shelving are some of the responsibilities that I have learned and developed during my time working here. With the help of my coworkers, being a Special Collections assistant has been a truly wonderful experience.

Courtesy of Frank Yan

Although I am a science major, the experiences in Special Collections can truly help me in my future endeavors. As an assistant, I have learned to work in a professional working environment. I learned that items such as rare books and artifacts hold valuable information and tell stories about past historical events. These stories are critical resources for researchers and students to learn more about the past. With never-ending documents and archival artifacts, the work that archivists do are very significant to the university. My respect for the purpose of Special Collections and archivists in general has greatly expanded the way I look at the importance for keeping safe historical information.

Jourdan Pineda
B.S. Biochemistry Student