Past projects include a study of the history of geographical areas from the founding of the State of Ohio to the present, and documenting early history and exploration of the Northwest Territory and the Midwest United States.  These projects involve work in historical and archival repositories, public records centers, and historical preservation resources and collections.

The dissertation Werner and His Empire: The Rise and Fall of a Gilded Age Printer is finished and deposited with UMI / ProQuest (Dec 2011). This work reconstructed the history of an Akron printing company in the Gilded Age. Numerous primary sources and newspapers were mined to study this undocumented company and examine how the printing industry changed between 1870 and 1914.

A series of short articles about locating and using primary sources for historical research is in the works, spawned directly from the dissertation. Other potential projects include studies in print culture and documentary editing.  I plan to blog about primary sources, indices, and research methods.  Look at my blog, a work in progress.

"The Library Security and Safety Guide to Prevention, Planning, and Response" looks at security and safety issues for cultural institutions' collections and users.  It was published by ALA in spring 2008.

"Protecting Your Library's Electronic Resources", a book about protecting electronic data was published by ALA in February 2004.

Our most popular workshops are Disaster Response Planning, Book Repair for Circulating Collections, and Genealogy and Local History for Librarians.

In 1992, Miriam began teaching workshops in Library & Information Science at Kent State University (http://www.slis.kent.edu). These workshops continue to be popular today and include Genealogy & Local History Research Methods, Accessing Government Documents, Print & On-Line, Preservation of Library Materials: Selecting Appropriate Treatment or Replacement Options, and  Repair decisions & methods. Our newest workshop for Kent State University SLIS will be Disaster Response, premiering Spring 2014.

In the summer of 2002, Miriam taught Preservation Management for the School of Information Science at the University of Pittsburgh.

Since the summer of 2006, Miriam has been teaching courses at the Graduate School of Library & Information Science at Kent State University (http://www.slis.kent.edu ). She offers four different courses, Preservation Management, Introduction to Rare Book Librarianship, Genealogy & Local History Research Methods, and The History of Libraries in the Western World, and numerous workshops and seminars in librarianship, archives and history.

In the fall of 2010, Miriam taught a survey course in World Civilizations to 1650 to undergraduates for the History Department at Kent State University. This course continues to be a fun and rewarding experience.

Beginning in January 2012, Miriam begins teaching Foundations of Library and Information Science for the School of Library and Information Science at Kent State University. This is a fantastic opportunity to explore the origins of our profession and issues that will confront our new graduates.

Fees for workshops and consultation vary depending upon location and duration.  For workshops, AV requirements  vary depending upon the topic.  All require a blackboard or white board or writing pad.  Many require direct Internet access for instructor and all students.  Overheads and projectors may be requested.

Miriam has been teaching book repair for over 20 years and has branched out to work with fibers as well as paper.  Her newest endeavors involve preservation & conservation of fiber art as well as the creation of such pieces.  Miriam is involved with the CML Appliqué Group and the Stan Hywet Needlework Guild, and enjoying a break from reading and writing.

Of course, Miriam reads voraciously both physically and aurally.  She has been reviewing audio books in many formats for over 20 years for AudioFile Magazine www.audiofilemagazine.com

To keep her hand in genealogy, public records, reference and research, Miriam is volunteering with FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org) to index vital and public records. It is fascinating to learn what information documents contain that is not indexed. This project  demonstrates how important it is to look at records themselves and not just the abstracts. Indexes just give researchers access to records, they don't tell the whole story.  Look for articles and comments about indexing and researching primary sources in our new blog.